Introduction
Transmit Real Imagination or TRI Audio have recently released the next iteration of their popular TRI I3 which is now called TRI I3 PRO, a sub-$200 IEM. The existence of this I3Pro is probably due to the company in trying to listen to their customer feedbacks and demands in order to reduce the size and improve the sound quality of the original I3 even more. The I3Pro has maintained the same driver configuration as the former I3 in which the triple hybrid driver is comprised of a new generation 10mm planar magnetic driver, balanced armature, and dynamic driver. The question is how does it sounds? Will the I3Pro impress the audiophile community once again like its predecessor once did?
Packaging & Accessories
The TRI I3Pro comes with a medium sized box packaging. Right of the bat, the box design is simply an eye-catcher one, in which universe or cosmic-like design is overlaid with some circular silver patterns but enabled with light diffraction surface allowing rainbow color to shine in certain angles. Inside the box, an ample number of necessary items such as a nice and sturdy rectangular leather case, 3 pairs of stock eartips, 5 pairs of KBEAR 07 eartips, a cleaning brush, a warranty book, a nice cleaning cloth, and a TRI Audio branded OFC cable are included. In this regard, I have to give credit to TRI Audio for giving this amount of accessories in the box.
Onto the IEM itself, the shell size has reduced 26% from the original I3. The shell should now fit for most people although I wish it could be just a little bit more smaller for my poor and tiny ears. Nevertheless, the I3Pro can still fit my ears comfortably unlike the humungous shell of its predecessor. In terms of nozzle, the pair have fairly long nozzles and wide bores with nice circular grill filter attached to it that could fit into my ears without any problem. On the other hand, the mirror-like aluminum alloy surface on the shell is unfortunately still a fingerprint magnet which can be annoying to some people. However, TRI Audio did include a nice cleaning cloth for that matter. Aside from that, one thing I should mention is there were some occasional tiny driver flexes and vacuum-like feeling occur during the process of putting the I3Pro into my ears, even though there are already 4 air vent holes on the IEM, but your mileage may vary.
Retail Price & Where to Get
The TRI I3Pro can be bought at HILL AUDIO – MY for RM799 on Shopee Malaysia platform. On behalf of AudioMonsta, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude towards HILL AUDIO for lending us this review unit. We also encourage readers to buy audio products from local official audio retailer such as HILL AUDIO, so that they can keep supply many more great audio products for audiophiles and consumers in Malaysia.
Official Store Link: https://shopee.com.my/hillsonicaudio
Official Product Link: https://shopee.com.my/TRI-I3-Pro-Triple-Driver-Planar-Magnetic-Hybrid-Hifi-In-ear-Earphone-i.6548893.8990950654?position=5
Source Pairing
- Sony NW-ZX300 (MrWalkman DMP-300 Plus Custom Firmware) > TRI I3Pro
- Windows 10 (USB 3.1) > MusicBee > iFi hip-dac / Hidizs S9 Pro / Questyle M12 / CX-Pro CX31993 Dongle / Apple USB C > TRI I3Pro
- Android 10 > USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) > TRI I3Pro
Test Tracks
- Don’t Wanna Fight – Alabama Shakes
- Condolence – Benjamin Clementine
- La Fiesta (Live) – Chick Corea, Christian McBride & Brian Blade
- You Say Run – Yuki Hayashi
- Hero – Mariah Carey
- Carlos – John Scofield, Metropole Orkest & Vince Mendoza
- The Writing on The Wall – Iron Maiden
- Ner Ner – Guthrie Govan
Tonality
TRI I3Pro has a U-shaped frequency response with tone color towards the warm side. However, in some songs I3Pro can sound pretty balanced. The initial U peak is positioned at the very sub-bass frequency while the other end peak is landed at the upper mid region. Midrange frequency is slightly recessed however the upper treble is extended well. The overall presentation is definitely fun and musical instead of a flat or neutral type of monitor.
