TANCHJIM One IEM Review

[CedarX]

@Art of sound. Thanks, but a frequency response doesn’t really tell much in this case (on a DSP that can be EQed). I would like to se distortion, power, etc.

The Tanchjim Zero-DSP was reviewed by Wolf: https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/tanchjim-zero-dsp/
Though it needs to be confirmed, I suspect the One-DSP uses the same KTMicro chip as the Zero-DSP.
As Wolf’s measurements show, this is average performances at best! But in the context of an entry-level IEM, I find the overall value quite amazing…

 

[stunta]

I ordered the DSP version with mic hoping it can double as a work-call headset on my laptop that has USB-C ports. Hopefully it doesn't take away too much from the SQ.

Thanks for the reviews @amirm. I am also enjoying the ridiculously amazing 7Hz IEMs thanks to your review. This is a completely different era of hifi you have started!

 

[Joramun]

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.

Obviously not seeing the bigger picture and wilfully ignoring real world actions happening around us. Chinese are great at more than just IEMs. There's also DAC/AMPS and AV (TLC/Hi-Sense). Don't portray it like I specifically focused on IEMs only.

 

[GPJ]

Another great review. Thanks Amir.

I remember cringing when buying $200 IEM's a decade ago and worried about them failing prematurely. Now I can buy a handful (of better performing ones') for $150ish .... LOL

Really nice to see the price of IEM's going the way of microSD cards .....

 

[Art of sound]

@Art of sound. Thanks, but a frequency response doesn’t really tell much in this case (on a DSP that can be EQed). I would like to se distortion, power, etc.

you can hear distortion on an iem. i never listen above 80db peaks except for testing. even speakers that distort at 3% at 86db everywhere except 2-3khz and 6-8khz would be sufficient for 99.99% of people unless something about the graph is effecting your enjoyment. most iem’s that have good drivers are expensive its not just the tuning. its not that 20$ is bad. its just that once you listen to the good stuff you know its better unless its uncomfortable. look at the graphs of crinacle or others measured at squigly and see subjective reviews and pick one randomly and you won’t be disappointed. i’m not against the idea of a great $20 iem. but once you spend 25-35k minutes listening to spotify or flac files each year its worth getting better quality iem’s, speakers. headphones are way too expensive if going for good drivers imo.

 

[Shadrach]

I've never owned a set of IEMs. I'm not even sure I really want a pair.
I've read a number of Amir's reviews and while interested that interest hasn't resulted in me buying a pair.
I have, or should say had, a pair of cheap office type headphones with a microphone for internet communications that I used on my day to day computer that finally fell to bits.
I've already spent more than I should have on the stereo this year but for 25 pounds with performance as measured I thought it was time I found out what all the fuss is about. I've ordered a pair. They'll replace the broken headset. I'll try out Amir's equaliser settings.

Am I going to be impressed I wonder...

 

[CedarX]

I've never owned a set of IEMs. I'm not even sure I really want a pair.
I've read a number of Amir's reviews and while interested that interest hasn't resulted in me buying a pair.
I have, or should say had, a pair of cheap office type headphones with a microphone for internet communications that I used on my day to day computer that finally fell to bits.
I've already spent more than I should have on the stereo this year but for 25 pounds with performance as measured I thought it was time I found out what all the fuss is about. I've ordered a pair. They'll replace the broken headset. I'll try out Amir's equaliser settings.

Am I going to be impressed I wonder...

This forum is primarily about objective audio performances and their technical ramifications. When it comes to IEMs however, good fit and good seal are the most important aspects IMHO, but they are difficult to address in a review. If you’ve never owned IEMs, be ready for something different! That it may never work for you is a possibility…
The Tanchjim One is not a bad choice to start with: you can wear it “cable down” (easier) or “around the ear” (more stable)—don’t forget to swap the L/R cables—and you get a good selection of tips (though none work for me: I use Spinfit CP100 XL, which are half the cost of the One IEMs!).
Then and only then you’ll decide whether the sound is that impressive…

 

[Shadrach]

This forum is primarily about objective audio performances and their technical ramifications. When it comes to IEMs however, good fit and good seal are the most important aspects IMHO, but they are difficult to address in a review. If you’ve never owned IEMs, be ready for something different! That it may never work for you is a possibility…
The Tanchjim One is not a bad choice to start with: you can wear it “cable down” (easier) or “around the ear” (more stable)—don’t forget to swap the L/R cables—and you get a good selection of tips (though none work for me: I use Spinfit CP100 XL, which are half the cost of the One IEMs!).
Then and only then you’ll decide whether the sound is that impressive…

I'm sure they'll be fine. I can equalize to taste. I don't anticipate looking for any after market extras and don't expect to use them in preference to my headphones or stereo system.

 

[Makahl]

PSA: I've switched the cable to a third-party one as I'm not too fond of the eye-catching silver material, and I've noticed that the sound was odd and out of phase. Checking the pinout seems to be indeed the case and not good news for most cables with earhooks:

Riping out the earhook plastic and having it straight I could fix it, though.

Edit:
Another point is the stock pin is also longer than the average common recessed 0.78mm 2pin, it's quite prone to detach from the socket if you wear it cable down from time to time.

 

[mc.god]

PSA: I've switched the cable to a third-party one as I'm not too fond of the eye-catching silver material, and I've noticed that the sound was odd and out of phase. Checking the pinout seems to be indeed the case and not good news for most cables with earhooks:

Riping out the earhook plastic and having it straight I could fix it, though.

