Truthear GATE $17 IEM Review

[immoso]

This was my donation. Happy to see the review come out. Thanks, Amir!

Gate has recently become my favorite ~20 USD IEM. Paired with a JM20 dongle it is unreal value.

Housing is cool looking, and while indeed cheap, at least it is very light and comfortable. Cable is excellent.

Edit: I leave this combo in my car all times for when I am away from home.

View attachment 439727

I Just listened to it pairing with the ugreen dongle and it sound terrible, thin bass, harsh at high hz. I'm waiting for the jm20 dongle to deliver, hope it make a difference, otherwise it just sound like its price

 

[FrantzM]

I Just listened to it pairing with the ugreen dongle and it sound terrible, thin bass, harsh at high hz. I'm waiting for the jm20 dongle to deliver, hope it make a difference, otherwise it just sound like its price

Hi

I just received mine and .. Triple WOW.. I would not have believed that SOTA in Hi-Fi could be so , yes, CHEAP (this is worth shouting for). Oh Wow.. The little things don't look cheap either, they fit my ear better than the Truthear Zero , an IEM, that, hitherto was to me the epitome of ROI. The Gates sound as good, I didn't bother any ABX or comparative listening.
After EQ, really small EQ (or not if you are not so that anal ) this is as good as it gets.. Seal is excellent, Noise reduction, to my my ears is better than the the Zero Blue, when I use the smallest tip that comes with it... again, for me...

The bar has been raised ... no!! Lowered..

Best.

 

[Matt_Holland]

I Just listened to it pairing with the ugreen dongle and it sound terrible, thin bass, harsh at high hz. I'm waiting for the jm20 dongle to deliver, hope it make a difference, otherwise it just sound like its price

The Jm20 won’t make a difference. As has been discussed throughout this thread, the Gate requires an excellent seal with your ear canal. I had a similar first impression as you, but once I changed to a wider and shorter ear bud the sound was transformed. Ideally I still feel, like others, that the Gate needs EQ, primarily for the bass, but its incredible headroom low distortion allows it with ease. I recommend you get the JM20 Pro dongle as this has EQ.

 

[Overseas]

Very nice, very good sound with AutoEQ in Wavelet.

 

[obsessive9119]

The Gates are annoyingly good straight out of the box for me. To my ears they sit between the 7hz Zero and Zero 2 in terms of bass, which is just right - I find the Zero a touch light and the Zero 2 a touch heavy.

I didn’t like any of the tips, but the orange ones from 7hz fit like a charm for me. They’re so comfortable that I’ve started using them as my main headset for work meetings.

Between these and my fairly recently purchased HD560S, I feel like I’ve wasted a bunch of time, effort and money on EQ-able headphone setups. I’m now just running straight off an Apple dongle, and my WiiM + headphone amp setups are just gathering dust.

 

[SPD_RCR]

The Gates are annoyingly good straight out of the box for me. To my ears they sit between the 7hz Zero and Zero 2 in terms of bass, which is just right - I find the Zero a touch light and the Zero 2 a touch heavy.

I didn’t like any of the tips, but the orange ones from 7hz fit like a charm for me. They’re so comfortable that I’ve started using them as my main headset for work meetings.

Between these and my fairly recently purchased HD560S, I feel like I’ve wasted a bunch of time, effort and money on EQ-able headphone setups. I’m now just running straight off an Apple dongle, and my WiiM + headphone amp setups are just gathering dust.

I'd add that at $22 they are pretty damn good for IEMs = I bought a set. I'm happy.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I'd add that at $22 they are pretty damn good for IEMs = I bought a set. I'm happy.

Looks like another one I just have to try. Hard not to at that price...

 

[amadeogt]

I received mine today and couldn't achieve a good fit/seal with the included tips. Installed a pair of Sony silicone tips, problem solved. Now the sound is excellent (even more so with the EQ suggested by Amir).

It is amazing how things can change and improve. A decade ago, you would have to pay dearly (a couple of hundred dollars, maybe) for an IEM of this caliber.

 

[Grobbelboy]

Yeah, this remains my go to IEM even after months of use. A special shoutout to the included faux leather pouch as well, which is of surprisingly high quality and better than most I have seen included with IEMs costing ten+ times as much as the Gate. This whole set is such insane value for money.

 

[obsessive9119]

Yeah, this remains my go to IEM even after months of use. A special shoutout to the included faux leather pouch as well, which is of surprisingly high quality and better than most I have seen included with IEMs costing ten+ times as much as the Gate. This whole set is such insane value for money.

Mine have taken over probably 95% of my listening time over the past couple of months. The other 5% is when I don’t feel like having something in my ears.

