Well, they arrived a day later than expected, but nonetheless since I feel greatly indebted to this great community on Head-Fi (and especially to 64 Audio for the giveaway)...
An Unboxing & Initial Impressions on the 64 Audio tia Trió
(Full review of both Trió and my A8 IEMs hopefully to come soon!)
Ah, nothing quite beats the crinkle of freshly sealed packaging, except maybe a slick box that would line up on a shelf at any Apple Store quite nicely.
The soft-touch matte finish with glossy images and logos on both the jacket and magnetically-clasped box ooze attention to detail.
A beautiful array of all the goods, plus a nice bit of light reading in a foreword from Vitaliy. Classy and clean.
Prying our way through everything nestled in the foam, one by one... Ah, who are we kidding! Let's get right to the main event!
A little macro goodness showing off the faceplate detailing. A subtle etched pattern that's a little shy unless the light is just right. Penny for (size, not cost) scale.
A couple angles on the deep black aluminum shells. Back-vented dynamic driver and integrated apex M15 ports visible. They feel heavy enough to be expensive, yet light enough to disappear in your ears.
A little peek at the not-so-secret sauce: in-bore tia drivers. The much more secret sauce (dynamic driver/FXC) is hidden somewhere behind those inky faceplates.
Some details on the premium cable. Certainly an aesthetic upgrade over the stock silver-plated oxygen-free copper one, although the sound is supposedly identical.
Welcome to the family!
If you've made it this far, as for sound impressions, these IEMs are incredible. Although I'd like to have more points for comparison, my instinct says I wouldn't find anything that would fit my personal taste quite as well as the Trió. As fate would have it, the contacts on my only remaining 6.3mm to 3.5mm adapter jack decided to wear out specifically for today, so I've had to forego the tried and true Schiit Stack and have been humbled to the status of audiophile peasant with my iPhone tonight. For what it's worth, these have a decidedly musical U-shaped signature with elevated sub-bass and a lift up top for clarity. Rumbly, punchy, visceral bass with a decay and tone that balanced armatures can't ever seem to replicate. Effortless clean mids for great presentation of vocals and guitars that brave the thunder from down under and manage to hold their own. All this plus the smoothest treble I've ever heard, with sparkle that my brain says should be fatiguing from my experience with the V6-Stage of old, but somehow by some sorcery remains fluid and pleasant. The soundstage is spacious, timbre uncannily accurate, and I'm already noticing nuances in my music I haven't heard before. 64 Audio has definitely crafted a masterpiece here. (I might even go as far as to say a listen to these might just be worth a ticket to NAMM this weekend...)
That's all for now, but if I'm one of the few to be privileged enough to have their hands on the Trió as I suspect, feel free to fire away with questions! It's the least I could do for this community and company that have been so great to me over the years.
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