For some who prefer the read hope you enjoy.
For Visual people here ypu sorry its a long one and I have not yet figured out how to time stamp bit working on it.
Truthear Hola - A Safe Wonder
February 7, 2023
9:08 PM
Pros:
- An absolute chart-topping value-to-performance ratio!
- Un-offensive tuning Not elevated in Bass or Treble.
- Non-fatiguing sounds can listen to for hours.
- 3D Printed Shell is on the smaller side and should fit more people. Looks and feels smooth and premium.
- Sub Bass is nice and fat only when on the track.
- Replays Vocals with nice tonality and is the real star of the show on the Hola
- OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) Stock Cable included is well thought out and a welcome surprise with its quality and feel.
Cons:
- Lacks a bit of the fun factor by missing a bit of energy on both ends of the frequency spectrum
- Not an all-rounder for diverse music genres.
Now let’s get into it: The Techy Stuff
The single dynamic driver is an 11mm Dynamic with a PU ( Polyurethane ) - Foam Suspension & LCP ( Liquid Crystal Polymer ) Cone.
PU. surrounds are great for keeping their shape and fast rebound, PU surrounds are lightweight.
LCP cones are used for their excellent strength-to-weight ratio making them ideal for speakers and their musical properties.
28 Ohm resistance ± 15% @1KHz - Making the Hola fairly easy to drive with all devices.
120db/Vrms Measured @1KHz again Sensitivity is fairly high so the IEM can get to louder volumes with not much power needed to get there.
3D printed shell.
0.78mm 2 Pin termination Slightly recessed for better strength.
More information can be found here and non-affiliated link: ThuthEar Hola - Shenzhen Audio
Subjective Part of my Audio Review - Thuthear Hola
Truthear Hola - Paid for by my Dog Kilo who sacrificed his weekly toy so I could buy this IEM - Thanks Kilo!
Hello Ladies & Gents: Thanks for reading my feedback.
I share my impressions as I hear them with my ears.
As all our ears are different shapes & size so what I hear as bright or bass heavy -you might hear as dull and Vise-Versa; just something to be mindful of.
What makes my ears happy as a sound signature is a slightly more aggressive L shape. I love my Bass Sub and Mid Bass love it all actually; and in large quantity. With the Bass, I prefer a faster decay the faster the better so as to not bleed into the mids., I am treble sensitive and prefer a slightly darker warmer replay with good treble extension.
I prefer the fast speedy bass of the Beryllium Coated Driver of my Xenns Mangird UP and KiwiEars Cadenza. Of course, there are exceptions in the market - as I also find the bass of the Bio Diaphragm used in the Yanyin Canon special - has some special sauce like an 8" subwoofer that feels like a 12" Has the slam and some serious sub-bass! And the super cool Copper Alloy Shell IKKO Obsidian OH10 does some magic to the bass.
My music Library is widely varied from; Metallica, Great White, Cowboy Junkies, Pink Floyd, Adelle, Melisa Ethridge, Fleetwood Mac, Five for Fighting, Manskin, Poncho Sanchez, Jimmy Smith, Chopin, The Crystal Method just to name a few.
Sources: E1DA SG3, Shanling UP5, Geshelli JNOG J2 with AKM4493 chip. Truthear SHIO (Dual Cirrus Logic 43198 DAC Chips)
DAP/TRASPORT: From Lenovo Laptop with Tidal, iBasso DX160 (Dual Cirrus Logic 43198 Dac Chips), Samsung S22 Ultra with DSD Files.
Amps: LoxjiP20 & XDUOO MT-604 tube hybrid amps and Topping A90D Amp 4.4 Pentagon Balanced Out - Unless stated
Tips Used for the Hola were the BGVP 07 Tips I found for Best Result and subjective: Short Wide Bore are recommended to maximize stage my preference at the expense of perceived bass enhancement with narrow bore tips.
My Format has changed with community feedback. So now I will list the music tracks I used & why with my musical impressions of the playback using that track. I hope this will give you some context for my library and give you some contexts to compare using the same tracks.
Shout out to HBB for hammering home “A review without Context is not helpful”
Let’s Begin:
#1 “Bring Me Some Water” by Melissa Ethridge
(I like this track to hear Melissa’s voice and see if the transducers (speakers) reproduce her voice to how edgy I think it should be.)
