TRI StarRiver - A Modern Vocal-Centric Wonder
Vid is up here:
Pros:
- Tuning switches change the pina gain and overall tuning with a unique presentation
- Build Quality and fit and finish top notch!
- German resin shells are beautifully polished and look very premium the Blue or Green is almost 3D
- Cable is ok but has 4.4 Pentagon option so there’s that.
- Comes with a nice little case that’s useable a nice touch at this price only reason I mention it.
- Vocals are OMG amazing especially female.
- Instrumental and orchestra are so nicely done.
- This IEM screams Made for modern music!
- Sub driver fast & punchy is nicely weighted and takes EQ like a champ.
- 6mm Driver is well chosen and does exactly what its intended tuning tried to achieve so bravo.
- Highs are very well done big energy without sibilance (10) Setting (01) not so much - Treble-heads rejoice!
Cons:
- Can be a bit fatiguing with longer listening sessions with the overall treble volume and shouty with 01 settings.
- Cable while decent probably not the best synergy.
- TRI Clarion tips wont work for most people with the shorter nozzle length. -
- Needs different tips that are not included.
- Needs power to get going not for listening at low volume levels.
- Nowhere in the packaging is there any mention, description or instructions for the tuning switches leaving you guessing what they do, how they will change the sound. A huge oversite and you should not be left having to research it.
Now let’s get into it: The Techy Stuff
The StarRiver is a dual dynamic IEM. A 10mm and a 6mm drivers. Both use a Beryllium coated diaphragm.
Thank you to KeepHiFi for providing me this IEM for review.
More information and purchase link can be found here: 【TRI Star River】Dual Dynamic Drivers 2Pin Wired Earphone with Tuning S
Subjective Part of my Audio Review -
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.
My version of what my perfect balanced IEM is: Good Sub Bass, with a warmer tone weight but faster and a nice transition into lower bass that adds the correct note weight to male vocals without too much bleed to effect female vocals with too much added thickness. I want to hear guitar plucks sounding with good intensity and tone.
Male vocals should sound correct and female vocals not to thin or forward.
Highs need to good extension and no sign of sibilance.
Instruments need to have correct tonality and sound natural.
For reference my favorite IEM is the Xenns Mangird UP with it’s EST drivers that add sparkly enhancement only and not forced in a smooth natural way I prefer the fast speedy bass of the Beryllium Coated Driver.
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. When not listening to my test tracks the majority is Jazz or Alternative Rock especially Female Rock. Lorde, Halsey, Alanis Morrisette, Evanescence. All depends on my mood.
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
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.
(26 Tracks 2:03:03)
Let’s Begin: I transposed my listening notes on each track as I heard them.
For all these songs after determining that I prefer the tuning with first toggle switch Up or on and the second switch down or off.
This setting lowers the pina gain has a nice dip to not make it sibilant and extends the highs for vocal clarity.
#1 “Beautiful Blue” by Holly McNarland
(I love Holly’s vocals should be crips clear vocals with the right edge to here vocals)
“lovely Vocals”
#2 “Give Me One Reason” Tracy Chapman
(I love her voice and the way it is recorded listen for the strums on the guitar - 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)
“Good Guitar strums in this track I like for forward Tracy’s voice was in the mix and was perfect. Backup singers were accented nicely and vocals were perfect.”
#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)
“Did the turn nicely nice wide stage was a good sense of depth of stage”
#4 “House Of Broken Love” & “Rock Me”
(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)
“Guitar has the lower bass notes but not the most prominent. Had excellent speed & note weight. High hats were great and sounded natural and balanced.”
#5 “Wheat Kings - Remastered” by The Tragically Hip
(Sense of stage and Male vocals)
“Yes well done Great Male Vocals and nice balance of vocals and instruments”
#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?)
“$hit YES” Good times but highs pushing my tolerance limit bass was slammin but the highs would not let me keep going on the volume wheel."
#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.)
“No sibilance this was the track I normally can pick it out, All vocals were spot on and the StarRiver did a excellent job of allowing me to hear when there was more than one singer in the mix”
#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”
“Great Instrumental felt it needed a bit more sub note weight here and the stage was not the deepest I have heard and was looking for in this track. The descending A major was a bit disappointing.”
#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.)
“Attack was very good piano in this track sounded natural”
#10 “Angel” by Massive Attack
(Say it with me - massive textured bass drops)
“Where the bass ? No just kidding it was there but not in the quantity that this track screams for. On the flip side you hear the vocal with excellent clarity. The StarRiver still made this track a good listen with the vocal clarity making up for the lack of lows”
#11 “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.)
“I love Mellissa’s voice in this track. Guitar is nice and vocals are perfect.”
#12 “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)
Good stage with a nice pan from L to R overall stage was smooth with excellent instrument separation but more intimate and vocals dead center. Lots of twinkles and Annie’s voice was perfect."
#13 " So Cold " Holly McNarland
( Vocals on this track are further back in the track and L & R upfront good track for testing depth of stage and vocals - Sub Bass at the very beginning has a nice drop.)
“Sub bass at the beginning was lean it was there but not as much as I would have preferred. Good Left & Right separation but I wish the depth of stage was deeper and left me a bit disappointed - only because I have heard it presented nicer.”
#14 “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.
“Vocals from Sting were so well done it was a special replay. Here again with my preference I was wishing the guitar pulls had more weight on this track.”
#15 “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.)
“Both vocals were beautifully done and this is a testimonial of how well the StarRiver balances the note weight of vocals over the whole frequency spectrum.”
