HiFi Mai Tai

There is never a shortage of bird related IEMs. I think I commented on this last week in my review of the BGVP Feather. This week its the TRN Rosefinch. Trying to work out if the names reflect aspects of the sound is pointless. Its like trying to assign political agendas to the Telletubbies or the Harry Potter Houses. Actually, wait that has been done. Well its like trying to host a football tournament across a whole continent but primarily in nation that doesn’t really care. Oh that has been done too. Well its like. ..Its like… I guess lots of impossible things happen. Maybe there is meaning in the name. Well lets find out. Lets get to it. Lets get on with the Bartender’s TRN Rosefinch Review.

TRN Rosefinch Review – The Cocktail:

The TRN Rosefinch is a budget planar. It uses a 12mm driver rather than the larger 14mm that have established themselves as the go to for planars. As is normal for planars the impedence is a little higher than is typical for other drivers and the frequency response range is massive. At around this price point of £20 (that’s what I paid) the specs are pretty typical of its contemporaries and its rivals particularly the other budget planars.

Drivers: 12mm Planar
Frequency: 7 to 40,000 Hz
Impedence: 32 Ω
Sensitivity: 105 dB

TRN Rosefinch Review – The Taste Test Setup:

I am continuing with the SMSL M20 DAC/AMP. I was tempted to change eartips to improve the comfort and get a better fit but I decided that at this price it is only really fair to stick to the stock tips and so I stuck with the T-Tips. This really shouldn’t have been a problem as T-Tips are not inherently bad however I struggled to get these IEMs to work for me (More on that later. Just keep reading).

DAC/AMP: SMSL M20
Cable: Tripowin Zonie (Balanced)
Eartips: TRN T-Tips (Silicon)

TRN Rosefinch Review – The Non-Audio:

As is the norm for budget IEMs such as the TRN Rosefinch the accessories package is as bare as desert dwelling hermits cave that has just been repossessed by the bank. There is nothing but the IEMs, some eartips and the cable. The eartip selection is not bad and includes T-Tips which certainly have their own devout following. But still there is nothing here to justify a higher rating.

To describe the style I was torn between two tortured metaphors. The first was that of a stone posed by a demon. The black rounded shells have a pebble like quantity and the vents look a little like possessed demon eyes looking out into the world. The second metaphor was to describe them as a simple pebble. As both metaphors are rock related and the possessed demon makes the TRN Rosefinch sound more stylish than I think they are, I eventually settled on the pebble description. Having now given that explanation I don’t think I actually need to use the pebble metaphor. I should really plan a little more before I start to write.

The build caused me no such dramas or troubles. This IEM is cheap. It feels cheap. It looks cheap. It probably won’t last that long.

As I have already alluded to I had problems with the fit of this IEM. The large flat shells just didn’t work for me. It really did feel like trying to balance a pebble in my ear whilst a small bird poked and prodded at my head. Listening (from a comfort perspective) felt like letting a small bird attempt chinese medicine. It was far from perfect and definitely made all my aliments worse.

Accessories: Drink Only (Nothing Else Worth Talking About)
Style: Well Liquor (A Common Pebble)
Build: Hand Wash Only (Delicate as a Small Bird)
Comfort: Perched on a Bar Stool (Like Being Pecked in the Head by a Small Bird)

TRN Rosefinch Review – The Audio:

I always enjoy starting my audio reviews with the bass. For me this is often the element of the sound that can make or break an IEM. The bass is key to the balance. Its the grain of rice that stops the scales from tipping or the splint that fixes the camels back. However, in the case of the TRN Rosefinch I would rather start some where else. But I can’t. I am bound to my own format. To my own rules.

So the bass. It took me a while to find it. There really isn’t loads of it. Its very clean with limited sub bass presence and it has not been hit by the mid bass sucker punch and so doesn’t really slam hard. I appreciated its speed but felt it never really had any shape or any texture. If you have aversion to bass and green vegetables then this may be for you if not then maybe try peas (the Brits are obsessed with them).

Okay back to audio reviewing. I will leave the food to someone else. Someone more qualified and better informed than I.

The mids were pretty good. There is a balance between brightness and warmth that allows them balance between being sharp and to be thick. Though highly inoffensive the mids never really captured by attention. Everything just sounds okay. Probably pretty good for the price but nothing sounds spot on, pleasantly elevated or tastefully energized. The mids are not boring and they are not wrong but still I found myself wanting more.

The treble has significant air. There is a lot of space. Enough to park a bus full of ostriches and still have room for a minivan of finches. This air and the general clarity of the TRN Rosefinch creates a sharp clean sound. Its energetic and undoubtedly a little fatiguing. That said I enjoyed it and I never found it piercing. There was never a need to dart for the volume controls. Everything was under control.

