Table of Contents
Introduction
A while back, Tin HiFi dipped their toes into planar waters. The P1 was born, then a massive step up in terms of pricing: a $170 MSRP in comparison to their then second-in-line, the $70 T3.
Now, as most audio companies do, Tin HiFi steps up their game after good success with models like the T2, T4, T2+, even the original P1. Enter the P2, Tin HiFi’s newest flagship that weighs in at a (relatively) massive price of $370. That’s more than double of the P1, which since had its pricing tempered by the release of the $110 T4.
A brief recap of my impressions on the P1; I was not too impressed. Granted, it was a well-tuned planar (by far the best tuned IEM planar at the time, and even today excluding the P2), but had a lot of issues with regards to blunted transients and soft notes killing the details in the music. In my opinion the P1 is a niche IEM despite its apparent popularity, it isn’t quite the “safe pick” for most accounts, especially when you consider the killer 10kHz+ spike that would kill most younger ears with sibilance.
The P2 enters the market burdened with many expectations. Lets see how Tin HiFi fares with their most expensive IEM yet.
Product page: https://www.linsoul.com/collections/tin-hifi/products/tinhifi-p2
MSRP: $370 ($340 “preorder price” till 31/10/20)
Driver configuration: Planar
This P2 was kindly provided by Linsoul.
Non-audio opinions
My unboxing posts are pretty much the only times I’ll ever talk about build quality, accessories and the like. I’m not really the person to ask about these things as I don’t really care about them that much.
Accessories:
- Soft leather case
- Tips
- 2.5mm balanced cable
- 2.5mm balanced to 3.5mm SE adapter
- 2.5mm balanced to 4.4mm balanced adapter
Cable: 8-wire cable in round-braid configuration. Feels pretty supple, good skinfeel, no complains.
Connection: extruded 2-pin. Would’ve preferred recessed, but it’s better than flush.
Build: full metal build with no outward weak points as far as I can see.
Fit: shallow fit, not the most secure for my ears but passable.
Isolation: below average. Seems to be a partially vented design.
Initial impressions
- Transients are significantly improved over the P1; there is still a bit of softness/bluntedness going on, but nowhere close to the extent of the P1. Good resolution boost over the original, but that’s kind of a low bar.
- Very distracting sibilance. It’s not quite the constant harshness nor the forwardness that typical “bright cans” would exhibit, but rather tracks are peppered with seemingly random instances of painful spikes and esses.
- Not to the point of being unlistenable, but it is fatiguing for that reason. Note that this may not apply if your listening tops out at under 15kHz or so.
- Overall tonality is solid, bass is emphasised without too much bleed, midrange is decently smoothed without any errant dips or peaks. Most of my problems with the P2’s tonality is in the treble.
- Competitive at the P1’s price point.
Measurements
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6 thoughts on “Tin HiFi P2: Unboxing”
Inb4 gets curbstomped in ranking by blessing 2.
Does the P2 require a hefty amount of power, like the P1, or can it perform well with underpowered sources like mobile phones?
On my 50W amp I run it at 30% (about 17Watts), 1W is enough for medium volume, but to enjoy fully that much is needed. Also if the source is too quiet for some reason(I experience it mostly on youtube though) you need even more power, maybe 50-60% on my amp.
Tin hifi is trying to up their game in the IEM industry and there is nothing wrong in that. Demo units were already produced last year. I was just surprised that they did not hear about the treble issues from P1. At least they learned to put some bass on P2. Those 10Hz+ peaks are even higher than before. A good 10db higher than P1.
Guessing purely from Crin’s graph.
P2 = P1 but slightly more V-shaped.
There are different frequency response graphs out there where is looks more flat-ish, not sure what to believe, but on my ears p1 sound good enough, at least better than blon bl3 or mee m6 pro, just a bit sharper but not hurting. And I listen on 17Watts. On 1W or less its even more mild sound, how can it be so bad…
It started around the T4 launch but it’s clear now that Tin Hifi’s management has lost it.
I mean anyone thinking of buying the P2 is gonna buy the Shuoer TAPE PRO instead.
A product by company who understands superseding older products not just upping the price for no reason and without a product to show for that.