Bass
Before that, I found that the I3Pro is sensitive to eartips. Throughout my listening process, I use the KBEAR 07 sized eartips because I found that the stock white eartips were too bass-heavy for my taste. To simply put, the bass response of the I3Pro is absolutely powerful and it’s definitely the star of the show. Sub-bass is no way to be lacking but extremely extended and can be “felt”. Meanwhile, the mid-bass is also quite robust although not as strong as I would like it to be in certain song. However, there wasn’t any mid-bass bleed that I could detect in this IEM, so the transition from the bass to the mids is clean and impressive in my opinion. In terms of bass impact, the bass slams hard with a lot of authority and bold energy. With the stock white eartips, I dare to say this IEM is suitable for basshead. Listening to Don’t Wanna Fight was really satisfying as the song has a lot of low-end going on. However, when listening to Even Flow, The Writing on The Wall, and Ner Ner, I wish the bass could be little bit tighter and faster, but that’s the caveat of having big amount of bass from a dynamic driver in which the bass speed maybe compensated.
Midrange
Midrange is little recessed, so vocal loudness has a sort of backward presentation in relative to the bass and treble. In certain songs with already forwarded midrange, I3Pro can sound balanced overall. Midrange quality is smooth and excellent. The lower-mid has enough body and lushness to it, while upper-mid has great clarity without being overemphasized to sound harsh and peaky unless the volume is too high. With the I3Pro, Benjamin Clementine and Mariah Carey voices sound rich without being sibilant or anything odd. In Carlos, midrange instruments such as guitar, trumpet, saxophone, and strings were quite forward and sounded beautiful, although can be peaky and harsh at higher volume.
Treble
“Sweet” is the advertised word used by TRI Audio to describe the I3Pro, which I honestly agree. It doesn’t have the most clear and airy treble performance in the world, but it does have enough clarity and brightness to balance the strong quantity of the low-end frequency. To explain, the lower treble is nicely tuned and not overly boosted in order to avoid any harshness and sibilance to the song. This is also to balance and make up for the already boosted upper midrange. In addition to that, upper treble is surprisingly great and extended which gave a little bit of airiness to the vocal and soundstage. Higher frequency instruments such as cymbal and hi-hats have a lot of clarity and can be easily heard in every song you throw at it. The treble tuning here done by TRI Audio allows the I3Pro to have a smooth but still clear and have enough air to it.
Soundstage & Imaging
The soundstage is relatively wide, deep, and tall to have a great 3-dimensional staging. To give some perspectives, the horizontal stage is almost as wide as my custom-made earbuds which can already sound out of your ears, while the depth and height are even deeper and taller, respectively. Easy to say that I3Pro soundstage feels open, huge, and 3D. Imaging is great I would say, it is still not super accurate and precise however, you can still guess and distinguish the placement of every element within the stage to a certain extent. Listening to La Fiesta (Live), a very nice live recorded performance made me want to track every instrument being played by those jazz masters. Listening to Stank (Binaural) was absolutely breathtaking because it was as I were in the center of the recording hall.
Resolution & Detail Retrieval
At this price point, I am quite happy with the resolution. Coming from budget segmented IEMs, I could feel an obvious upgrade in overall sound quality. Armed with planar magnetic driver and balanced armature, I3Pro is able to portray almost excellent instrument layering and separation capabilities especially with higher resolution music format. Likewise, I3Pro has very high detail retrieval across the frequency. Vibration of bass strings, multi-layered vocals, vocal echoes, and ambient noises from the studio are some of the microdetails I was able to hear with the I3Pro if powered with decent source and amplifier. With the intended tuning on this IEM, bass and midrange details are slightly superior to treble details to my ears.
Timbre & Speed
Coherency is one of the most important things when talking about hybrid drivers IEM. With that being said, coherency of I3Pro is just sublime. All drivers are able to perform in harmony and thus, there is no certain frequency that sound “detach” or “left behind” in relative to the other frequency. Meanwhile, timbre is superbly natural for a hybrid drivers IEM. I found that it has almost similar naturalness to a single dynamic driver. The transient decay of the BA is surprisingly natural and hence, instrument such as percussion and cymbals that being handled by the BA sounds quite natural and satisfying. I3Pro transient speed is also great, although not as ultra-fast. It has great dynamic shift on busy and complex tracks. Listening to You Say Run, I3Pro is able to handle the track’s fast transient while still being in control and composed throughout the entire song. However, there were times when the bass of the I3Pro could be a little faster and tighter in some songs.
