Tin HiFi T1 Plus

Disclaimer:

I would like to thank Tinhifi for providing a review unit of the T1 Plus. Rest assured that my impressions written in this review are my own personal thoughts and opinions and in no way influenced by outside parties.

I am not an expert in this hobby nor claim to be an audiophile. I just love listening to music and am fond of writing articles.


Introduction:

TinHiFi. Quite a legend of the Chi-Fi world if you ask me. Here we have the T1 Plus, a sub-30 USD single-DD IEM that utilizes a beryllium-coated driver. As far as I’m aware, this is the cheapest IEM that utilizes such a driver (on Shopee and Lazada). It lives in what I see as the most competitive market of the IEM world. It also utilizes a QDC connection so aftermarket accessories shouldn’t be a problem. Does it keep up with the pack leaders or gets lost in the crowd?


These were plugged to my Oppo Reno 4 with the Earstudio HUD100 MK2 (bypass mode, high power) for the review, at low-medium listening volume.

Build and Comfort: The T1 Plus utilizes a light and comfortable shell. It is essentially the same as one of the IEMs I previously reviewed (KS1), with the shell being slimmer than the generic ones, and thus sitting flush on your ear. Nozzle is plastic, rather short, and I would’ve preferred something in metal, but in this price point, I’d say it’s still acceptable. Insertion depth will depend on ear tips used and ear anatomy. In my case, it was a normal/usual fit. Cable, meanwhile, is excellent. It’s 4 cores, with a metal splitter, jack and a plastic cable holder. It is quite soft and the earhooks are shaped perfectly to fit most ears.


Package: 3 pairs of normal-bore silicone tips (S/M/L). 3 pairs of wide-bore silicone tips (S/M/L). Paperwork. QC certificate. 4 core cable (w/ mic option).



Now, onto sound:

For this review, the IEM was left in stock mode, using the stock wide-bore tips (small).

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Bass: Definitely elevated. An impactful, warm-sounding bass response. Extension is decent for the price, and is of the average attack, slower decay type. For the tuning that the T1 Plus is going for, it fits the bill. However, this is something I see as a con as it won’t be able to keep up with faster bass lines, resulting in a monotonous line with sub-par texture. Mid-bass bleed is noticeable and influences the midrange, which will depend on user preference.


Midrange: If you’ve ever listened to a warm pair of earbuds, these are the most similar sounding IEM to them. The T1 Plus has that distinct “thickness/rich” (IOW, colored) to the midrange that won’t ever fatigue the listener. And that's not a positive thing for me as it takes away the natural tonality and definition of the midrange. No harshness in the upper midrange whatsoever because of the influence of the mid-bass. I personally do not prefer this as it hides texture and bite, particularly in the veiled vocals, male and female alike.


Treble: The earliest roll-off I’ve heard in an IEM. Again, it is very, very, and I mean very earbud like. Soft and delicate sounding but is controlled and splash is nonexistent. For those looking for that brilliance, air, presence, zing or any other word associated with the highs, kindly look elsewhere. No harshness, whatsoever, as is obvious with the tuning and is very forgiving of bad recordings.

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Timbre: Really reminds me of an earbud I have. It has that colored timbre when music is portrayed.

Soundstage, Imaging, and Separation: staging is intimate due to the elevation in bass and roll-off in treble. Imaging is adversely affected by this as well as the separation. When there are multiple instruments playing, it’s difficult to pinpoint where exactly each one is placed and they often go over each other.

Detail-retrieval: Due to the early roll-off in the treble region and the elevation in the bass region, detail is hidden in the mix.

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Conclusion:

I can see the appeal of the T1 Plus. It will definitely perform in certain genres and media consumption but the tuning isn’t versatile. Though it is still a V-going-U, the T1 Plus does offer a rarer “relaxing and colored” signature compared to its peers, granted that you can survive the elevated bass, rolled-off treble and rather intimate staging. A job well done for TinHifi providing the cheapest beryllium-coated IEM in the market at the time of this review. It does do well in poorly-recorded tracks because of the tuning, avoiding harshness and sibilance.


