[peter123]

Personally i find it distasteful to name a person who is  doing their job to the best of their capabilities. Just email trinity if you have a problem and not post negative views on this thread. Don't forget that people are just doing their job and for an honest days pay, a bit of decorum would not go amiss!! I have had only positive feedback on any issue when i mailed Trinity, 

I agree on not going after one person in public but I find it equally distasteful to demand people only post positive impressions in this thread. I prefer both reading and sharing the true impression just not the sugar-coated ones but as it seems ymmw.....

Nothing to do with "sugar -Coated".. just a bit of respect for an individual who is doing a job. Would you like to named on a forum for apparently not doing your job!!

Please read and make your answer according to what's actually written.....

 

[voxie]

Please read and make your answer according to what's actually written.....

Sorry man, articulate?

 

[Brooko]

[Moderator Comment]
 
Gents - can we get this back to discussion about Trinity?  Couple of guides:
 

• If you have an issue with Trinity service - the first thing you should be doing is contacting them direct, not posting about it all over the forum.  Give them a chance to make things right.  Try putting yourself in their shoes for a minute ......
   
• One or two individuals seem to be using this thread as opportunity to snipe at each other.  This stops now.  I've already removed some posts.  If it continues, I will remove some people's access.

 

[rhull1973]

Received a defective set of PM4's. Both earpieces had bad threads and no filters would actually attach. Emailed Jake in November and was promised a replacement. Have yet to receive anything

 

[ForeverSymphony]

After spending a week with my Sabre´s (i got them on the BF), i must say...great job Bob! Just the build quality and
accesories justify their price, my pair came a little bit faulty (major driver flex and the cables didn´t attached flushed, they have a gap),
but since my mail service is very bad (they lost two vyrus), i don´t think i´ll be contacting Jake for a replacement
after all, they do their job, i´ve seen a TON of people complaining about Bob´s products, but....at the end of the day he offers
the best bang for your buck in all audio industry, he offers a really good costumer service (shoutout to Jake for that!), and he is one
of the few people that really tries to keep in touch with the community about their products and their development!
 
Please people, appreciate that, appreciate that we are supporting one of our guys and he´s doing a damn good job about it! 
 
Have a nice day everyone! 

 

 

[Bobtrinity]

Received a defective set of PM4's. Both earpieces had bad threads and no filters would actually attach. Emailed Jake in November and was promised a replacement. Have yet to receive anything

And have you chased Jake?

 

[Midgetguy]

Was scrolling through the pics from the main page article by @ExpatinJapan and saw Trinity Audio was at the E-Earphone Headphone Show in Japan! Was it just the brand new Phantom series showcased or the entire range of Trinity products?
 
I wasn't there, just curious and good to see Trinity Audio showcasing at more events

 

 

[dafos58]

Received my Trinity Virus and must say I' m happy and amazed for the sound quality for this price!  Ruined one of the cables (I can do that very fast...). Wrote an e-mail to Jack, got answer within one day, they'll send me a replacement cable.
Got an e-mail today for the upgrade offer for the new Master, coming somewhere around March next year. After these first good experiences, it was easy to become weak again, also because of the wonderful price offer  (60 GBP). Trinity, nobody's perfect, but you are trying seriously and hard, thanks!

 

[originalsnuffy]

The Master looks wonderful. 
 
Guess I will have to let the forthcoming Atlas Delta (now early January apparently) tide me over until March or so.
 
Like others I wonder how you get any sleep with all the new product activity.

 

[Wyville]

I just got the Trinity Vyrus and am very impressed. I have very little experience with different IEMs and had only used the Shure se215 before getting these, but the difference is remarkable.
 
The Vyrus have a significantly bigger sound-stage and better separation. I use the gold filters with damper and have been able to get the perfect sound for me with my Sony A15 without using the equaliser. The Vyrus are also easier to drive, as I find myself using much lower volume levels.
 
I find myself surprised at the extra detail that the Vyrus retrieve compared to the Shures. I get tremendous joy from suddenly being able to place instruments at different places and feeling the layers build up in complex pieces. They even do admirably well resolving detail during Peer Gynt Suite No 1, Op 46 - IV (In the Hall of the Mountain King) where the dominant drums tend to overpower and blur into mush when I use the Shures. The Vyrus are able to restrain the bass a bit better and although not perfect, are able to prevent the complete mushiness.
 
The main issue I have now is that I suddenly have a much bigger variation in the quality of my files and need to change volume levels every time I change album. I guess this has to do with me ripping CDs to Apple lossless (ALAC) in iTunes and the wide variation in bit rates that result.

 

[Jackpot77]

For those that are interested, here is my initial take on the new Master model from the pre-production sample Bob has sent me recently. The impressions are a work in progress, and will be added to over the next few days and posted in Head Gear once done. Cheers!
 
