TRN Conch

thaslaya's star rating system:
☆☆☆☆☆ - Fantastic!
☆☆☆☆ - Recommended
☆☆☆ - There are buyers but not for me
☆☆ - Can't see the appeal
☆ - Product is a failure

Disclaimer:
This set was provided by TRN in exchange for my honest and impartial review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Gear used:
●LG v30+
●Samsung Galaxy s22 Ultra
●Samsung dongle
●Hiby FC4
●Kiwi Ears Allegro

Source:
●Listening was done through Amazon Music HD or Ultra HD.

Introduction:
TRN has been a player in the budget iem market for a few years. The Conch is one of their more recent sets and features an absolutely crazy amount of accessories for the low price of $35. It utilizes a single 10mm DLC dynamic driver. The ultra-budget tier is growing everyday with releases from companies like KZ/CCA and newcomers alike. Let's see how the value of the Conch stacks up in today's market.

Build, fit, ergonomics:
The Conch has a pretty great unboxing experience for the price. Once opened, the iems can be seen seated in the foam insert and the puck style case contains the modular cable. Under the foam, you'll find 7 sets of tips, the modular terminations for the cable, and the metal holder with attached tuning nozzles. That's a lot of accessories for a set costing less than $100 and almost unheard of for a set under $50. The shells are made from machined stainless steel and have a very hearty build quality. They are shaped like a Conch shell (ingenius) and have a nice weight balance. My only complaint is that the mirror finish is prone to fingerprints and scratches. The stock cable is great and the fact that it's modular and comes with 3 terminations is quite surprising at this price. It is well braided, soft, and doesn't tangle easily. I do wish that it utilized a standard 2 pin connection over the QDC style though so it could be used with a greater number of iems. The Conch come equipped with the "Reference" nozzle and the other 2 pairs are attached to the metal card for easy storage. The metal hockey puck case is not my favorite carrying solution but even having a case at this price is an added bonus. One pair of tips is foam, three pairs of the tips are the generic silicone style, and the other three pairs are TRN's own T-Ear tips, which are really great for getting a good seal. There is really nothing to complain about when it comes to the fit for me either. The insertion depth is adequate and the large T-Ear tips provided a good seal. Overall the quality of everything in the box is exceptional.

Sound impressions:
My listening impressions were made using the "Reference" tuning nozzle, a U-shaped frequency response with elevated bass and upper mids/ lower treble. This is the nozzle that I found most enjoyable for my preferences, if not a little on the bright side. I'll briefly describe the other 2 nozzles as well. The "Transparency" nozzle is mostly the same as Reference but with a touch more brightness, which was too much for me. The "Atmospheric immersion" nozzle sounded a bit boring and flat due to the reduced upper mids/lower treble but still exhibited some sibilance from the upper treble which I definitely didn't like. Using the "Reference" nozzle, I found the soundstage to be average in width with nothing sticking out of place or congested. The note seperation and detail retrieval are just OK, falling behind some other similarly priced sets like the Simgot EW200. Things can get congested on busier tracks. The note weight is a bit on the thinner side but not too bad overall. More warmth would have been welcome but again that aligns more with my personal taste.

●Lows - Bass won't jump out and grab you but it's definitely present when called for. The bass does extend fairly deep but the mid bass is missing thump leading to a more sub bass focused presentation. There is a fairly fast attack but the decay lingers a bit too long in my opinion and has a somewhat unnatural reverberation. This can lead to the timbre sounding odd and the bass presenting as unkempt and messy with at times especially on busy tracks. I was really missing that mid bass weight in a lot of testing. There is no bleed but the midbass just doesn't have enough presence for me and sounds a bit anemic.

●Mids - Vocals have enough separation to be clearly heard but I wouldn't say they are necessarily pushed forward nor are they recessed. To my ear they sound on the same level as the bass and treble and everything has a great balance. Guitar, piano, and other instruments have a realistic timbre and sound correct. Both male and female vocals sound great overall but are slightly on the thinner side. Some more lushness and warmth would help here in my opinion.

