When I first searched about the hifi products years ago I was blown away with the options. The numbers of the drivers that hybrid IEM’s had a was making my head spin. Before I started this hoby I only knew about some high end options but after getting bombarded by multi driver setups of Chi-Fi options I started to realixe that the numbers were mostly for marketing. Actual amount of drivers that an IEM has doesnt always reflects the true quality of the IEM. Today’s guest TRN TA1 is a great example of this.
Before gettin into TA1 lets get to know TRN first; it’s a budget to mid fı Chi-fi audio gear manufacturerer from your friendly neighborhood shenzen. They have a similar approach to the audio gear as KZ or CCA. But have a more variety on tuning options. They dont always follow a signature tuning. Which is a good thing.
This IEM was offered to us by HiFiGo. They didn’t offer any kind of payment for it’s review. The opinions in this review are my own.
On to the TA1
TRN TA1 is a hybrid option from the company. It has a titanium dynamic driver and a knowles balanced armature driver. It costs less than 40$ which is very interesting.
Normally the hybrid setups in this price range would have more affordable Bellsing BA drivers. But knowles drivers are higher quaity and have more detailed sound characteristics.
Unboxing and presentation
Its a tad better than other options in this price range. From the box you are getting 2 sets of silicon eartips, a pair of mid size foam tips. Also a 4 core spc cable with mmcx connectors. There are no cases or pouches offered.
Design and the fit
These IEM’s have a design similar to Sony’s IER Z1R’s. They have polished magnesium alloy housings. They are not that heavy but you can feel the heft of the metal. İt has a short nozzle that allows only for shallow fit. So there are not much sound isolation in here. But the comfort is ok. It doesn’t causes any fatique. As long as you dont try to shove them deep in your ear canal.
Sound characteristics and quality
TA1 has a mid focused relaxed tuning that works best for instrumental music and with J-pop on the right sources.
Bass ; its provided by a titanium dynamic driver. Its very detailed and very fast. Definetly better than most of the other options out there with exception of Blon products. Bass is very detailed yet doesn’t have the quantaty that most of the other options in this price range.
Mids; the star of this IEM is the mid quality that you are getting from Knowles BA. İts very smooth, detailed and organic. İt doesnt have that tinny nature of cheaper options. And having this mid quality in this price range is great. Lower mids have a slight recession but still prominent in the mix.
Treble; treble is where things get tricky. Its still great but occasionally gets very hot. This happens in two cases; either the song that you are listening has treble notes that overlaps directly with the peak points of treble tuning in this IEM or you couldn’t get a solid seal on the ear canal. With a good seal you should have great treble quality. For the song related treble hotness you can use the foam tip that company provides; they should smoothen out the treble.
Soundstage and imaging
TA1 has a moderate level soundstage but have excellent layering and instrument seperation quality. Overall atmosphere it creates is a very open and airy headstage with vocal and mid focused tuning.
Pairing options
It performs greatly on a smartphone, but a more powerful source will always give you more detail. Just make sure the source that you are using is a warm or neutral one. A bright source would probably create problems with the hot treble of this IEM.
Concluison
For just under 40$ what you are getting from TA1 is very interesting. It has great bass quality, very smooth organic mids and great treble. This mid focused sound signature also something that you cant get anywhere else with the exception of Moondrop SSR. It performs great with instrumental and vocal focused genres. Its a little bit dry for electronic music but with some boost to the bass area or with a more powerful source it will please most people. The only problem it has is the loose fit and occasional hotness in treble area. And the solution for that issue is already offered in the box. With a pair of foam tips you should have no problems with this interesting offering from TRN.
If you are interested in a more electronic music focused option Blon Bl Mini has a polar opposite tuning of this model. You can check out the review of bl mini down below. If you are interested in a more laidback mid focused option than you can check out Moondrop SSR.
For further shopping you can use the link down below.
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