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Product: TRI Audio TK3 Portable DAC/Amp
Type: USB / Coax / Bluetooth DAC & Amplifier
Tone: Musical, Analog-leaning, Warm
Build: Glass + Aluminum
Another week, another review. This week it is TRI Audio and the product is the TK3. I had earlier done its early impressions, and as promised, I am now sharing my final review. Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged, let's get on with the meat and potatoes of this review.
TL;DR: The TK3 is a nice, musical-tuned DAC & amp with a slight bass boost, smooths out treble, and covers all the connectivity you need—USB, Coax, and Bluetooth—along with a full set of filters, a volume knob, and solid build quality. It is a banger release from TRI & Kaei Kobayashi, and I recommend it absolutely.
The TK3 is made of a combination of glass and metal—precisely aluminum. The chassis is metal and the top is glass. It is quite hefty and the metal surface is shiny, so it is a fingerprint magnet. Ports in the front and back have nice silver accents. The volume knob is also metal and golden in color.
The front of the device has the volume knob, 3.5mm and 4.4mm ports. Between these two is the bass boost switch. Both sides don't have any port or switch—they are clean and smooth as glass. The bottom is also clean. At the back you have the set button, Type-C data port, gain switch, coax input, and lastly another Type-C port for charging. The glass top is adorned by 8 LEDs, each representing a function.
I have used the TK3 extensively over 12–14 days and found no loose fitting or wobble in any ports, switches, or the volume button. To be honest, the build quality is excellent—you can't fault it. For the price, it's solid and premium.
Let's first talk about the most important part: how it affects the tonality of the paired gear. I'll go by the available modes on the TK3.
USB mode: It felt like a nice analog source. It was musical, and when paired with bright-leaning sets it tamed the brightness and added a bit of warmth via a nice bass boost. This is without the bass boost engaged. If engaged, it takes the bass performance a few notches up. If warm sets and dark sets were paired, the result was a bit sub-optimal—more so with dark sets. Warm sets don't get affected too much, but dark sets get a bit darker in tonality.
Female vocals don't get edgy—they lose a bit of it. Don't get it wrong, it doesn't change their tonality, just something I picked up while listening. Treble gets smoothened out. The soundstage is reduced slightly—not that much that you will feel it's not there, just a slight reduction. Again, these are my critical listening points; this may not be true for all.
Coax/SPDIF mode: It remains the same story. There was no marked change in the presentation.
BT mode: Most things remained the same, just a bit of difference was felt in the stage. The stage somehow felt a bit more open. Was it true, or just my imagination? I don't know—maybe you guys might be able to answer this.
The most important button on the TK3 is the Set button, which lets you change two important functions on this set. One is input selection and the second is filters.
If you hold the Set button for a few seconds, you can change the input between the three inputs offered by the TK3—USB, Coax, and BT. If you hold the Set button for a few more seconds, it lets you change filters. Yes, this has filters and they do make a difference in tonality, but it will depend on the person to perceive the changes.
The bass boost switch actually works. It adds a few dBs of bass boost to the paired set. If you have a set that is a bit lean on bass, you can use this feature to add that into the tuning and do a kind of EQ.
The LEDs represent various functions and modes of the TK3. They show power status, input mode, PCM, DSD, and the filter you are using. The provided manual goes into detail about what the colors mean—it is advised to go through them before using the TK3.
The volume knob is robust and a bit recessed in the body of the TK3, which in my opinion is thoughtful of TRI & Kaei designs. It prevents accidental rotation, so there's no threat to your eardrums. The only thing that was a con for me was how smooth it rotates—I would have loved a bit of friction and, if possible, clicks.
Let's talk about battery backup. It's really good—I could get 8 hours easily on a single charge. It was paired with various sets including headphones with varying impedance.
In my books, this is great performance.
Charging was also a breeze. Please note there is no clarity regarding fast charging support, so I would use caution and charge using a 10W charger. Hope some clarity is offered. It supports bypass charging, so you can use it while charging—the TK3 doesn't stop, so why should your music session stop, right?
Just kidding. But a useful feature.
I used various sets including a few single DDs, hybrid sets, and planar sets. I also included a few headphones and flatheads (a few hard-to-drive ones like 300-ohm and 600-ohm models). This was done to check synergy and overall performance of the TK3.
The TK3 makes the entire presentation laid-back and adds warmth to it. It makes sets musical rather than analytical. So, if you are looking for a nice musical analog source, this is the one for you.
Power-wise, I had no issues. All IEMs were driven easily. IEMs with low impedance and high sensitivity were driven with just a few steps on the volume knob in low gain. For moderate loads, again the same situation—it drove them efficiently and with proper loudness effortlessly. With higher-impedance sets, I used high gain to extract the max out of them. Had no issues.
With respect to headphones, the easy-to-drive ones had no issues at all. The TK3 drove them efficiently and to their max potential. With the HD600 and Edition XS, I didn't feel they were underpowered or lacking anything. The TK3 was able to drive them easily. But if you have heard them on desktop sources, then this falls a bit short. Don't get me wrong—it's enough to drive anything thrown at it, except maybe the Mod House Tungsten. But who does that?
So, if you want a portable powerhouse that can drive anything thrown at it, this is it. No need to look further. With its connectivity options, it covers all aspects.
Now that I have written so much detail about the TK3, the million-dollar question is: what do I think about it? I think this one is a banger release from TRI & Kaei Kobayashi, and for that, hats off to them. Will I buy it?
Already owning one. Do I recommend it? Absolutely 200%. A caveat I feel I should declare: no product is perfect, and the same is true for the TK3. It has its pros and cons—I implore you to go through my review properly and then make your opinion to purchase. Hell, read others when you are at it to remove all doubts and questions. As for me, I think it's worth every bit, and hence I already purchased my own unit.
Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let's get high on safe high—i.e., music.
• Nice musical-tuned DAC & AMP
• Has a slight boost in bass
• Smooths out treble
• All the connectivity you need: USB / Coax / BT
• Filters—all the filters you need
• Volume knob
• Solid build
• No actual zero volume—even at the lowest setting, music is audible
• Artifacts like crackling before songs, only sometimes but present
• No display
• No filter memory—every time the unit is switched off, the filter resets
• LED lights stay on all the time and they blink too—a distraction at night
• Weight—can't use it as a portable combo pack
• A leather case would have been great
• Build: Glass top, aluminum chassis
• Inputs: USB, Coax/SPDIF, Bluetooth
• Outputs: 3.5mm single-ended, 4.4mm balanced
• Controls: Volume knob, bass boost switch, gain switch, Set button (input selection & filters)
• LED Indicators: 8 LEDs (power status, input mode, PCM, DSD, filter)
• Charging: Type-C, bypass charging supported
• Battery Life: ~8 hours on a single charge
• Fast Charging: Not officially clarified—recommend a 10W charger
This article is adapted from and compiled based on Facebook:
Click to watch the original article:
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Sxd5yu7hh/
Once again, thanks to AudioGeek India, Joe Isaac from Joe's Audio Gear Review and KeepHiFi for making this review possible. Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let's get high on safe high—i.e., music.
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