hi i read (most) of this thread with great interest. thank you for making it! cool stuff! i’m an audio skinflint so searched for ages for some cheap iem’s. i wasnt expecting much but have actually be quite pleased with this purchase ( CSL - EP Power Bass Aluminium in ears heaphones NEW MODEL - Resistant aramid cable - Flexural protection - 10 mm transducer EP Bass ) . these perform better than my old “creative audio earphones”. better than these which are lovely looking, sound actually really good but suffer distortion on this track https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aEUakKMLBs “poor lonesome me” sometimes when the artist sings “poor” or “ohh” what should be raspy is not handled by the earphone and instead turns in to noticeable distortion. a real shame i really like the look and build quality of the sephia sp3060 but it distorts with difficult sounds and i HATE that. the next are these future sound lab fsl-zinc-zn30 these are really good and have good vocals which have some presence and are a bit forward in an engaging way which i really like however there is just a hint of distortion on the raspy bits of the test track which means i don’t really use them. but for certain music they might be ok. this leads to the final ones and winner of these 3 iems which i bought to replace the creative audio ones. as an aside they all outperform the creative audio ones which are old and came with a creative zen mp3 player 10yrs ago. so the final one and winner! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07G784R32/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 these guys. are really cheap. have a really comfortable fit for my ears after i got the right size silicone buds and to me sound great! i would characterize the fsl ones as having slight “presence” in the vocals but these i would say are “smooth and articulated” all have acceptable bass to me but im not a bass head. i suffer a little from tinnitus in the right ear and these csl ones dont set it off so that’s a huge plus! i haven’t tested the fsl ones enough to say on that issue yet. but suspect they don’t really but would do so earlier on certain tracks because of their slightly better mid/highs. all these are under £7 or $10us? and so can qualify as ultra cheap!!! 
there are similar ones like the csl ones on amazon but csl seems to be a larger company so i suspect that they have better quality control and in my case i have no complaints :-). so if you want some super cheap ones that i think are good (probably not as good as kz ones but these are less than 1/2 the price) and are solid and aluminum. 32ohm!!! (i much prefer 32ohm as i use for a laptop) then try these :-). p.s if anyone buys these and can make a frequency response graph of these earphones especially the fsl and csl ones that would be great!. anyway its a long rambling semi good review of three earphones. hope you enjoy!
Welcome. From one skinflint to another. Tightwads of the world unite! (providing it doesn’t cost anything)
TRN VX…
The VX name seems to be popular amongst Chinese brands for earphones. This is now the third VX-named product in the past couple years – the Moondrop VX earbuds, the qdc Anole VX, and now this, the TRN VX.
While the qdc Anole VX is the flagship and my favorite IEM on the market that I’ve tried so far and retails for over $2200 USD, this VX from TRN comes in at a much more budget-friendly price of around $75 USD and comes in black and green shell options.
The TRN VX was provided to me for review by Linsoul and can be found on the Linsoul site directly at http://www.linsoul.com.
The VX is a 7-driver hybrid featuring a single dynamic driver and six balance armature drivers. Like some other TRN IEMs I’ve tried in the past, the shell is a nice feeling metal design that also fits very cleanly and well in my ears without any pain or discomfort. The box is rather simple and only contains the standard TRN cable which isn’t really great, and a few tip options.
For this review, I opted to use the default silicone tips along with a 4.4mm cable made by Kinboofi. The connectors used on the VX are 2-pin 0.75mm style and is quite common and easily replaced.
Sound
Like many other TRN IEMs I have tried, the VX is somewhat of a V-shaped IEM with a brighter treble range. The VX itself is probably a bit more balanced and perhaps closer to a U-shape than other iterations.
In general, the VX has a nice tuning with a warm lower mid-range, bass that doesn’t overly muddy anything and is elevated but not too bloated, and a nice pinna gain, however its biggest flaw lies heavily in the treble region, where there’s a spike past 8KHz that can be rather sharp, fatiguing, and just unpleasant in music that has some emphasis there.
The problem definitely shows its ugly head in watching YouTube videos, especially ones where recordings are not well done, and likewise, shows up in poorly recorded music too. For the most part, it’s not noticeable in most rock music, but there are exceptions.