The Truthear Hola replayed this sound with in my opinion correct “edge” and timbre. The guitars sounded natural and clean.
#2 “Fast Car” Tracy Chapman
(I love her voice and the way it is recorded - I have seen Ms. Chapman live a few times; so In my mind, I try and remember how she sounds like 5ft from me as I was blessed to experience)
I thought the Hola did a very good job here but would have loved to have a bit more weight to her voice but no real complaints.
#3 “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones
(I use this track because I love hearing how well the IEM can give me a sense of stage and placement. At 28 Seconds you can hear Mic change his position and face towards the Mic on the left side with the overall stage outside of your head)
Hola did a pretty good at this defiantly helping bring some micro dynamics (Very Small Details within a track) into play and setting up the stage of the song for the fun factor.
#4 & 5 “House Of Broken Love” & “Rock Me” by Great White
(80’S Baby, Double Kick drums at the beginning of the first track I am listening to how fast it hits how solid is the bass and what’s the decay like? An ideal replay here would be fast, powerful bass with nice note weight to feel it in your chest so to speak if you were at a concert.) ( With “Rock Me” same thing but I am listening for the bass guitar drops on this track it should be quite low)
Test score - HOLA sorry to say starting to see cracks in this type of music here. The Truthear has low-frequency energy here with correct tonality but just not enough to play this 80’s track at the level I feel it deserves. I felt the Hola failed to meet the need to reproduce the track correctly at the bass-head levels it wants. On the flip side because the bass did not overpower everything else the vocals sounded great. A compromise for sure but left me wishing for more oomph!
#6 “Chemical Mentalist” The Crystal Method
(Bass, more bass fast and lots of it - How does it do end of the story - Huge Smile or poo emoji?)
HOLA GAVE ME A EARGASIM. FULL STOP Perfect wicked slam to enjoy this track and keep turning up the volume louder. Huge Happy Face here!
#7 “Its Time” by Labrinth, Sia, Diplo
(3 very different singers and their voices come together. I use this because it’s a cool track and at higher volumes lesser IEM’s get sibilant.)
How did the TruthEar Hola do? - Very well here. The Hola plays with good emotion but gets close to my comfort zone but not exceeding it and made for a fun track. Bravo!
#8 “All My Friends Are Here” Joe Satriani
(In this track you can hear Joe playing dead Center with the busy and very separated L & R licks added in and then he brings you back to center with some crazy and very hard-to-play Descending A Major rifts! As Joe described this song as “A rock guitarist trying to control a wild beast”
TruthEar Hola did you control the beast or did it eat you? - Joe APPROVED! But still, the bass-head in me wishes for a bit more but that’s more me and my preferences. Joe’s guitar is ummmm good! Yeah, good fun in this track.
#9 “The Antidote Is In The Poison” GoGo Penguin
(Modern Jazz at its best. Powerful, Dynamic track full of emotion and snappy bass. Fantastic track to listen to how well Micro Dynamics are conveyed and get a good sense of the IEM’s ability to convey that to the listener.)
HOLA - Fun a really decent job on this track, bass was nice and tight and was very smooth with just the right amount to make it a very enjoyable toe-tapping replay.
#10 “Blue Line” by Massive Attack
(16 seconds in someone taking a big hit of the Sticky Green Stuff - does it come through as a realistic effect? Also listing for how well the baritone vocals sound?) Such a soft vocal track here is hard to reproduce.
HOLA did this ok I felt it needed more note weight but and vocals were clear and understandable - KBEAR STORM NOPE big fail here and shows the Hola is worlds better in technicalities over the Storm.
#11 “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” Annie Lennox
(A Bach-inspired Hammond Organ M102, I seriously love it and its unique sound with Annie’s voice this is so cool)
The Hola did a great job here and Annie’s voice is spot on as is the Organ well done.
#12 “Yesterday’s Yesterday” Another song by Joe Satriani
(This is a cool track. Joe Eric & Jim whistling at the beginning with 1000 insect buzzing overlay is trippy. Then the three of them play a different guitar L C R Just a fun track to listen to how different IEM’s reproduce this song)
A great replay from the HOLA instruments sounded realistic as did the effects.