I think you are supposed to swap L to R when you want to wear them with cable up (hooks over the ears) in order to connect it with the right polarity.

 

[Makahl]

I think you are supposed to swap L to R when you want to wear them with cable up (hooks over the ears) in order to connect it with the right polarity.

I can't see how that'll help at all. The angled nozzle will fit oddly and the hook will still face the wrong side.

 

[mc.god]

I can't see how that'll help at all. The angled nozzle will fit oddly and the hook will still face the wrong side.

Don't know about the nozzle angle, I don't have them and just remember reading that.
Standard iems with connector on top have + toward the back of your head and - toward the front, exactly like those on the bottom connector of the Tanchjim One. When you turn those with connector upward, you'll end up with poles order inverted and a standard aftermarket cable with ear hooks will be expecting those the other way, resulting in the out of phase sound you mentioned. Swapping the L-R earpiece with connector up you will make a second inversion, returning with the poles in the right direction, permitting you to use an ear hook cable without any modification to it.

 

[CedarX]

Don't know about the nozzle angle, I don't have them and just remember reading that.
Standard iems with connector on top have + toward the back of your head and - toward the front, exactly like those on the bottom connector of the Tanchjim One. When you turn those with connector upward, you'll end up with poles order inverted and a standard aftermarket cable with ear hooks will be expecting those the other way, resulting in the out of phase sound you mentioned. Swapping the L-R earpiece with connector up you will make a second inversion, returning with the poles in the right direction, permitting you to use an ear hook cable without any modification to it.

The Tanchjim One IEMs have angled nozzles. The left and right IEMs are symmetrical, not identical. When going from “cable down” to “around the ear”, you have to swap the left and right IEMs for a comfortable fit, otherwise the nozzle is angled the wrong way. So, you also need to swap the cable to not invert the L & R channels…
The cable has “L” and “R” markings that I keep facing outward to keep consistent polarities.

 

[mc.god]

So, you also need to swap the cable to not invert the L & R channels…
The cable has “L” and “R” markings that I keep facing outward to keep consistent polarities.

I gave it for assumed and obvious to not invert the channels, my bad if it was'n clear.

 

[CedarX]

This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the Tanchjim One In-ear Monitor.

Could you share the measurements file?
Thanks!

 

[alumnicesar]

@Maiky76 preference score for these?

 

[dtaylo1066]

Now that's 27 clams well spent! As only an occasional HP user, I may just have to order a pair.

 

[gvl]

I had disposable $27 so I got these. Can’t say I like them, they are extended in both ends and appear to sound quite clean but unfortunately they sound kind of dry to my ears. Probably some EQ can help, but my use case is iPhone and Topping G5 and Qobuz/Spotify, so EQ isn’t really an option. I did like the Crinacles Zeroes, go figure.

 

[Maiky76]

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.
View attachment 337333
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:
View attachment 337334
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:
View attachment 337337
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:
View attachment 337338
There is that one peak that stands out although its frequency is high enough to be of less concern:
View attachment 337339

Group delay is unventful:
View attachment 337340

Impedance is very low and flat:
View attachment 337341

Combined with slightly lower than average sensitivity it means just about any source can drive it quite loud:
View attachment 337342

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:
View attachment 337343

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/

No Data...
I scanned the picture so the scores are only (decent) approximations.

Here are some thoughts about the EQ.
Please report your findings, positive or negative!

Notes about the EQ design:

• The average L/R is used to calculate the score.
• The resolution is 12 points per octave interpolated from the raw data (provided by @amirm)
• A Genetic Algorithm is used to optimize the EQ.
• The EQ Score is designed to MAXIMIZE the Score WHILE fitting the Harman target curve (and other constrains) with a fixed complexity.
  This will avoid weird results if one only optimizes for the Score.
  It will probably flatten the Error regression doing so, the tonal balance should be therefore more neutral.
• The EQs are starting point and may require tuning (certainly at LF and maybe at HF).
• The range around and above 10kHz is usually not EQed unless smooth enough to do so.
• I am using PEQ (PK) as from my experience the definition is more consistent across different DSP/platform implementations than shelves.
• With some HP/amp combo, the boosts and preamp gain (loss of Dynamic range) need to be carefully considered to avoid issues with, amongst other things, too low a Max SPL or damaging your device. You have beed warned.
• Not all units of the same product are made equal. The EQ is based on the measurements of a single unit. YMMV with regards to the very unit you are trying this EQ on.
• I sometimes use variations of the Harman curve for some reasons. See rational here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pro-review-headphone.28244/page-5#post-989169
• https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pro-review-headphone.28244/page-6#post-992119
• NOTE: the score then calculated is not comparable to the scores derived from the default Harman target curve if not otherwise noted.
• Occluding IE devices generally must have very good fitting/seal in the user's ear canal for best performance.
  please spend a few minutes to pick up the best ear tip... Be sure to perform this step otherwise the FR/Score/EQ presented here are just worthless.
• 1. more bass = better seal
  2. More isolation from the outside world = better fit
  3. Comfort

Good L/R match.

I have generated several EQs, the APO config files are attached.

Score no EQ: 79.6%
Score Amirm: 84.1%
Score with EQ Redux: 93.8%
Score with EQ Full: 96.2%

Redux (5BQ) vs Full (score)

and Finally Knowles, scores are NOT comparable.

 

[iraweiss]

I just got my USB C version from Amazon and tried them out. The fit much better than my Linsoul 7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2 in ear monitors. I love that I don't need a dongle with my phone. I'll compare the sound of the two later.