Song Selections
In Pearl Jam’s “Breath”, which appears in the fantastic early 90’s soundtrack, “Singles”, as well as later re-issue of Ten, the cymbal crashes have this tingy character to it that can have a sharp attack that can be abrasive. Unfortunately, that sound is scattered and littered throughout the entire track. Eddie Vedder’s powerful voice seems a little tamed down, and the basslines are missing a tad of power, but the VX does come across otherwise reasonably ok.
In “Kora”, a new track from GoGo Penguin, the VX seems to excel a bit more. Bass notes have good power and punch, while the drum hits have good weight to them. It’s a song that doesn’t focus too heavily on the cymbals which can be fatiguing, and really stays towards the lower end of the mid-range. Piano notes sound nice and generally accurate, and performs well in the VX.
A song with a more mixed result is “20 Years” by The Civil Wars. The guitar rifts by John Paul White sound really nice and full of detail, but the duet vocal of White and co-singer Joy Williams, are a bit too forward and there’s this edgy sibilance to many of their words that can be jarring.
A song that features a lot of hi-hat strikes that didn’t sound totally wrong was “Ceremony”, the first track from New Order, following the death of Ian Curtis and the end of their prior band, Joy Division. Stephen Morris’s constant drum attack doesn’t come across as fatiguing in this track for whatever reason, and Peter Hook’s melodic signature bass carries the song with authority. This is another track where I feel like the VX’s sound signature shines, though it still does sound a small bit on the bright side.
Overall
Name conventions aside, I think the VX is a modest IEM with an almost ideal warm balanced sound signature that is really broken by its upper treble sharpness. This, in some ways, ruins the tonality and smoothness on many songs I listen to, despite having a very pleasing sound signature, otherwise.
Just to answer any snarky questions in the future, the VX from TRN does not trump the VX from qdc. Not even close. They actually do sure some similarities in sound, but are miles apart in overall smoothness and technical performance.
The TRN VX is probably my favorite TRN IEM to date, and they seem to get better with each iteration, so I am hoping the next set cleans up the harsh treble that is inherent in each TRN set to date.
My newest in the price range, and I want to use these everyday.:
Also, have some other reviews up on the BL-05 and Tin Hifi T2 Plus.
I’m currently working on the KBEAR KS2 review, as well; which is bassy, but for $25 dollars… price to performance is out of this world.
here’s a quick update to my previous review. despite the CSL - EP Power Bass Aluminium in ears heaphones NEW MODEL being the overall best the https://www.amazon.co.uk/FSL-Earphones-Headphones-Portable-Gunmetal-Grey/dp/B00F61DLYU FSL Zinc Zn30 Earphones have really grown on me and after a few days listening i feel better able to draw comparisons between the two. the FSL Zinc Zn30 Earphones have a really engaging toe tapping quality to them that comes from their more pronounced mids and presence in the vocals. this presence is also present in strings like with spanish guitar which i quite like. hence i have found myself pulling them out whenever the music has strings, cymbals or any prominent tinkling or shimmering highs as these display them really well and make the track better to listen to. i would not say that the highs are too sharp but if the track is sharp they will show you and be fatiguing if the track is fatiguing. i do however really like these earphones and with a lot of modern music, jazz or strings they work well. i would say they do what the company says they do and are balanced monitors, but in my opinion they are fun!
now on to the https://www.amazon.co.uk/CSL-Aluminium-heaphones-protection-transducer-black-gold/dp/B07G784R32?ref_=ast_sto_dp CSL - EP Power Bass Aluminium in ears heaphones NEW MODEL. these are just a smidgen better overall and so are still the better earphones imo but they don’t have that toe tapping quality that the fsl ones do, or in not as great a quantity. however and this is why they are better imo. the bass is accentuated which means in comparison the mids and highs are subdued. this llows longer listening without any fatigue. i have slight tinnitus which i have to be careful of and these do not set it off and can be listened to for hours which is great! for certain types of music they are definitely better if the music has a lot of bass content as these will bring that out well but not boomy or ill defined.
both have good isolation but the fsl have more isolation than the csl. both have good quality construction for the price.
at the end of the day i am using the csl for online learning where they need to be worn for over 4hrs at a time, they would be good for commuting imo and music that has large amounts of bass or a long listening period. i am using the fsl for short listening periods with music that has highs and vocals being prominent.
really not bad for £12.00 for both imo
i hope this helps some other tightwad or skinflint out there
thank you! i salute you sir tightwad!
