Sound Impressions
Bass
Despite the Kirin being of a planar design, the bass impact is relatively modest and not as deep as I thought it would be. Plenty clean for the price, in fact, one of the cleaner bass experiences overall in the pricing tier I can recall hearing lately.
The low-end approach they have taken is a safe one, which offers clean and pure bass that is both smooth and relatively mild on physical strike impact levels. That means the bass doesn’t hit hard, and it doesn’t reach very deep.
What is available even on a +5dB bass booster is still what I would consider the lower end of bass-moderate in quantity. The truth of the matter is that the experience makes up for the lacking depth of bass with purity and slickness.
This is not a bass-head IEM. There are other options there if you want to sacrifice purity and cleanliness for raw power and depth. This Kirin is not for you if you want excessive bass depth. It is for you if you want a nice, balanced sound signature with an acceptable amount of quantity, and a good sense of fidelity and quality overall.
Midrange
The TRN Kirin is not a stage-forward IEM, it is a middle ground IEM all around, in every sense. This IEM is the poster boy of being safe and moderate regardless of what quality we are discussing.
The vocal experience is not recessive at all, far from it. It also is not very in-your-face and personal sounding. We call this signature “middle ground” and “moderately placed”. It is a good generalist and I think that was their overall arching goal: to be a generalist IEM and not a specialized product with a niche market target.
This Kirin is a pickup-and-go type experience, one that will mesh with most sound signatures and music types. If you are into the Jazzy vocals, this still performs well.
True, it won’t engage you vividly in a forward and close-up feel, but it still sounds very good to me. Overall fidelity factor for the price is very nice and considering it is a Planar design, I expect it to sell very well and be stocking stuffers for family members this holiday season.
Vocals are on the elegant and effortless side of the spectrum, not harsh or impacting enough to consider it physically potent on slam. This is a relatively mellow sound, but also a very pure feeling in texture.
Treble
The Kirin top side has a gentle brightness to it with a slight amount of bite. I call this fun and engaging without being overburdening and repulsively harsh on the ear.
Some IEMs have trouble here in this area, so I am happy to report that the Kirin is one of those nicer tuned IEMs that doesn’t get harsh. Even older Malmsteen recordings and high screeching guitar riffs are relatively tame. Yet, that gentle bite factor makes it fun and engaging enough to consider it an IEM that was tuned with a slight upper-end boost.
The lower treble areas are reserved, and you can tell that is the case when you listen to modern guitar or violin tracks. The upper mids and lower treble grouping resolve well into a tier that I call “laid back”.
However, that is not the case with texture, as mentioned, it is very pure and lacks a warmth factor that I would have preferred this set to have achieved. They’ve opted to go the more neutral signature, but one that lacks harsh impact and the bite factor, (physical wince).
Overall, the treble experience is enjoyable and I have yet to consider it harsh on my ear, even well amped and with plenty of power running through it, I don’t hear much of a change from no amping to excessive amping. Sometimes, planars require more power to get their “true” sound out, but in this case, that is not needed.
Soundstage
The Kirin stage is rectangular in shape and presentation: a sense of slightly more width factor than height, resulting in stage-left and stage-right feeling obviously more spaced out and extending outward than the height factor. Depth of field is just good for the price, don’t expect an imaging titan here.
Vocalists and designated specific instruments in the void of sound coming at you are loose feeling and not precise, but then again, this is a $130 IEM, and at no point should you consider this the Sennheiser HD800 of the IEM budget world.
The imaging experience is just fine, it doesn’t qualify as lacking anywhere, and, again, for the price tier, it’s okay overall. Good depth of field, good width factor, good height factor.
This is a mellow set and the more I listened, the more it became clear the intent was to provide a neutral tone with an easy listening experience as often as possible.
Select Comparisons
Shuoer Tape
The Tape is semi-electrostatic in design on the treble side, which equates to a hyper lush experience. And really, the tone and texture between this Tape and the Kirin are quite different.
The Tape is tremendously sleek and smooth, effortless. The Kirin, while I consider it still elegant and sleek in its own right, is leagues more firm feeling than the Tape is. That is because the Kirin is Planar and the Tape is a hybrid dynamic-electrostatic. And you can really feel that physically on the top end, there is a world of difference between them.
The Tape extends almost infinitely up the ladder while you can hear the cut-off on a Planar IEM far before the Tape taps out. However, the Tape also has more bass and less midrange than the Kirin, which makes the vocals a little more recessive and less engaging.
I enjoy the balanced feel of the Kirin more sometimes. The Tape is also super stubborn with rig pairing, while the Kirin plays great with nearly everything that I tossed at it.
Sony WF-XB700
Also priced nearly the same at $130 (used, far less) the Sony WF-XB700 is my go-to primary wireless portable. The reason is because of its absurd bass depth and fun factor. This IEM is stupidly bassy and powerful, and I love it.
Comparisons between this and the Kirin showcase are almost like a curtain lifting off or someone turning the lights on when crossing over from the Sony to the Kirin. The Sony is far, far muddier, almost gross even.
But it is extremely deep-reaching, while the Kirin lacks depth and provides ungodly more clarity. Do you want deep mud? Get the Sony. Do you want clarity and style, mellow sound, and great fidelity bass for $130’ish? Kirin is a great option.
More so, the Sony being wireless, of course, is an extra hassle when you come to understand they are bloody massive. I consider the Kirin as somewhat large in the shell sizing…but this Sony is just another level of goofy.
The interesting thing is that I can wear them all day, while I have problems with the Kirin comfort. Perhaps, that is just because of my ear’s interior angular shape. No doubt, the Kirin excels far past the Sony in every way except staging, which sounds noticeably larger on the WF-XB700 than the Kirin.
Our Verdict
For $129? I would recommend the TRN Kirin. I can see the audio world enjoying a balanced-sounding set of planar IEMs this holiday season. I think they will sell very well later in the year when people are searching for good IEMs.
And they certainly are good. They feel balanced, pure, and clean. They also offer a nice sense of lacking impact and harshness on physical strike factor, or, that wince element and sudden slam effect.
They are moderately dense feeling, well designed, and offered tons of customizable setup options. Hard to ask for more for this price, really.
TRN Kirin Specifications
- Sensitivity:106dB
- Frequency Response Range: 7Hz-40KHz
- Impedance: 32Ω
- Product Weight: 15g+26g (earbud+cable)
- Cable Length: about 1.2m
