Tin HiFi P1 Plus

Introduction:

Tin Hifi is one of the popular brands from the Chi-fi scene and has delivered some great VFM offerings for budget audiophiles in the past. The Dongguan-based company has come up with a new offering, namely the Tin Hifi P1 Plus, which includes a 10mm planar magnetic driver.


Disclaimer: The Tin Hifi P1 plus was sent to me by Hifigo as part of a review tour in my country. I am in no way associated with either Hifigo or Tin Hifi and have no incentive whatsoever to write anything positive or negative about the IEM. The impressions shared in this write-up are based on my usage of the IEM over a week or so. The Tin Hifi P1 plus can be purchased from Hifigo.com using the following link:

https://hifigo.com/products/tinhifi-p1-plus



Packaging and Accessories:

The P1 plus fits extremely well thanks to its sleek and ergonomic design. The stainless-steel shells have a triangular shape of sorts with 2 vents for bass. Although minimalistic, the P1 plus looks great thanks to the solid build quality. The package includes a set of silicon tips and a few foam tips along with a 5N OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) MMCX cable with a 3.5mm termination. The cable is well built and complements the IEM quite well. Finally, there’s a leather case for storing the IEM and accessories. Considering the price point (160 USD) this is a good package. A modular cable or an option to get a cable with balanced termination would be nice to have, especially since the P1 plus requires a sufficient amount of power to shine and a balanced cable would help extract more power from a lot of portable sources.





Amping Needs:

Before I get to the sound characteristics of the P1 plus, I’d like to highlight that the P1 plus requires sufficient power to shine. When I ran it off my FiiO M11Plus LTD, it sounded harsh and shouty. The bass was non-existent and the treble was piercing. However, once I connected a Helm DB12 with the M11Plus, the IEM had a major transformation in sound. There was a significant improvement in terms of tonality and the overall sound was far more coherent. Hence, if you plan to get the P1 Plus, make sure you have a good amp (or at least a basic portable amp) to do justice to the IEM.



Sound Quality:

The key highlight of the P1 plus is definitely the tonal coherence. The mids are sweet and the highs are detailed. Once given sufficient power, the bass improves quite significantly in terms of quantity. Although overall, the P1 plus does lack presence in the sub-bass region, it makes up for the lack of it by providing a laid-back and coherent sound signature that makes it an ideal candidate for longer listening sessions.



I would personally love some more details and presence in the lows, especially the sub-bass region. The bass on the p1 plus is flat and neutral. Vocals are great with mids having a nice airy presentation and taking the center stage in terms of presentation. There is good note weight and separation and P1 Plus handles complex layering of instruments quite well. Treble too is excellent on the P1 Plus. As mentioned earlier, without sufficient power, the IEM tends to sound piercing but once it gets the required power, the treble on the P1 plus is one of the best I’ve heard on any planar magnetic IEM I have tried to date. The highs are well extended and airy. There is good detail here without sounding harsh or shouty (when amped).

The Tin Hifi P1 plus has a wide soundstage though the depth is average. The IEM has excellent layering and separation with very good imaging. The placement of instruments is quite accurate and the overall sound signature is non-offensive.

Conclusion:

The P1 Plus is a near-perfect budget planar IEM with excellent mids and layering. Perhaps some more presence in the bass region would have made it perfect. Nonetheless, this is a great IEM for anyone who is looking for something that has a great fit and can be used for longer listening sessions without fatigue, thanks to its laidback signature.

INTRODUCTION:

Tin HiFi the brand which is based out of China is a well established brand in the ChiFi Audio industry. The brand is specialised in making high quality in ear monitors both in the budget and high end category. Their T3 Plus, P1 and the P2 are the products that boosted the brands image due to their exceptional sound quality and to continue that legacy sound the P1 got a new upgrade the P1 Plus. In this review let's see how this performs against the competitors and its own competitor P1!



DISCLAIMER:

This unit has been provided to me as a part of a review circle organised by the HiFiGo Team and a big thanks to the team for adding me in their circle. This review is completely based on my observations and based on my sources and pairings hence it might differ from person to person. I have not been influenced by the brand nor the person to manipulate this review.

The product can be purchased via this unaffiliated link: https://hifigo.com/products/tinhifi-p1-plus

SPECIFICATIONS:

Driver: 10mm planar diaphragm

Impedance: 22 Ω ± 15%

Sensitivity: 108±3dB @1K Hz V0.179V

Frequency range: 10 Hz–20kHz

Cable: 1.25m {(18/0.06) oxygen-free copper + 200d Kevlar) *3 strands }Φ1.3 * 4 strands woven translucent orange PVC cable

Interface: Gold-plated MMCX connector

Rated power: 5mW

Max power: 10mW

Max distortion: 1% @1k Hz 0.179V

DESIGN AND FIT:

The design is the same as that of the P1 but with some minor changes which are minute. Apart from the design the thing that i don’t like in this is the fit! It's total garbage! The nozzle being very short in length they don’t get inserted into the ear canal perfectly. Even with the L sized tips they don’t provide the adequate sealing. With foam tips the isolation was able to be achieved.



The full construction is made out of metal. As Usual the Tin team went with the controversial MMCX connection this time. The cable is of good quality where its a copper coloured cable. The termination area, splitter and the connector area are made completely out of metal. A slider is given in the cable and the cable don’t get tangled up easily.

The given case is however one of the best i have to say. The case is completely made out of leather and its handstitched. The branding is done on the top of the case. The inner surface are completely lined with nice brown coloured soft lining.

SOUND:

The sound of the P1 plus is more of a neutral sounding pair with upper midrange emphasis. The bass being too modest and lean while the treble issues with the cymbal crashes we will discuss about the sound in detail in this review.

BASS:

The bass being a planar earphone it's kind of disappointing for me. The P1, not the plus version, had an even better bass when amped up. The Tin Team revamped the P1 variant by giving this Plus version to sound better even without amping but the truth is the plus needs some amping to unleash the full potential.

Even when amped up via the Zen Can the bass in the Plus seems to be too shy hence they sound very lean. The sub bass feels pretty light and the rumble is subtle to null. The extension is average in the low end. The mid bass is faster in decay providing a nice amount of clarity and separation but for some EDM and POP music this bass is too light.

The fullness and bodied sound is missing in the P1 Plus due that light low end. The faster decay of course contributed to the clarity and separation in the low end. The thump and fullness just lacks which is kind of better in the P1 non plus variant.

Tracks Used:

1. Jungles (Instrumental ) – Tash Sultana
2. Mountains – Hans Zimmer
3. BigFoot – MALFNKTION

MID RANGE:

The mid range is nicely tuned here with one of the best natural tonality and timbre one can find. The presentation feels very much forward and this is kind of fatiguing for me in the long listening sessions. A slight bit of laidback presentation could have been better. The vocals of both the male and the female sound clean and detailed. The fullness is not found in the vocals due to that reduced mid bass presence.

The staging being a slight smaller in terms of width the serene appeared sight a bit of closed one. The layering however felt nice where the placement of the instruments found to be very realistic.

The upper midrange is the slight disturbance here where they are slightly peaked up thus the female vocals sound harsh sometimes and when the high hat instruments appear the sounds become thinner and harsher.

The separation and the detail retrieval is brought out really well and the technicalities aspect in the mid range are neatly done and overall the midrange is a very pleasing segment with natural and neutral tonality, timbre.

Tracks Used:

1. Fi Ba7ri – Alaa Wardi
2. Why Can't She – Adam Craig
3. Easy On Me - Adele

TREBLE:

The treble is clean and crispy in the P1 Plus. The treble being extended well the airy and open sound is present in the IEM. The point where I started to dislike it is that the cymbal crashes sound a bit harsh. Their attack being very splashy they sound harsh most of the time.

The guitar strings and the trumpets do sound brighter and clean. The airy sensation that it provides gives a nice sense of open sound. The minute details are brought up good and clean. The track separation is nice without any noticeable congestion seen.

The brilliance factor is seen here and the shimmer is present in the top end giving nice clarity and open sound overall.

Tracks Used:

1. Jack Of Speed – Steely Dan
2. Dreams – Fleetwood Mac
3. Sultans Of Swing – Dire Straits

TECHNICALITIES:

STAGING: The staging of the P1 Plus is more on an average side since the width is not that expensive. The height is average too hence don’t expect any wide serene surroundings. They don’t sound that intimate too hence its more on a normal side but not wide when compared to the other competitors in this price range.

IMAGING AND LAYERING: These are another best aspect of this earphone. The layering is done very nicely where the placement of the instruments are more or less precisely done and the transient response of the channel from left to right is neatly done and appears smooth overall.