It’s always great to see people get so much pleasure from so little!!
here’s a quick shout out for these “CLiPtec® Metalica Max DEEP Base BME949 In-Ear Headphones with cable wrap - Orange” they are the best ones i’ve tried so far. they have controlled bass, no distortion, enough micro detail and a toe tapping quality from the highs which are good enough. unfortunately you’ll have to treat them gently as the build quality is the worst of the ones i’ve compared here but for music listening they have become my favorites with csl ones being my ones used for extended listening to voice based education vids. enjoy
Here is my review and impressions of the Tin HiFi T2 Plus, as always, this is available in Spanish (and English) on my blog (link in my profile).
Let me start off by saying I was a big fan of the Tin T2 when they were released, I enjoyed the neutral sound signature they presented and although they lacked a bit of bass sometimes for a more relaxed listen, in general I found them to be very good.
However, the build quality not so much. My first set of T2’s lasted only a couple of months before one of the drivers gave up. I contacted the seller (on AE) who was not very helpful and offered a $2 discount on a new pair. As I wasn’t keen on the T2 Pro (too bright for my liking), I ended up ordering another set of T2’s. The new set (which I never received even the $2 discount for) only lasted a few weeks before the MMCX connector failed. Taking one from the previous set and one from the new set, I made a mismatched pair and the other MMCX connector after a couple more weeks (and I didn’t even use them much).
This was obviously enough to put me off the Tin Hifi brand, and I skipped the T3, T4 and the P1, which I would have probably been interested in if I hadn’t had the issues with the T2’s.
But… when the T2 Plus was released, I was again interested and decided to give Tin Hifi one last chance, even though they haven’t decided to stop using MMCX connectors yet. However, this time I decided to purchase from a reputable seller, Linsoul, who has a good track record of taking interest in their clients.
Presentation…
Tin Hifi have always done a relatively decent job of presenting their products. I mean, they are not presented in a way to compete with higher end products but at least they don’t appear in the usual plasticky presentation that many others as this price range do. Then again, I really don’t care how an IEM is presented in this price range as long as the product is decent.
Inside the typical blue Tin Hifi box, which is actually a bit of a step down in quality from the original T2’s box, you get the IEMs, a semi-decent cable (although I am not a huge fan of it) the usual silicone replacement tips and a set of grey foam tips which I actually like (I also liked the blue ones that came with the T2’s back when I purchased them).
So, you don’t get much more than with other similar priced items, and much less than something like the Urbanfun, but they are also cheaper and I don’t have any complaints with the contents included.
Build and comfort…
The shape of the Tin T2 Plus is very different to the original T2’s (and T2 Pro’s), having opted for a shape that resembles so many other products at the moment, such as the BL03, Urbanfun YBF etc. The shape and insertion length fits my ears very well and I find them comfortable for long periods. As always, this is a personal thing and comfort will be different for each and every person.
The IEMs are made of metal, with a simple metallic finish. They are not something that I would drool over in regards to looks but they are simple and sleek, without standing out from so many others, so I don’t really have any complaints here either.
The included cable, as I mentioned above, seems to be decent enough but I am not personally a fan of the rubberized feeling it has. It does seem well built, and is not something that tangles too much, but I have had much better cables in my possession.
With regards to tips, I tried both the silicone and foam tips included, along with others, and although I didn’t dislike the silicone options, I prefer the foam options and my listening sessions have mainly been with the grey foam tips included.
Sound…
After looking at some graphs of the T2 Plus, when I had already ordered it, I was expecting a very bassy IEM which would maybe overpower the mids, however I have been surprised to find that the bass is not as overpowering as it looked on paper.
