TRI I4 Review (1) – Revisit and Re-evaluate

[Reading time: approximately 4 minutes] 

Disclaimer: If you are allergic to or a skeptic of “snake oil”, please stop reading NOW!!! The following article consists of potent extracts and essences from some of the most venomous snakes on the planet, such as inland taipan, taipan, black mamba, viper, coral reef snake and king cobra, etc… Read at your own risk!

The 1BA + 1DD hybrid TRI I4 was released in August 2019. Reception then was lukewarm and less than ideal. Many reviewers didn’t find the TRI I4 exceptional. Co-blogger Loomis Johnson wrote an article on it (see: TriAudio I4 Review – The Schizophrenic Debutante) in September 2019. He wasn’t impressed with it either.

My TRI I4 was a review sample supplied by Wooeasy store. That time I remember lady boss Mrs Easy told me TRI I4 was receiving many positive feedbacks from her Japanese clients and insisted that I should give it a try. 

Well, I did try and didn’t like it… But I didn’t hate it either. I found the coherency and speed between the 10mm biocellulose dynamic driver and the Knowles balanced armature driver to be mismatched somehow. Bass decay sounded sluggish and boomy. Midrange wasn’t perfect either. It was slightly recessed and distant, resulted in male vocal sounding weak and lean. However, female vocal was near perfect, with nice air and no hint of upper mid sibilance. Treble was well extended with plenty of air and space. Highs were clean and detailed.

As I was busy with other tuning projects that time, I didn’t want to spend more time with the TRI I4. It was tossed into the drawer and left there for months until recently… Hate me for saying this, but thanks to the novel coronavirus, I was able to revisit and re-evaluate the TRI I4 once again. This time, I am pleased to proclaim it is one of the best budget earphones I tried and tested in 2019!

How so? What did you do? [“SNAKE Oil” ALERT!!!] Simple… First, I give it enough burn-in time and second, I replaced a couple of “accessories”. After Mainland China went out of action during the COVID-19 outbreak, I was deprived of new toy. Thus, I took out the I4 from the drawer to try. Recalling the rather unpleasant experience, I let it run-in for few days (roughly 50+ hours). I also found my long-lost Neotech 7N UP-OCC 8-core pure copper cable that a friend of mine DIY’ed himself and sold to me for quite a good price (I know keep saying I am cheap but I actually paid much higher price for this cable than many cables on AliExpress). I tossed out the stock cable and replaced with Neotech UP-OCC and…. Viola! I experienced both exhilaration and happiness at the same time.

Earlier I mentioned I4 suffered from slight bass bloat and slowness, well, both problems were gone after I swapped to Neotech UP-OCC cable. Voices rendered beautifully especially female vocals. The only problem left was male vocals still sounded weak and lacking. Fret not, I had a solution for that!

At the time of writing, I was also compiling a list of silicone eartips and their effects on sound. I remembered testing a set of eartip that would enhance vocals – both male and female, and that was Radius Deep Mount from Japan. True enough, vocal clarity rose by a few notches and male vocals no longer sounded anemic. The Deep Mount eartips also enhanced the overall balance of the I4 and presented a much wider, bigger soundstage and airiness.

With all these enhancements, I am pleased to reveal TRI I4 gives the much praised Tin Hifi T4 (SRP at US$109) a good run for the money. After tweaking, both Tin Hifi T4 and TRI 4I4 share many similar traits. But T4 sounded drier and a tad more indented, thus less engaging when it comes to vocal tracks. My usual test tracks from Vanessa Fernandez, Diana Krall, Harry Belafonte, Kenny Rankin and Malaysian mando-pop group 2V1G, sounded superb!

At SRP US$69 (you can get it for as low as US$50 during  AliExpress sales promotion), TRI I4 is definitely worth exploring. The I4 was last year’s model but it didn’t gain fame until recently. Even Bad Guy Good Audio Reviews Chris brought it to attention in one of his many long-winded YouTube videos. Chris and I disagree on many things but both of us agree TRI I4 is definitely an interesting one to consider if you are tired of conventional Harman Target tunings. 

Let’s take a bow… The debutante has left the house but do catch a glimpse before she is gone for good!