TRN CS2

disclaimer:   The TRN CS2 was provided by Kimberly at TRN for the purpose of this review.  I have no financial interest in TRN or its distributors, nor have I received any compensation for this review.   If you have an interest in more information, see the TRN Audio website, or follow them on Facebook, or to purchase the Cs2 see TRN’s official Store on Aliexpress.

 

Unboxing / Packaging:

Packaging wont come as a surprise to anyone familiar with budget in-ears.  The box uses a slip-cover design with a line drawing of the CS2 on the front and specifications on the reverse.  Inside the slip-cover is the clear plastic top showing the earpieces resting in a surround with the remaining kit hiding beneath.   The kit is fairly sparse but remember this is a sub-$10 retail product so we don’t expect a ton of accessories.   What comes packed in the box is the earpieces,  3 sets of silicone tips (SML) and the cable along with a warranty card and instruction booklet.

 

Build/Fit:

Build is also about what we expect in this price range.  The shells are resin in either black, grey, blue, or red with all models being transparent so the driver can be seen inside the shell to varying degrees.   Shells are a 3 piece design with faceplate, inner shell, and brass nozzles in a semi-custom shape.  Size is small-medium and shouldn’t pose a fit issue for any but the smallest ears.    There is a single vent immediately adjacent to the nozzles over the center of the driver.    Nozzles themselves provide a fairly deep insertion with a slightly forward rake and a pronounced lip for tip retention.    Connectors are the popular raised bi-pin style with rounded housings and are well fitted despite a visible difference in color between the connector and the shell.   These are not fancy, but are comfortable and should provide good comfort for longer listening sessions as I had no issues with fatigue.

 

Internals:

The CS2 uses a single 1omm dynamic driver designed in-house at TRN with a new magnet design that pushes flux close to 1 Tesla.  Per TRN the diaphragm material was chosen as the best match to the new dual magnet structure  and then the shell and nozzles were tuned to match.  TRN does not elaborate on the diaphragm material beyond that.   Nominal impedance is listed as 22Ω with a sensitivity of 118 dB/mW.     The CS2 is very easy to drive and is easily over-powered if using a high-potency source.   I found that even when using more modest sources it was best to start on the lowest gain and work upward as the Cs2 simply doesn’t need the additional power. With gain properly set, there is some scaling qualitatively with better source gear but it can easily be hidden or destroyed by over-powering the Cs2.

 

Cable:

The cable will also be familiar to those with experience with budget earphones as it is the same cable that has shipped with budget TRN models for some time now and quite similar to several other budget cable offerings.   The south end starts with a 90º 3.5mm jack in black plastic housing with a good strain relief.  The cable itself is a 4 wire double twist pattern from the jack up to the splitter.  Wire is listed as oxygen free copper but little detail is given beyond that.   The splitter matches the jack housing and is the typical Y shape with no reliefs above or below.  From the split up the strands are 2 wire twists with  pre-formed hooks and hooded 0.78mm bi-pin connectors.   The cable is serviceable but is somewhat tangle prone and the addition of a Velcro tie to keep it coiled would be appreciated.

 

 

Sound:

Bass:

The CS2 has a mild emphasis to the sub-bass with a center at about 80Hz and a gradual drop on either side of that.  Bass depth is quite good with roll-off only becoming evident in the lower 20Hz range.   Mid-bass shares a mild emphasis and gradual decrease as it moves up into the lower mids.  What I find impressive in the lows is the driver speed is really quite good with good transients and a very natural sounding decay.    Bass is mildly elevated but at the same time not thickened and with no discernible bleed into the mids.    The bass push does contribute a little warmth to the mix which also helps with tonal balance.

 

Mids:

Lower mids follow cleanly from the mid-bass with good presence in the mix and don’t sound nearly as recessed as the frequency response graph might suggest.   Male vocals have good weight and guitar has a satisfying growl to it.   Strings have good energy with the push in the mids helping lift strings and piano and giving them very good timbres.   Female vocals do stand in front of their male counterparts by a full step and do have more energy but stop short of sibilance or harshness.   Overall mids are very listenable and lower mids are better described as not emphasized rather than recessed.   The only thing that I have to note in the way of a negative is that detail in the mids is only average and the level of micro-detail delivered is minimal.   This is hardly a knock at its price but it does separate the CS2 from models above its price.   This smoothing of some details may actually be a benefit if the listener has a collection of poor recordings as it is a very forgiving listen.

 

Treble:

Lower treble continues the climb of the upper-mids before plateauing up through about 5kHz and then dropping back considerably above that.   The lower treble energy balances well against the sub-bass emphasis and the drop-back above 5k keeps the CS2 from getting fatiguing during long listens.   Detail in the treble range is good but again not quite what you’ll find in the higher price brackets.   Snare rattle is good with a crisp edge but cymbals fall a bit short on energy to sound entirely realistic.  its a tough balancing act as adding that energy might well make the CS2 a bit more fatiguing to many who are more treble sensitive.  Overall, the tuning is a polite and safe choice.    There is enough air at the top to keep things from sounding closed in and final roll-off is above the limit of my hearing at roughly 14.5kHz.

 

Soundstage / Imaging:

Stage is a bit wider than deep with some sense of height as well.  Seating the orchestra is easy with no major gaps or overlaps even though instrument separation is only about average.   Imaging is solid with movements easily tracked and placed in space but positions are not quite as tightly defined as I’d prefer.   Layering again is better than should be expected for the price but not going to be a giant killer either in that it does suffer from some compression as tracks get faster and more complex.  I don’t think it will be noticeable unless working with tracks with very fast complex bass-lines and then it does become evident.

 

Thoughts / Conclusion:

I have to say with a retail of $9 there is hardly an unkind word that fits.  The CS2 is solidly built, well tuned, and cheaper than breakfast so what’s not to like?    There are some caveats, the biggest of which is the CS2 doesn’t need a lot of power and does its best work on low gain with minimal amplification.   Breaking out the 5 Watt per channel monster amp is ill-advised.   If used with a source and amp that matches the CS2 it has really good tonality and a lively but safe tuning that will please users looking for a fun listen.   I’d be very tempted to recommend these as a good youth model due to the signature and price but with its ability to get too loud to be safe, that would need to be tempered with a recommendation for some volume limiter elsewhere in the chain.    Bottom line the CS2 is way better than it should be for $9 and shows that TRN is headed the right direction with their dynamic drivers.   I am looking forward to a challenger a couple price brackets up based on this same concept taken to the next level.