#16 “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)
" Tom Cochrane’s singing sounded very natural but I felt this track is missing some instrumental enery to give it more dynamics."
#17 “Eden” Hania Rani
( The way Hania has recorded this track with the mics on the strings in the body of the piano is incredibly unique and such a unique presentation you can hear the string’s tension at the beginning, Bass kicks in at 1:40 and goes low that’s what I am listening for.)
“Piano sounded natural and you could clearly hear the microphone effects inside the piano.
Not all roses as I felt in this track the piano needed more note weight.”
#18 “Summertime” Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
( This Track has both legendary artists Simply listening to Louis and Ella’s voices and of course, the Piano and trumpets how accurate and lifelike)
“Trumpets were lovely and both vocals were liquid smooth; the vocal inflections were perfectly reproduced. Well done TRI.”
#19 “Blue Train” Poncho Sanchez
( Trumpets here are silky or should sound that way with good timbre, overall mix how does it present, and of course Poncho’s drums.)
" Drums were great as was overall presentation. With the instrument playback being so natural and the upper high frequency energy made this track and music like this lively and fun."
#20 “ My Girl “ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
(Listening for instrument placement and stage and this track gives a good sense of dynamics and excitement with lots of dynamics in the mix)
“Great instrumental playback but would love to have heard more bass energy and attack on this track.”
#21 “Iconic” by Alanis Morrissette
(More edgy female vocals to give you the chills)
“Yup vocals will give you goosebumps.”
#22 “The Day That Never Comes” Metallica - Live with the SFO from S&M2
(Big open stage good depth of stage excellent recording with a excellent orchestral opening)
“Nice Kicks not the biggest stage.”
#23 “Tricycle” by Flim & BB’s
(Turn this one up and wait till 0:28 seconds- Have Fun Dynamics test)
“Stumbled on this track as it needs more low frequency energy to bring the dynamics”
#24 “Thriller” by Michael Jackson
(Great song to listen for stage and imaging)
" Average stage great Vocals"
#25 “Team” by Lorde
(Female vocals if your lover of those this is a great track)
“Was getting lost in this track with her voice - memorizing”
#26 “ Wake Up “ Oliver Mtukudzi
(Oliver Mtukudzi is an African Musician and prolific guitarist and Vocalist. He sings with a mix of South African styles sometimes in English sometimes mixed like in this track and includes the traditional drumming styles of the Korekore. TUKU MUSIC at its finest – Listening for vocals, bass lines, and clarity – and because it is just fun! Right at the beginning you have some very cool snaps and instrumental)
“Kind of funny this was the last track as it summarizes what the StarRiver does so well. Vocal-Centric with instrumental to back it up. You can listen to this music all day.”
SUMMARY & FINAL THOUGHTS
I am done with my conclusion and impressions of the TRI StarRiver here is my synapses look for my follow up with video.
With less Pina gain settings with switch position (10) 11 hours of in- ear and 72 hours of total burn in.
I felt I had enough information to conclude my thoughts, I came to for the newest TRI.
This one was really hard to review for me. On one end I really prefer bassier warmer sets but I love my vocals especially female.
I had to keep reminding myself not to bias to my personal preference for tuning and focus on how this IEM sounds.
Example of this polarization was my notes on listening to “Ironic” from Alanis Morissette - I wrote “Sometimes I wish the StarRiver had more sub-bass horsepower up to 120hz because the highs overpower the lows.”
Then I would check myself and realized that if there was any more bass it would pull you away from what the StarRiver excels at - INCREDIBLE VOCALS"
Stage is one area I was again wishing for bigger , wider, deeper, and higher - self check again. If the stage was more expansive it would pull you away from the Instrumental playback and again silky vocals."
As it is the TRI StarRiver has average stage more intimate and in your headspace and directly in front of you. In this case where I would wish for more I found the intimate nature makes you focus back on the well done vocal. You are sitting front row 10’ from the singer.
Dynamics the micro and macro (The nuances and volume changes to bring changes within a passage and overall track to bring effect or emotion) are not spectacular with the StarRiver. This just plays into its overall tuning and works in it’s favor. No big drops or extra attack to distract you.
The whole tuning of the StarRiver is Vocal-Centric meaning Vocals are
predominantly in the mix and bass energy is there, but not enough to distract you from the vocals or instruments playback.
The Newest TRI will not make Bass-Heads jump with excitement.
Treble heads will get excited with the energy especially with 01 settings, this was too much for me and take the top of your head off levels. At 10 settings the StarRiver has enough energy to do it’s special magic but not enough to get sibilant - even for people like me who are treble sensitive.
A quick look at the graph once you learn how to interpret one will show you that what I just takes about, and in most cases a graph gets you a good idea of what to expect.
In conclusion I believe the TRI StarRiver is very much tuned for modern music where vocals are front and center and here is where the StarRiver really shines. One listen to Matchbox 20, or Counting Crows the heavens open up and a beam of light shines down illuminating this IEM.
Ok that was a bit silly and dramatic but I wanted to get my point across.
Here is a excellent read on Vocal-Centric I was reading and it’s a good one.
The TRI StarRiver is a well tuned IEM FULL STOP.
The StarRiver really doesn’t do anything bad. Not a all-rounder but it’s really a special IEM if you were looking for a strictly vocal centric IEM, and love or listen to modern music, this one is definitely for you!
The TRI StarRiver really excels both with male and female at the expense of the lowest sub bass and extension and without piercing highs it just finds a middle ground in a most excellent way.
THE END.
Thanks so much, Cheers from the Tone Deaf Monk. TDM
