First I would like to thank TINHIFI for sending this review unit and also thanks to Sonic Mantra team for giving me the opportunity to review it. This review only includes my honest impressions on the gear. I did not get paid or influenced by anyone to say anything good or bad about this product. Enjoy reading. Cheers!
TINHIFI is back with a flagship this time. It’s a flagship single dynamic driver configuration for the all new T7. For $200 this is quite a premium single DD IEM. They didn’t hold back on the design, accessories or the packaging.
Package Contents:
The ear pieces are pretty small. The shell is made of metal with a nice matte finish. The glossy golden nozzle blends in with the black metal body. There is a little vent hole on the golden part and another vent hole right beside the MMCX connector. Yes, it has a MMCX connector and they are well built. The faceplate is dark wood underneath the clear resin. During taking pictures I dropped one of the earpieces from around 5ft height which was a nasty drop, but surprisingly there wasn’t even a single scratch or dent despite bouncing on concrete. So aside from the resin/glass faceplate (can’t tell apart) the construction is very impressive. The nozzle is somewhat on the shorter side. The fit is comfortable and they disappear after wearing due to them being lightweight. One thing to note, in my use case, the tragus part of the outer ear is constantly under pressure from the IEMs front part which is extruded when aligning with nozzle and it causes pain when I’m using them for long sessions. This issue is unique to me so keep that in mind.
The cable is gorgeus and feels premium. the modular termination is easy to swap. its on the stiffer side but not exactly stiff.
The storage box is pretty good but the foam cushioning inside made the space inside a bit cramped compared to the size of the box outside. the zipper is hard to open and close. there's a lineyard provided for the box.
I tested the IEM with its stock cable and various ear tips in my collection. I settled with KBEAR KB08 ear tips for the below sound impressions as it was a better fit and delivered better bass performance than the stock one’s.
Bass:
The bass here is very tasteful. It is well extended, well controlled and has the dynamic driver taste. The speed and transient response is very good. Sub-bass presence is good with decent rumble. It’s not all that elevated but shows good focus when needed. The rumble feels well textured but on the detail part it’s just above average. Sub-bass extension is great with adequate depth.
Mid-bass is quite thumpy with nice decay. The hits feel tactile and well controlled. The transient response, decay and the control altogether makes for a well-defined, well textured and layered bass presentation. Although the bass isn’t all that elevated to satisfy bass heads but it is enough to not sound underwhelming. The moderately quick roll off makes each note more detailed and lively. It has an ever so slight hint of warmth in bass part in addition to good body in the lows. The bass presentation sounds very rich; the word I’m looking for may be ‘organic’.
Mid-range:
The mids are very smooth and tonally wonderfully rich. The instruments timbre and tonality is amazing. They sound rich and organic with a hint of warmth. They do sound natural but they are colored, not totally neutral. But the coloration is very tastefully done here. The male vocals are very easygoing and smooth. They have more than enough note weight behind them with good articulation. The texture has that dynamic driver flavor here as well. it is quite airy in terms of vocals which makes the vocals sound more lifelike. The texture is smoothened out here which causes the vocals to sound very smooth and pleasant.
Female vocals are also very smooth and lush sounding. They also sound quite easygoing. The note weight is sometimes on the thinner side but that’s not always the case. The ascending and descending of low and high pitch vocals are controlled in a manner that everything sounds very smooth. There isn’t any upper midrange energy in the vocal section. It almost never sounds sibilant. The female vocal performance is good but not as great as male vocals. The control over the energetic vocals is commendable. It never sounds too much or doesn’t cause any kind of fatigue. If I had to nitpick, I would’ve liked a bit of vibrancy or liveliness in the female vocals with a bit of upper mid-range energy. But this will be a great pick for sensitive people. The cons that I talked about here doesn’t apply to jpop in my case. The female vocals are suitable for Jpop.
The instruments are a bliss! The tonality and timbre of the instruments are very rich and analogue sounding if you may. The atmosphere created with the mix with all the air, reverberation and after-effects of the notes sounds quite immersive and lets you get lost in music with little effort. From piano, string instruments to drums, snares, harmonica everything sounds wonderfully musical and engaging. I’m no expert but I think it should be quite hard to achieve with any other type of driver.
Treble:
The treble performance is one of the strengths of this set. Tonally leans toward bright side of things. The control is great which doesn’t let the IEM sound harsh or go overboard with energy that much. The lower treble is very clean, well extended, very fast and precise. The energy has great control that doesn’t let it sound harsh. The upper treble is quite airy and sparkles are very nice. Cymbals and snares don’t sound out of tone or artificial like many other bright IEMs. The dynamic range and transient response on the treble part is phenomenal. Thus the detail it can deliver is amazing. This treble is not for treble sensitive folks but treble lovers will love the fast, precise and detailed presentation.
Technicalities:
The soundstage is big and spacious. The depth isn’t as big as it is wide. The imaging is precise along with the instrument separation. Each hits and notes are easily distinguishable with good precision. Detail retrieval is one of its strong suits. It portrays macro and micro details with great precision. Dynamic range is pretty good but transient response is even better. it sounds pretty immersive but the sound it delivers isn’t all that holographic. Either way it handles fps games effortlessly in my use case.
Source pairing:
I found the T7 to sound more musical with warm to warmish neutral sources. Neutral sources are okay but the treble could be too much for some. I found it hard to settle for a single ear tip for this IEM. The differences I found with my small collection is close enough to one another. I found the KBEAR KB08 and DUNU Atmospheric ear tips to deliver better bass performance in terms of body.
Hit or Miss?
Those who are looking for a small set with premium quality build, cable and case in addition to tastefully done lows that isn’t over the top, smooth mids with great timbre and detailed analytical treble can go for it.
Those who like more bass, are sensitive to treble, want more holographic 3D kind of experience and those who hate MMCX should skip on this one.
TINHIFI made a solid premium segment single dynamic driver IEM. In the crowd of multi-brid IEMs, the T7 actually offers very competitive value in terms of both sound and accessories. The quality of the bass that the dynamic driver provides, the beautiful smooth vocal texture and instrument timbre is definitely very much praiseworthy. The midrange tonally is amazing and has great musicality. The treble is well controlled without breaking the barrier to harsh brightness. The soundstage may lack in terms of holographic effect but that’s the tradeoff for such a small shell. Overall, the this is a solid set for those with whom the quota matches.
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