Tin is back again with another T-series IEM. This time I'll be taking a look at the new T3 Plus model, which retails for $79 and is available for purchase from Linsoul, who kindly sent this review unit over.
The T3 Plus features a single 10mm liquid crystal polymer diaphragm dynamic driver design, and comes in a single black-marble design, with a gold Tin Hifi logo on the front. The shell is a small round/triangular shape with a dark translucent inner shell, and is very lightweight and comfortable to wear for me. Its one of the rare Tin Hifi iems that fit me very well.
Sound Impressions
The T3 Plus has a balanced and slightly V-shaped sound that does lean a little bit in the bright upper mids, which isn't too far from the rest of the Tin Hifi lineup. This one, however, is on the warmer sounding low ends than the rest with a thicker lower mid-range that is helped by a bass bump. Tin has spent a lot of the last few years going after a brighter, diffuse-field type sound, and lately have switched to a more centrist-Harman style sound, and this one is probably one of the closest iterations to it in their lineup, with a tuning that fits closer to a Moondrop IEM than something like their classic T2.
My original first impressions were quite positive on this IEM. I listened to some Lo Moon and their synthesized dark-pop ballads, and found that the punchy bass beats, and male vocals really sounded quite balanced and nice. The wasn't an emphasis on higher pitched tones and vocals here, and so my perception was maybe a tad skewed. The dynamics were solid for an under $100 IEM as well.
But then I started to listen to a few more other music. I put on the recent John Mayer album, "Sob Rock" and some of the treble fatigue and sharpness started to come into play, surprisingly with Mayer's vocals. They sounded a little bright, and had some zing to it that I could consider bothersome. Some of the guitar rifts were also a little fatiguing.
I put on some Jens Lekman afterward, with one of my favorite tracks from the 2000s, "A Postcard to Nina" and found that this sounded alright overall. It was just slightly on the bright end of my liking, but nothing worth a deal breaker for. So after a small sample, I was left a little bit of a mixed-reaction to this IEM.
Throwing on some of my instrumental jazz music and I felt this IEM started to sound quite good again, with solid punch, decent dynamics, and a generally smooth and warm sound.
So where do I put this? Well, tonally its actually quite similar to the same-priced Moondrop Aria. In fact, they measure quite close too, and I do hear the small differences between the two. The Tin T3 Plus is just a little bit warmer, and the Aria is a little smoother and leaner. But it's subtle. They both share the occasional sharpness in the upper mids and low treble, but generally are pleasing and well-balanced IEMs.
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