****If you have other questions/concerns with the IEM mentioned, feel free to message me****

Never had a chance to play with product from TIN HIFI brand before. We’ve seen a lot of positive feedback about various IEMs of this brand on Facebook pages, in posts or comments which have raised our expectations preliminary to the arrival of the today’s topic sample. It is always kind of tricky that the information coming from net builds our perception of a product that we have never seen or touched in a real life. Sometimes such expectations crashing against the wall of reality and sometimes become a proof that masses don’t lie. Anyway, today we would either prove or object that TIN HIFI – quite young but already popular brand – is worth of our attention.


Just a note about the company: yes, TIN HIFI is from China (Zhongshan Dongting Electronics Technology Co. Ltd.) and as declared at official website this company was long involved into OEM/ODM manufacturing of HiFi products before they’ve started own brand in 2017. Product portfolio consist of 9 IEMs and what is the most interesting – couple of those are planar driver-based models with very competitive pricing. Hope that we would grab one of those somewhere in the near future as such offers and technology in IEMs are still rare on the market. But we would review the cheapest of their single beryllium dynamic driver models today – T1 Plus.



T1 Plus specs:

• Driver: 10mm beryllium diaphragm
• Sensitivity: 105dB/mW
• Impedance: 32ohms
• Frequency response: 10Hz – 20kHz
• Jack: 3.5mm
• Cable: 1.2m±3cm, silver-plated, detachable,
• Cable connectors: 2pin/0.78mm
• Weight: 6g (without cable）

Packaging and design:

TIN HIFI T1 Plus IEMs come in relatively small square-shaped white box free of any elements except brand and product name printed at the front and company information – at the back.



Inner box space is split into three compartments: soft insert holding IEMs, audio cable beneath it and separate box for the accessories. Entire set consists of T1 Plus IEMs, 6 pairs of silicone ear tips and audio cable.



IEM shells consist of two parts – base and top plate. The latter can have different color paint which is actually filled from inside, leaving the facing side glossy and the paint protected from scratches.



Base part is totally transparent with all of the construction exposed to the owner. Shell material is not disclosed by the manufacturer but seems to be some kind of mix of plastic and resin. Couple of compensational openings per channel on the base and barely visible brand and model name imprints on the edges.



Sound output nozzles are molded as a part of a shell while protected with very thin nylon sound filter. Very good and durable cable connectors – both protrude from shells to eliminate bending.



On the other hand – such design of cable connectors is not universal and the choice of the spare cables with the best fit would be limited to few.



Stock cable seems to be pretty nice – aluminum elements with gold-plated 3.5mm TRS plug, transparent resin 2pin connector housings, in-built ear guides and channel indicators. It is formed by 28-core 0.05mm silver-plated copper wire.

T1 Plus fit should be good for most of the people due to the combination of quite long nozzles, light weight, ear guides on the cable and small/thin natural profile. 4 people tried and have not faced any issues which makes us believe in T1 Plus versality.



In overall, we like how T1 Plus IEMs are designed and made. Transparent units always caught our attention showing the accuracy of manufacturing and assembling processes. You can even see tiny cables and soldering points from 2pin connectors to dynamic driver unit – everything looks very neat.

Sound quality:

Our testing equipment: Hidizs AP80 DAP + xDuoo XD05 Plus DAC/AMP



Lows:

Seems to be the most accented range in T1 Plus with all consequences it makes further on the sound. Bass is deep, extension is impressive. It is neither too fast or too slow and doesn’t sound detached from the whole sound picture. Although, the resolution and texturing might have been better. Sometimes lows are kind of diffused and might bleed and overshadow mids. The influence of lows on the overall tonality results into fairly warm and dark sound, rich of bass and thickness on mids.

Mid bass is decent — powerful and full-bodied. Great articulation and dynamics, drums do sound engaging. Warmth and thickness of lows result in interesting emphasis on volumetric parameters of soundstage.



Mids:

Instruments and voices in mids sound natural and rich. Appealing thick sound of tube-powered electric guitars rich with different harmonics that make those IEMs a good choice for rock, blues and other similar genres. Male vocals sound slightly more distant while upper mids are more elevated. Female vocals never sound harsh and don’t show any unwanted hisses. Mids are in fairly good balance with lows, enriched by its influence (thickness of notes) but sometimes struggle to stand out and loose the lead. This effect is not too harsh though and mids still make very good impression of warm and velvet timbre.



Treble:

T1 Plus treble range is slightly more powerful than mids, definitely leading in gain and somewhere close to the power of lows. Such slight V-shaped tuning helps T1 Plus sound to have enough air and transparency while not falling into very dark signature. Elevation is very reasonable, treble portion is clear and accurate but not excessive. Extension and resolution are moderate with the most of the potential revealed in music genres saturated with string or bow instruments. Although, treble might sound a bit indistinct and soft when it comes to bass-oriented tracks.



Soundstage:

Some controversial results here. Binaural recordings that are intended to create additional scene depth and width show moderate effect and distance with T1 Plus IEMs. Whereas some regular recordings sound more expanded to sides and show good instrument separation and larger stage.



Sound in overall:

We would say that TIN HIFI T1 Plus are closer to warm or dark signature IEMs with well-developed and accented lows that result in thick and vintage sound on mids. Midbass is decent, while treble might feel a bit soft. In overall, such IEMs are very good for slow vintage music and would suffer from feeding something from modern electronic genres. Also best to be used with high quality neutral or cold sources.



Compared to Hidizs Seeds:

Hidizs has lowered the price for Seeds down to $30 (from 70) which makes those one of the best IEMs in class. Seeds are more transparent and have much more developed treble range despite being based on single dynamic driver as well. Seeds sound more airy, precise and balanced but they are not so good in terms of fit and also don’t feature detachable audio cable.



Compared to Tanchjim Cora:

Core is another representative of single dynamic driver IEMs with bright and transparent sound with very good treble reproduction. Cora also wins over T1 Plus in this but lacks in terms of bass extension and midbass power. But the worst about Cora is very individual fit and non-detachable audio cable



Conclusion:

Budget IEMs with in $30 price range is kind of rare testing equipment for us. During this particular test we have came up with two main conclusions: even such low-priced IEMs as TIN HIFI T1 Plus might outperform more expensive models in some aspects of the sound and that T1 Plus is definitely providing one of the best price to performance ratio in its class. We did not expect such decent build quality in this budget, universal fit, detachable cable feature and what is the most important – sound that is almost on par with certain more expensive models. We are talking mostly about the performance of lows and midbass as well as about its pleasing influence on mids. Nowadays, T1 Plus warm signature with thick sound is encountered much less often than bright and cold V-shaped tuning. Interesting is that among all dark single dynamic driver IEMs T1Plus do sound the most engaging so far, despite being on a budget. Not saying the best since some lack of texturing and extension is evident, but definitely the most interesting – when the dark signature is obvious but the treble is still very adequate. Like!

TIN HIFI T1 Plus available at HiFiGO official store: LINK

Rating: 7.2
Sound: 7

Intro
TIN HIFI remains a bit of a grab bag when it comes to the sound quality or rather sound characteristics of their products. The reputation through their T2, they have slowly used up and one no longer has the feeling that every new release from the company must be a world hit.
However, it should also be mentioned that TIN HIFI tries to cover a wide range with their products and that therefore not every IEM can meet your own taste, should also be clear. From this point of view, you can not blame them (as long as you do not expect a neutral and natural sounding IEM from the company with every new IEM release), but should simply see which IEM of the TIN HIFI family meets your preferences best, because there is enough choice.
The T1 PLUS is a bass-rich and dark IEM that will please some bassheads, but has some tonal weaknesses.

Handling
Actually, TIN HIFI often makes the effort with their products to leave a professional and high-quality impression, both in the processing of the headphones as well as in the packaging and accessories.
Thus, we have so far been spoiled by the scope of delivery and the consistent metal construction usually above average in the respective price segment.

