Tangzu WAN ER SG

Sound signature
Neutral warm with relaxed mids to treble.

Fit and comfort
Yes, this IEM has a good fit, at least for me. However, it can be improved by using some aftermarket ear tips. There is no pressure build-up or pressure point, and the isolation is decent as well.

Sound Impression
Dac/amp used: Moondrop Moonriver 2, Shanling UA6
Tips used: stock medium size tips with white bore(impression will be based on stock tips)/ Spinfit cp100+

Bass
Quantity(5 means neutral): 6/10
Quality: 5/10 (6/10 accounted for it’s price)

The tuning is decent. It carries enough bass for normal listening. However, I felt like the texture and punchiness were missing. Compared to Celest Qing, I think that Celest Qing bass is better compared to Wan’er sg, Wan’er sg feels a touch mushier in comparison to Celest Qing.

For example, in the song Hanaboshi by Eve the bass does not lack quantity, but lacks punchiness as a result, it just does not sound as impactful and exciting. I do like the thick vocal that this IEM is able to produce, it adds character to the male vocal, making it more rounded and easier to listen to.


Mids
Lower Mids
Quantity(5 means neutral): 6/10
Quality: 7/10

Upper Mids
Quantity(5 means neutral): 5.5/10
Quality: 6/10

For the tonality, I think Wan’er sg is great, maybe some might think it's better than Celest Qing. It has great note weight, female and male vocal sounds weighty enough not to feel thin. However, it lacks the dynamic to present it’s vocal properly resulting in a dullness in the whole frequency region. And sadly, the dullness lands exactly at the most sensitive hearing region, which is the upper mids. I feel like it is really wasted, as the tonality is something great, just lacking the liveliness. If attack and transient are fixed, this easily scores a 7.5 in lower and upper mids.

To give an example Ryuu no Uta (竜の歌) - RPG Fudousan ending in episode 6, the tonality is just beautiful and it feels emotional thanks to its note weight, giving a slight warmth to the vocals. However, in this whole song, the dullness is distracting and hinders my enjoyment.

Treble
Lower Treble
Quantity(5 means neutral): 4.5/10
Quality: 6/10

Upper Treble
Quantity(5 means neutral): 4.5/10
Quality: 5/10 (5.5/10 accounted for it’s price)

The tonality is non-offensive, it sounded correct, and there is 0 sibilance. However, it lacks extension. It is so dull that it becomes a deal breaker for me. It is a shame it's tonality is amazing just lacking the attack and speed that I was looking for.

For example, I'm glad you're evil too feat. Hatsune Miku, vocals sounded well-balanced and weighty, but when it came to the treble, it was just too dark and also too pushed back. Not only does it lack macro and micro detail in the treble, but it also hinders staging, making it sound closed.

Technicalities
Separation (how the vocalist and also the various instrument has it’s own placement)
Rating: 6/10 (6.5/10 accounted for it’s price)

I find it ok, at least it is not super congested and can separate vocals from the background instrument when the track is not busy.

Soundstage (how much width and depth is perceived by the listener)
Rating: 5/10 (6/10 accounted for it’s price)

Width: Below average, which is ok, it doesn't sound too cramped, but not wide either.
Depth: Average, It has enough depth to allow it’s soundstage to sound natural.

Resolution (how much fine detail I can perceive in the music)
Rating: 6/10

It is ok, it does still have enough micro and macro detail, but it is not great either, considering it’s asking price, it is forgivable.

Average score: 5.75 (6.125 accounted for it’s price)

Conclusion
Wan’er is an IEM with very good tonality, but is hindered by the sensation of dullness. Overall, I don’t recommend this iem. There are many better iem out there. I would like to apologize if I accidentally offended anyone in this review. I am just describing the IEM in a truthful fashion as I always do.

If you're interested in graph comparison, here's the link
Disclamer:

+ I'm a normal asian dude with some music producing background
+ I like clean balanced sound signature with focus on sub bass and lower treble
+ Can consider myself as treblehead
+ 60-68db listening session
+ Avarage 4/10 (Quarks/ 7hz Zero), Good 6/10 (Tanchjim Kara), Endgame 8/10, Bias Endgame 10/10
: Good, but with a catch
: Worth the money
: Specialist at something else
: A Very close to perfection
: Perfect for me

Click to expand...

- Bass: Well balanced
+ Apart from low tech these bass sounds just fine to me
- Mid: Well balanced
+ Good texture and natural timbre for acoucstic
+ Electric sounds dry
- Treble: Muted overall
+ No emphasized treble make music lack nuances and dynamism (tho it's score still high since other spectrum do it pretty well)
+ uhm. yeah
- Vocals: 9/10 to Blon BL03. Natural sounds and position, vocals have enough heft and edge, most songs sound really really good
- Soundstage/Imaging presentation: Holographic and stage like presentation. Imaging is really really good for the price

Tangzu Wan’er: good tuning is everything



Intro

Since I started writing reviews, I dreamed of doing the one you will see below. One of my first ideas when I began this hobby was to compare three of the IEMs that the community talked about the most. That is why, in this review, in addition to bringing you my personal opinion about the well-known Tangzu Wan’er (currently priced at $19 USD), I also compare them with two products that no longer even need an introduction. However, to know which ones I am talking about, you will have to reach the comparison down below. Without further ado, I hope you enjoy this review after a long time without writing.


If you wish to read this review in Spanish, click here

Check out previous reviews here (or in spanish here)


Disclaimers:

• The IEMs were bought with my own money
  • You can find the Wan'er here: https://es.aliexpress.com/i/1005004905380908.html
• Analysis over 4 days - Sessions of approximately 2 to 4 hours
• All music used is lossless (Qobuz > 16bit – 44.1kHz)
• Gear Used: TempoTec V3

Unboxing, Build & Comfort





Tangzu Wan’er: The Wan’er are not earphones that stand out for their build quality, but they do not disappoint either, fitting adequately within the IEMs found below $20 USD. Their housing is made of resin with a somewhat dark tint in the version I have, and their faceplate features cloud drawings along with a symmetrical gold pattern, all inspired by Chinese history according to Tangzu.



They feature a 10mm driver with a PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) diaphragm, promising less distortion. Additionally, the Wan’er comes with reliable 0.78mm 2-pin type connectors. Finally, their nozzle measures approximately 5.6mm in diameter.



Cable: It is compatible with 0.78mm 2-pin connectors, and the pins are coated in plastic. It's the weakest part in terms of accessories but gets the job done.



Tips: Tangzu offers two different types: 3 pairs of gray tips with standard/balanced holes and 4 pairs of white tips with a wider hole (my personal preference).



Cloth: An interesting and unexpected addition for the price, featuring the Chinese woman who inspired the design.

Comfort: The Wan’er comes with pre-installed M-sized tips. I used them straight out of the box, and they fit wonderfully. They offer good sound isolation and above-average comfort, though they protrude a bit more than I would like, but not excessively so.

Driveability: As should be the case for any IEM in this price range, the Wan’er can be amplified with virtually any source. Users who still have phones with a 3.5mm jack need nothing more to use these earphones.



Sound description


Credits: Paul Wasabii


Bass

The sound signature follows the Harman 2019 curve but with slightly more aggressive bass elevation, allowing drum kicks and electronic music bases to stand out with an extra punch. However, this also causes some disruption between subbass and bass, as the former does not have the extension that other earphones possess, leading to a "fight" between these two frequencies to see which shines more (separation = average leaning towards below average).


Mids

Moving up the spectrum, the lower midrange is benefited in this case and has more body than one might be accustomed to compared to Harman signatures that focus more on the subbass. Listening to Sinatra is a pleasure, with his deep voice completely filling the scene. Vocals that sit more in the middle of the spectrum retain their naturalness and do not lose too much presence against the bass. The most affected, in my opinion, are higher midrange vocals, which can sound distant, like Billie Eilish in the chorus of "No Time To Die". However, apart from this, the Wan’er does not present this range as shouty, which is always appreciated.

In the mids, the resolution and clarity presented by the Wan’er are acceptable for its price. It does not excel in reproducing brass instruments, as I noticed with the trumpets in “Luck Be A Lady” during a live performance by Sinatra, but on the plus side, they never become fatiguing at low/medium volumes. Its strong point in instrumental representation tends to be electric guitars and violins, making one feel the texture of each note played without overwhelming with their "bite".

Finally, the cohesion between instruments is generally good. Violins stand out a bit more than the winds (flutes, clarinets, and oboes) in the performance by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra – “Symphony No. 4 in A minor, Op. 63: II. Allegro molto vivace”, but this is minimal and nothing to worry about. Additionally, timpani are usually easy to discern even at low volumes.


