Tin HiFi T2 Evo: The Successor to the T2?
Review written by @Fc-Construct
Review unit on provided by Linsoul
Introduction
Three years ago, the Tin Audio made a splash on the budget ChiFi space with the release of the Tin T2. It holds a special place in my heart as the IEM that really got me into this hobby, having bought it off the Aliexpress spring sale before it was too widely known. What distinguished the T2 from other budget IEMs at the time was its relatively well-tuned, neutral-bright sound. With the help of a few glowing reviews, the T2 exploded in popularity and made Tin Audio (now rebranded to Tin HiFi) a recognizable name in the budget space.
But that was three years ago. The success of the T2 has seemingly prompted a shift and re-focus in the budget IEM landscape. Nowadays, the market is full of well-tuned IEMs and differentiating your product from another becomes the challenge. Faced with the new reality of a highly competitive IEM scene, Tin HiFi’s latest attempt at reclaiming their position is through the $60 Tin HiFi T2 Evo. The question is: will it make as big of an impression as the T2, or will it be another soon-to-be forgotten product?
Build
Unlike the original T2, the T2 Evo sports a single 10 mm dynamic driver. Other than that, it’s effectively the same from a build quality standpoint. It uses the same bullet-style shells as the T2, with the difference being an aesthetic blue and red marking to denote the left and right pieces respectively.
The accessories are a little different from the T2 I had, with the most notable difference being the tips. Instead of the gray, wide-bore silicon tips, the T2 Evo comes with 6 pairs of soft white SpinFit-like tips. As usual, the classic blue T2 foam tips are included. Finally, there’s a generic black velvet carrying case. As for the cable, it’s the same MMCX cable that came with the T2 but has pre-molded earhooks. I wish they included the T2 Plus’ cable instead as that one is far superior.
In terms of fit, well it fits like the original T2. Which is to say, it’s comfortable enough for me but not the most ergonomic of IEMs. The pre-molded earhooks on the cable does mean that you’re forced to wear it over-ear. If you want to wear it cable down, you’ll have to buy a separate cable without the hooks.
Sound
At first glance, the T2 Evo seems to be your bog standard neutral-bright IEM but spend a minute with it and it starts getting weird . It sounds like if you were to describe the original T2 to someone who’s never heard it before and told them to take a step further in terms of raw energy. Vocals have a strange hollowness to it, there’s an excess of upper mids/lower treble that comes off strident, and the treble has a glassy sheen to it.
Frequency response of the Tin HiFi T2 Evo. Measurement taken with an IEC-711 clone microphone. Comparisons can only be made to other measurements taken by this specific microphone. The peak at about 8-9 kHz is an artifact of the measurement system. It likely does not actually exist as depicted here.
Bass
The bass is the most unremarkable part of the T2 Evo. It’s basically flat. Unlike the original T2, it does extend down to the lowest octaves pretty easily without rolling off. However due to the lack of bass elevation, the sensation of rumble is barely there. Bass is on the punchy side and feels light, quickly flitting on to the next note without emphasis on any one in particular. The bass takes a backseat to the rest of the sound.
Mids and Treble
The lower mids of the T2 Evo are like the bass: flat. The upper mids and treble are awkward. There isn’t really an easy way to describe this without referencing the graph here. It doesn’t look good. First, the vocals. Despite the Mount Everest of a peak at 5 kHz, vocal performance is mostly fine on the T2 Evo. Honestly, vocals track quite well in the mids until the 3 kHz mark where we then run into bigger problem of the excess lower treble energy past that point. This manifests as an obvious stridency with consonants like the “S” sound and more importantly, a sort of hollowness to the sound as certain upper harmonics are emphasized to the point where it overshadows vocal timbre. This contributes to that uncanny valley feeling I get with the T2 Evo. On the surface, it sounds almost right but something’s clearly wrong. Male vocals are less affected while female vocals tip into questionable territory.
