This is a review, detailed measurements and listening tests of Tanchjim Origin IEM. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $260.
Everything from packaging and look and feel of the Origin is a huge step up from the budget IEMs we have tested in the past. The ear pieces themselves feel like solid metal and have high polish. Despite the extra weight, I had no trouble keeping them in my ear (stationary position). The cord is soft and seemed to be tangle free. Even the act of inserting the cables into the IEM felt good without excessive force and a final feeling of it being properly seated.
Two versions of the tips are provided. One said better bass and another, better treble. I chose the former for testing.
Three sets of nozzles are provided. There is no documentation on what the difference is. I measured all three (see below).
Company touts low distortion and compliance with their target:
It is good to see them using such a target but alas, it is not what we like to see. Let's measure it with my GRAS-45CA fixture using Audio Precision APx555 analyzer.
Tanchjim IEM Measurements
Let's start with the included nozzle and better bass tip:
We see a response that is very close to the manufacturer. As is however, it has too little deep bass, and slightly boosted upper bass. And maybe some shortfall around 6.4 kHz. Testing with different nozzles is tricky as it requires removal, changing the tip and re-inserting into the fixture. There is no way I can do this consistently but I tried:
There appears to be slight change below 1 kHz but not enough to get it compliant with our target. Let's stay with the default (red). Relative response error is thus:
Should be easy to dial in filters if distortion is low which it is:
Group delay is uneventful in IEMs due to lack of reflections that other headphone types have and such is the case here:
Impedance is flat and very low:
Combined with average IEM sensitivity, it should be an easy drive for many sources:
Tanchjim IEM Listening Tests and Eq
First listen wasn't bad and produced an inoffensive sound signature. I could not tell you the exact issues with doing the EQ:
I dialed in the bass boost first and wow, was this IEM able to produce very clean and substantial amount of bass (for an IEM). Overall though, it was a big boomy so I put in the filter next to it to pull down that 200 Hz hump. That cleaned up the bass. I wasn't sure if I needed treble boost but I put it in (based on the channel needing the least) and it nicely balanced the newly found bass response.
I then ran through my reference clips and the experience was jaw dropping at times. Full range sound with detail to die for and dynamics to go with it. I could have listened for hours. Turning off the EQ, pulled things down substantially, taking out the smile factor. Not terrible mind you but equalization took the Origin to proverbial next level.
Conclusions
I know, I know, I have reviewed IEMs going for $50 that need little EQ and sound great. But they feel quite cheap. While the Origin does need some EQ, once in place, you get both the luxury feel and sound fidelity. Ideally we would not need EQ and I hope the company takes note and changes its tuning to what we like to see. If they had done that, it would have gotten a perfect score from me.
As is, I can only recommend the Tanchjim Origin with equalization.
------------
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/
Everything from packaging and look and feel of the Origin is a huge step up from the budget IEMs we have tested in the past. The ear pieces themselves feel like solid metal and have high polish. Despite the extra weight, I had no trouble keeping them in my ear (stationary position). The cord is soft and seemed to be tangle free. Even the act of inserting the cables into the IEM felt good without excessive force and a final feeling of it being properly seated.
Two versions of the tips are provided. One said better bass and another, better treble. I chose the former for testing.
Three sets of nozzles are provided. There is no documentation on what the difference is. I measured all three (see below).
Company touts low distortion and compliance with their target:
It is good to see them using such a target but alas, it is not what we like to see. Let's measure it with my GRAS-45CA fixture using Audio Precision APx555 analyzer.
Tanchjim IEM Measurements
Let's start with the included nozzle and better bass tip:
We see a response that is very close to the manufacturer. As is however, it has too little deep bass, and slightly boosted upper bass. And maybe some shortfall around 6.4 kHz. Testing with different nozzles is tricky as it requires removal, changing the tip and re-inserting into the fixture. There is no way I can do this consistently but I tried:
There appears to be slight change below 1 kHz but not enough to get it compliant with our target. Let's stay with the default (red). Relative response error is thus:
Should be easy to dial in filters if distortion is low which it is:
Group delay is uneventful in IEMs due to lack of reflections that other headphone types have and such is the case here:
Impedance is flat and very low:
Combined with average IEM sensitivity, it should be an easy drive for many sources:
Tanchjim IEM Listening Tests and Eq
First listen wasn't bad and produced an inoffensive sound signature. I could not tell you the exact issues with doing the EQ:
I dialed in the bass boost first and wow, was this IEM able to produce very clean and substantial amount of bass (for an IEM). Overall though, it was a big boomy so I put in the filter next to it to pull down that 200 Hz hump. That cleaned up the bass. I wasn't sure if I needed treble boost but I put it in (based on the channel needing the least) and it nicely balanced the newly found bass response.
I then ran through my reference clips and the experience was jaw dropping at times. Full range sound with detail to die for and dynamics to go with it. I could have listened for hours. Turning off the EQ, pulled things down substantially, taking out the smile factor. Not terrible mind you but equalization took the Origin to proverbial next level.
Conclusions
I know, I know, I have reviewed IEMs going for $50 that need little EQ and sound great. But they feel quite cheap. While the Origin does need some EQ, once in place, you get both the luxury feel and sound fidelity. Ideally we would not need EQ and I hope the company takes note and changes its tuning to what we like to see. If they had done that, it would have gotten a perfect score from me.
As is, I can only recommend the Tanchjim Origin with equalization.
------------
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/