Starting with sub bass, the T2 Plus actually does have a decent amount. It is not the most powerful sub bass I have heard in IEMs and does not feel overpowering but at the same time is enough for tracks like “No Mercy” by Gustavo Santaolalla or “Bury A Friend” by Billie Eilish, that depend on sub bass, to sound as they should. For them to to sound like they do on higher end systems (such as speakers systems with subwoofers or headphones with more sub bass capabilities) they are missing some of the “rumbling” that makes things shake but at least there is enough to allow you to appreciate those frequencies of the tracks.
In the center and higher range of the bass frequencies, they do have a lot of presence but I don’t find it to be overpowering, at least with 90% of the music I listen to. The definition of these bass frequencies is good, without them feeling congested or seeming to struggle with tracks that are busy in the bass frequencies. They do a good job of keeping instruments separated and not allowing it to turn to mud, which happens on a lot of the budget offerings that have boosted bass frequencies.
The transition to the mids is more like the bass just rolling over on a small downhill curve, all the way through the lower mids. However, although the bass does flow into the mids, it doesn’t overpower them or make them them loose definition. In fact, it works well to give life and body to many of the instruments that are in these frequencies.
While the mids are slowly dropping off during their lower range, once the frequencies start to climb towards the higher end of the mids, there is a bump that helps keep the presence of instruments and vocals, avoiding them sounding recessed in regards to the bass. There are some songs where the voices are recessed in the recordings with large amounts of bass, such as a few hip hop tracks I tried, and the T2 Plus does not fix these by any means but it holds itself together pretty well.
I liked most tracks that were mainly vocals, both male and female, as they gave a nice warmth to the voices without losing their presence due to that bump in frequencies around the 2 and 3kHz mark. If I had to complain about any instruments in the mid range it would be fretless basses that rely heavily on those mid frequencies that are most absent. For example, the bass guitar in “Diamonds on the Soles of her Shoes” by Paul Simon is overshadowed and is not as present as I like it to be (that could also be because I am a huge fan of Bakithi Kumalo and think his bass playing is excellent on the Graceland album, so I love to hear it nicely presented, but I digress…).
Up in the treble area, they are again very present. In general, I don’t find the treble to be overly bright but there can be a slight bit of sibilance on some of the brighter tracks. The usual “Only Time” by Enya and “Hope is a Dangerous Thing” by Lana Del Rey are still a little bright at times but the overall warmth created by the lower end works well to not make them overly annoying. In a perfect world, I would prefer a little less around 6 to 7kHz with a tiny bit more around the 10 to 12kHz but in general I am not complaining too much.
With regards to speed and detail, they are good at not loosing control and allowing more complicated tracks to still be presented in a way that allows you to appreciate what is going on. They are not the most detailed of IEMs, mainly because of the warmth that is the general feel to the low end, so I would not say these are for focusing on the nuances, but are able to allow you to enjoy the music without feeling that you are missing information, unless you are directly comparing them to another more detailed IEM directly.
Soundstage and placement of the images is once again in the normal range of IEMs in these price ranges, although better than many others. They are not very wide (as usual) but are decent at allowing you to locate, place and follow specific sounds in binaural recordings.
Conclusions…
The Tin T2 Plus are an IEM that comes in at just over 40€, placing them firmly inside the sub 50€ bracket that I like to mention on my blog and to be honest, from what I have heard from them over the past couple of weeks, I would place them in the lead of this sub 50€ bracket.
They are an IEM that has plenty of bass on tap but don’t seem to be overpowering on the majority of genres I listen too. However, when trying out some EDM, if it is a track with large presence of bass, the bass frequencies make themselves the center of attention and transform the IEM into a very prominent V shaped signature. For example, the song “Sun Is Shining” by Bob Marley and Robin Schulz surprised me with far more bass than I expected and I actually swapped over to other IEMs and my speaker set up to get a feel for the song, the T2 Plus had more bass presence than the others I tried. Once going back to my normal genres, the bass did not seem overdone.
