Thinksound TS03 + Mic Review: Warm and Detailed; a Prime Example of How To Do Dynamic Right

Aaron
Aaron
Jul 30, 2017 · 7 min read

The TS03 marks the fifth Thinksound product to cross my doorway. I’ve been using their IEMs on and off for two years now; something keeps bringing me back. I don’t know if it’s the simplicity of the design or the comfortable sound signature Thinksound is known for, but either way it makes for a great experience. The TS03 follows that trend, but does that make it worth buying?

You can find the TS03 + Mic here, on Thinksound’s official website, for $120.

Disclaimer: This unit was provided to me free of charge for review purposes. I am not affiliated with Thinksound beyond this review. These words reflect my true, unaltered, opinion about the product.

A heart-felt thanks to Aaron at Thinksound for sending me the TS03.

Preference and Bias: Before reading a review, it is worth mentioning that there is no way for a reviewer to objectively pass judgment on the enjoy-ability of a product: such a thing is inherently subjective. Therefore, I find it necessary for you to read and understand what I take a natural liking to and how that might affect my rating of a product.

My ideal sound signature would be an extended sub-bass with a leveled, but textured, mid-bass. The mids should be slightly less pronounced than the treble, but still ahead of the bass. I prefer a more bright upper range.

Source: The TS03 was powered like so:

HTC U11-> USB-C adapter -> earphones

or

Hidizs AP100 3.5mm out -> FiiO A5 3.5mm out -> earphones

or

PC optical out -> HiFiMe SPDIF 9018 Sabre DAC 3.5mm out -> earphones

All music was served as MP3 @320Kbps or as FLAC.

Sound Signature

Initial Impressions:

One word: cohesive. That’s the first thing I noticed after having reviewed a litany of two, three, and four-driver IEMs. No matter how good they get, they can rarely, if ever, beat the cohesion of a well-tuned dynamic driver. And the Thinksound TS03 is just that. With a full and robust sound signature, this IEM makes listening effortlessly enjoyable.

The treble is ahead of the mid-range, which is biased towards the lower-mids. Bass is plentifully and tight, with bass cohesion being top-notch. Overall, I’d say the TS03 is a V-shaped IEM with a warm tilt.

Treble: Songs used: In One Ear, Midnight City, Outlands, Satisfy

Treble is a strong point for the TS03. With a much more pronounced upper range than the older generations, the TS03 sounds open and precise. Extension is great.

High-hats and cymbals have an excellent attack and decay and are layered well with a good amount of air to them. Midnight City’s synths sounded open and forward without being overly sharp. The main thing I noticed is that instead of commanding the entire song, they melded into the litany of other instrumentation M83 masterfully organizes in what is normally the background.

Sibilance is not normally an issue, but is observable in some tracks. While listening to my song library on shuffle I came across a couple songs that were unpleasantly sharp, but much to my surprise, Nero’s Satisfy was not one of them.

Furthermore, the TS03 is surprisingly good at retrieving micro-details. I actually heard some new parts of my test songs, a considerable feat given that they’ve passed through over 60 individually-tested IEMs by now.

Mids: Songs used: Flagpole Sitta, Jacked Up, I Am The Highway, Dreams

The upper mid-range is the most “recessed” band of sound in the TS03’s sonic signature. While true in the technical sense, it doesn’t really feel that way after spending a couple days with it. Coming from the mid-forward Heir Audio 4 Ai.S, I can safely say that the upper-mids aren’t too far back, and don’t inhibit the earphone from sounding good in the vast majority of use cases.

Guitars and drums both sound great and are easily distinguishable, regardless of which song I listened to. Be it Flagpole Sitta, Jacked Up, or Audioslave’s I Am The Highway (rest in peace, Chris), I found tonality and separation to be quite good.

Pianos are well-defined too. While they aren’t as hard as I would have liked, they are definitely not the mushy mess that they were on the original Rain.

Vocals are generally good, but can occasionally be sibilant. Male and female vocals are well-weighted and have above-average intelligibility.

Bass: Songs used: Moth, Gold Dust, In For The Kill (Skream Remix), War Pigs (Celldweller Remix)

Bass is plentiful in quantity and precise in quality. Listeners of electronic music will be enthralled with how well the bass assaults your eardrums during the drop, and rock enthusiasts will appreciate how well-defined bass-guitars are.

Sub bass is, while (some-what obviously) less impressive than the mighty quad-driver Rose Cappuccino Mk. II, it’ still no slouch. Playing In For The Kill will instantly give you an appreciation for just how well-extended the TS03 is. And it’s not just extension; sub-bass control is there as well, and is top-tier for a single-dynamic driver.

Packaging / Unboxing

Thinksound has done away with their packaging, instead giving customers a hard metal case to carry their earphones in.

Build

Construction Quality

The TS03 is constructed in typical Thinksound fashion: reclaimed walnut-stained wood and polished-metal driver housings in which a single full-range dynamic driver resides. The front half and nozzle of the TS03 are made from a single piece of polished gunmetal-colored aluminum.

The cable is made from tangle-resistant PVC-free plastic. It’s got a good thickness below the Y-splitter (which is also made from polished aluminum) but lacks robustness above it. A boost in diameter would be much appreciated in terms of longevity.

As a side note, it would also be really cool to see sleeved cables. Nylon and Kevlar have a real nice feel to them and do wonders in making a product feel more premium.

The inline controls are also made from polished aluminum. It’s got a single plastic button and mic built into it. The button has a nice tactile feel and isn’t wiggly or loose at all, a trait that is an automatic fail in the “does it feel well-made” test for me. The controls have the typical pause/play/skip functionality on both Android and iOS.

The cable terminates in a gold-plated 3.5mm jack, angled at 45 degrees. There is ample stress relief, so don’t fret too much about it breaking or wearing out prematurely.

Comfort

The TS03 is very light, meaning it isn’t particularly noticeable in the ear. Impressively, the large diameter on the nozzle doesn’t impact comfort at all, partially due to the very high core-size of the included eartips.

Accessories

The TS03 is the best-equipped IEM by Thinksound so far. Inside the “box” you’ll find:

  • 1x Hard metal carrying case
  • 1x Soft cloth carrying pouch
  • 4x Silicone eartips
  • 1x Shirt clip

Thinksound is currently tied for #1 on my list for “most usable silicone eartips” with Magaosi. (Obviously, given the unique nature of a person’s aural anatomy, this is a subjective metric).

The included hard carrying case is also a really nice addition, and I use it quite often when the soft carrying pouch isn’t quite enough protection for the TS03.

Summary

The TS03 is a another great IEM from Thinksound. While “natural” is a term I rarely every apply to a warm IEM, I think I’ll actually have to give it to the TS03. It’s a far-cry from the Rain2 and goes to show how far Thinksound’s come in such a short time. So if you are looking for effortless listening, a cohesive sound signature, comfort, understated style, and a subtle ecological footprint, definitely check out the Thinksound TS03.

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Resonance Reviews

Resonance Reviews is a publication dedicated to bringing fair and rich reviews to the table while skipping the fluff that reviews usually have. We are dedicated to providing you the best in audio hardware reviews. Want to get in contact? Email us: aaron@resonancereviews.com

Aaron

Written by

Aaron

Tech enthusiast. Audiophile. PC builder. Reviewer. Writer.

Resonance Reviews

Resonance Reviews is a publication dedicated to bringing fair and rich reviews to the table while skipping the fluff that reviews usually have. We are dedicated to providing you the best in audio hardware reviews. Want to get in contact? Email us: aaron@resonancereviews.com

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