Trinity Audio Phantom Master – initial impressions
 
I have been lucky enough to spend some time with a pre-production version of the new IEM (dubbed the “Master”), and have been asked to post up some rough impressions. This will be less in-depth (or wordy) than my usual reviews as this is basically still a work in progress, so this is just intended to be a general overview on the difference in sound between the Master and PM4, and an indication of the direction are heading in with their latest model – please take all the below observations with a healthy tablespoon of salt.
 
About me: been into music since I was old enough to walk, and now been into the audio gear scene for a couple of years. I’m in my late 30s, a long time rock music fan and aspiring to be a reasonably inept drummer. Listen to at least 2 hours of music a day on my commute to work – prefer IEMs for out and about, and a large pair of headphones when I have the house to myself and a glass in my hand. Converted most of my library to FLAC and 320kbps MP3, and do most of my other listening through Spotify or Tidal HiFi. I am a fan of rock, acoustic (apart from folk) and sarcasm. Oh yeah, and a small amount of electronica. Not a basshead, but I do love a sound with some body to it. All my reviews are based on my own perceptions and personal preferences, and your own ears may tell you a different story.
 
Build quality and ergonomics
 
The Master differs from the other models in the Trinity range in both shell-shape and build materials, with a shell that looks very similar to the recently announced Sagaris collaboration. The shape is crescent like, with the curved part fitting around the bub in the centre of the ear. The inner face of the IEMs is also contoured nicely to the inner shape of the ear, giving a very ergonomic fit, and is definitely an improvement for me on the previous Trinity shell designs. The shell on the production models will be made of injection moulded stainless steel, and held together with Torx screws with a coloured faceplate adorning the external facing side of the IEM. The overall look is pretty appealing, and gives various customisation options (the demo unit comes with a carbon fibre effect faceplate, for instance, although Trinity have listed a few of their usual colour choices for the pre-order so far).
 
One of the main talking points on this new IEM is the new cabling system Trinity are introducing, which is hard-wired into the  IEM shell with a sturdy rubber strain relief and a high quality Silver-Plated Copper cable covered in a ballistic nylon style fabric sheath. The cables run together at the Y-joint, which houses a female 3.5mm connector which allows the lower part of the cable to be swapped out for various other connector cables. The IEMs are fully balanced from the Y-joint up, which should allow an easy swap between single ended and balanced operation just by clicking the appropriate extension cable into the Y-connector. The connector is also designed to link with the upcoming 24-bit Bluetooth AMP/DAC module from Trinity when released, although no further information has been released on these yet.
Bob at Trinity has stated that these changes have been made to increase the durability of the join, and as the shells are now fully serviceable in design, this will allow Trinity to more effectively repair any issues that occur. They are obviously confident in the sturdiness of the new design, and while some cable believers or fans won’t be too enamoured of the change, the use of high quality SPC and the overall quality and rugged durability the design seems to give off have eased any concerns I may have had about this shift – time will tell, but these definitely look like they are built to deal with some serious daily abuse.
 
Sound quality
Test gear:
LG G5 (with HiFi Plus 32-bit Sabre DAC add-on)
Hifiman Supermini
Fiio X7 (with AM2 module)
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 (straight from the output jack) and with iFi iCan SE
Test tracks (mainly 320kbps MP3 or FLAC/Tidal HiFi):
Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats – S.O.B. / Wasting Time
Blackberry Smoke – The Whipporwill (album)
Slash – Shadow Life / Bad Rain (my reference tracks for bass impact and attack, guitar “crunch”)
James Bay – The Chaos & The Calm
Sister Hazel – Hello, It’s Me (bass tone)
Chris Stapleton – Whiskey And You
Elvis – various
Leon Bridges – Coming Home (album)
Foy Vance – The Wild Swan
Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (album)
Aerosmith – The Definitive Aerosmith
Mavis Staples – Livin’ On A High Note
Twin Atlantic – The Great Divide / GLA
The Darkness – Permission To Land
Led Zeppelin – Mothership
Shawn Mullins – Soul’s Core
Sammy Hagar & The Circle – At Your Convenience (live album for audience sounds)
 
General impressions on the sound signature
 
Compared to the Phantom Master 4 (henceforth referred to as the PM4), the Master has a less distant and fuller sounding presentation, with more body to the midrange and a more forward vocal sound. Bob has stated that he wanted to make the vocals more intimate on the Master, and in this he has succeeded, bringing the sound closer to the listener while still retaining a nice wide soundstage. In fact, compared to the staging of the PM4, which can feel like looking at a super-widescreen cinema screen from a few rows back, the Master feels almost as wide but much more immersive to me, with a better feeling of depth as a result. The new dual-coil driver that is being used in all new Trinity products also makes a difference here, bringing a fuller and slightly warmer tilt to the sound, which becomes most apparent in the transition from bass to mid-range. One other obvious obvious point of difference is the higher midrange and lower treble, with the “spike” that some listeners like myself experienced on the PM4 being pretty much eliminated, leaving the treble sounding clear and defined but without the shrillness that the PM4 was prone to on some of my normal test tracks. It isn’t a complete redefinition of the PM4 sound, but to my ears, definitely feels like a less polarising and more accomplished and enjoyable sound for my preferences.
 
