THE PLUS:
-Impressively big and tall soundstage
-rather smooth balanced V shape
-no intense sibilance, splashyness, harshness
-natural enough timbre
-lush thick cohesive macro resolution
-good male vocal presence
-lively without being too agressive
-good construction
THE MINUS:
-darkish and gently shouty
-pillowy mid bass slam
-smoothed definition
-treble lack sparkle-natural resonance
-thick sound lack of air
-no sibilance but high pinna gain
-dark bass resolution
-overall darkish treble
-poor transparency and imaging
-average clarity resolution technicalities
-blurry attack edge with no resonance
-romantic bass bleed
-lack of bass definition and separation with warmed-densify lower mid range
-presence lack definition and texture-poor layering
-one more wannabe harman
TONALITY: 7.8/10
TECHNICALITIES: 7.5/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.5/10
SOUND VALUE: 7.5/10
INTRO
Tinhifi doesn’t need introduction for Chifi lover, they have been around for more than 6 years and have gain tremendous success mostly from their Tinhifi T2 IEM. They have launch other successful IEM like T3plus. Personaly, I love T2plus and my favorite IEM from them is the P1plus planar IEM which represent insanely high sound value at today price (around 100$).
While the T4 receive acclaim from Crin, it didn’t met it’s deserved popularity. I’ve read lot of good thing about those but didn’t have the chance to test them. They seem to offer bright neutral tonality, and the T4plus don’t follow this tuning target, which can question us why it’s call this way.
Priced 120$, the T4plus use a new generation ”carbon nano tube” diaphragm dynamic driver and promise improved transient response and performance.
Let see in this review if this IEM can stand out in overcrownded sub-150$ IEM market.
CONSTRUCTION & ACCESSORIES
While I can’t say the design is surprising, I can say construction feel very good and sturdy. These use very same design as T2-T3-T4, which isn’t the best for fit and comfort due to short nozzle and non ergonomic shape. Yet, they choose to use a 2pin connector, for durability this is a plus but for fit it can’t swivle for more custom fit.
Other design change is the use of a wood backplate, which give an elegant and unique look. Inner housing is suppose to use brass, but this doesn’t translate into more heavy IEM.
The cable included is OK. its very similar to the Salnotes Dioko cable. Its a silver plated copper cable, and it’s single ended. It would have been nicer to have possibilities to select type of cable we want.
As seen, Tinhifi include surprise ear tips. I don’t think it’s original Symbio eartips, but they are very similar in quality and sure a very welcome addition to my ear tips collection. It sell about 3.50$ a pair here on ALI: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003536153502.html
So, while the packaging come in a small box, number of accessories are quite generous. The leather carrying case is decent. Cable is decent. And 9 pairs of ear tips is nice, especially those Symbio OEM. But well, I still use KB07 ear tips with those IEM.
SOUND IMPRESSIONS
At first listening of these, it was a mixed bag….since ive just review the Kiwi Ears Cadenza before and it was another harman target inspire tuning like this T4plus. Yet, the T4plus is tuned in a funnier bassier way and the technicalities are slightly superior too, this explain why it gently but surely grow on me. Within its limit of appeal.If i dig into my memories, the T4plus remind me the QOA Gimlet but 2 times pricier way.
Its these kind of IEM that sound warm at low volume and suddenly wake up and go brighter at higher volume, both bass and treble gaining in dynamic and presence.
Like with all harman target inspired tuning, pinna gain in upper mid range,lower treble is rather high, but do it’s best to avoid sibilance, which make vocal and instrument presence feel foward and clear. Harman target is an ideal of musicality coloration, and it try to achieve a smooth clarity with decent timbre. When their good amount of mid bass this can become an appealing soundsignature since it will help both dynamic heft and lower range instrument and vocal fullness.
This is what T4plus try to achieve, in a sometime clumsy way. In the sens it doesn’t fully avoid shoutyness and doesnt fully achieve the much needed anti-harman bass punch.
The bass do offer slam and bass boost, not radical basshead way, but sure i-want-to-shake-my-head way. I don’t know if it’s just my psychacoustic obsession about bass impact definition that bias my bass punch perception, but their something pillowy about it. This tamed natural impact loudness make me check inside the nozzle, and i discover what I expect: a foam loudness filter. This slow the bass response but stole some texture definition too, random way. So, the kick feel muffled yet boosted in heavyness. It drop like melting icecream, so, we have creamy low end, thick, with a short chunky vibrant rumble. The air is compressed within the slam. This do affect lot of tone subtilities, yet, smoothen the whole dynamic. In busy track its hard to follow bass line which feel loose and mix up with kick resonance. For slow music its less problematic, unless the bass line should have long clean decay or need lot of texture. Toms will sound out of control with these and tend to mix their resonance badly. All in all, i have nothing good to write about the bass performance of T4plus.
Mid range is smoothen in shoutyness, thanks to this foam filter, but this create timbral imbalance too so while upper mids are super softed, their micro part of texture that can feel out of place, should it be with violin or female vocal which sound often recessed. Male vocal are thicker and have full bodied presence but not very well layered. Saxophone sound good, full, dense and wide in presence while piano is scooped in definition, have decent note weight but short decay which is warmed-fogged. Sometime i find the mids bright other time warm, so their something imprevisible with the rendering, especialy with acoustic instruments that need texture to sound right. Timbre wise, it’s darken in texture and densify in a blurry way, it’s realist and a hint euphonic but not very appealing to my ears. Resolution of mids is blurry and lack sens of clean openess, it does affect whole imaging negatively too. Again, nothing impressive. Its a mid range that try to sound lush but fail to.