#13 “Shape Of My Heart” Sting
(in this track I am listening to the sound of the guitar pulls and slides. How well does the IEM give an emotional presentation of the mix between the vocals and the bass.
With the Hola, nothing was out of balance and presented in a natural-sounding way nothing was added or forced.
#14 “Wishing You Would Stay” by The Tea Party with Holly McNarland
(Love this track. With this song and this band, it was the first time having a guest vocalist. Holly McNarland has a great voice and I have seen her live a few times front and center getting sweat on. Listening for Holly’s voice being forward in the mix and not sibilant.)
With this track, I felt The Truthear Hola didn’t do a great job in its tuning. Holly’s voice is a bit recessed and harder to hear in the mix. The Hola seems to favor the male vocals and I was left wanting for more Holly to be present.
#15 “Avenue A” Tom Cochrane and Red Rider Live from the Symphony Sessions
(This track with more resolving IEM’S you can hear the guitar pulls and slides with a sense of open spaciousness and grandeur)
Not quite a fail for the Hola but showing its driver character weakness and tuning. Not a terrible knock against the Hola at this price point but defiantly shows the compromise with a lesser resolving single LCP Dynamic driver used.
COMPARISONS: w NON-Affiliated links.
KBEAR - STORM: $16-17 USD. KBEAR STORM from KeepHiFi
I was hard on this one as the pricing is so close. The Build quality is poor, The sharp edges are uncomfortable for me 1st one out of a hundred?
The storm has more elevated bass but it’s muddy and not as articulated or refined sounding as the Hola. I find the Storm has some peaks in the Upper treble making it sibilant and sharp to my ears in an unnatural way.
TANGZU - SHIMIN LI: $35 Tangzu Shimin Li from linsoul
The Shimin Li has a similar bass texture just more of it. The vocals seem to me more recessed but male vocals have the added note weight.
Stage I found not as exciting as was the overall replay of the test tracks I used. At twice the price your not getting a better IEM IMHO.
KiwiEars Cadenza. $35 KiwiEars Cadenza from Linsoul
I sent my KBEAR Rosefinch , TinHiFi C3 out for the Canucks Audioholics Review group to try and kept the Cadenza as I thought it sounded the best for my tastes. Here is how I would compare the two.
The Cadenza has more unapologetic bass with its Beryllium-coated driver. Two things in the tuning happen. One the bass hits have more volume and male vocals have more heft to them. Guitar slides and pulls have more weight as well. This all comes at a bit of a compromise as Female vocals also have a slightly more weighty sound and on some tracks maybe a tad too much. Example om Melissa E Track.
Here the Hola sounded more natural in the vocals and played with more air without the bass weighing the overall presentation towards the bottom end.
Soundstage is definably better to my likening with a better sense of depth and width without going crazy. On “Avenue A” you hear the guitar slides with more clarity and bass depth.
The Two IEM’s are tuned differently and now come down to personal preference but that’s the difference I hear between the two.
SUMMARY & FINAL THOUGHTS FOR: TruthEar Hola
The overall presentation of the Hola is just an overall smooth operator.
The Hola doesn’t try to boost the bass in an unnatural way nor the high-frequency end either.
Overall the Hola gives you a great natural presentation across the board when it comes to instruments as well as Vocals.
Where the Hola falls down, is just the limitations of the driver and materials used. I think TruthEar did a great job maximizing the potential of the LCP Driver and didn’t try to push its natural properties beyond its limits.
Stage also suffers a bit with a more intimate presentation, not a tremendous sense of the depth of height but I think this also plays into its overall tuning and makes it a long sit-down chill IEM.
At the end to conclude I think the Hola hits its exact intended target curve and makes one heck of a great value with its tuning to value price beating out IEM’s Costing much more.
Is the HOLA for everyone? - No Bass heads nor Treble heads need not apply, but for a shockingly good IEM that does what the Hola does it’s worth having in your stable yes it is.
HOLA costs only $18 and I will finish this review with that mindful thought.
Thanks so much, Cheers from the Tone Deaf Monk.
3.5 or 4.4 , Tuning Switches.