Battle of the Tonekings
From left to right : Tomahawk, TO180, TO200, TO600
Not present : TO400s (gifted to my father)
The Tomahawk is by far the most fatiguing Toneking of this list, with forward high mids that hurt my head a bit, but I'm really sensitive so YMMV. It's a good choice for someone who wants the toneking sound in an easy to drive and fixed cable package and is performing well for me at low to mid volume with full foams. It has good bass quantity for my taste and sounds fine overall, but if I had to do it again I think I'd skip it.
The TO180 is the second most fatiguing, but it's only very slightly fatiguing in some conditions for me. It's more controlled than the Tomahawk, but still shares the same forward high-mids characteristic, that works very well on some genres and can cause fatigue on others. It has pretty good bass quantity and extension, with no bleed into mids, but a bass that sounds sort of boomy, not the most natural I've heard. It has a big slam tho which creates an exciting sound.
The TO200 is less fatiguing to my ears, with more low mids than high mids, and as a result can be listened to higher volumes, where the big soundstage and superb instument separation really start to shine. It has however the less bass of the bunch, so that won't please everyone, but as you start to turn the volume up you hear more of the bass, so it somewhats mitigates the characteristic. I wouldn't even call it neutral at low volume, more like bass deficient, but it's moving towards neutral at high volume. It has a very good slam on kicks, like the TO180 but with a very dry sound instead of the boomy hit.
The TO600 is by far the least fatiguing of the bunch, with a very warm tonality, emphasized bass that bleeds into low-mids, and very polite mids and treble, it is a really relaxing sound that should please most, but is also the hardest to drive. It performs much better for me on balanced output than SE.
Absent at the moment is the TO400s, which is the only toneking earbud I owned that had a perfect cable. It is also the most neutral of the lot, with the best extension on both ends, reaching deeper in sub and having more sparkle in the highs, but without any kind of fatigue to my ears. It also had much less coloured/grainy mids than the 4 of the picture, which resulted to my ears in a more "correct" listen, but also less exciting for acoustic music. It was however able to reproduce classical in a very, very good manner, and was doing well for genres like hip-hop or EDM where sub is called for.
My preference :
Jazz : TO200 by far
Rock, Folk etc : TO600 or TO180 depending on mood and material
Classical, Hip-Hop, EDM : TO400s
Densproasis I would put between TO180 and TO400, it is more colorfoul and vivid than the TO400 with more forward mids, without being overdone but we're reaching the top of what I deem acceptable, but also has a much tighter bass than the TO180 albeit with really good quantity for earbuds, which makes it a really good "fun to listen" earbud in my book, without the flaws (boomy, vague bass) of the TO180. Clarity on par with other Tonekings, it won't destroy your ears, and is sufficient for me but I'd have preferred slightly more sparkle if I'm completely honest.The cable... meh but much better than all previous ones bare theTO400.Overall, it's a good one.
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Of course, cables with interchangeable plugs are always an option