While vocals are alright, instruments are not. In particular, electric guitars have way too much bite to them to the point where it actually starts to garble the screaming notes of the lead guitar. The crack of the snare can be overly highlighted, making it pop out unnaturally in the mix. Hats and cymbals are unbalanced. The initial hit tends towards a crashing sound instead of clean, crisp notes. This leads to a metallic, glassy sort of tone. Interestingly enough, the treble of the T2 Evo it isn’t painfully sharp like I would’ve expected. While there definitely some level of sibilance, the Sss sound is certainly hot but not stabbing. Upper extension is pretty good but its contribution to the overall sound is overshadowed by the overabundance of lower treble.
Presentation
The technical performance of the T2 Evo is middling for today’s market. Imaging is average and soundstage has a bit more width than normal. There’s also a smidgen of depth but it’s so little and imaging too constrained to really take advantage of it. Thus instrument layering is limited. Separation is good in the lower frequencies but once you get to the upper mids/lower treble transition, the stridency of that 5 kHz peak can make notes clash against each other.
Resolution is in-line with other budget IEMs for the price. Clarity is pretty good, but this is mostly because of all that upper mids energy. Like most IEMs, dynamics are unremarkable. Overall, the T2 Evo’s technical performance is adequate for the budget class but doesn’t strive for anything beyond that.
Comparison to the Tin HiFi T2:
Of course, the real question is how does it compare the T2? While the T2’s MSRP is $50, you can often find it for $35 or so. From a technical standpoint, I find it a step up in every department. To be honest, the T2 hasn’t aged all that well. It’s certainly still passable but standards are creeping higher and higher each year. One thing that stands out to me is that the T2’s drivers sound like they’re of lower quality; there’s a slight sense of graininess to the music that’s absent on the T2 Evo. That said, it’s very possible that the T2 Evo and T2 share the same 10 mm DD and all of this is in my head.
From a tuning perspective, it’s a bit of a coin toss. Now that I’m looking back, the T2’s tuning admittedly has a couple of flaws. The subbass rolls off, the mids are a bit bloated and muddy, and there’s a few sharp peaks in the treble. Vocal tone would be superb if it wasn’t for the lingering bloat in the mids. With the exception of the hats/cymbals, instruments sound natural. In contrast, the T2 Evo fixes these issues but introduces a number of its own. Subbass extension is introduced and there isn’t a hint of muddiness. Peakiness is reigned in. However these are replaced with the flaws discussed above, particularly with the stridency and compromised instrument timbre. This makes the T2 Evo a sidegrade rather than an upgrade.
Should You Buy It?
No. To be clear, I don’t hate the T2 Evo. Despite all my complaints, I don’t mind its sound and would take it over quite a number other budget IEMs I’ve heard in the past. But if you want a $60 IEM, I’d suggest the Tin T2 Plus over the T2 Evo. You can read my review here but the T2 Plus essentially has a better fit and cable, a much better (if generic) tuning, and marginally better technical performance. Other alternatives would be the Etymotic ER2 (if you can find it on sale) or MoonDrop Aria.
Here is where I have something to confess. I had a small hand in tuning this IEM. Tin HiFi sent me a couple prototype samples after I inquired about some of their upcoming products. Trust me when I say that this final version of the T2 Evo is absolutely the best. The previous ones had even MORE treble, if you can believe it. And that treble was painful. To Tin HiFi’s credit, they had taken my feedback to tame the treble but weren’t able to fully reign it in before release. If they were able to squash down that 5 kHz hump by about 5 dB it’d be much easier to recommend this IEM.
But this leads us to the second problem: even if the tuning was good, the technical performance of the T2 Evo isn’t anything notable. In such a highly competitive market, adequate doesn’t exactly get you much market share. It seems like Tin HiFi will have to rely on their brand power for sales on this one. Unfortunately the answer to the question posed in the introduction is that the T2 Evo will likely be another forgettable product, an attempt from a once recognized company to bring back its former glory that stumbled at the finish line.