It was thought that the wave of flat magnetism had subsided, but recently, the audio brand TRN caused a stir when it launched XuanWu ~ a flat magnetic headphone with a super cheap price. Possessing a neat and beautiful design and a hybrid driver system including 1 SPD driver + 1 BA driver, TRN XuanWu promises to bring a new change to the headphone market in the low-cost segment.
Table of Contents
Packaging and accessories
Compared to other cheap headphone models in the same segment such as Moondrop Chu, Blon BL03, or 7Hz Salnotes Zero, TRN XuanWu has a packaging with a more eye-catching and elegant design. The use of two main colors, black and bronze, has partly made Xuan Wu’s cardboard box more flattering.
As usual, on the front of the cover box, there will be the most intuitive image of TRN XuanWu along with detailed information about the driver configuration, brand name, and product name. To have a better overview of the driver system inside the headset, the manufacturer has printed the detailed structure of XuanWu on the back.
Looking at the structure of XuanWu, you can see that the planar magnetic driver inside this headset will have a square flat shape and look quite similar to the planar magnetic driver on Kinera Celest Gumiho.
The series of accessories that come with the pair of TRN XuanWu headphones will include:
- 1 cable
- 1 pair of TRN T-Ear Tips size M
- 3 pairs of balanced ear tips size S/M/L
- 3 pairs of bass ear tips size S/ML
- Detailed instructions for use
- Guarantee card
Design and wearing experience
In ancient Chinese texts, XuanWu is described as an ancient mascot representing the water element in the five elements, whose representative color is black and symbolizes immortality and longevity over time. As a headset modeled after this mascot, TRN XuanWu inherits many of XuanWu’s characteristics such as a durable design with the main color tone being black, unique turtle shell patterns,…
The entire housing part of TRN XuanWu is made from Epoxy plastic and undergoes a modern 3D printing process. After the driver system is neatly arranged inside the housing, the manufacturer will firmly attach the faceplate to the housing with specialized glue. Although it has a pure black color tone, because the Epoxy plastic material is transparent, users can completely see the internal structure of the headset.
The faceplate, made from aluminum alloy, has the outstanding advantage of being resistant to scratches and fingerprints. The highlight of TRN XuanWu comes from the honeycomb perforated design on the faceplate. Surrounding the faceplate is an eye-catching copper-color border.
Similar to the faceplate, TRN XuanWu’s sound pipe is made of metal. The built-in filter mesh inside the sound duct helps prevent dirt and earwax from getting inside the sound cavity.
The cable that comes with TRN XuanWu has good finishing and is sturdy because it is cross-braided from 4 wire cores. The conductor inside the wire core is made of oxygen-free copper and silver-plated, so it provides extremely good signal transmission. The cable uses a 2-pin 0.78mm QDC connector, 24K gold-plated 3.5mm jack, and is integrated with a controller containing an inline microphone and multi-function button.
With a light weight of only 5g and a slim design due to its rounded edges, TRN XuanWu brings a very snug and comfortable wearing feeling. There are 3 types of tips that come with XuanWu, including:
- TRN T-Ear Tips provide the best wearing feeling and produce the most natural sound
- Bass ear tips have the narrowest ducts and help enhance sound in the bass range
- Balanced ear tips have larger ducts and help make the sound more balanced
Driver configuration and sound quality
The driver system integrated inside TRN XuanWu has a hybrid configuration that is a combination of an SPD planar magnetic driver manufactured by Bellsing and a Balanced Armature driver. In terms of parameters, Xuanwu operates at an impedance of 12Ohm, has a sensitivity of 117dB, and a frequency response range of 20Hz – 20kHz.
Among the recently launched low-cost planar magnetic headphone models, TRN XuanWu has a very strange sound quality. The initial feeling as soon as I unboxed the XuanWu was that the sound stage was not as airy and spacious as other flat magnetic headphones. The opening is just wide enough and deep enough. Not every song has the vocal part moving forward, even in some songs, the vocal part lacks detail due to being overwhelmed by the bass range.
Although only using SPD planar magnetic drivers and BA drivers, TRN XuanWu has quite a lot of bass. The bass spreads horizontally, has a pretty good rumble, doesn’t go too deep and the response speed is not too fast. Because the control ability is not good, the bass range can easily encroach on the low-mid section. This invisibly causes the mid-range to lack a bit of detail in the low-mid section. With such bass quality, XuanWu is very suitable for EDM and J-pop music.
In contrast to the low-mid part, the upper-mid part of XuanWu sounds quite bright, and smooth and has good detail. The female vocal part will have more emphasis than the male vocal part. The closer you get to the treble range, the brighter the sound becomes, so it’s easy to cause sibilance. However, rolling off early will cause the sib sounds to appear only briefly.
To make the sound quality of TRN XuanWu more balanced and attractive, replace the stock cable with a cable made entirely of copper. Because using silver-plated cables will increase the brightness of the overall sound quality and easily cause sibilance. Changing to a cable made of pure copper will help reduce brightness in the treble range and emphasize the bass range. Thanks to that, the sound becomes more balanced. Users should also limit combining XuanWu with bright dongle models such as iBasso DC03 Pro and DC04 Pro. Instead, combine XuanWu with neutral dongles like HiBy FC4 or Tanchjim Space.
It can be said that TRN’s launch of XuanWu has breathed new life into the headphone market in the low-cost segment. Choosing the right co-star for TRN XuanWu will help bring out the full potential of this planar magnetic headset.
HiFiGo TRN Xuanwu Hybrid Driver in-Ear Monitors, 10mm Square Planar Driver + 1BA Hybrid IEMs in-Ear Earphones (Black Without Mic): Buy it now