In-Ear Fidelity

Tanchjim Darling: Unboxing

Table of Contents

Introduction

There are always a few companies that come to mind when you think “Harman-tuned”. Maybe it’s AKG, perhaps even Samsung. Though it’s more than likely that you’d think of the one company that has the “Harman-ish IEM” market cornered: Moondrop.

Tanchjim is not a brand that got the traction Moondrop had, often only coming up in conversations as an alternative rather than its own solid recommendation. And it’s pretty easy to see why; where something like the KXXS came in at a retail price of $190 and the subsequent Starfield at an ever more competitive $110, Tanchjim’s direct answer to the two was a far heftier $300 and $160 (Oxygen and Hana respectively), making them basically in a completely separate price bracket.

Here we have the Darling, a 2+1 hybrid which is what I assume to be a direct competitor to Moondrop’s highly popular Blessing 2 hybrid. And much like Moondrop, Tanchjim has also gotten onto the anime-waifu train beginning with their Hana

So… bandwagon, or revolutionary? Expectations are high for the Darling, and Tanchjim would do well not to disappoint.

Product page: https://shenzhenaudio.com/products/tanchjim-darling-2ba-1dd-3d-printing-technology-in-ear-earphone

MSRP: $420

Driver configuration: 2BA + 1DD hybrid

This Darling was kindly provided by ShenZhenAudio.

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

  • Tips
  • Suede case 

Cable: single-wire cable. Good amount of softness, no complaints.

Connection: MMCX.

Build: full metal. No weak points at first glance.

Fit: bullet-style. Typically worn straight-down, though can be worn over-ear. Pretty safe as far as comfort goes.

Isolation: excellent on a deep fit.

Initial impressions

  • As many predicted, a little shouty. Though I think it’ll be far less shouty than people expect this to be.
  • Decent bass response with good impact and texturing.
  • A little spicy up in the treble; wish the air frequencies were reigned in a tad.
  • Middling-good resolution, probably on par with the ER4.
  • Big standout would be the imaging performance. Maybe, probably in the rare “excellent” category.

Measurements

All data has been uploaded to the Graph Comparison Tool.

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“McMadface”
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