Detail retrieval and the instrument separation are above average and overall this definitely triumphs in the department of technicalities.

VERDICT:

The P1 Plus, the latest offering from the Tin HiFi is the successor of the P1. The P1 already being a very nice IEM in the price range with one of the best planar bass that one can get but the issue is they need to be amped up compulsory to unleash its full potential. To avoid this issue the Brand launched the Plus variant but the reality is their power demand is high hence an amp is needed to seek its potential.

The sound is now more on a neutral side with faster and technical bass thus the fun low end rumble cant be expected here. The mid range has natural tonality and timbre thus giving nice pleasing sound. The upper mid range has that weird peak where the female vocals sound harsh sometimes. The detail retrieval and the separation are above average. The highs are brought out really well but the cymbal crashes ofcourse sounds too splashy. The staging is kind of narrow for my taste and to compensate that the layering was done actually very good in the P1 plus.

Overall the sound is very nice for a neutral sound lover but as a general user I would still get the P1 non plus variant since it sounded better to my ears overall. The technicalities are slightly superior to that of their older variant but misses out on the fun factor and based on my observations this is NOT THE PLUS THIS TIME.

TIN P1 PLUS- A portable planar

TIN as a chifi company is well famous for its cheaper offerings rivalling a lot of other chifi manufacturers. It's well famous for its power-hungry TIN P1 planar iem which is an older offering. So today, I am getting to review the newer more efficient version of P1 - TIN P1 PLUS.

DISCLAIMER:
This unit has been provided to me as a part of a review tour in my country organized by HiFiGo. This review is completely based on my experience with it and all opinions positive or negative are my own and no one else’s (no one can have my thoughts ). Please try it yourself if you can, since we all hear things differently. The link for the iem is here.

SPECIFICATIONS-
Driver type- Planar
Impedance: 22Ω±15%.
Sensitivity: 108dB±3dB.
Rated Power: 5mW.
Maximum Power: 10mW.
Max Distortion: 1%@1kHz.

PRICE-
170USD / ~ 15k INR

UNBOXING-

This iem came in the classical Tin synthetic box and no retail box, otherwise Indian customs would have killed it with their exorbitant import prices . All the accessories were placed inside the box and it easily accommodated everything . Rest the pictures will describe .



BUILD AND FIT-

It's an all-metal build with a very small signature. Overall, it's not heavy but is kinda small so, in order to get a good fit, you have to use larger than your typical size ear tips. The cable is pretty good but it's mmcx and given TIN's reputation (my tint2 and tint2 plus all have those mmcx issues), they begin to show disconnections pretty easily with time, so be careful with your usage.



CABLE-

The cable is pretty good and has a lot of leeway. There is no micro-phonics and the only sad thing is it's 3.5mm and mmcx of TIN.

ACCESSORIES-

1. 2 pairs of foam tips
2. S/M/L Silicone narrow bore tips (clear/red & black)
3. Carry case

POWAHH-

This does require some power and becomes more dynamic but the overall increase is not much worth it. There might be some pairing issues like I had with my R01 module, but the T01 module of N6ii was great. A warmer source would be better to add more bass and sub-bass and slightly more thickness to the notes. Even with amping this is bass light.

NOTE- This IEM is used with-

1. N6ii and T01 module & R01(mostly T01 since R01 caused this iem to have too much sharp peaks in certain instruments with very fast loud notes in the treble region like triangles and crash cymbals etc) for portable on chair listening experience for the most part of the review.
2. On desktop- N6ii T01 LO and A30s (Burson V5i D) and XDUOO MT602 Sylvania tubes (beautiful pairing but then low gain on N6ii and also volume at 08 but I would stay with it since it becomes a beautiful entity but this requires a better copper cable !!!) has been used.
3. Sometimes LG G8x as phone source.
4. Tips used were stock ‘L' sized tips

NOW COMING ON TO THE SOUND OF THE TIN P1 PLUS- (This is subjective and your opinions may vary)

SUB-BASS-

Sub-bass is completely classical of a planar iem / headphone (at least the ones I have tried completely). It has a very small presence and good energy. There is a small feel of rumble in it and it seems sub-bass light completely. Addition of SS amps also did not increase the feel but did add some decay to make it have more feel overall. Some amount of increase in sub-bass volume is added and hence amping is needed but it's not much of a very big difference that warrants an amp for an optimal experience. Adding a warmer source would be a much better option but I don't have any at the moment to try, except R01, which isn't much of a warmer source plus don’t have great synergy with this iem rather T01 adds more of a sub-bass .