Vocals were sometimes a little recessed and sometimes a little thin. The sharpness and clarity is certainly a style. Higher pitched female vocals sometimes sparkled though overall I thought male and female vocals were presented equally well. Sometimes a ‘metallic’ sound crept into the vocals but this was subtle and certainly not a show stopper.

The details were impressive. This is often one of the areas in which planars excel. Planar drivers move fast this both gives then the chance to make all the sounds in the recording and for them to be clear and clean such that all the sounds can be heard. There are more detailed IEMs out there. I have certainly reviewed a few of them myself. But still the details of the TRN Rosefinch was impressive.

And finally we get to the technicals. This time saving the best to last. Firstly, the sound stage was impressive. The semi-open (I’m going to call it semi-open) design has really worked here and again the clean detailed planar sound probably works well here. The large soundstage also contributes to very contrasting stereo-separation. Left and right can feel like a whole international flight away. The clean sound does facilitate distinguishing between instruments and the imaging and layering is commendable particularly at the price point.

The Base Spirit (Bass): 53.40 % (Fast but Fragile)
The Modifier (Mids): 66.18 % (Flowering for the Height of Summer)
The Sweetener (Treble): 65.23 % (Bright as the Summer Sun)
The Vocals: 60.39 % (Background Bird Song)
The Garnish (Details): 74.66% (The Clouds Have a Great View)
The Presentation (Technicals): 76.83 % (Free to Fly the Skies)

TRN Rosefinch Review – The AI Opinion:

This a new feature that I am trying out. How well will it work? I don’t know but here goes anyway.

In this section I have asked Google’s AI mode to predict a score for the to be reviewed IEM prior to publishing my review. To get this prediction I have asked that it predict a score based upon the scoring system employed by me here at the HiFi Mai Tai beach bar. That’s it. It is as simple as that. I could be doing myself out of the job here. But got to embrace the modern world etc. And if AI is gonna take my job I am going to go down fighting. Hopefully it proves itself rubbish and there is nothing to worry about.

So the TRN Rosefinch. What does AI think?

The Base Spirit (Bass): 78.50%
The Modifier (Mids): 55.00%
The Sweetener (Treble): 58.00%
The Vocals: 56.50%
The Garnish (Details): 52.00%
The Presentation (Technicals): 61.00%

Once again AI and I are in disagreement. Its a good job AI and I are not responsible for negotiating international treaties. We would never reach a settlement. I guess that wouldn’t be so different from the people doing it now.

I have really got nothing for this one. AI and I must have been listening to completely different IEMs. Our overall scores are not that different but we have achieved them in very different ways. AI thinks that the bass is the best bit and I think the opposite. Throughout testing I was also worried I was being harsh but seems I should have been harsher. Guess I am just not mean enough. The IEM reviewing world is not for the faint hearted. Its a cut throat business. I am going to need to toughen up.

TRN Rosefinch Review – Summary & Comparisons

Well time for the battle between sky and sea. The battle of air and water. The TRN Dolphin Vs the TRN Rosefinch. The TRN Dolphin is a brighter sound but also has greater bass presence. Its probably fair to say that its the more V-Shaped of the two. The technicals of the Rosefinch are more impressive but both have good clarity. Of the two I would take the TRN Dolphin. What can I say I am more of a water man (actually more of a beer, wine or cocktail man. Okay an alcoholic). Fluids to one side its the bass of the TRN Dolphine that does it fore me.

My second comparison is the KZ Vader Pro. For my the KZ Vader Pro lacks weight leaving the mids rather thin and the overall sound a little unbalanced. The TRN Rosefinch has none of these issues but it cannot match the clean hard slam of the KZ Vader’s bass. Despite my soft spot for bass I would not hesitate to talk the TRN Rosefinch not only as its mids a fuller but its technicals are excellent and its sound so much more cohesive.

I usually like to do three comparisons though I rarely seem to have stuck with this. I thought long and hard for a third comparison and in the end settled on the KZ ZA12. The KZ ZA12 is significantly more expensive and therefore it is no surprise that of the two it would be my choice. But I chose the KZ KZA12 for this comparison as to me it also a an IEM that is lacking in bass and is therefore proof that I do like IEMs with a light low end. Okay that wasn’t really much of a comparison. But hey maybe you have been asking the question of KZ ZA12 vs TRN Rosefinch for a while and I bet no one else has addressed exactly that yet.

So to wrap up. The TRN Rosefinch. Its a delicate song bird with a light low end. If bass is just not for you then there is a lot to like about this IEM and it does avoid some of the pitfalls that have plagued bright budget IEMs. The TRN Rosefinch shows the best and worst of budget planars and may be a key stepping stone to more expensive options if you decide that the planar sound is for you.