all these cable pics… I don’t need it… I don’t need it… ah what the heck shot them a message to see if they have other color options and if I can get IE900 compatible connectors
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First, I’m SO GLAD you’re feeling better! Yay! I’m also jealous that you had an easy recovery from the COVID, as @GooberBM will tell you, if he hasn’t done so already, lol.
Second, the Maestro Minis are…so…pretty!..
Third, I’m having a little twinge of FOMO over here…
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so my wife just upgraded from her Senn IE100 pro to the apple airpods pro (2) and she is running around here like a giddy kid! Funny enough it got me thinking about the quest for “endgame” and I realized something; we talk about being audiophiles and how X headphone is better than Y however its all in the context of music. We use music as the backdrop for judging audio gear however music is not the only audio. We talk about being audiophiles but in reality we are musicphiles if anything.
The reason I say this is because my wife doesn’t really listen to music but shes loves podcasts and in that context she still cares about audio quality, it’s just that her needs are not the same as those whose focus is on music. It also made me realize that headphones that are great for podcasts, ASMR, etc may not be the best for music and vice versa.
anyway that is the end of my shower thought
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That’s very fair and valid. The KZ DQ6 was the single worst IEM I ever heard for taking phone calls. It made voices actual ice picks stabbing my brain
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My thoughts on the TinHiFi C3
Spoiler: Good but outclassed for less, unless you like the fatter, less resolving bass or you want just a great super well fitting IEM you might pass this one up unfortunately.
Audio Review - TinHiFi C3
Hello all: Thanks for reading my feedback.
I share my impressions as I hear them with my ears.
As all our ears are different shapes & sizes 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 slightly more aggressive U shape. I love my Bass Sub and Mid Bass love it all actually; and in quantity. With the Bass I prefer a faster decay the faster the better as to not bleed into the mids., I am treble sensitive and prefer a darker warmer replay with good extension.
I prefer the fast speedy bass of the Nano Carbon Driver of my LetShuoer EJ07M and GS AUDIO SE12 ( Love my Sonion 38D’S BA Sub Bass. ) 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 a 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 - Only IEM I never considered selling!
That dripple being said:
And as such here is my take on the: TinHiFi C3 (This one was sent to me by KeepHiFi - Thank you.)
Sources: E1DA SG3, Shanling UP5, Geshelli JNOG J2 with AKM4493 chip.
DAP/TRASPORT: From Lenovo Laptop with Amazon Unlimited ULTRA HD, iBasso DX160 ,Samsung S22 Ultra with DSD Files.
Amps: LoxjiP20 tube amp and Topping A90D
Tips Used for Best Result and subjective: KBEAR 07 L tips and KBEAR Hazy 6N Graphene Cable (Paid)
PRO’S:
- Fit absolutely the most comfortable IEM I have tried for my ears.
- L & R in large letters on bottom - Nice touch.
- Smooth unfatiguing sound signature.
- Bass has nice bottom end not the fastest but musical.
- Can be driven off anything from phone output to high end amps.
- Single DD coherency
- Nice warm mids Male & Female vocals sound natural , Sting / Fleetwood Mac all correct.
- Stock Cable is fully useable and a nice include.
CON’S:
- No Cable termination option.
- Not the same speed of bass like a Beryllium Coated One ( Cadenza ) Some mike like this more so not really a con but for my preferences.
- Stage is fairly compressed not very wide and stage is on a single plane not much depth or height but again maybe not a serious negative as some prefer a intimate stage. At his price point this is what to expect. I prefer a spastic wide deep and with good height differential.
NOTHING ELSE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT FOR $50 CDN! - No Case who cares. Cable Upgrade helps but not needed.
My Cable take as a generalization; is this - as I detest cable shillers: I can hear a difference not so much in cable to cable but in the materials used. For this I think cables are first and foremost #1 EYE CANDY and #2 distant second If I can hone the sound signature a tad then great. IEM/SOURCE MATERIAL/TIPS/FLOWER STRAIN/DAC-SOURCE/AMP/CABLE that’s my order of importance to what I think makes the most difference.
It has been observed the Pure OFCC Copper gives a nice bottom end and seems to not enhance the high frequencies.
Silver Or SPC seems to enhance the highs. The Golden element seems to make the sound a bit warmer. Palladium, Rhodium and Frozen Litz - Ummm this BS smells a lot like Psychoacoustics kind of funny.