Drivability
If I can categorize the drivability of the I3Pro, it requires small to medium amount of power in order to achieve an optimum level of listening loudness. On paper, I3Pro is a fairly easy to drive IEM (103dB sensitivity & 15Ω impedance). However, one must remember that a planar driver usually requires strong power feed in order for them to “wake up”. Using the 3.5mm output jack from a smartphone with the I3Pro requires maximum volume for my typical listening level. Similar performance occurs with low powered Apple USB C adapter. Therefore, the use of source or device which have decent amount of power output (such as LG Smartphone, USB DAC, Portable DAC/AMP, Desktop DAC/AMP, etc.) is recommended in my point of view.
Synergy
I3Pro is not a picky IEM when it comes to different type of sources, but it needs little bit of voltage and current push to perform at its maximum potential. Pairing with an ultra-budget CX-Pro Audio CX31993 dongle DAC was absolutely fine although it sounded little compressed in terms of staging and resolution. Going into higher tier sources such as Hidizs S9 Pro, Questyle M12, iFi hip-dac, and Sony ZX300, the I3Pro sounded stellar with only minute differences in sound between them. My favorite paring will be either Questyle M12 or Hidizs S9 Pro as both can give superb technical prowess, dynamic, and different “flavor” of sound depending on my mood. Sony ZX300 is also a great pairing but the low power output is struggled to provide the I3Pro with enough current delivery to sound fast and dynamic, but it is able to provide the best midrange quality and the most airiest soundstage, nevertheless.
Comparison
Fiio FH1s:
Fiio FH1s is a $60 1DD + 1BA IEM. It has a V-shaped with bright tone sound signature which mean it has much more recessed mids and opposite tonal color in comparison to I3Pro. The bass of FH1s is much lesser in quantity and hence, it sounds cleaner and tighter. Sub-bass extension is inferior compared to I3Pro, thus sub-bass rumble and vibration cannot be fully felt unlike the I3Pro. Vocal in FH1s is not as forward and as lush as the I3Pro. However, FH1s offers more brightness and clearer treble than I3Pro but similar upper-treble extension. Because of the overly boosted lower treble, FH1s tends to sound harsh and sibilant. Resolution and detail wise are clear winner for I3Pro as the price suggested. Soundstage is much more “grander” and 3D on the I3Pro Meanwhile, other technicality sectors are simply better on the I3Pro. The most obvious different between these two IEMs is the timbre. I3Pro sounds much more natural and organic, while FH1s sounds artificial and dry in instruments such as drums and percussions. Cymbals and hi-hats are “plasticky” whereas vocal sounds too “breathy” and unnatural in comparison to the I3Pro. In short, FH1s is catered towards more neutral or linear presentation, while I3Pro is more of a warm and musical IEM with superior technicalities.
For Who?
For those who love bass and fun sounding IEM and in the need of upgrading their budget-oriented IEM should consider the TRI I3Pro. For single DD lover, you may also safely consider the I3Pro since natural timbre and coherency is one of the strongest characteristics of this IEM.
Conclusion
TRI I3Pro is a unique and one of the few chi-fi IEM that comes with 3-drivers configuration that include a planar magnetic driver. That being said, evaluating the I3Pro has been a joyful experience for me especially when I just want to “listen” to music. To summarize, the tonality has a powerful bass, almost balanced midrange and vocal, with smooth but clear treble response. It also offers natural timbre, huge 3D soundstage, and high-resolution sound. Considering the build quality and accessories as well as the sound performance that came with the I3Pro, I found that the price at $189 USD is acceptable but still remain competitive in this saturated Chi-Fi market. Although I already forgotten how did the original I3 sounded like, I have a feeling that the newly TRI I3Pro is able to outperform the former, in my humble opinion. All in all, kudos and well done to TRI Audio for listening to their customer feedbacks and taking the effort to improve the sound even more and redesign the build allowing people with smaller ears to experience the sound of I3Pro.
(4 / 5)
