TRN CS4

TRN is mostly known for their budget offerings and CS4 is one of them. Until these were offered to be sent to me, I wasn’t even aware that they existed. So here I am letting you know that these exist.

This barebones set of IEMs starts from 9.90 USD. If you want a cable with a microphone you need to pay another dollar and if you want a USB-C type connector instead of a 3.5 mm you need to pay 11.90 USD.

Disclaimers​

TRN CS4 was provided to me by Cloris from shenzhenaudio.com for free. As I always say, everyone is biased one way or another so take everything you read with a grain of salt. Also I will try to be more concise and to the point in my reviews from now on, without worrying about the word count etc. If you have any questions, please ask me in the comments and I will try to answer them to the best of my abilities.

Build and Accessories of TRN CS4​

If you had bought any cheap KZ, QKZ or TRN, the packaging is exactly that: a small box with earpieces, a cable, a set of generic eartips inside. There is also a pair of TRN’s own medium size T-Ear tips on the earpieces which was a welcome surprise.



CS4’s build is nothing out of the ordinary for an IEM in this price range. It’s plastic, in fact its build is identical to Tangzu Wan’er’s so if you have a problem with that, you can look elsewhere (and probably pay more). However, the shape of the shells is very ergonomic. They might be the best fitting IEMs for me. They stay very securely in my ears. If only they didn’t start to hurt after a while but I’m sure it’s because of the unusual shape of my ears, not the IEMs.

Sound of TRN CS4​

Tonality​

I wasn’t expecting much from CS4 and it didn’t deliver much at first but let me explain. CS4 doesn’t sound very good out of the box. It sounds fine to a degree with a healthy amount of bass and excess energy around the upper midrange.

Bass is relatively fast and tight, I have heard worse bass from sets more expensive than these. With the great seal and isolation they extend deep into the subbass, more than the graphs would indicate.



There is minimal bass bleed into the lower mids so there is a slight warmth to the tone but not much. Upper mids are just too much. If you listen at a low volume, it won’t bother you much but as soon as you raise the volume, CS4 begins to screech and shout.

Treble energy is slightly excessive, especially in the lower treble. However, the extension is better than I expected for a single DD at this price. There is a decent amount of detail and sparkle.

After noticing there is more life in these I decided to slap a Tanya filter on the nozzles to tame the upper mids and Voila! They turned into a very good set of IEMs. Bass was tight so they could handle some more without getting muddy too much. mids and treble became much more agreeable and treble extension wasn’t affected at all!

Technicalities​

Speaking of technicalities or subjective experience of an IEM at this price feels kind of weird but I can say CS4 fared better than some of the 20 USD IEMs on the market in some aspects. It has good treble energy and decent details. The headstage is also fine along with the imaging, again for the price.

Comparisons​

I didn’t want to put CS4 against too many other IEMs that are more expensive. Instead I compared them with and without the mods to my ultra budget benchmark Tangzu Wan’er. All of the comparisons made by volume matching at 1 kHz.

TRN CS4 (stock) vs Tangzu Wan’er​

• Vocals are much more forward and shouty on CS4. It’s too husky and breathy and tends to get sibilant.
• Bass level is similar on both, but on CS4, it is tighter and and slightly more impactful. I get more subbass extension from the CS4 probably because of a better seal.
• Instruments like guitars and piano are more forward on CS4, just not as much as vocals.
• CS4’s treble is above neutral and fatiguing. Definitely not suitable for loud level listening. Wan’er’s treble is much more relaxed.
• CS4 is more detailed with lots of sparkle. Wan’er is more smeared over. CS4 also sounds more open but you feel closer to the stage and artist. Imaging and separation is better on CS4.

TRN CS4 (modded) vs Tangzu Wan’er​

• CS4’s bass is more impactful and rumbly. Thanks to the seal and isolation, it also extends more into the subbass.
• Vocals on Wan’er are more forward.
• CS4 has a thicker note weight with the mod.
• Wan’er is more likely to get sibilant with volume.
• Wan’er has a more natural timbre than CS4.
• Electric guitars are more prominent on CS4.
• Wan’er has a more relaxed treble overall, CS4 has more energy in the treble and more air.
• CS4 has a more enveloping staging and feels more spacious.
• CS4 is more detailed although neither is very resolving, there are cheap sets after all. CS4 also has better imaging and separation.

Conclusion​

The CS4 review was one of those that made me feel “ugh whatever” at first. But after making that easy mod, they started to sound pretty good. Fit security and comfort are also one of the best I have ever experienced. So while I can’t really say go out and buy them, if you have some filters lying around, you won’t miss the 10 dollars you’ve spent on these. Also I imagine they would perform well in gaming even without a mod but I haven’t tested that unfortunately. If TRN comes up with a gaming variant of these with a boom mic, I probably would have less problems recommending that.

Introduction:-


Hello guys today I will be reviewing the TRN CS4. Its an ultra budget iem from TRN which comes at $8 and you can get it as a dsp too!

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 from Shenzhen audio and all the thoughts and opinions are my own.

You can buy it here (unaffiliated link) :-

https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/trn-cs4-10mm-dynamic-driver-dual-magnet-in-ear-headphone

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.


Lets get started!

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Review:-



1. The packaging of the cs4 is very simple. It comes with the iems, the cable, a generic pair of tips and the trn t tips applied to the iem which is very nice addition.



2. They have one 10mm dynamic driver



3. It seems a bit bigger than they are supposed to be in my opinion and there seems to be a lot of empty places.



4. The fit is quite odd and I had to play around it with a lot to get a secure fit. The applied TRN t tips helped me out a lot.



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



7. Lets talk about the sound quality



8. The overall tone and timbre is very thin



9. The bass is very light



10. Crack crack crackly by classy is very thin and light sounds very meh.



11. When listening to waltz by sunny the bass extension and the quality of the sub bass sounds ok for the price but its the overall thinness and lack dyanmicness leaves me longing for more.



12. Male vocals take a back seat



13. Thicker and richer male vocals sounds a bit lost and don’t have that same body I would expect.



14. The female vocals is the region it does quite well. The female vocal sounds very good but at low volumes



15. If you increase the volume a tad bit it becomes quite shrilly and unbearable.



16. The treble is quite ok but again at low volumes. If you increase the volumes it becomes shouty and piercy.



17. Soundstage is surprisingly good and competes with iem above its price range. While the average is imaging is ok for the price.



18. Now for recommendation I would only recommend buying it only if you have a strict budget of under $10



19. If you want a beater iem I would suggest the hidizs ms1 as the warm sound signature comes across quite well. The cs4 comes across overall quite thin an uninspiring, I mean for its price I cannot ask much but still.



20. I personally would suggest spending the double money and get atleast moondrop chu 2 from shenzhen audio. I know its double the money but for double the money you get much better performance overall.



21. While in its own the cs4 is a good enough iem if you listen to jpop and similar songs but falls apart quite quick if you try other genre. Again many of the things mentioned here are nitpick for its budget price point, but I cannot stress enough that spending a tad bit more and upgrading to the likes of chu 2 will get you a much better performance.



22. So that was my review, i hope you liked it. Thanks for stopping by, have a great day ahead! Bye!

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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