Filter choices
 
The Filters provided by Bob and his team for the prototype model are the same as the existing filters on the PM4, so will correspond to the colour scheme used on that model, with purple being the most treble-heavy and silver providing the most bass. For brevity, I have tested out a few filters and the changes in sound are pretty much as expected, so I won’t go through all of them in detail. I settled on either the Silver undamped (most sub and mid-bass, reasonable treble extension) or gold filters (damped and undamped – slightly less bass, a little north of neutral overall with good clarity and sparkle in the treble) as my filters of preference for the below observations, so please bear that in mind.
 
Highs
 
Running some Slash and Myles Kennedy through the Master, the treble sounds crunchy but not overly sharp, with none of the trouble spots or hotness I experienced with the PM4. The slightly fuller presentation lends itself well to the treble, with a nice sense of “sparkle” to the high ranges with just enough smoothness to keep the high notes inside the lines of acceptability. “Starlight” and “Shadow Life” both sing beautifully, with Kennedy’s raspy falsetto coming across very well. Putting Chris Stapleton into rotation in my search for sibilance, “Whiskey And You” comes across well again, with the gravelly chorus that kicks in about the 1m40s mark being dealt with without the ear-shredding harshness I have experienced using some of the PM4 filters. That isn’t to say that the treble is dull or rolled off, with plenty of space and definition apparent in the sound, but this is a definite improvement to me, and I think will bring the new Master more into line with a wider audience in terms of versatility with the filters. If you like a treble rapier, you can still crack out the purple undamped filter and set about your eardrums with abandon, but now the sound is well-behaved enough not to take out half the glass in the neighbourhood in the process (just joking, Bob!). In terms of percussion and cymbal sounds, there is a nice fizz to proceedings, but the sound isn’t quite as pronounced as on the PM4, with the crashes decaying naturally and providing a nice accent to the underlying drumbeats on the track rather than jumping to the forefront. Again, this can be brought more into focus by switching up into the more treble-heavy filters if needed at the expense of some lower end.
 
Mids
 
This is another area of improvement for me, with a more organic and slightly warmer baseline tuning, and a more forward sound that lets you immerse yourself more fully in the music rather than standing back and observing it from a distance. Listening to more Stapleton, his whisky soaked voice sounds great, oozing with character and keeping plenty of bite while still slipping down the listener’s ear like the Whiskey he so often sings about. There is a fullness to the sound that was missing from the PM4, with the main body of guitar riffs carrying a little more substance without feeling particularly syrupy or bloated. Switching to some old-school Def Leppard (I’m on an 80’s kick at the moment), the well-mastered Hysteria album sounds absolutely fantastic, the twin guitar lines chugging away nicely with a very nice sense of texture. Listening to more rock music, “Everybody Knows She’s Mine” carries a nice weight, with the honky tonk piano accenting the main riff nicely and the quad driver setup providing plenty of clarity and separation when the acoustic guitar line kicks in over the top of the main riff at the 20 second mark. Acoustic guitars are very well handled by the driver setup here, actually, with a very engaging and musical presentation and nice detailing on the guitar strums. Detail levels through the mid and treble ranges are worth mentioning here, with plenty of micro-detail apparent in small “room sounds” in the background, and scuffs as fingers hit guitar strings on acoustic music. This doesn’t feel quite as emphasised as the presentation of the PM4, but that feels in part to me due to the extra weight of the notes compared to the colder and more clinical tuning of the PM4 in these frequency bands.
 
Electronica sounds good through these too (a strength of the “widescreen” presentation of the PM4), with a staging that isn’t quite as far outside the head, but not suffering overly for me as a result. “Go” by The Chemical Brothers is a nice example, with the rapped vocal running through the middle of the track playing nicely off the hi-hat in the background and the swooping synths adding plenty of euphoric sounds to the chorus, like all good dance music should.
 
Bass
 
This is a more difficult section to call in comparison to the PM4, with the silver filters still providing plenty of bass, but feeling more balanced overall due to the warmer and fuller midrange. The “ice cream headache” thrum to some bass-heavy tracks is better controlled on the Master than the PM4, with a nice weight to the sub-bass that shows its head when called on (“Heaven” by Emile Sande is a good example, with plenty of rumble to accentuate the kick of the bass drum). Percussion is well handled, with plenty of dynamic driver punch to the sound, and a nice feel of physicality to the bass drum impacts.
 