I ended up buying some Tri Clarion tips for them, which I like a lot.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Yeah, this remains my go to IEM even after months of use. A special shoutout to the included faux leather pouch as well, which is of surprisingly high quality and better than most I have seen included with IEMs costing ten+ times as much as the Gate. This whole set is such insane value for money.

Got mine yesterday. I went for the ones with mic, only £16 at Amazon UK. As others have said, the performance is superb and the value off the scale. There's a good range of tips and I found the best seal with the largest, thicker, ones, although the next size down was still OK. I've tried quite a few tracks and everything sounded as good as I've heard it. I could give lots of examples, but let me just say that when Ry Cooder's guitar comes in in 'Sister Morphine' I get the same spine tingle as I do from the Klout -> Isobariks. That's quite a feat from something so small and costs about the same as a round of drinks. They're efficient too, and can play as loud as I'll ever want using the Apple adapter. The packaging is great quality too, although there's no need for the separate box for the tips and they could've saved a bit there.

 

[Conehead]

Needed a "it's cheap in case it gets stolen" IEM. GATE arrived yesterday and it's so much more than a "throw away". $17 (Amazon) is unreal price for this IEM. I did need to apply a little EQ... used Oratory 10 band presets to solve a few minor issues but warm, clear, musical and very balanced comfortable listening. One huge issue... the turn in the ear wrap is super uncomfortable (think not anatomical to me) which called for an immediate cable replacement. Very happy to say, for $17, buy it as at least an emergency IEM... one that won't hurt you in the wallet if it's stolen or destroyed.

 

[mc.god]

Needed a "it's cheap in case it gets stolen" IEM. GATE arrived yesterday and it's so much more than a "throw away". $17 (Amazon) is unreal price for this IEM. I did need to apply a little EQ... used Oratory 10 band presets to solve a few minor issues but warm, clear, musical and very balanced comfortable listening. One huge issue... the turn in the ear wrap is super uncomfortable (think not anatomical to me) which called for an immediate cable replacement. Very happy to say, for $17, buy it as at least an emergency IEM... one that won't hurt you in the wallet if it's stolen or destroyed.

You can loosen\re-shape the ear hooks with an hair drier, i did it with some of my iem cables since too much closed ear hooks don't permit to rotate the iems to te right angle for my canals to get perfect seal.

 

[AudioSceptic]

I Just listened to it pairing with the ugreen dongle and it sound terrible, thin bass, harsh at high hz. I'm waiting for the jm20 dongle to deliver, hope it make a difference, otherwise it just sound like its price

This type of earphone/IEM absolutely needs a good seal in the ear. Did you try different tips?

 

[AudioSceptic]

Hi

I just received mine and .. Triple WOW.. I would not have believed that SOTA in Hi-Fi could be so , yes, CHEAP (this is worth shouting for). Oh Wow.. The little things don't look cheap either, they fit my ear better than the Truthear Zero , an IEM, that, hitherto was to me the epitome of ROI. The Gates sound as good, I didn't bother any ABX or comparative listening.
After EQ, really small EQ (or not if you are not so that anal ) this is as good as it gets.. Seal is excellent, Noise reduction, to my my ears is better than the the Zero Blue, when I use the smallest tip that comes with it... again, for me...

The bar has been raised ... no!! Lowered..

Best.

I think they sound great as they are, with an iPhone and adaptor. Can I ask what EQ you are using?

 

[Billy Budapest]

These single dynamic driver gates sound so good that it makes me wonder why so many IEMs employ multiple drivers based on various technologies (dynamic, BA, planar, EST, piezoelectric, etc.)

 

[CedarX]

These single dynamic driver gates sound so good that it makes me wonder why so many IEMs employ multiple drivers based on various technologies (dynamic, BA, planar, EST, piezoelectric, etc.)

I think one of the reasons for multi-drivers
IEMs is that they are fairly easy to “tune” to whatever desired FR: you start with an off-the-shelf DD with good bass response, and then fill what’s missing with narrow-band BA’s & tweaks to RC filters.

 

[Billy Budapest]

I think one of the reasons for multi-drivers
IEMs is that they are fairly easy to “tune” to whatever desired FR: you start with an off-the-shelf DD with good bass response, and then fill what’s missing with narrow-band BA’s & tweaks to RC filters.

Sure, could be. All of my IEMs are multi-driver affairs except for the Gates. But the Gates (and others) show it is possible to get great sound just with one DD.

 

[Tell]

These single dynamic driver gates sound so good that it makes me wonder why so many IEMs employ multiple drivers based on various technologies (dynamic, BA, planar, EST, piezoelectric, etc.)

Marketing? "More" is always better when companies want to sell stuff.

 

[CedarX]

Marketing? "More" is always better when companies want to sell stuff.

Mooaarr driv’r !!!
Was available on AliExpress for a short time ~$1,000: