So, I continue sharing my experience with excellent Trinity audio earphones, and today it's time for Techne. While Trinity prepares to release their top-notch multidriver models, simpler single-driver models are still interesting. There are not much reviews of Techne on Head-Fi, so I've decided to add my 5 cents.
AFAIK, Techne shares same driver with entry-level model Hyperion, but offers completely different sound presentation. Also Techne introduces Trinity's signature sound tuning filters and offers really great design. It's sold on Trinity's website for $95 (including free shipping worldwide), but Head-Fi users can get really great discount that makes Techne even more interesting.
This model came in grey box, common for all company's models, inside you'll find earphones themselves, carrying case, 4 pairs of signle-flange tips, pair of dual-flange tips, 2 pairs of foam tips, shirt clip, and adapter to make straight jack 90°-angled. Also you'll get small container with 2 pairs of spare filters. Pretty great set of accessories for this model's price.
Techne uses unusual body shape that slightly reminds Phonak's models. Due to this shape, Techne offers not so deep insertion, compared with Hyperion and Dalta, so I've used dual flange tips to get proper fit. From other hand, Techne's design allows them to completely avoid cable microphonics.
By the way, Techne's cable is really nice — braided, soft and stylish, it's durable and tangle-prone. Cable splitter and jack are also sturdy, so Techne will serve you long time.
As for the sound, it greatly depends on used filters. Techne offers 3 options. Red filter offers "fun" sound with V-shaped frequency response, it have really strong bass, which is too much for me. Purple filter is almost neutral, it have pretty balanced representation with slight hint of brightness. Dark grey filter reduces bass and offers bright signature with pseudo-detalisation effect. This sound is interesting, but somewhat fatiguing for me. So, as you can understand, I've chose "average" purple option.
Bass in this earphones are pretty fit-dependent. If you don't fit them properly, you'll loose both in quantity and in quality of lows. So, I prefer dual-flange tips. With them you'll gen nice resolving lows, with decent depth, but main accent is made on mid-bass. Resolution is pretty OK for Techne's price.
Mids are a bit recessed in lower-mids, but not really much. To my ears, Techne also have some accent on upper-mids, that makes their sound "festive" and airy. There is some smoothness on mids to make sound more pleasant, and Techne succeeds here.
Treble is also a bit more then average, so you'll need a source with good treble control, to get the most of this model. If you're treble-sensitive, most probably this model won't fit you, but to my ears, Techne offers good treble with lots of air and light representation.
I've tried this earphones with my iPhone and iPad, and I think they really need better source, that can highlight their strong parts. For example, I've really liked them with Xuelin iHiFi 800 (treble-lower's delight).
Style-wise Techne is the best option for jazz, classics, vocal, instrumentals — those genres, where details are necessary. But I've listened to metal and classic rock with pleasure too. Techne is sensitive for recordings quality, so bad masters aren't good in them.
To conclude, Techne offers interesting and unusual sound representation, that is really interesting compared to "typical" V-shaped earphones that flooded market. So, if you like such representation, this earphones are worth paying attention.