The T1 PLUS is a pure budget IEM and this time you can see that at first glance. TIN HIFI makes no effort to disguise the low price here, but it doesn't need to, because even if the plastic case and sparse accessories don't make your jaw drop, this is good standard in the price range.

The packaging reminds a bit of the current budget models from Moondrop (SSR & SSP), but in plain (cheap), without artwork or the like, whereas the cable (4-core/2-pin) as well as the silicone tips show parallels to the BLON BL-01, which especially does not speak particularly for the cable. It is usable, but fiddly and tends to get knotted.

The case is made of full plastic, but that doesn't bother me much, since the comfort is absolutely right for me, which is also achieved by the low weight.
Sure, the T1 PLUS looks a bit cheap and even KZ and TRN have in the past at least put value on metal faceplates, but on the exterior it matters little to me, as long as the IEM is comfortable to wear.

The isolation is quite okay, but would perhaps have turned out even better with a resin or metal housing, as these can swallow more level, rather than the thin and hole plastic.

Sound
At first listening impression, I was a bit baffled, as I didn't expect such a sound presentation from TIN HIFI, in a negative sense. I don't know how the T1 (predecessor) sounds, but the T1 Plus is very bass-heavy and darkly tuned. So far, TIN HIFI was more known to me for a brighter and more neutral presentation, but I am open to new things.

The bass can be a bit of a force of nature, especially when you add fire under its butt. It's not always the firmest, and the mid-bass emphasis can be overpowering at times, but it's a tasty snack for the bass hungry. The punch is really noticeable, although that alone doesn't make a bass, at least not for me, but can be a lot of fun with hip-hop or electro. The T1 Plus provides me with a quantitative bass that can definitely excite depending on the genre, but I still find it lacking in subtlety and some texture, especially when it doesn't really need that much bass. Still, I see the bass as a clear strength of the T1 PLUS and it feels particularly at home in hip-hop.

The mids are clearly a victim of the propulsive bass, as they get too much body and warmth. In addition, they lack assertiveness and thus sound somewhat muffled depending on the song material. This is slightly cushioned by the boost in the direction of the high-frequency transition, but this also leads to a garishness that often resonates slightly, especially with voices, which I don't find particularly authentic. Instruments also have a somewhat slanted tonal character. Here I feel negatively reminded of the new SHUOER TAPE PRO. Especially when a lot of information comes together, the T1 PLUS often gets a bit carried away and it becomes exhausting for the listener.

The comparison with the TAPE PRO is not so far off the mark, as both share the extreme level drop after 4-5 kHz. This makes them unnaturally mid-focused with bass emphasis, which cannot be picked up in the treble. There is a lack of extension and brilliance, although I always find that word a bit fuzzy. I miss transparency, the feeling of clarity as well as openness and I have to listen very closely to locate details. For me, the treble is just within the acceptable range. It may not get much darker, but for that sibilants are not an issue at all.

The stage is more extended in width, though clearly compressed. In addition, there is an average separation that lacks "sharpness", so that instruments often blur into each other. Imaging is a bit of a mess in places, and so critical listening isn't really possible for me either. However, it is sufficient for background music.

Outro
Where the T1 PLUS can actually add value is with poorer/compressed recordings (whether that's in favor of the T1 Plus or not remains to be seen), as it handles this input very generously, also due to the strong rolling high frequency. Likewise, it works well in parts with rock/punk. Drums can make a decent ruckus without the cymbals getting too tinny, at least not really audibly, and electric guitars have a fat sound (if you're into that).

Otherwise, TIN HIFI has released an average budget IEM that you can visually see and hear the price. For pure bassheads, however, it is perhaps just the right niche product in the TIN HIFI product family.
Admittedly, one also gets used to the sound presentation, so that the T1 PLUS doesn't sound so dark and depressed after a short time. However, this then becomes apparent again quite quickly when switching to a tonally more natural IEM.
TIN HIFI shows KZ that it only needs one driver instead of 10 (ASX) for such a signature and that at a quarter of the price if you are looking for such a sound.


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