THE SIGNATURE

The T4’s signature is in between a lot of things, namely mildly V-shaped, mildly U-shaped, or bright-neutral. All of which are accurate interpretations that can be simply described as “balanced” for the layman.

The bass boost leans towards the sub-frequencies and there is minimal mid-bass punch. Somewhat lean lower midrange and a forward upper midrange presentation. Treble is inoffensive.

Why you shouldn’t get one

Here is the section where I try to convince you not to get a T4.

In a way, the T4 has a very sterile, almost lifeless signature that prioritises a clean and competent presentation over a bombastic and exciting one. You are not getting the “wow factor” out of the T4 and if you do, it’s mostly because of that 5kHz peak that I can see many people taking offence to anyways.

So onto the second problem: the upper midrange. It’s a little shouty and throws the vocals right up in your face, so it’s not the most uncoloured thing in the world. Depending on your tolerance, it gets fatiguing and you’d find yourself wanting something a little warmer or a little bassier to compensate against all that intensity.

Problem #3: the note thickness. The contrast between the lower and upper midrange makes the T4 a little lean in the notes, so depending on your music choices this could either work in your favour or against you. Yes, the lean notes help with note separation and so is a boon for any track with an emphasis in percussions and plucked strings, but its main weakness lies in conveying the richness and heft of sustain instruments (and male vocals).

Problem #4 (that isn’t really a problem since nearly every IEM has it): the imaging capabilities are average. Nothing egregious; just means that you shouldn’t get a T4 if you’re expecting massive soundstage or outstanding positional cues. It’s not that kind of IEM.

This is more a preferential thing than an objective bad, but don’t get the T4 if you’re a basshead. I feel like Captain Obvious stating what could already be inferred from the measurements, but here’s just an additional reminder anyways. There are many other IEMs that focus on bass response and do it better than the T4, some for much cheaper too.

If you’re still not bothered thus far, then read on.

Why you should

The T4 is a proper successor to the VSonic GR07.

You should have realised at this point that many of my current criticisms can be applied to the GR07 as well, for good reason: they are very similar IEMs that share many traits with each other. The GR07 has been my $100 benchmark for years and years, simply because no other IEM had posed a challenge to the “sub-$100 neutral IEM” crown.

And so with the discontinuation of the GR07, this left a huge gaping void in the market that was temporarily filled by Tin HiFi’s own T2. The market for V-shaped and/or bassy IEMs in the sub-$100 space has been plentiful in recent years, with greats such as the insanely cheap Sony MH755 and more recently the BLON BL03, but neither of them can really be regarded as “neutral” in their presentation. If you were looking for something without a large bass boost, you’re basically out of luck.

The T4 picks up where the GR07 left off and offers exactly what it had always: a clean, well-defined sound characterised by its upper midrange/treble peak, of which could be just as equally divisive in its presentation. The T4 even improves on the GR07 in certain areas such as the sub-bass presentation, which was a little lacklustre in the old guard. The T4 adds on a little extra pinna gain and flattens out the lower midrange a little more, increasing the clarity of the T4 though arguably at the extent of making it less of an all-rounder than the GR07 was. In this regard, the T4 is more of a specialist for those seeking the technical nitty-gritty than those simply looking for a balanced signature.

On pure technicalities alone, the T4 outperforms nearly everything else in its price segment. With the competition in the $100 chifi market increasing with the lowering barriers of entry, that’s just impressive.