Switching to some Sister Hazel, “Hello, It’s Me” sounds suitably full and raspy, the liquid bassline filling up the track like a well poured milkshake, adding a nice underpin to the crunchy guitar and the singer’s unique voice without bleeding or overshadowing the midrange. Control is apparent with other tracks as well, with the push/pull driver configuration doing well at keeping all the moving parts well-separated. Overall, it feels a little less “bassy” on the heavy duty filters than the PM4, but that in part is due to the fuller body and more controlled treble rather than an lack of bass volume, with the sound having a nicer sense of balance as a result rather than the more extreme PM4.
 
Soundstage/separation
 
The soundtage on the Master is wide, and extends out of the head reasonably well in both directions. The big difference for me over the PM4 is the better perception of depth to the sound that the Master provides due to pulling the midrange closer to the listener, with a more 3D feel to tracks. To be fair, this isn’t the best IEM I have heard in this price bracket for 3D presentation (that honour goes to the LZ-A4 at the moment), but there is a better feel of being “in the music” with the Master, as compared to “watching the music on a huge screen in the distance” that keeps coming to mind when I think of the PM4 (or listen to it).
 
Separation is good for this price bracket, with the quad driver setup being able to handle multiple instruments with relative ease, and keeping a high level of clarity between competing guitar lines or synth sounds when called for.
 
Power requirements
 
The Master appears to be a more power-hungry IEM than the PM4 – while I can still drive it very well from my mobile phone, it requires a little more juice than my PM4 to attain the same volume. Amping won’t be a requirement for these IEMs, but it does behave very nicely with my Fiio X7 on high gain (AM2), so extra juice definitely doesn’t hurt.
 
Comparisons
LZ-A4 – coming soon
Phantom Master 4 – coming soon
Ibasso IT03 – coming soon
 
Overall conclusions
 
This is the first “development” IEM I have had the privilege of hearing, and to my ears this is a definite evolution of the Trinity house sound. This won’t appeal to everyone, but the beauty of Trinity’s IEM range is the tuning flexibility that the filter system offers – as stated, I have only heard these through the current 7 filter system, so there will most likely be more filters provided with the production models to allow for further flexibility on the sound. For me, these take the main issues I have with the PM4 sound (shrillness in certain frequency bands that hits my specific “hotspots” and a flatness to the soundstage due to the extreme spaciousness that I didn’t think fitted brilliantly with my mainly guitar-based music collection) and have improved on both aspects quite considerably for me. The sound is full, technically adept and detailed, with good separation and an immersive and 3D feel. For my money, this is a definite step forward, and far more enjoyable for my preferences than the PM4. The PM4 will still have its own band of hardcore fans who love its unique qualities, but I would have no hesitation recommending the Master to a broader slice of the Head-Fi listening base as a well-tuned, engaging and beautiful looking piece of audio gear. The cabling system will stand or fall on its own merits over time, but for me, it feels and looks fit for purpose, and I am looking forward to the extra flexibility it will bring with my balanced sources. I think this is the IEM that the PM4 could have been, and definitely an IEM that will find a place with many fans of the Trinity sound that Bob and his team have been evolving. I very much look forward to hearing the final production version of these!

 

[Midgetguy]

  For those that are interested, here is my initial take on the new Master model from the pre-production sample Bob has sent me recently. The impressions are a work in progress, and will be added to over the next few days and posted in Head Gear once done. Cheers!
 
Trinity Audio Phantom Master 4 – initial impressions

Was this title a mistype @Jackpot77? I thought that this prototype you were testing was the Phantom Master, not the Phantom Master 4.

 

[Jackpot77]

Was this title a mistype @Jackpot77
? I thought that this prototype you were testing was the Phantom Master, not the Phantom Master 4.

Good spot - started writing the nod up when I didn't know what model I had from Bob, and before he made the announcements on here and his website. Will edit my post when I'm at my PC.

 

[LennyPenny]

The e-mail containing my tradeup discount code just changed itself and turned into a generic merry Christmas thing (I didn't note down the code as I didn't expect something like this to ever happen). Anyone experienced the same thing? 

 

[Midgetguy]

  The e-mail containing my tradeup discount code just changed itself and turned into a generic merry Christmas thing (I didn't note down the code as I didn't expect something like this to ever happen). Anyone experienced the same thing? 

Perhaps your email client is stacking the messages from Trinity Audio conversation style so since the Christmas greeting was the most recent thing from them, that's what you're seeing. You should be able to expand previous messages from Trinity Audio and find your trade-up code. I don't have a similar problem and I'm using outlook.com FYI.