BASS-

The bass is punchy and dynamic. There is more of a mid-bass punch and not too much high-bass added. The tonality is on the leaner side and has a lot of texture proper of a planar iem. It’s full of bass energy but doesn't overshadow whatever the sub-bass it has. It has great attack and very fast decay giving a very fast and clean listen on the bass notes. Notes have a great beginning and big body with great edge definition. Amping kind of does add more punch to the mid-bass butt adds more dynamism too the light hits. Overall great experience



MIDS-

Let's start with the best part of a song - the vocals. Vocals are very clean with great definition to the words. There is more emphasis on the 'ssss' words. Vocals have great body and great extension with lots of air coming through the mic. Plus, each word is extensively clear and crisp with minute details being as clear as day. The overall feel is on the leaner side with slightly unnatural feel to the female vocals. Female vocals extend greatly but become slightly shouty with too much upper mids presence.

The instruments in the mids are greatly presented with lots of details thrown into the mix. The tonality is slightly on the leaner side. There is great stage depth and discreet space around the instruments. Lots of dynamics with a great way of presenting transients which have very fast decay and fast attack too . The timbre is present on the string instruments more than other keys or drums. Each notes have great definition and extension with beautiful reverb. The upper mids and lower treble are more enhanced than the lower mids and hence provide an energetic experience sometimes a little too much for certain instruments like triangles, crash cymbals etc which have very fast notes. There's also a great amount of texture added to the notes too.

TREBLE-

The treble is the most beautiful part of this iem which is best experienced with orchestra and other instrumentals. The beautiful extension in the treble region is excellent. There is lots of air in the instruments and beautiful reverb around the strings of the instruments. Notes separation and definition is excellent, rivalling some of the great iems in this price range. Dynamism is also great with tonality being slightly on the leaner side. The only thing I found as a con is, it sometimes becomes too much with cymbals, triangles , and shakers where the notes are kind of too much sometimes. The decay and attack are fast with good timbre in the wind and string instruments albeit lacking in the shakers and other metallic instruments .



HEADSTAGE AND IMAGING-

There's great height and stage depth in the head-stage of the iem. But not much depth (-y axis) added but with enough width added it makes it feel have a much wider presentation. The instruments have been placed near the edge of the head-stage with notes going outside. The entire head-stage is balanced or slightly V shaped. Imaging is great with precise detailing of the instruments in space and sometimes even fooling us with its presentation.

RESOLUTION AND SEPARATION-

The separation and layering are truly that of a planar and it just is clear as water in that department. There's great resolution too which is revealing and kind of attaches you to it and makes you trying to find that in others . Each instrument is spaciously separated and their notes are well executed except shakers, triangles and other metallic fast paced metallic instruments.

COMPARISONS--

BQEYZ AUTUMN
Pros-
More balanced signature
Better mid bass tightness and definition
Better inter-instrumental separation
Texture is better enhanced
Better notes edge definition
More controlled and balanced notes
Wider stage
Good change in sound with filters

TRI I3 PRO-
Pros-
Better treble extension
Better treble details
Better sub-bass
Better stage depth and layering
Better transparency
Better mids
Note body definition was better.

TIN P1 PLUS-
Pros-
Better treble extension
Better air in the string instruments
Better transparency
Better edge definition of the notes
Better texture in bass



TIMELESS 7HZ
Pros-
Bass is warmer
Sub-bass is warmer
Better vocals than T1 plus
Less air
Less details

MOONDROP KATO-
Pros-
Excellent dynamics
Excellent tonal accuracy
Beautiful airy notes and treble (less than p1plus)
Well extended in the treble region
Has sub-bass and is mid bass heavy
Beautiful separation and spacing around instruments
Wide stage
Excellent imaging and resolution.



SUMMARY-

Now for the price and ability to run from portable sources has already made this way better on the go, than P1. But, at this price range and slightly higher there are more better and enjoyable options , but if you want the best extension in treble, lots of air, can change cable to OCC copper and want the feel of a planar without much bass and sub-bass, this becomes highly recommended.