[B9Scrambler]

TinAudio T2

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The below pic helps to highlight the excellent build quality. Proper heat shrink used on T2's jack vs. some sloppily wrapped electrical tape on the "slightly" more pricey HiFiMan RE800. Yeah.

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[Slater]

TinAudio T2

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The below pic helps to highlight the excellent build quality. Proper heat shrink used on T2's jack vs. some sloppily wrapped electrical tape on the "slightly" more pricey HiFiMan RE800. Yeah.

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The shortcuts by some of the more "premium" brands never ceased to amaze me. Tacky man, just tacky.

 

[mochill]

loooool at the electrical tape

 

[B9Scrambler]

RE800 is still one of the best earphones I've ever heard, but it could be better built. RE2000's jack is the same. On the plus side, if you need to recable it, electrical tape is easier to work with heh...

 

[mochill]

 

[Fahim Foysal]

I'll have a review of the TinAudio T2 up in a while. Got that along with a bunch of other hybrids recently; MacaW GT600s, BGVP DM5, and the HiLisening HLS-S8. The GT600s (my new 100 USD benchmark iem) and T2 are the standouts of the group. The T2 is beautifully built and reminds me of an upgraded EMI-CI880. It's treble is less bright and more controlled, but no less detailed. It's bass extends a little deeper. Mid-range is thicker and more weighty. Sound stage is wider too. Pretty well-balanced for a hybrid in this price range. They could easily get away with charging more than the 50 or bucks they go for. I'd take it over the DM5 and Audbos/Magaosi DB-02 without hesitation. Will try to post some pics later. Don't really have a working computer right now as the brand new replacement I just bought crapped out after getting stuck in a Window 10 update loop .

Thanks a lot for your initial impression. I literally coundn't find a single person on the internet who owned the t2 and there were no reviews anywhere. Among the tinaudio t2, tfz king, fiio f9 and kinera h3 which one would you recommend? I am currently looking for the best balanced iem under 100 with a slight bass boost, detachable cable and wide soundstage

 

[mochill]

Thanks a lot for your initial impression. I literally coundn't find a single person on the internet who owned the t2 and there were no reviews anywhere. Among the tinaudio t2, tfz king, fiio f9 and kinera h3 which one would you recommend? I am currently looking for the best balanced iem under 100 with a slight bass boost, detachable cable and wide soundstage

check out the shozy X aaw hibiki

 

[Fahim Foysal]

check out the shozy X aaw hibiki

The hibiki has a large dip in the frequency response curve from 5 to 9khz region. I want a relative flat frequency response curve without large dips or highs so that sound remains somewhat uncoloured

 

[B9Scrambler]

Thanks a lot for your initial impression. I literally coundn't find a single person on the internet who owned the t2 and there were no reviews anywhere. Among the tinaudio t2, tfz king, fiio f9 and kinera h3 which one would you recommend? I am currently looking for the best balanced iem under 100 with a slight bass boost, detachable cable and wide soundstage

Cheers! I haven't tried the FiiO, but the other three are all very different. H3 is quite v-shaped imo. Big bass, prominent, sparkly treble. Really good listen but maybe too bassy. King has a mid/treble focus with a little bass boost that has great low end extension. Soundstage is the best of the three. They can run a bit hot in the lower treble and aren't as smooth sounding as the others. T2 is the most balanced of the bunch but sounds quite tame and relaxed compared to the other two. The King sounds like it would best meet your criteria, but the T2 might be decent as well, esp. give it's half the price.

In all honesty, if you're thinking of spending around 100 bucks I personally would skip them all and get the MacaW GT600s. Same price as the King and H3. It more-or-less covers the signatures of all of the above with it's filters, though in the case of the bass filter not overly well. That one is a little disappointing. It boosts the bass a couple dB, but in the process sucks out the mids. The balanced and treble filters are all good though.

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[Fahim Foysal]

Cheers! I haven't tried the FiiO, but the other three are all very different. H3 is quite v-shaped imo. Big bass, prominent, sparkly treble. Really good listen but maybe too bassy. King has a mid/treble focus with a little bass boost that has great low end extension. Soundstage is the best of the three. They can run a bit hot in the lower treble and aren't as smooth sounding as the others. T2 is the most balanced of the bunch but sounds quite tame and relaxed compared to the other two. The King sounds like it would best meet your criteria, but the T2 might be decent as well, esp. give it's half the price.

In all honesty, if you're thinking of spending around 100 bucks I personally would skip them all and get the MacaW GT600s. Same price as the King and H3. It more-or-less covers the signatures of all of the above with it's filters, though in the case of the bass filter not overly well. That one is a little disappointing. It boosts the bass a couple dB, but in the process sucks out the mids. The balanced and treble filters are all good though.

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Okay so no kinera for me. I was reading around about the gt600s but the review at headfi https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/macaw-gt600s.22595/ says even the reference filter isn't flat and the treble is elevated. I am looking forwaard to your review at the contraptionist. The king seems like a good buy. Its a bit difficult to get a neutral sounding BA unless it consists of something like 5 drivers. Have you ever tried the pioneer ch9t? Btw this is the signature i am looking for.

