Fit and Comfort

Seen above are two images using the same size M silicone ear tips that come with the Tripowin TC-01, installed on the right ear bud and inserted into an artificial ear mold. I have averagely sized ears, and the ear mold seen above about perfectly represents my own experiences. Size M silicone tips are my go-to for testing since foam tips are not included by some, and the seal was quite good with the ear tips protruding enough into the ear canal to remain in place without being uncomfortable. The size of the ear buds is below average, and the design should be very comfortable for most people courtesy the soft curves gently caressing the lower concha and antritragus. At slightly over 9 g each, these are heavier than usual but not to where you would feel fatigue over long periods of time. The two vents also help with comfort, and despite these, Tripowin rates the TC-01 at 26 dB of passive noise isolation.

Audio Performance

Audio Hardware

Tripowin used balanced armature drivers in its first set of IEMs and swaps things around with a single 10 mm dynamic driver with the TC-01. There are no claims on the tuning, but we saw the factory frequency response printed on the packaging. Expect plenty of bass with this dynamic driver using a polyurethane diaphragm with a silicon coating to assist with faster, consistent vibrations as part of the driving mechanism itself. Driving the hardware also does not take any more than your average IEMs with a rated impedance of 16 Ω and an average sensitivity of 104 dB/mW. A portable DAC/amp or even DAP might be nice on the go, especially with the lack of a 3.5 mm jack on most phones today. I don't expect anyone to purchase a portable DAC/amp just for these budget-oriented IEMs, however. If not on the go, space is less of an issue, but the 1.2 m cable might be a potential handicap if connecting to a PC as the audio source.

Frequency Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm neutral signature emphasizing a slightly elevated bass and smooth trebles with detailed mids and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our reproducible testing methodology begins with a calibrated IEC711 audio coupler/artificial ear for ear buds to feed into enough for decent isolation similar to real ears. The audio coupler feeds into a USB sound card, which in turn goes to a laptop that has ARTA and REW running and the earphones connected to the laptop through the sound card. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/6th setting, which nets a good balance of detail and noise not being identified as useful data. Also, the default tuning was used for testing, and no app-based settings were chosen unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is tested thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the three individual measurements for statistical accuracy. For IEMs, I am also using the ear mold that fits to the audio coupler for a separate test to compare how the IEMs fare when installed in an ear geometry and not just the audio coupler. The raw data is then exported from REW and plotted in OriginPro for easier comparison.


The IEC711 is such that you can't really compare these results with most other test setups, just within our own library of measurements. This is also why I am trialing just omitting the raw dB numbers altogether, noting instead that I had set the SPL to 75 dB in REW. What is more useful information is how the left and right channels work across the rated frequency response in the Tripowin TC-01, or at least its useful part. The left earbud was separately tested from the right one and colored differently for contrast. I did my best to ensure an identical fit for both inside the IEC711 orifice—note how the right channel is consistently under-elevated but within 1 dB throughout. You are certainly not going to notice this discrepancy in use.

In fact, the same continues with the test utilizing the ear mold to represent an ear and cheek simulator and an example set of ear canals. As expected with the ear canal in the way, there is another drop in the lows and mids, which continues all the way until ~8 kHz, where there is a peak shift we have noticed before. I will also mention that there was no discernible break-in period or effect, making for overall good reproducibility and consistency since the average response for each channel is basically the same across the three repeated tests.

But what of the actual frequency response and listening experience with the Tripowin TC-01? Remember how I said I generally prefer a V-shaped sound signature? I take it back, the Tripowin TC-01 is the real V-shape master. Look at that thing—it's basically two lines meeting in the mids! Bassheads will love this, with a sub-bass response that will vibrate your eardrums under the right conditions. This incredibly elevated bass response stays until nearly 50 Hz and even then remains elevated for the entirety of the lows. House music, metal of all sub-genres, and EDM will all reign supreme here. There is so much energy here it could almost feed a small country for a year! This is so deliberately tuned to take advantage of the strengths of the single 10 mm dynamic driver that I have to respect Tripowin for sticking to it. The factory response is also fairly spot on here.

Unfortunately, what this leads to is the weakest part of the listening experience with the Tripowin TC-01, the non-existent mid range. There is barely any detail for male vocals, and many instrument classes just meld together into a haze. Imaging is extremely rough, too, and to call the soundstage holographic would be a sad joke. There is enough tonal separation to appreciate brighter music, which in fact continues on the other end with a brighter response for female vocals in particular from the get go. While the measurements resolved the ear canal resonance compensation hump into two peaks, it felt warm neutral in this range in practice. The treble range is not as bad as the mids, but tends to be a generally weak range for single dynamic drivers in this price range. There is the occasional clipping at the ultra-high frequencies, but again not to where it is a dealbreaker.

Comparison to other IEMs

I only have two other sub-$100 IEMs here at this time, and both the ThieAudio Legacy 2 and BLON BL-A8 are shown alongside the Tripowin TC-01 above. That the TC-01 is the least balanced of the lot is fairly obvious, and I once again have to say I would rather companies stick to something concrete and not try to downplay any hardware limitations with tuning and EQ. ThieAudio came close with the Legacy 2 where the bass and mid-bass are quite lacking, and this is where the difference between the three is most obvious. The BLON BL-A8 is generally more warm neutral, which will appeal to the average end user more than the other two. Both of the others also end up outshining the TC-01 in the mids and highs, unless you really like brightness with your music genres, of course.