They are, in my opinion, an IEM that has taken a very similar sound signature to the Blon BL03 and fixed the things I didn’t like about the BL03, without giving up the things I did like about the Blon, such as the timbre and warmth. Maybe I would still give a slight edge to the BL03 strictly on timbre but it would be very close and involve lots of back to back listening, however, the rest of the presentation of the T2 Plus makes them much more preferable, in my personal opinion of course.
Another sub 50€ IEM that I have used a lot over the past year or so has been the KZ ZS10 Pro. My main use for the ZS10 Pro has been for monitoring while playing bass and also video consumption and it does a good job at both. However, in a pure music listening situation, the ZS10 has a slight metallic ring to it and also benefits from equalization to sound it’s best. While I may still favour the ZS10 Pro in terms of detail retrieval, I feel that the T2 Plus has a better overall presentation in general and does not need EQ to be enjoyable. I can certainly understand if someone decides they prefer the presentation of the hybrid KZ over the single dynamic driver of the Tin, but personally I prefer the latter for music enjoyment.
I would say that these IEMs are a very capable set of earphones in their price bracket, even competing with others at higher price brackets. I wouldn’t say that they are the best sound signature I have heard, I still prefer the Moondrop Starfield (at more than twice the price) over the T2 plus, but there are times when I would gladly reach for these IEMs. If I find myself in a bass head mood (which I sometimes do) I have no doubt that these would deliver.
As always a great review @SenyorC.
Thank you, as always!
Today I got a pair of QKZ VK4s that I picked up from Walmart for $16. These have been hyped in various places, and it turns out with good reason. At first I thought they were a V shaped mess, but it turns out that was just on the first phone I tried. On my LG V20 the tonal balance is completely different, so it’s probably an output impedance thing.
Using Spinfit tips, these may be the most agreeably tuned IEMs I’ve ever heard. Nothing seems overemphasized but there’s just a hint of warmth to the mid-range.
When I have time I’ll post some measurements and comparison with the Starfields which I recently acquired too.
So, this is my first time using my IEC60318-4 occluded ear simulator, and there’s something fishy going on with sub-bass roll-off, but here’s how the VK4 and Moondrop Starfield compare.
They carry these at Walmart?!
You need to calibrate your sound interface for the mic input
Walmart.com via 3rd party vendor 
REW made this quite easy. Here are the results with calibrated audio interface and calibrated coupler using psychoacoustic smoothing.
And here they are with no smoothing:
And for fun, to show how far Chifi has evolved in tuning, here’s my own first Chifi purchase the KZ ZST (whose shells incidentally are almost identical to the QKZ VK4).
This is my review of KBEAR’s latest hybrid, the KS2 :
This review sample was supplied by Sunny from Better Audio US, Amazon.com. Product link:
Introduction
It’s not long since KBEAR released their excellent KB04 hybrid which could be described as a “Diamond Lite”. It delivered a good proportion of the Diamond’s performance at a fraction of the cost. Now we have another 1DD + 1BA hybrid at an even lower price, the KS2.
Where the KB04 had a quality metal housing, the KS2 is built from resin. It features a 10mm dynamic driver with composite diaphragm, partly PU and partly bio-cellulose. The balanced armature is described as a “high end custom unit” and is placed within the nozzle.
Description
The KS2 comes in a small rectangular box with an image of the IEMs on the front and specifications on the back. KBEAR has dropped the black and green colour scheme and it is now black and white. The earpieces are nestled in a card cutout below which is a branded box containing the cable and three sets of spare eartips. There is also an instruction manual.
The earpieces are quite well made in solid resin with a dark green transparent finish revealing the components and a KBEAR logo in the centre. “KS2” and channel identification is written on the side. The nozzle is gold-coloured and quite long. There is a white plastic 2-pin socket and a small pinhole vent for the dynamic driver on the underside.
The cable is a standard 4 core braided type similar to that supplied by KZ with a chunky plastic Y-split and no chin slider and is thus prone to tangling. The connectors are a 2-pin angled and hooded type with short pins and the termination is a 3.5 mm right angled plastic plug.
