That first negative point above ends up doing it for me, honestly. I was really looking forward to these after having heard very good things about the TinHiFi brand, and the near-exceptional unboxing experience coupled with the more-than-satisfactory cable and well-engineered earbuds lifted me up before the actual listening experience brought it all crashing down. To be clear, these are not terrible IEMs by any means. They are still really good with a nice sense of balance across the range courtesy the tuned custom 10 mm DOC diaphragm dynamic driver and all the modeling done to the acoustic chamber. Transitions from the sub-bass to the lows and from there into the lower mids is smooth, but going from the upper mids to the highs is even better. There is no distortion to be heard anywhere, and the soundstage is quite good, too.

It's just that when you are paying $130 for IEMs, you expect to get something better than is found in the ~$50-80 range that has so many nice options today. I have not tested any other wired IEMs in the $100-150 range yet, but it doesn't look good when a less expensive set of IEMs that is at least 50% looks is better to listen to, and a set of TWS earphones bests it in some places, too. Psychoacoustics certainly played a role here, and so I did test for break-in more than usual. TinHiFi also suggests breaking in these IEMs, which I did for over 150 hours with a mix of white and pink noise in addition to different song genres. Unfortunately, I can't say it did anything, and the measurements were taken after the break-in process was completed, followed by my critical listening.

There is a lot to like here, and I encourage TinHiFi to retain the shell design especially. These are the most comfortable IEMs I have had to date, and anyone else with averagely sized ears will probably find the same to be true. The cable is also lightweight yet strong, and the entire look of the set is quite classy. Unboxing felt like it was a much more expensive set too, and I did like the small touches, such as the replacement mesh filters and included tweezers to aid with the same. Lots of ear tips to cater to different needs too, and that storage/carry box is really nice even if it is too bulky to carry in a pocket and faux leather at the end of the day. Maybe the DOC driver wasn't the best idea since it can only do so much, asthe company tries to do it all and ends up compromising more often than not. TinHiFi also apparently gave this a "Japanese tuning," knowing that many elsewhere might not like it. That's a bold move in itself, but there remain clarity issues irrespective of the tuning. I'd give this a pass myself and use the money for something else.