Tin HiFi, the brand based out of China is a well renowned brand among the audiophiles for its amazing audio products. The team has their In House sound signature which one can hear via the older products like the T2, T4 etc.. The planar driver earphones still follow their in house curve while the budget products from Tin HiFi are turning towards general consumer oriented sound signature to capture the budget market.
The T3 Plus is an example for the success and to continue their strike in the budget market they have launched this T1S as a successor to the T1 Plus and in this review let’s check out how good this is in the current times.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Configuration: Beryllium Plated Diaphragm dynamic driver
Pin Type: 0.78mm 2 PIN
Colors: White, pink, black, and green
Table of Contents
DESIGN AND FIT:
The whole construction is made out of plastic but well built with nice sturdy finish overall. The body is transparent which allows the components to be seen via the naked eye while the faceplate is coloured to give a style to the IEM.
The QDC connector feels sturdy but can feel the tightness while inserting the cable. The stock cable is good and it’s a silver plated cable. The braiding feels good but definitely not to the level of premium. The cable feels neither soft nor hard on hands, rather it’s ok in terms of supple nature.
The provided stock tips does provide nice seal and isolation overall hence the after market tips are not required for the most part.
SOUND:
The sound profile of this product is more on the balanced side which is pretty interesting since most of the budget products do have that traditional V shaped sound. Initially I thought that this product was going to have that mediocre v shaped sound with a more warmish tone but the T1S really surprised me in that aspect.
The overall tonality of this product is pretty smooth and balanced accompanying the overall signature too. The bass is on the heavier side while the midrange and the treble are on the balanced aspect. Technicalities being on the above average side, this really brings up some heat to this budget competition. Let’s discuss the sound in detail in the following sections.
BASS:
The bass in the T1S is pretty prominent and the most instantly striking feature during your initial listening periods. The amount of the bass here in the T1S is more on the pronounced side. The mid bass takes up the center stage hence the sub bass might feel weaker in presence. The quality is pretty good too and I will see in detail.
SUB BASS: It’s good but due to that bigger mid bass presence the sub bass gets lost in the background most of the time. The bass being bigger, lost its track on the control aspect. The sub bass reaches deep enough and creates some good rumbles but their presence gets masked by the mid bass.
MID BASS: The mid bass section is bigger and thicker but lacks the impact. The mid bass feels loose hence the impact it creates is pretty small. The loose mid bass also lead to that noticeable mid bass bleed hence they sound not that great in terms of separation. The bass does sound good in the simpler tracks but when the tracks get complicated with more background bass drops they struggle in terms of separation.
Despite the usage of the Beryllium coated diaphragm the bass they delivered is of mediocre quality. The beryllium bass usually tends to be more precise with more tightness while the T1s is not that great in terms of above mentioned aspects. The speed is on the slower side thus helps in those nice sub bass rumbles.
Overall the bass is thicker, bigger and bodied while lacking on the technical aspects like the control, separation and impact. The beryllium can be used to reach its full potential but here they have failed as per my testing.
MID RANGE:
The mid range is the more positive aspect in this T1s especially the tonality. Despite that bigger bass presence the tonality felt more balanced and smooth, more pleasing to listen to in simple terms.
The lower mid range has that nice full bodied sound that got carried along from the bigger bass presence. The lower mid section feels fuller and the male vocals have that nice richness. The piano notes and the kick drums have a nice fuller sound but lacks the impact though.
The upper midrange section feels very pleasing to listen to. They are not that accentuated but still able to deliver that soothing sound overall. The harshness is avoided at all costs in the upper mid section hence the guitar strings do sound absolutely fantastic.
The tonality is pretty balanced with smoother edges. The timbre of the instruments felt natural and that’s expected from a single dynamic driver. The instrument separation in the mid section felt nice and wide since the staging is pretty big in terms of both the dimensions.
The detail retrieval in the mid section is brought out well and felt above average. The minute background instruments are brought out nicely without any congestion or hindrance. The vocals are placed at an appropriate position which never felt too forward nor very backward.
TREBLE:
The treble section is inoffensive here where they are controlled in all aspects and even in extension. The extension that they possess in the treble section is moderate hence the detail retrieval in the treble section cant be expected that much but the overall presentation felt clean and smoother.
The cymbal crashes, electric guitar strings and the trumpets do sound good but lacks the splash and shimmer. The attack and decay are pretty precise in terms of timing but lack the brightness factor. The bigger mid bass section and the smoother mid section made the treble to sound less brighter hence the instruments in this section got hindered behind the darkness.
The brilliance and the shimmer in the top end is pretty restricted thus the brightness is much reduced with a darker background. The sibilance is kept under control hence no sort of harshness is observed during my testing.
TECHNICALITIES:
STAGING: The staging is pretty big in terms of width and has a good sense of depth since the bass is bigger. The whole presentation felt pretty grandeur without any noticeable constriction. The instruments are nicely placed with a good amount of space in between them thus the presence of air felt nice.
IMAGING AND LAYERING: Imaging is done pretty neat with nice transient response over the channels. The instruments are neatly laid out hence one can easily spot out the instruments without any confusion. The notes at different depths are captured out precisely and the instruments behind them are layered out very well.
The detail retrieval and the separation are above average in this price range. The treble is not that extended hence the details are moderate at best while in the mid section the separation felt neat and clean. The separation in the bass section however felt congested due to that uncontrolled mid bass section.
VERDICT:
T1S, the latest budget offering from the house of Tin HiFi is a well made product with a very good intention of bringing out a nice balanced sounding one. The brand has a well expertise in the audio industry and has their own line of successful products like the T3 Plus etc. When comes to budget offering only few brands are able to catch up the competition since the people’s demands are expensive to meet within a single budget product. The T3 Plus is one of the rare gem which was able to meet the requirements. If you ask about the T1S, does it meet the criteria? Well it’s a yes/no situation here.
First of all, the build is great with a nice transparent body and a coloured faceplate. They feel pretty lightweight and comfortable to wear. The QDC connector is a downside though but despite that the connection feels sturdier. The stock cable is fine but could have been better. The stock tips do provide nice isolation and seal.
Second, when coming to the sound aspect they do tick most of the boxes but misses out on some, especially like the bass region. They have mastered the tonality, smoothness and an overall pleasing listen in the budget range via this T1S and a very good upgrade over the T1. The midrange felt lively and engaging while the treble felt smoother yet detailed enough. The worry aspect is the bass where the impact is lacking. Despite the use of beryllium they haven’t unlocked the full potential of it seems. Their bass quantity is bigger and bodied while the control, impact and the separation is pretty mediocre.
The brightness is another factor which is lacking in the T1S due to that bigger bass. The whole presentation is presented in a darker background which is good for bedtime listening but it would have been better if the brightness was there.
Overall the T1S is a very good product with one of the best tonal packages, smoother signature and bigger bass. This is a perfect choice if you already fell in love with products like iBasso IT00 etc. Person who loves the darker background with smoother sound will love the T1S for sure since this is one of the best “TONAL PACKAGE” with smoother sound presentation.
PROS AND CONS:
Pros:
- Balanced and Smooth Signature
- Tonality and Vocal Presence
- Controlled Treble
- Bigger Bass
- Staging
Cons:
- Non Impact Bass (quantity > quality)
- Dark Background
This Review is Written By KATHIRAVAN.C
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I’m Kathiravan from Tamilnadu. A budding audiophile here with high love towards music and audio equipment. My first experience of enjoying the hifi audio came when I started to use budget chi-fi gears and now it came all along the way of reviewing the gears with high end stuffs. I love reviewing audio products.
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