First Impressions
I found the pre-fitted tips too big as the nozzle was quite long so replaced these with the smaller size ones and used the supplied cable. Thus equipped, I obtained a very comfortable fit and seal. I used an Xduoo X20 DAP as the primary source and also employed a Huawei smartphone and a CD player. The immediate impression was of a bold V-shaped signature with powerful bass and an energetic treble with good extension. Mids were recessed but still fairly present and the overall tonality was warmer than neutral in the bass and brighter in the high frequencies. The soundstage was a particularly good feature, being large in all dimensions and especially in width. This amounted to a “fun tuning” not dissimilar to the KZ ZS10 Pro.
Bass
The KS2 delivered an impressive bass with a powerful sub-bass presence. This continued into the mid-bass which displayed good punch and impact. “Windjana” is an instrumental album by Tony O’Connor evoking the Australian landscape. The first track, “Skyland” begins with a deep bass drone accompanied by didgeridoo and percussion. The KS2 certainly delivered a satisfying rumble but it did rather dominate the proceedings with the other elements somewhat overshadowed. The detail could also have been clearer. In Karl Jenkins’s “Benedictus” from “The Armed Man”, the basses and cellos had good weight and depth but lacked a little separation. The deep bass drum strikes displayed good decay and impact and the positioning and imaging were very good here, courtesy of the wide soundstage.
Midrange
The lower mids were recessed and gained some warmth from the bass. This produced a slightly distant feel which helped to enhance the width of the soundstage. The upper mids were brighter going into the treble and there was occasional harshness here on certain material. Kostia’s “Girl from Barcelona” is a lively piano solo and the instrument showed good impact with the lowest notes rich and warm and the upper register possessing some extra brightness. The overall effect was exciting, though perhaps not wholly natural. Classical music was bold and expansive, sounding more like a blockbuster movie score than perhaps it should, and reminded me of the KZ ZS10 Pro’s tendency to “grab you by the lapels” urging you to listen! "Alborada del Gracioso by Ravel certainly shone in the recording by the Minnesota Orchestra. The KS2 revelled in this track and the slightly over-the-top presentation really worked resulting in an extremely entertaining performance.
Treble
The KS2 did display the upper mid/lower treble emphasis found in many dual hybrids and this produced a brighter than neutral bias. This threw solo elements forward in the mix. The lead synth voice in “Aquarhythmie” by Richard Vimal dominated the track and occasionally sounded sharp but there was good detail in the accompaniment with all the elements readily audible. The performance of Rossini’s String Sonata No. 1 by the Age of Enlightenment Orchestra was sprightly and incisive. The violins were somewhat brighter than usual but this extra brightness helped to highlight the counterpoint which was easy to appreciate. The bowing detail was crisp and clear.
Soundstage
The KS2 possessed a large three-dimensional stage. This was partly helped by the recessed mids but imaging was good. Separation in the bass was not as clear as in the higher registers but the spacious presentation was very appealing. As expected, film music sounded very good on the KS2. The ambience of the recording venue in “Come Back to Us” from Thomas Newman’s score to 1917 was very well-rendered with the solo cello floating above the orchestral backing with a believable sense of space and the overall warmth of the tonality helping to preserve the atmosphere.
Conclusion
The KS2 is a classic V-shaped IEM with a appealing dynamic and exciting character. Its presentation will not suit all genres but it performs well, especially at the price. It does face stiff competition from the recent rash of new dual-driver releases such as the CVJ CSA (which is more neutral) the KZ ZST-X and KBEAR’s own KB04, at a slightly higher price. The latter is better made with a full metal jacket, has a gentler V profile and improves on the KS2 with superior layering and detail. Spending a little more would bring models like the KZ ZS10 Pro into the equation which has a similar profile but better detail retrieval.
Classical music lovers may need to look elsewhere, but if electronic music, rock and pop is your thing, the KS2 represents excellent value as an entry-level Chi-fi IEM.
Ha, looks like crinacle posted measurements of the VK4 yesterday. Just for fun, here’s how it looks using his Fearless Dawn as a baseline.
What’s striking is that from 50 to 1500 Hz the response is essentially identical and up to 8Khz the deviations remain fairly small. After that point they diverge more, but it’s all within +/- 5 dB.
Another truly excellent review @Nimweth. Packed with the great detail I’ve come to expect from you. Thanks for a great read.