●Highs - My main complaint with the Conch is that the treble can be a bit hot and fatiguing. To be fair I consider myself more sensitive than most in this department so YMMV. To my ear, there is some slight sibilance on "t" and "s" notes as well as snares, high hats, cymbals, and claps. It is definitely not the worst offender I've ever heard in this department so I can forgive the tuning a bit. The treble does seem to roll off earlier than I'd like and it loses a bit of airiness but not too much. Because of this, some of those higher notes (cymbals, high hats, and snares) can sound a bit blunted. Overall the treble is well done if not slightly bright for my preference.


Summary:
If you can find the Conch on sale for ~$25, just hit the buy button! The overall value here is pretty insane. A modular cable and 3 tuning nozzles for under $50 is already unheard of but for half that price? It's a no brainer. The cable is nicely braided, supple, and doesn't tangle easily. Buying the Conch for the modular cable alone is worth it and you could consider the iem itself to be an added bonus. My only real complaint is the QDC connectors which limits the other iems that you can use the cable with. There are also 3 tuning nozzles but realistically only offering 2 distinct tunings. However, for only ~$25, it's worth it just to have an ultra budget set that offers tuning variety. The "Reference" tuning is no slouch though. It's has a nice musical balance and is really great for those that listen to a bit lower volume to avoid any troublesome treble peaks. I give the Conch a very strong recommendation! They are worth a purchase just to have a decent set for traveling, commuting, taking on walks or to the gym, really anywhere you wouldn't fret losing more expensive iems.

Disclaimers

I bought this iem with my own money. This review is completely subjective.



Accessories

Conch comes with a hard carrying case, modular cable, tuning nozzles, eartips and iem itself. Really really good accessories for 35 dollars!

Build

Conch is fully made out of metal and comes with a pretty good quality modular cable. Thumbs up for build quality.

Sound-Tonality and Technicalities

Man, i just love this IEM's sound! highs sometimes fatigue but it's ok for the price. Conch's detail production is fantastic for the price and midrange is really clear. Lacks sub bass for my taste but again, it's ok! Mid bass quantity is pretty good but bass texture is sadly really bad. Conch comes with a single note mid bass and a dull sub bass. This pair of iem's really not for bass heads. But quantity is allright. Soundstage and imaging is good for price. Pretty good overall sound for the price. Best sounding nozzle is the red one for me. Because other nozzle's have too much upper mid energy.



Conclusion

Overall, this is a really good iem for the price. But you have better options like Simgot ew200. Keep that in your mind. There's nothing else I can say.

Introduction:-
Its the TRN Conch we will look at today. This is a fantastic iem which sounds quite good and comes with a great accessory package and costs only $38 or a whopping $25 during a sale which it frequently goes at.

I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.




This was a review unit sent in Shenzhen audio, all the thoughts and opinion you are about to hear are my own.


Buy it here (unaffiliated link) :-

https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/trn-conch-in-ear-headphone

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256806009486243.html?


I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.


So lets get started!

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Build Quality, Comfort and accessories:-



1. So the package is loaded with accessory. It comes with an iem, the qdc cable which has modular terminations, a trn metal case, a set of trn t tips, a single set of trn foam tips, a set of generic white tips, a set of generic black eartips, It also has 3 interchangeable nozzles.




2. That's a lot at its MSRP price point and unheard of at its sale price!



3. They are really comfortable to wear and can be worn for long period of time without any issues.



4. The cable is quite nice and supple and goes quite well with other similar iems.



5. It comes with a single 10mm dynamic driver.



6. The provided TRN t tips, the cable, the metal case provided is provide if bought separately is worth around $25. So the value of the package is great!



7. The shell is quite of a fingerprint magnet.



9. I really love the metal case provided it protects the iem, although there is a place for a small usb c dongle you cannot store a big dongle inside with an iem.