EVALUATION SCORE FOR SOUND IMPRESSIONS: 1-10 ( 1 Lowest - Poor 10 Highest - Mind Blown )
OVERALL SCORE: Out of possible 130 Points : 100.5 / 130 77% Old School Grade B+
BUILD QUALITY: 10 Light & Flawless nice shell smooth no flaws and fantastic shape best of all the sub $50 I have tried.
SUB - BASS Quantity: 8.5
SUB - BASS Quality: 9.0
MID - BASS Quality: 8.5
MID - HIGH Quality: 7
TREBBLE: 7.5
EXTENTION: 5
STAGE: 5
- WIDTH: 5
- HEIGHT: 5
- DEPTH: 5
COHERIENCY (Drivers Blend in together) : 10
MICRO DYNAMICS: 6 - (How well does the IEM convey a emotional and skillful use of change of volume in the musical piece your listening to make it interesting and bring a tear to your eye.)
MICRO DYNAMICS: 6 - Elements of good Micro-Dynamics (Drums have the snap and impact your feel in your chest and this was observed to be best achieved with a slower attack on the bass notes to add weight and blend the proper attack relative of the rest of the mix; Also how does the IEM express its ability to replay the song mix in a way you can enjoy the dynamics in different volumes not only with the various different instruments ; but as well as give you a sense of space of whether or not your listening to a live recording or a large , medium, small recording studio.
- (How well does the IEM give you the sense of emotion in the overall relay: Does the emotion of the entire song change tone with verses having various rises? Did the engineer make the choruses feel more powerful?)
SOURCE & RECORDING PLAYBACK QUALITY MAKES A MASSIVE DIFFERECE. AND ONLY GOOD IEM’S CAN GET HIGH MARKS ON ABOVE!
MY VALUE SCORE: 18 Easy to rec this one as blind buy for the price it is excellent value if this fits your library and sound preference.
100% I AGAIN I BASE THIS ON MY PRECIEVED - PRICING / VALUE EQUASION
1-20 ( 1 Nobody Should Buy This - 10 Good Value as over-all package this IEM will appeal to some who will love It - 20 ( SOUND/WALLET/EMOTION/FIT/COMFORT )
- ( My score purely subjective to current selling price and competition at time of review)
SUMMARY FOR : Tin HiFi C3
I HAVE SPENT MANY HOURS WITH SOME MINDFULL THOUGHT ABOUT THIS QUESTION:
Not sure If I am the only one who wondered why anyone would buy a cheap IEM when we have or something closer to our TOTL collection already? - I MEAN IT’S CHEAP HOW GOOD COULD IT BE?
ANSWER : Like the Cadenza and Now 2023 Truthear Hola, The C3 and MANY OTHER IEM’S that came out in 2022 broke the mold really; the sound you can get vs the cost keeps resetting weekly.
All the way up the scale for the sheer joy you can get for so little money without to many faults: Makes you ponder the diminishing return scale and where the bar is now set to!
“Hard to believe how far the market has come for the Value / $ Equation” I have heard continuously by many; in all the forums it has been noted many times by many different people.
COMPARISIONS:
-
KiwiEars Cadenza
○ Slightly more recessed vocals like just a hair - me preference female vocals are better.
○ Bass over the C3 wins hands down with speed and attack and quantity
○ Male vocals again nicer for me cleaner with the faster mid bass and less bleed than the C3
○ Highs are nicer , cleaner nicer sparkle with-out any glare or sibilance the C3 sometimes for me was a bit ummm nope , I ended up putting a 350 Level balanced filter on C3 nozzle to help but the Cadenza just did it better without help.
○ Better stage than C3 wins hands down.
○ Cadenza would easily me rec over the C3 for less you get more! -
Truthear Hola
○ Less bottom end than either the C3 and Cadenza but nice texture and weight and I prefer the faster bass to muddy thump of the C3
○ Excellent stage width and height for $20 Crazy you can tell it’s a lesser priced IEM but its fun and easy to listen to. The Cadenza still has significantly better stage.
○ Female vocals better than C3 but Male vocals are more weighty on C3 if that’s your preference.
○ Shell shape they are almost too small for me.
○ More forward vocals and presentation than either C3 or Cadenza , maybe cleaner than those 2 but my preference is on the warmer side not the cooler forward vocals in the mix the Hola give.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The TinHiFiC3 , played my very mixed library nicely and I If I did not have the Cadenza in my arsenal I would be happy. Love the fit of the C3 very much and really wanted this IEM to trump the Cadenza…. But alas not a chance! Price, stage and just overall the Cadenza is a better sounding and the better purchase thus the 3***
The C3 is great and good value purchase for $50 but it traded blows with others in the same or less price bracket and lost out on the most important factor for me the sound.
