[PhonoPhi]

In three years, the QDC Anole VX will sound like a child’s toy compared to the CCA C46 retailing at $34.99.

Exactly!
Then my simple plan is just to enjoy the progress with CCA (in my case) ore one or two of your favourite companies
Instead of hard quesr for the progress, the progress comes to you naturally - a suitable way (Dao) for ChiFi

 

[SciOC]

Agree. It's a hobby. And as such, enjoyment is not tethered to price. You can find enjoyment anywhere, at whatever pricepoint you are comfortable spending on.

I would say that going for something like Westones is a great investment ESPECIALLY for professional use. If anything, higher price tiers provide a more lifelike tonality, natural sound. There are, however, mid-fi options that according to some, including Steve Guttenberg, put other thousands of dollars IEMs to shame like the Fiio FH5 (or FH7). Haven't tried both. But past $100, I'd go for an over-ear. Not so much of an IEM guy to be honest.

But since this is the TRN thread, I'd recommend the IM2 or a V90 any day. Haha!

V90 is definitely the value leader IMO. The blon bl-03 it's getting too much love in my opinion when the v90 is now almost the same price and IMO better. If the bqeyz bq3 was a little lower price I would pick that over the v90.

I can't agree with over the ear recommendations though. The multi driver setup of IEMs clearly presents a detail and imaging upgrade compared to over the ear sets. To my hearing, I also get much stronger bass from IEMs and greater dynamic range. I think my hearing may be a bit unusual with regards to this, as almost everyone else reports hearing bigger/better staging from over the ears sets (open or closed). To my ears, IEMs win here too, but I'm guessing that's anatomically specific to me.

The last jump I tried to do back into over the ear sets, the mrspeakers ether CX was a big waste of money. They sounded good, but clearly inferior to IEMs at less than half their price like the ibasso it04 and fearless s8f., And completely inferior to the similarly price RHA cl2. If I still owned them them, I'd gladly listen to any number of <$50 IEMs over them.

 

[audiophilefan]

V90 is definitely the value leader IMO. The blon bl-03 it's getting too much love in my opinion when the v90 is now almost the same price and IMO better. If the bqeyz bq3 was a little lower price I would pick that over the v90.

I can't agree with over the ear recommendations though. The multi driver setup of IEMs clearly presents a detail and imaging upgrade compared to over the ear sets. To my hearing, I also get much stronger bass from IEMs and greater dynamic range. I think my hearing may be a bit unusual with regards to this, as almost everyone else reports hearing bigger/better staging from over the ears sets (open or closed). To my ears, IEMs win here too, but I'm guessing that's anatomically specific to me.

The last jump I tried to do back into over the ear sets, the mrspeakers ether CX was a big waste of money. They sounded good, but clearly inferior to IEMs at less than half their price like the ibasso it04 and fearless s8f., And completely inferior to the similarly price RHA cl2. If I still owned them them, I'd gladly listen to any number of <$50 IEMs over them.

That's alright. Goes down to personal preference. If I had $200, I'd still pick an over-ear, any day all day, open or closed. And yes, it's also anatomical.

Also, isolation. Isolation is an IEM's blessing or curse. You could argue to be hearing more but to some people, including me, it's uncomfortable having something stuck deep inside your ear all the time. Plus, we naturally hear open, where sound is coming from the outside so it can be processed by the outer ear first, etc., reason why I think open-back over ears sound the most natural.

Well, whatever one prefers is the best for him or her. Undeniably, there are both great in-ears and over-ears all over.

BUT, since this is the TRN thread, plus one on the V90 being better designed (yes, including looks) than the BLONs. Haha!

 

[Assimilator702]

I couldn't wait for the sale and enjoy the V90 few days now. For that price they are simply luxurious! Very comfortable shell that does not stand out from the ears and you can sleep on them if you want. I never paid attention to color, but it's one of the little things that caught my eye on them. Navy blue is in artificial light rather purple, but in daylight is dark blue as in the photos, I like such magic. Definitely deserves a better cable, while stock is usable as well, but with silver-plated cable will excel some details. They play very loud enough, have drive and energy like the Tiandirenhe TD1, but thanks to the well tuned BA's, they have better mids resolution and treble details. Mids are not suppressed like on the V80, but higher mids sometimes sounds little bit agresive to me, they probably still need some time to burn in. Bass and sub bass looks the same like on V80 by my graph, but actually V90 sounds a little more pronounced and interesting in the ears. They still do not reach the TD1 level, I do not think only in terms of power but of their quality. On the other hand, the V90s have other advantages, I love them both. And the V80? They certainly won't end up in a drawer, I still like their sound for some genres, like some electronic music.

It’s not worth waiting for a $40 iem. You’ll save $3 maybe. Now on a $130 set it’s worth it for the 20 to 30% savings. I’m snagging a TFZ King 2019 Edition for $100 maybe even less if I get lucky. I might toss in a TRN BA5. I waited this long so one more week won’t kill me.

 

[Ocelitgol]

Shameless advertise - TRN BT20S (MMCX + 0.78mm) for sale
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/wts-ny-radsone-es100-trn-bt20s-free-iem.917284/

 

[nihontoman]

no one tried the ba5 yet?

 

[yorosello]

Is it not better to wait than to not get it at all? That cable arrived 9 days after I ordered it. Is that so bad?