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Sound Impressions:-



1. Well there are 3 nozzles and the black nozzle, the blue nozzle and the Red nozzle. You can check the graph now.






2. For my testing purposes I found the red nozzle to suite my taste the best and I will be using that for my review.



3. Well using the red nozzle it has U shaped sound signature.



4. The overall tone and timbre is quite nice.



5. They are very easy to drive with smartphones.



6. I will be using the Hiby FC6, Fiio BTR5, IFI Hip Dac 3, IFI Go Blu, Colorfly CDA M1, Colorlfy CDA M2, Muse Hifi M4, Fosi Audio N3, Aune Yuki, Hiby M300, Akliam PD4 Plus, Kinera Usb C dongle dac, Razer Usb c dongle dac & My smartphone



Bass-



1. The overall bass is quite good and impactful



2. The sub-bass is a bit more forward over the mid-bass



3. While the overall bass quantity is quite good, in some songs like crack crack crackle by classy it does lack a bit of that thump and punch.



4. When listening to waltz by sunny, the bass and the overall transition is quite nice. But the clarity of the bass felt a bit off sometimes.



5. The instrument from casiopea is quite decent but it does sound a bit lost sometimes specially when there is a lot happening. Although this can be seen as a nitpick for this price point.



Mids-



1. The mids here in general take a back seat specially if its a male vocals



2. Vocals from Chris Cornell and bill withers might lack a bit of that richness and thickness while they take a back seat.



3. Female vocals takes the front seat over the male vocals, but the upper mids here isn't over powering at all.



4. It does a very good job sounding controlled here.



Treble-



1. While the other two nozzle gives too much of it and doesn’t balances with the upper mids



2. The red nozzle gives a decently controlled treble here one that might not seem offensive here



3. This inoffensiveness of the treble might cause some issues, specially if you are someone who enjoys the bright shimmery flavour. But then again you can change the nozzle and have it your way.



4. This nozzle does quite a good enough job for appealing to those people who are treble sensitive while providing a good deal of treble.



Technicalities:-



They are quite average and are ok for the price range. If you use the other nozzle they are very detail focused and has that fake sensation of detail but I feel that the red one does a good job of having some detail while being inoffensive in other regions of the song.



Soundstage & Imaging:-



The soundstage is meh, ok bang average for the price. It has a small ball around your head. Now if you are like me who likes a super massive soundstage you might be a bit disappointed but if you like that cramped in ear soundstage then this is quite good. Imaging is bang average too with decent left to right and vice versa while transition.



Gaming Test:-



For casual gaming they do an ok job, but in my opinion there are better contenders out there for that. At the similar price range. Although one thing it does it quite well is that it never gets fatiguing if you are having the red nozzle.

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Comparison & Recommendation:-



1. v/s the chu 2 – The trn conch is a clear winner here, as it comes with a fantastic set of and also the overall sound with red nozzle is quite consumer friendly. But in terms of details the slight edge goes to the chu 2 here.



2. v/s Simgot ew200 – If you want a better bass texture and better clarity whilst having great imaging and better gaming performance then the ew200 is a better option. But the conch has more bass and has more amount of accessory than the EW200.



3. v/s Arrti R1 – The r1 is better in every aspect but it is quite a bit expensive in price too. If you want to get an idea how the R1 sounds then this is a good iem.



4. Overall I love the trn conch. The tuning with the red filter is something which will be preferred by more people due to its amount of bass and not being so sensitive up in the treble region.



5. At its full price its a good deal too and is a good alternative to the ew200, but if you can get it for under $30 or $25 I think so this is a no brainer. Yes It does lack a bit of refinement overall, but I still think its a great buy specially if its your first iem.



6. So that was my review, i hope you liked it. Thanks for stopping by for my review!

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If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.

Again a big thanks to Shenzhen Audio for making this review possible.

Have a great day ahead, Bye