Review of TRN Black Pearl: Portable USB DAC & Headphone Amp with 10-band PEQ

[CedarX]

AliExpress TRN Official Store with highest units sold (600+)

I was reading a review from Oct-2025 where the user says the case is longer than the PCB inside and it wiggles every time they plug/unplug a cable.
Speculating a little: TRN may have received a batch of wrongly spec'ed Black Pearls...

It's also on sale for $37.55, which is great news ... or suspect !!!

EDIT: TRN also sells the TE Pro DAC, a dual-CS43198 dongle. The housing is different, but the buttons & ports layout appears similar. More speculation: you may have received a TE Pro DAC inside a Black Pearl housing...

 

[symphonyofconstruction]

I have contacted the seller but it's late in China

 

[ziggurcat]

I was reading a review from Oct-2025 where the user says the case is longer than the PCB inside and it wiggles every time they plug/unplug a cable.
Speculating a little: TRN may have received a batch of wrongly spec'ed Black Pearls...

It's also on sale for $37.55, which is great news ... or suspect !!!

EDIT: TRN also sells the TE Pro DAC, a dual-CS43198 dongle. The housing is different, but the buttons & ports layout appears similar. More speculation: you may have received a TE Pro DAC inside a Black Pearl housing...

There is a review on the AliExpress site from January 16 2026 that shows the same PCB board as what @symphonyofconstruction posted:

But there's also this one from Jan 13 2026:

I'm sort of wondering if the boards are the same, but flipped in the case (what's showing is the underside of the PCB)?

 

[symphonyofconstruction]

I'm sort of wondering if the boards are the same, but flipped in the case (what's showing is the underside of the PCB)?

Nice catch, that could be the case

 

[CedarX]

I'm sort of wondering if the boards are the same, but flipped in the case (what's showing is the underside of the PCB)?

Yes, but then the buttons would be on the other side. It cannot be the same PCB flipped, it has to be a different PCB...

 

[symphonyofconstruction]

Yes, but then the buttons would be on the other side. It cannot be the same PCB flipped, it has to be a different PCB...

Ah that's a good point, the headphone out's wouldn't line up either. The mystery continues....

 

[ziggurcat]

Yes, but then the buttons would be on the other side. It cannot be the same PCB flipped, it has to be a different PCB...

Unless they reconfigured the PCB board?

It's strange that two purchases from around the same time show two different boards.

 

[mc.god]

Savitech Kencent Audio USB\VID_262A&PID_0001\5000000001

Vendor ID 262A is indeed related to Savitech

USB ID Database

Database of USB devices and their Vendor and Product ID's

the-sz.com

Also found this

https://kencent.cn/

they seem to be involved into chip reselling\customization and searching got this

https://kencent.cn/ProductInfoCategory?categoryId=993500&PageInfoId=0

So a lightly rebranded Savitech usb bridge with no other customization from the dongle manufacturer.

Nothing really helpful sorry, but as @CedarX said the Savitech bridge is not capable of any PEQ functionality, no ADC for mic input and no support at all for walkplay app, that is meant for TTGK bridges. 100% not a Black Pearl, it's sad that you got it from TRN Official Store, I would ask for a refund.

 

[ziggurcat]

Vendor ID 262A is indeed related to Savitech

USB ID Database

Database of USB devices and their Vendor and Product ID's

the-sz.com

Also found this

https://kencent.cn/

they seem to be involved into chip reselling\customization and searching got this

https://kencent.cn/ProductInfoCategory?categoryId=993500&PageInfoId=0

So a lightly rebranded Savitech usb bridge with no other customization from the dongle manufacturer.

Nothing really helpful sorry, but as @CedarX said the Savitech bridge is not capable of any PEQ functionality, no ADC for mic input and no support at all for walkplay app, that is meant for TTGK bridges. 100% not a Black Pearl, it's sad that you got it from TRN Official Store, I would ask for a refund.

Why would they do something like that?

BTW, your kencent links don't seem to be valid links. NVM, it must have glitched out

 

[mc.god]

Why would they do something like that?

1: they have been scammed by some supplier
2: they are the scammers
3: who knows

 

[audioloco]

My TRN Black Pearl DAC works fine, but it appears as TE-C in the device name. It seems to be TempoTec. The sound quality is fantastic, and Walk Play works.

 

[ziggurcat]

@symphonyofconstruction Here's a photo of the unit I got last week:

As you can see, it has the "correct" PCB board inside. Connecting it to my Mac Mini M1 (2020), it shows up as TE-C in the Audio MIDI app, and looking up the device in the system it shows the following information:

Hope this helps in any way it can.

 

[audioloco]

Does it appear as TE-C to everyone? One question: Is there a specific driver that works on Windows 11 with the TRN Black Pearl DAC?

 

[symphonyofconstruction]

TRN began responding, said that "local laws" preventing them from using original parts and "some devices just can't be detected" as to why EQ is not working. Asking me if it "works normally"... something tells me I'm going to have to escalate a return, will see how it plays out.

 

[mc.god]

@symphonyofconstruction Here's a photo of the unit I got last week:

View attachment 504773

As you can see, it has the "correct" PCB board inside. Connecting it to my Mac Mini M1 (2020), it shows up as TE-C in the Audio MIDI app, and looking up the device in the system it shows the following information:

View attachment 504776

Hope this helps in any way it can.

Seems legit, TTGK is the original manufacturer of the board and usb id matches with expected one.

Does it appear as TE-C to everyone? One question: Is there a specific driver that works on Windows 11 with the TRN Black Pearl DAC?

They sell a different model named TE-Pro so TE-C makes sense to me, it is probably the original project name of the Black Pearl.

 

[mc.god]

TRN began responding, said that "local laws" preventing them from using original parts and "some devices just can't be detected" as to why EQ is not working. Asking me if it "works normally"... something tells me I'm going to have to escalate a return, will see how it plays out.

Very elusive reply hope you can get a refund.

 

[CedarX]

@symphonyofconstruction Here's a photo of the unit I got last week:

View attachment 504773

As you can see, it has the "correct" PCB board inside. Connecting it to my Mac Mini M1 (2020), it shows up as TE-C in the Audio MIDI app, and looking up the device in the system it shows the following information:

View attachment 504776

Hope this helps in any way it can.

Just a comment on the serial number that you obfuscated: it’s not uncommon for OEMs to embed the FW version number into the serial number: not a real serial number at all…

 

[ziggurcat]

TRN began responding, said that "local laws" preventing them from using original parts

What does that even mean?

 

[JeffGB]

I purchased two from Amazon.ca a couple of months ago and they both have the correct board and ID in Windows 10. Both are ok with the Walkplay app. I hope you get some kind of satisfaction from them. I guess some countries may be restricting the use of certain chips but their explanation isn't very clear. It also doesn't provide the features they are selling it as having. I forgot to add that it is detected in Windows 10 as TE-C.

 

[ziggurcat]

Just a comment on the serial number that you obfuscated: it’s not uncommon for OEMs to embed the FW version number into the serial number…

The first 8 characters match the VID/PID, but there's no other reference point for the last 6 characters of the SN. From the online WalkPlay interface, it just says "Version 0.5" in the Device Information sidebar.

I purchased two from Amazon.ca a couple of months ago and they both have the correct board and ID in Windows 10. Both are ok with the Walkplay app. I hope you get some kind of satisfaction from them. I guess some countries may be restricting the use of certain chips but their explanation isn't very clear. It also doesn't provide the features they are selling it as having.

Mine was also an Amazon.ca purchase.