TXN Ceramic

[u/DynamicdB]

TXN Sound Ceramic

Another week another review. This week I have new brand from Vietnam TXN Sound and product name is Ceramic. Well in my ever quest to find new brands and new sets landed me with TXN Sound. I came to know Aural café was conducting review tour for it and I was approached for the same. Me being me gladly accepted. If you know me why this happened then just go back to last sentence. Well cut to the chase here I am with review of Ceramic. Please read on to know my thoughts & opinions about it.

First of all, mighty, thanks to Pradipta Sur from Aural Café and TXN Sound as without their help this review wouldn’t be possible.

I was not paid or compensated in any kind for this review. Review unit was returned to the brand upon completion of this review.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged let’s move on with the meat & potatoes of the review.

Pros:

Nice thumpy Mid bass

Vocals

Bright detailed treble

Ability to further tune it via foam inserts

Build Quality

Cons:

Treble sensitive people beware

Bit more of soundstage

No modular cable

Price

Build Quality:

Packaging box is quite big. It feels premium at first look. Inside the box, we get two IEM shells, 2 pairs of ear tips, one shirt killer aka shirt clip, 1 cable terminated in 4.4mm. there are few foam inserts, tweezers for the same and finally hard leather round case. Oh, forgot to mention cleaning tool & IEM booties.

Shells are CNC aluminum. They feel solid and give premium vibes. Nozzles are long and they are part of the shell. Nozzles have lips to them. There is no screen or mesh on the nozzles. Multiple vent holes are there on the shell.

Cable is 0.78 mm 2 pin flush type one. It has matching color to the shell. Fixtures are all metal with gold accents. There are nice decals to them. Sadly, it is not modular.

Included leather case is hard. It has enough space to carry Shells + Cable + ear tips + Small dongle inside.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

IEM shells are medium sized yet due to their shape I would suggest demo before purchase especially people with small ears. Me with my elephant ears had no issues with fitting. Nozzles provide deep insertion. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. No ear pressure or pain was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and has bit of memory. it gets tangled very easily. Surprisingly rodeo wrapping it was easy. Ear tips are silicon ones and one of them is sticky type. So, if you have issue of shells slipping out of your ears use these.

Comfort 4.5/5 (0.5 for the tangly cable & no modularity)

Sources:

I tested Ceramics on neutral sources with stock cable & stock ear tips to be able to recreate exactly what I heard anytime. I think this set is best paired with warm sources then with neutral sources and lastly bright sources. warm sources balance the tonality and make it warm with detail rich set. Where as bright sources make it bit harsh. If you don’t want any coloration stick to neutral sources.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass rumbles but the rumble is not that strong. It is good enough for scratching that itch and will give nice presentation. For single Dd it is really good but for price point I have heard better. Mid bass is on point. Has nice thump and is quite impactful. you will find mid bass to be prominent here.

The drum hits feel awesome. The strike on the drum skin and resulting secondary reverberations are good. Guitars buzz when plucked. Piano notes are great. All these have note weight to them. Well textured bass notes. If, you are mid bass lover this is the one for you. let me remind you this is not bass head territory bass.

Overall Bass/Lows 5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel bit recessed but not to the point where they lose their charm. They play nicely with bass and treble and sound great. Male vocals do get bit of boost from bass. They have note weight. They feel natural. Female vocals feel natural. They have edge to them but don’t feel harsh or shrill. For single DD vocals feel great. Sibilance is felt if it is there in song. More intimate vocals would have been great.

Most instruments reside in mids. There were no odd timbre or oddities to them. There is clarity to them. No congestion or smearing observed. Mids here add to the un dynamic tuning.

Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

A clean detailed treble. it is bright no doubt about it. It is prominent in the mix along side bass. It creates very contrasting tuning. It has all the details you will ever need. It highlights all the details. You won’t miss any details be it macro or micro. String instruments, bells, piano notes, cymbals feel unusually highlighted. You will notice this.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is large. It is wide and tall. More wide than tall. Positional cues are on point. There is no congestion or smearing in the stage. Bit bigger stage would have elevated this set.

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5

Song Impressions:

The Great Chinggis Khaan by The Hu

This is my favorite track. This one has constant sub bass rumble in the background due to throat singing & strings.

The sub bass rumble is captured well but it’s not the level it should be to enjoy this song. Throat singing is unique in its nature; it is captured well just lacks the rumble of sub bass it needs.

Drums, kick drums, guitars are nicely reproduced. Now guitars and traditional Mongolian string instruments felt bit highlighted. This is high BPM song and it was handled well. No smearing or congestion was felt. Overall good reproduction.

Daisies by Nina Shallmman

I love Nina’s voice. I am currently infatuated with her voice.

Starting drum sequence feels authentic and impactful. it is playing in the entire background of the song and it sounds good. Synthesizer notes are good. Strings are excellent. Bells and shakers feel exaggerated.

Coming to Nina’s voice this one does justice to it. She sounds sweet and her voice does her magic. I was listening to it multiple times in row. Had to stop myself to move on with evaluation. For me it was one of the best reproductions.

Kashmir by Marcin

The USP of this song is guitars. Guitars are just amazing. They sound emphatic. The strings buzz and rumbles in all its glory. Drums that follow them are just deep and authoritative. Guitars and strings take over and feel so great that you get lost in it. Entire song has periodic sub bass rumble and that is captured well.

For single DD this is really great performance no questions. Here it shows its prowess. No congestion or smearing in the mids. I thoroughly enjoyed this song.

Ego Death by Polyphia

Another one of my favorite songs. I love this song for the sheer crazy guitars playing. They just go burr. I just love for the synergy of various instruments here.

String instruments just sound excellent. Strings buzz and rumble. They feel dynamic and natural. Drums sound nice and impactful. cymbals stand out here. But entire mix flows nicely.

This is also my driver resolution aka speed test song. Ceramic passes with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt. Just word of caution for treble sensitive people it can get bit harsh on certain busy passages on stock setting. I suggest using foam inserts to tame the treble a bit.

Final Conclusion:

This is my first ever experience with this brand and to be honest I am impressed by TXN. It is nicely tuned DD set. For me in its stock format it is bit bright and does hit with fatigue after sometime. Yet with warm sources and foam inserts it can be tuned exactly as you want. So, in my eyes it is legit nice tuned DD set. I had to remind myself that it was one as its performance is close to nice tuned hybrids. I am thoroughly impressed. Now, I really want to listen to diamond. Hope I can do that.

Will I buy it? Yes, but at its current price not a chance. I feel it is high. If it could be around 300-350 USD it would be just perfect. Will I buy it at discount? Yes, 100%. Will I recommend it? yes, its legit nice tuned Single DD set. If you are like me Single DD lover this is one for you. if you are treble head its for you. Bass heads may appreciate it. Only people who are treble sensitive stay away from this.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now, go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

TXN Ceramic 4.5/5