Maybe that was in your case. Usually shipping to my country took almost a month to arrive. Our custom is damn slow too

 

[zachmal]

It’s not worth waiting for a $40 iem. You’ll save $3 maybe. Now on a $130 set it’s worth it for the 20 to 30% savings. I’m snagging a TFZ King 2019 Edition for $100 maybe even less if I get lucky. I might toss in a TRN BA5. I waited this long so one more week won’t kill me.

don't forget the coupons from the aliexpress app !

there you can exchange 10 USD (?) and 2 USD coupons against coins and those stack & win additional ones

so it's not just the (rather small at times) reduction of the regular price.

On topic:

I *really* hope someone gets to post some experiences on the TRN BA5 before 11:11

there's one confirmed purchase and successful reception but feedback is just "best shop on aliexpress" *facepalm *

 

[courierdriver]

I found a perfect cable to compliment the color of the V90. Like you said, in some lighting it has a purplish tone. It does not have earhooks but it lies nicely over the ear for me. So soft.

As you can see in my photos the cable and the iem do vary in color depending on the light. Very luxurious.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33055425862.html

Cable and iem combo looks absolutely beautiful, mb!

 

[courierdriver]

Is it not better to wait than to not get it at all? That cable arrived 9 days after I ordered it. Is that so bad?

I agree. Let's face it...even if it takes 15-30 days to arrive, if you saved alot of money to get the item but it takes a bit longer to get there, isn't it worth it? I look at it this way: gear is not a necessity. It's not food or shelter or clothing for yourself or your kids (if you have any). Gear is a luxury. If I am fortunate enough to be able to treat myself to something, I don't NEED it in 2 days. I'm not gonna die or spontaneously combust because I ain't got that new thing right away. I survived without it for the past 52 years of my life...waiting 2-4 weeks (or more, if need be) really won't kill me.

 

[courierdriver]

It’s not worth waiting for a $40 iem. You’ll save $3 maybe. Now on a $130 set it’s worth it for the 20 to 30% savings. I’m snagging a TFZ King 2019 Edition for $100 maybe even less if I get lucky. I might toss in a TRN BA5. I waited this long so one more week won’t kill me.

That's the best attitude to have. Life is full of compromises but if you can get what you want for the price you are willing to pay, then who needs the extra cost of super fast overnight or 2 day delivery? You have survived without it so far...what's a few extra days or weeks?

 

[zachmal]

First feedback from amazon.co.jp is up for the TRN BA5:

https://www.amazon.co.jp/product-reviews/B07ZHZJR6Q

Considering the earphones with eight baas on one side and as many as 16 BA in both, it's a surprise.
If you think that the sound is cheap, "Eh? I was surprised at the glossy singing voice.
I think earphones and speakers are musical instruments, so I don't need to be super realistic with the original sound, and I think it's whether I like the sound I can hear or it suits me.
I like this earphone.
Before I knew it, I was listening to the songs I was used to listening to one after another.
I think that it is a good earphone which is not a high-resolution relying on the numerical value.

translated via https://www.bing.com/translator

 

[durwood]

Agree. It's a hobby. And as such, enjoyment is not tethered to price. You can find enjoyment anywhere, at whatever pricepoint you are comfortable spending on.
...

But since this is the TRN thread, I'd recommend the IM2 or a V90 any day. Haha!

Yeah, the TRN V90 is definitely a recommendation for 2019 for me, and totally agree with the pricepoint comments. The 100-150 price range is only marginal improvements and I have to think longer about picking a few of those models which is not a bad thing. I've zoned in on my preferred signature over the 2 years...yikes.

IM2 didn't get much attention, it is definitely a different breed, a studio monitor type sound. Decided it should get some time in the spotlight, review coming soon to Otto Motors blog. TRN V90 coming even sooner...

Anybody got a lead on wide bore tips that fit the TRN models? They have smaller nozzles than anything else I own that has widebores. They tend to run smaller than the KZ lineup too.

 

[martiniCZ]

The IM2 is very good choice for half the price of the V90, but the V90 is much livelier, brighter with more detail across whole spectrum. The V90 need to get a little warm up, out of the box I was a little confused about their sound and tried constantly change the eartips, but after few days I ended up with the stock M size anyway. For me, the V90 is simply more musical, has clearer vocals, and I find it better for everyday listening than IM2. But that doesn't mean they're IM2 bad, they come a little darker and someone likes that way. I used a KZ widebore "turbine" eartips with an o-ring just on IM2, it sounded great there and it works on V90 as well.

 

[audiophilefan]

Yeah, the TRN V90 is definitely a recommendation for 2019 for me, and totally agree with the pricepoint comments. The 100-150 price range is only marginal improvements and I have to think longer about picking a few of those models which is not a bad thing. I've zoned in on my preferred signature over the 2 years...yikes.

IM2 didn't get much attention, it is definitely a different breed, a studio monitor type sound. Decided it should get some time in the spotlight, review coming soon to Otto Motors blog. TRN V90 coming even sooner...

Anybody got a lead on wide bore tips that fit the TRN models? They have smaller nozzles than anything else I own that has widebores. They tend to run smaller than the KZ lineup too.

No idea but I'd be interested in wide bore tips too. Thanks for asking!