If you like fatter less snappy bass you will be happy with the C3 as a whole very nice package do your research see if this one’s for you.
Cheers TheDeafMonk.
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Here’s my official review of the KBEAR Storm.
Yeah it’s a Storm of a wacky hot mess of tuning!
Looks CHEAP feels CHEAP and is cheap. KZ made the same looking IEM but better
And that’s the huge problem at $18 it is 200% outclassed by other IEM’s
Don’t waste your money on this IEM.
Truthear Hola is out. same price but waaaayyy better tuning , better no not better leaps and bounds better build quality, Better cable , better Case ( Actually includes a nice one.)
END OF REVIEW.
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Chinese New Year wait till end of month for anyone in ChiFi to respond.
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Good reviews (except for the part where I disagree here. But we can agree to disagree 
)
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A deal here…
This has been shared before, but now there are English subtitles:
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Thank for a great write up!
I have been eyeing the these for a long time and then came the Aful Performer 5 which now also is the list. Would some of you that have tried the both comment on if you need both or save a buck and settle with the P5s?
I don’t think the P5 and MM are comparable. It’s like comparing ice cream to gasoline lol. They’d be for completely different music-listening experiences
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There are too many differences between the P5 and the MM to compare them, unfortunately.
The P5 is less than half the price and that’s the first hurdle. The tuning is completely different as well. I feel like they’d compliment each other side by side, but if you were to have just one, I’d say the p5 is the less fun, but safer bet.
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Thank you wise folks. My inner bass head is screaming for the fatfreqs and the other part where I use my iem for every thing in my office the P5 would be the safe one as you say.
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If you want a fun basshead experience (not the best combination of basshead and musical like MM), @domq422 can advise on the KBear Rosefinch as a $20 basshead option while you get the P5 for safe, traditional tuning.
Or you can get the MM and one of the any number of safely tuned $20 sets out there now
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Yeah! That is the correct rabbit hole answer 
is the hype true about the newer truethears either Hola or the hexa?
@GooberBM Is correcto. Depends on which you prioritize more. Are you more of a basshead, or do you prefer a “regular” tuning the most majority of the time?
And ya Hexa and Hola are very good. I personally don’t think the difference is that big between the Hola and Hexa (hexa maybe more separation/detail?), and precog also ranked the Hexa better than the P5 so probably just grab the Hexa and save $100+
So you can either go Hola ($20) and Maestro Mini, or Hexa ($80) + Rosefinch ($20), and Quarks DSP ($15)/ Olina SE ($100) as optional to try some more tuning.
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Yes, the hype is true but there is SO MUCH redundancy and competition for Hola (less so for Hexa)
Hexa and Olina SE are extremely comparable sets at the same price point.
Hola, however has 7Hz Zero, Tangzu Wan’er, Tinhifi C2 and C3, Kiwi Ears Cadenza, QKZ x HBB, CCA CXS and FLA, all in direct competition with very similar sounds.
It’s a bloodbath at $20
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Correctamundo.
The KBear Rosefinch is probably my favorite cheap bass head set. The QKZxHBB is also another viable option but in my humble opinion, If you’re consciously choosing an IEM to be a bass head IEM, then why not go full f-you bass?
The Rosefinch does that and more. For under $20, you absolutely cannot go wrong, I promise.
The Hexa is not a safe Rec in my opinion - I personally love the Hexa for its aesthetic, it’s fit and it’s sound. But I won’t sit here and say the Olina SE is any worse. I think as @GooberBM has said it in the past, their side grades with the Olina SE having a slightly warmer presentation to my ears and memory. The Hexa stands out due to its neutral bass presentation and layering. It’s a smooth playback in the treble as well but some may see the bass region lacking.
If I were you, depending on which style of playback is more valuable to you:
P5 + Rosefinch = if you want a small taste of bass head but need a proper playback IEM that does most libraries and you want to maintain something of a budget.
MM + Hexa/Olina SE/(cheaper option insert here, literally any of the ones @GooberBM has tried and sacrificed his time for us) = if you wanna say f the budget and you prioritize a bass head BLASTER of a set but you also need an IEM that does a majority of the library well.
Happy listening! Remember, it’s all about the music 
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