Treble

For the treble, I used my typical song to evaluate the sibilance of the Wan’er: listening to the 2:10 mark of “Swan Lake, Op. 20, TH. 12 / Act I: No. 2 Valse (Corps de Ballet)” by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Tangzu IEMs passed the test very easily and are fully recommendable for people who struggle with high frequencies. The trade-off is the microdetails at the top of the spectrum, where the Wan’er tends to lack enough air to let the listener hear all those small musical fragments in each song. An example of this is the cymbals at the beginning of “Black Magic” in Live Undead/Haunting The Chapel by Slayer, which come across as somewhat dull with a quick decay after being hit.


Soundstage & Imaging

The soundstage is typical of what we can expect at these prices: good width to both sides (though not the best under $20 USD) but with a depth that leaves something to be desired. Since soundstage creation is closely linked to imaging, we can expect guitars in “Hallowed Be Thy Name (Live at Long Beach Arena, 2015 Remaster)” to be well differentiated, but the singer and bassist, who are closer to the center, tend to blend a bit, along with a drummer that the Wan’er presents as less distant on the stage than they should be.



vs 7Hz Salnotes Zero & Kiwi Ears Cadenza



The segment I've been wanting to write for a long time: how do these "low-cost titans" compare? (Current prices: Zero = $19 USD, Cadenza = $35 USD, Wan’er = $19 USD)


Credits: Paul Wasabii

To be brief, I always prefer to provide my scoring system along with a few short observations to understand each one's strengths or differences.


Scores (TL;DR for those who prefer a more concise format)

-Best to worst (left to right)
-More ">" used indicates a greater difference between left and right IEM
-"=" is used to indicate that the left and right sets are similar in a certain aspect “>=” indicates that two IEMs could be similar depending on the song

• Ergonomics: Cadenza >= Wan’er >= Zero
• Driveability: Waner > Cadenza = Zero (however, the three of them are easy to amplify)
• Subbass: Cadenza > Zero > Wan’er
• Bass: Wan’er = Cadenza >> Zero
• Lower Midrange: Cadenza = Wan’er > Zero
• Upper Midrange: Zero >= Cadenza > Wan’er
• Treble: Cadenza = Zero > Wan’er (taking into account detail retrieval) – – Wan’er > Cadenza = Zero (for longer listening sessions)
• Imaging: Cadenza > Zero = Wan’er (difference between the three is negligible)
• Soundstage: Zero >> Cadenza = Wan’er

Observations:

• Cadenza stands out in the subbass section with the best extension and resolution among this lineup. The rumble they create is beneficial in electronic music genres.
• Both Zero and Wan’er feature a clean transition from bass to mids thanks to only a moderate elevation in the bass section. In "Miss You" by Adele, there is particularly good harmony between the organ, which does not overwhelm the singer. Meanwhile, the Cadenza can sometimes put the deep notes of this instrument on par with Adele's voice when it shouldn't.
• For Sinatra's "Luck Be A Lady", I find more depth and details in the singer's voice with the Zero. The 7Hz and Kiwi Ears earphones show the trumpets with greater force and bite (resolution and presence), while the Wan’er make them slightly less fatiguing, which will be a plus for many.
• In "No Time To Die" by Billie Eilish, I found a slightly insignificant difference in the upper mids of the three earphones. The Wan’er makes Billie sound a bit more distant in the final chorus. None of the three earphones render high-register female voices as "shouty".
• During the playback of "Survive" by Stratovarius, the resolution and clarity of electric guitars were just slightly superior in the Wan’er, but none of the three were fatiguing at the volumes I usually listen to.
• As I've mentioned in previous reviews, the Cadenza and Zero are earphones with a sharp treble for some users (not exactly my case due to the low volume I'm accustomed to). However, the Wan’er are ideal for users who aren't fond of such frequencies and are willing to sacrifice details in the top of the spectrum.
• All three IEMs usually handle the positioning of each voice and instrument well, and after several tests, the slight edge goes to the Cadenza.
• The width of the soundstage is generally well represented by all three models, but the Zero performs better in this aspect as well as in the depth it creates in live songs

Conclusion

As of today, the earphones used in my comparison remain among the most mentioned in the community when starting anyone's journey into the world of in-ear monitors. For that reason, it's very easy to recommend any of the three sets.



Now, as the price of the Cadenza is almost doubling the cost of both, the 7Hz Salnotes Zero and the Tangzu Wan’er, these last two become the top recommendations I can give to newcomers to the hobby eager to explore different sound signatures. The Zero, perhaps, for those seeking a more faithful representation in classical music and instruments in general, while the Wan’er is a wildcard that isn't perfect but performs admirably with any music you throw at it. My praises don't overlook their imperfections, mostly visible in the high spectrum by Tangzu's IEM, but their incredible price to performance ratio earns the Wan’er the excellent grade I'm giving them.