 

[vector84]

Okay so no kinera for me. I was reading around about the gt600s but the review at headfi https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/macaw-gt600s.22595/ says even the reference filter isn't flat and the treble is elevated. I am looking forwaard to your review at the contraptionist. The king seems like a good buy. Its a bit difficult to get a neutral sounding BA unless it consists of something like 5 drivers. Have you ever tried the pioneer ch9t? Btw this is the signature i am looking for.

If measured on a proper rig... a FR like that would tend to sound intensely high-mids-centric coming from an IEM to most people, wouldn't it?

Bypassing much of the physical filtering from your ear means FR plots of IEMs can't be compared directly to say speaker FR plots, where monitors are meant to be flat.


So do you want something that sounds like that plot from a speaker would sound? Or do you want an IEM that measures that way? Kinda hard to tell and they're very different things.

 

[Fahim Foysal]

If measured on a proper rig... a FR like that would tend to sound intensely high-mids-centric coming from an IEM to most people, wouldn't it?

Bypassing much of the physical filtering from your ear means FR plots of IEMs can't be compared directly to say speaker FR plots, where monitors are meant to be flat.


So do you want something that sounds like that plot from a speaker would sound? Or do you want an IEM that measures that way? Kinda hard to tell and they're very different things.

Basically I want an iem that produces sound as closely as possible to the actual recording without adding any colour with a good bass thump.

 

[B9Scrambler]

Okay so no kinera for me. I was reading around about the gt600s but the review at headfi https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/macaw-gt600s.22595/ says even the reference filter isn't flat and the treble is elevated. I am looking forward to your review at the contraptionist. The king seems like a good buy. Its a bit difficult to get a neutral sounding BA unless it consists of something like 5 drivers. Have you ever tried the pioneer ch9t? Btw this is the signature i am looking for.

I'm not 100% on board with that review but I know we hear things differently. I think the H3's mids/vocals are slightly dry and one of the least impressive aspects of that earphone. He calls it the "lyrical king of the $100 range." I tend to like a lot of stuff he's not as fond of, and visa versa. That's why I enjoy and follow his reviews. Back to the GT600s, treble is elevated regardless of the filter, but not to the extent of earphones like the King or H3. Those two are brighter to my ears for sure. I wouldn't consider the GT600s bright per say. It edges it's way up there, sure, but never crosses the line, even if I toss on some super wide bore tips.

Maybe instead you could go with a classic like one of the Havi B3 Pro series iems? The Pro I seems to still be about the closest thing to neutral you can find for the price. The Pro II does the same thing, but instead of a slight treble tilt it has a slight bass tilt. Keep in mind that some of us suspect the Pro II got a stealthy update around the same time as the Pro I. Another member on the forums has both an original Pro II and a recently released version and found the newer one significantly improved. Another option that seems like a good 100 USD iem is the Rose Mini 2. I haven't tried them myself but I want to given the feedback they get.

 

[VinceHill24]

Cheers! I haven't tried the FiiO, but the other three are all very different. H3 is quite v-shaped imo. Big bass, prominent, sparkly treble. Really good listen but maybe too bassy. King has a mid/treble focus with a little bass boost that has great low end extension. Soundstage is the best of the three. They can run a bit hot in the lower treble and aren't as smooth sounding as the others. T2 is the most balanced of the bunch but sounds quite tame and relaxed compared to the other two. The King sounds like it would best meet your criteria, but the T2 might be decent as well, esp. give it's half the price.

In all honesty, if you're thinking of spending around 100 bucks I personally would skip them all and get the MacaW GT600s. Same price as the King and H3. It more-or-less covers the signatures of all of the above with it's filters, though in the case of the bass filter not overly well. That one is a little disappointing. It boosts the bass a couple dB, but in the process sucks out the mids. The balanced and treble filters are all good though.

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1 more vote for the TFZ KING. I have not own the others but between both the King and Kinera H3 i have on my hand, the King is the one closest to being more balance. H3 has a midrange that's too recessed and high that's very sparkly and crisp which makes it too V shape in overall signature.

Although i find myself enjoying the H3 more lately probably because of its bass and wider soundstage but the King will be more suited in this case if balance is what you sought for.

 

[vector84]

Basically I want an iem that produces sound as closely as possible to the actual recording without adding any colour with a good bass thump.

Without a comfortable handling on how FR translates to what you hear in an IEM, you'll probably have a better experience trying to collect and interpret the subjective experiences of others as they relate to what you hear, as opposed to trying to use a FR to try to figure out what it'll sound like to you. Like those cuts (depending on scale!) in the 5-9kHz region tend to contribute to a sense of flatness for most, not detract from it, and it's extremely important to look at the scale of the FR plot in question, etc.

Also, as they don't cover what you hear completely, imo FR plots in this regard might be more useful to ask questions versus derive answers: ie "how do you feel about that 5-9kHz cut" would be a much more productive line of thinking than "dealbreaker"

Like it sounds like you want something people would describe as balanced to slightly L-shaped, but those are subjective - when dealing with IEMs especially, the FR plots will usually look nothing like the described sound shape unless they are heavily compensated in a non-standard way.