Now, this strange treble part, to be honnest, the T4plus is one of those IEM i find hard to review, it’s so colored and the dynamic is very instable. So we have a treble that sound dry with a strange upper treble spike that struggle to add air so it extract part of micro details and texture. It tend to extract part of percussions presence in a crisp way, yet the lead of attack isn’t really there. So, it’s near snappy but fail to. But this isn’t overly dark treble and detailing is quite decent. It’s a bit thin sounding and lack proper brilliance and again natural resonance-decay. Control is fast in sustain so it avoid splashyness and harshness. Safe yet energic enough and mostly good apart for electric guitar or instrument or sound that need full texture richness.
The Soundstage is rather gigantic but lack depth.
The imaging is bellow average, its foggy in separation and the layering feel compressed.
COMPARISONS
VS PENON VORTEX (1DD-220$)
Ok, the Vortex is pricier but it’s evident why at very first secondes of comparisons: technical performance are from another league but in dynamic livelyness, attack speed, imaging and resolution.
So, it feel more of a vividly balanced W shape, with more punch even if less bassy and hint brighter.
Bass it way faster and harder due to better definition of mid bass impact, which feel warmer and more sloppy with the T4plus, bass line are harder to follow with T4plus too due to resonance bloom, so we have more sub bass quantity but lower quality, its more boomy and instable in impact thant more textured and well define bass impact of Vortex. Mid range is warmer and more blurry with the T4plus, male vocal sound fuller and smoother but not as textured in presence while female vocal are more upfront and clean with the Vortex. Overall resolution of mid range is sharper with the Vortex and we have more impact natural resonance like for piano its better define and have longer proper decay where it feel blunted-warmer with the T4plus. Now, for treble, the Vortex have more bite which will benefit guitar (acoustic and electric) as well as violin, so definition of attack is notably better as well as texture and fullness, with T4plus the violin feel tamed in dynamic and overly softed in definition edge. Simply put Vortex have sharper edgier highs with more snap and better attack control and it seem to extend more, offer more sparkle and air, while the T4plus have leaner fuller treble that begin to roll off fast after 10khz, so its dryer, more tamed in dynamic so it sound like a package without well define percussions and micro details like the Vortex, and its more prompt to timbral imbalance.
Spatiality wise, the Vortex is more intimate, less wide and tall but deeper. Imaging is cleaner and sharper with Vortex too, separation of instrument is less blurry in space so it’s more precise in overall positioning.
All in all, you pay for what you get here and the Vortex is superior both in engaging tonal balance and technical performance accuracy and control.
VS TRIPOWIN OLINA
Now, we have 2 IEMs selling about same price and following a similar harman inspired signature. Yet, technical performance superiority of the Olina hit hard at very first listen again. Resolution is cleaner crisper, imaging and layering is excellent and single instrument definition is less foggy. The bass is most similar part, it have a mellow hit but calmer more linear extension so less sub bass boost, dryer more technical sounding bass, it lack mid punch definition but since it doesn’t wanna hit hard i forgive the Olina, not the T4plus. Then the mid range is way more resolved, more transparent and higher in resolution yet perhaps even smoother, it sound more open and airy too, you don’t struggle to separate other mids instruments unlike the more colored mid range of T4plus. Treble is notably richer and more extended with the Olina, we have way more sound info and micro details yet it’s not very bright. T4plus sound dull and distant in high range, lacking definition edge and important texture details. Again, i can’t understand why but soundstage is bigger with T4plus, its perhaps due to scooped mid range loudness that amplify a sens of fake airyness. Imaging as said its intensely superior with the Olina, more transparent layering and sharper positioning.
All in all, Olina destroy the T4plus in both tonal fullness balance and technicalities.
CONCLUSION
The Tinhifi T4plus is among best IEM from this company, yet, it’s far from being a mesmerizing listen once we enter critical mode.
The technical performance are just decent for the price and if you like big headroom, the wide and tall spatiality will sure please you.
In term of balance, we have mellow brightish V shape with lean overall smooth mids, questionnable bass impact and delicate but crisp enough treble.
These are the kind of IEM that i would call ”Jack of all trades, master of none”, a bassier Tripowin Olina with inferior technicalities. It’s not an inspired nor an inspiring tuning and surely something that follow 2022 craze about Harman meet DF neutral obsession, bassy way.
Number of IEM that the T4plus remind me is insane, Kiwi Ears Cadenza, Tripowin Lea, Moondrop Aria and even their T3plus….and I don’t think it’s something to applause acoustic creativity wise.
So, let’s just hope that in 2023, Tinhifi will find back it’s tuning creativity that give birth to something like the P1plus marvellous planar IEM.
Half cooked IEM=Half-recommended!
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PS: I want to thanks Linsoul for sending me this review sample out of the blue. I’m not affiliated nor pushed to write positive review for this honest audio distributor. I wish i can say this for all distributor, but people will find out which one are truely passionate about audio communities.
You can order the Tinhifi T4plus for 119$ here (non-affiliated link):https://www.linsoul.com/products/tinhifi-t4-plus
No Borders Audiophile 