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TANCHJIM One IEM Review

Rate this IEM:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 5 2.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 3 1.7%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 51 28.2%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 122 67.4%

  • Total voters
    181

amirm

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This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the Tanchjim One In-ear Monitor. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $27.
TANCHJIM ONE IEM Best Review.jpg

Unlike many of its competitors, the ONE doesn't attempt to look like fake jewelry and instead, conveys a modern and stylistic design. The diminutive structure likely fits better in many people's ears. The supplied box and tips also look much more proper than recent $20 IEMs I have tested. I like it!

Let's put it on our GRAS 45-CA professional measurement fixture and see how it does. If you are new to these tests, please watch my video to understand headphone measurements.

Tanchjim One IEM Measurements
Let's start with our usual frequency response for the ONE:
TANCHJIM ONE IEM frequency response measurement.png

We see very good to excellent compliance with our target. I probably should have adjusted the level at a higher frequency to get even broader (visual) match. Once there, the only issue is some boost in 150 to 350 Hz and some shortfall in 6 to 9 kHz. Both minor as you see in our deviation graph:
TANCHJIM ONE IEM relative frequency response measurement.png

It may take some effort to match standard parametric filter shapes to those variations.

Distortion is very low, just shy of the best we have seen:
TANCHJIM ONE IEM Relative THD Distortion measurement.png

There is that one peak that stands out although its frequency is high enough to be of less concern:
TANCHJIM ONE IEM THD Distortion measurement.png


Group delay is unventful:
TANCHJIM ONE IEM Group Delay response measurement.png


Impedance is very low and flat:
TANCHJIM ONE IEM THD Impedance measurement.png


Combined with slightly lower than average sensitivity it means just about any source can drive it quite loud:
Best IEM Review 2024.png


Listening on my RME ADI-2 Pro, I have the volume around -40 dB for rather loud level.

Tanchjim One IEM Listening Tests and Equalization
Out of box performance was very good although I thought it had a bit too much upper bass. I dialed that down but quickly realized preference could go either way. I then added the sub-bass boost (which was without a doubt an improvement) and a couple of treble ones, optimized by ear:
TANCHJIM ONE IEM Equalization EQ.png


The sound now became "hyper hi-fi" giving me goosebumps in the way it extracted enjoyment from my reference tracks. Performing blind and sighted EQ/vs non-EQ told me that we are talking about differences in taste. Explaining the difference, my EQ brought out this delightful sub-bass which I thought was better than stock performance of other IEMs while opening the sound a bit due to reduction of upper bass. The extra highs added beautiful spatial qualities (for an IEM) but some could object to the added (slight) brightness. Net, net, I can't tell you whether you need this EQ or not other than the sub-bass boost.

Conclusions
We have had very good luck in finding highly performant IEMs for so little money. Each provides a slightly different take on tonality, providing something for everyone to choose from. The Tanchjim One follows in the same theme, this time bringing a different form factor. For people like me who don't want colorful chunks in my ears in front of others, I much prefer this look. On the performance front, the out of box tonality is just a hair different than what I like. I would have no problem using it stock in situations where I don't have EQ capability and still enjoy it very much. With just a bit of EQ, performance becomes state of the art, once again beating many speaker and headphone systems.

Let me state once again that neither the measurements or my subjective listening tests are prescriptive enough at this level of detail to predict that you need something other than the stock tuning.

I am happy to recommend the Tanchjim One IEM. Get one and compare it to other choices you have. You may like it better but if not, gift it to someone else and make them happy! :)

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
 

Technical Details/Specifications:​

Sensitivity. 126dB/Vrms
Frequency Range. 7-45kHz
Total Harmonic Distortion. <0.062%@1kHz
Driver. 10mm
Impedance. 16Ω±10%@1kHz
Plug. Gold-plated non-magnetic plug
Diaphragm. Peek&Pu Suspension Ti Dome
Cable Size. 1.25m 3.5MM 0.78PIN
Cable Material. Litz Oxygen Free Copper Silver Plated + Litz Oxygen Free Copper Composite Coaxial Structure
 
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Changed my mind about rating this One, haven't bought and listened to it. I have the Tanchjim Zero instead.
 
Maybe you're like me and you've got a drawer or box of audio cables that have lost their luster after reading articles in ASR. You want some MIT cables or flat speaker cables? I figure if I strip out the copper from all those old cables maybe, just maybe, I could sell the copper for sufficient money to buy these miniature speakers. No, that's not going to work. Copper is at $3.92 USA per pound. It turns out the copper value of audio cables is such that it really isn't worth your time to strip out the copper. That is to say, the material value of cables, no matter how pricey is just about equal to maybe the change in your pocket.
 
I reckon this would be a great option for people who don't want to wear the cable around their ear, as I think this one hangs down (or atleast the option is there). I might consider getting this one actually since I was looking for more of a bullet type IEM like that.

I'd be interested to see the KZ Ling Long reviewed too. It's very cheap and is supposed to correlate to harman quite well.
 
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Glad to see some bud types tested. @amirm did you listen and measure cable down bud style or cable up over ear style?

Actually, looks like the cable has bent ear hooks?
 
Glad to see some bud types tested. @amirm did you listen and measure cable down bud style or cable up over ear style?
Cable down as you see in the review picture. They sent me another cable but I didn't try to use them.
 
One thing that’s interesting to note is that it’s also sold together with a DSP USB-C cable (with mic), for less than the Moondrop Free DSP cable alone.

No measurements available on the former one, but worth considering for those who been thinking of buying the Free DSP cable as a USB-C alternative (with mic) for their other IEMs.
 
These companies are small start-ups building audio gear no different than ones in the west. There is no grand plan to take over the world by building IEMs for you!

Let's move on.
 
These companies are small start-ups building audio gear no different than ones in the west. There is no grand plan to take over the world by building IEMs for you!

Let's move on.
I think TWS earphones are more popular nowadays.
 
I have the version with USB C cable and it clearly lacks power and is unable to drive at reasonably high volume.
 
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