TRN ST5

My second set of earphones, and its good, better with the open eartips or other eartips opener

TRN ST5 is an excellent set of earphones that really demonstrates that TRN is putting a lot of thought and care into their products. As I listen to this set, it's very apparent that TRN didn't just decide to make a 5 driver hybrid set - they had an intention for this set, and found the right driver configuration and implementation to bring it to life. The fruit of their efforts is a very clear sounding set which achieves a rare marriage of analytical tuning and stimulating tone. This is a balanced sounding set that emphasizes cleanliness all throughout the Frequency response, and it does so very gracefully, with each element of the sound revealing the intentionality of the tuning implementation.

The treble on the st5 is analytical without being harsh. It is well balanced with the rest of the tuning, providing clean detail without obscuring or coloring the sound. These earphones have a very dry (non reverberant) treble which absolutely shines on well engineered tracks. The st5 extends well into the air frequencies, without being too abrasive. Although on harshly recorded tracks, you may notice a sharp edge on sounds that already lean into sharpness (hard snares, very buzzy acid leads, etc) but I don't think the treble is over emphasized. You may, however, find that it highlights the audio engineering flaws (for good or for bad).

The bass is also presented in a neutral way, stepping into the spotlight only when called to do so, displaying lots of texture and detail, and with a rich low end that's capable of great diffuse bass-scapes, as well as tight punchy kicks and dynamic textures. The overall sound of the st5 can be a little cool at times, with the balanced armature presenting a mechanical feeling that underscores detail and clarity, but undermines a sense of realism that you get from the natural resonance of other driver types. However, the bass, being a dynamic driver, brings that natural feeling back into the sound. On tracks where sub bass takes more prominence in the mix, these iems feel spacious and warm, as the rumble of the dynamic driver fills in the thin tonality of the upper mids and treble.

The detail is fairly good on this set, and I think TRN did a great job matching this dynamic driver with these BAs, as they achieve a similar level of detail reproduction, which can be a pitfall for hybrid sets, where the dynamic driver is treated as supplemental driver to the BAs. But St5 has very well matched detail on the dynamic driver, which helps to hide the crossover, and makes this set standout among its hybrid counterparts. The st5 blends the different drivers very nicely into a cohesive tuning that avoids some common problems that plague hybrid driver earphones. That is to say, the drivers don't get in each other's way, neither creating masking nor mud within the sound. But while the tuning is very cohesive, you can fairly easily hear the difference in resonance of bass notes being handled by the dynamic driver and upper frequency notes being carried by the Balanced Armature drivers. You can hear this expressed as stage size, with bass notes sounding wider than the mids and treble, which sit in a narrower stage. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though, as it creates more depth in the stage for the sound to spread out, and actually sounds quite good, even if not technically accurate.

The imaging, while not the most precise, still provides a natural sense of movement, and above average sense of sound placement in the stage, with distinctive placement at varying distances. The stage size is not huge, nor does it have a lot of depth front to back, so the stage mostly takes place from side to side, with a shallow, but noticeable, front-do-back depth.

The TRN ST5 is a truly impressive iem at the $60 price point, and an easy recommendation for anyone looking to buy a clarity-focused set that makes you want to dance. I thoroughly enjoy this set, and even prefer it to some of my other much pricier hybrid and BA sets.

"Painstakingly tuned, Suitable for wide music genre"

This is part of TRN ST5's description and it is definitely suitable for (my) wide music genre! $60? My song files are all in FLAC or DSD and the ST5 sounded WEW. MIND BLOWN, period.

And for this price, you get a cable that comes with modular plugs. How convenient is that! I use either 3.5mm or 4.4mm balanced for my music players and laptop so this is a bonus.

I tested the earphones with many different songs, including Chinese, English, Korean, Japanese, Instrumentals and etc., and these are some that I remember.

邓丽君 - 甜蜜蜜 (MandoPop)
一口甜 - 圈住你 (MandoPop song)
永彬Ryan.B - 像极了 (R&B / Soul)
薛之谦 - 演员 (MandoPop / R&B)
张信哲 - 爱如潮水 (MandoPop song)

ABBA - Dancing Queen (Eurodisco / Pop song)
Marina - About Love (English Pop song)
WALK THE MOON - Shut Up and Dance (Electropop / Dance Pop)
3 Doors Down - Here Without You (Alternative/Indie, Metal, Rock, Pop)

Aqua Timez - Alones (JPop / Japanese Indie / Japanese Rock)
Aqua Timez - Sen no Yoru wo Koete (JPop / Rock)
Fancy - TWICE (K-pop / Korea Dance / Electronic)
石川 綾子 - 君をのせて (Classical / JPop)

Lee Young Ji - I Am Lee Young Ji (KPop / Hip-Hop Rap)

One thing that I do not like about the ST5 is not about its tuning but the number of small plastic bags used. You can tell from the photo that TRN used so small plastic bags for the black ear tips, white ear tips, foam ear tips, modular plugs and cable. A total of 7 small plastic bags and 1 big one for the cable. It is not environmentally-friendly and it is hard for users to find the stuffs. TRN can consider using 1 big plastic bag to put all the ear tips?

Other than that, I am so very glad to have found out about the TRN ST5. More people should try out this model. I will definitely recommend this to all my friends and family!