Review Verdict: The TINHiFi Tin Buds 3 in this review are a spectacle to look at, whether it’s the case or the buds themselves. The sound they deliver is also nothing short of stellar for the price. All these pros combined with ergonomic comfort manage to offset its lack of a gaming mode or any other features besides the ones mentioned. 

Pros

• Balanced but lively sound
• Interesting case and earbud design
• Comfortable

Cons

• Sparse feature set
• Some glitches with mobile platform

 

With lots of people getting into the audiophile hobby during the pandemic, many international brands have eyed our local, value-driven markets. TINHiFi is an esteemed player in the ChiFi scene, outputting quality products at a price that won’t leave you homeless. They now want a piece of the local audio pie, but do they deserve it? We’d like to give a big thank you to HiFiGo for sending us this unit to review.

Design

The TINHiFi Tin Buds 3 in this review honestly look like nothing else out there.

Starting off with the case, it’s forged in a wheel-like shape using a shiny metallic/aluminum material. It feels extremely robust in the hands with not much text on the case itself, save for some TINHiFi branding, a status light indicator, and a USB Type C port. Underneath you’ll find vital information regarding the buds which includes its battery capacity and Bluetooth version.

Opening the case up is an occasion in and of itself. Instead of merely pulling off the top, a magnetic hinge allows the circular lid to swivel in any direction across the case’s radius. This gliding motion is extremely smooth and garnered some oohs and ahhs the first time we opened it up.

Resting inside are the Tin Buds themselves. The embossed logos stand out quite spectacularly, then next to capture your eye is the captivating emerald green colorway that goes beyond just a plain color. It’s a classy setup that reminds us of wired in-ear monitors (IEMs) that audio hobbyists use on a daily basis. Knowing this information gave us the impression that this pair was built for trained, technical ears.

Once you pull them out, their 3D-printed ergonomic curves are stunning to look at. The resin material feels nothing short of premium in the hand and it becomes quite apparent that extra attention has been paid to the manufacturing process. However, it is hard to deny its heft and bulkiness, which directly translates to comfort (or lack thereof). We’ll get into that later.

User Interface and Fit

There is currently no application for the TINHiFi Tin Buds 3 at the time of writing this review.

When it comes to the touch controls, they are sufficiently responsive. The controls are relatively simple and just a few presses gave us an idea of how these work. Single taps for play/pause, double taps for song skips, and holds for volume adjustments. A satisfying beep lets you know that the press has been registered, although it’s the same sound played regardless of number of taps.

A minor gripe we have is that the buds’ fluid shape sometimes works against it, making the surface more difficult to press correctly. It’s something we’re sure anyone could get used to with time though.

Connection-wise, it’s fitted with the latest-and-greatest Bluetooth 5.2 technology. Latency is kept to a minimum and no glitches occurred when using with PC or laptop setups. However, there was a time when the left bud refused to work with one of our mobile devices. It still refuses to work to this day despite restarts on the smartphone and tests with other TWS buds, so this is one thing to keep in mind. Apart from that one device, it functions normally with all our other phones and tablets.

On the fit side of things, it slots itself in the ears the same way a pair of IEMs would. It feels a bit weird since our ears are used to feeling the wires behind them with this form factor, but the novelty quickly dissipates.

We won’t say that the bulkiness completely disappears once these are set – but the ergonomic shape ultimately helps. It plants itself snugly in the ear canals and doesn’t feel like it’s going to fall out. It might just be that we were lucky this time, and we have a feeling that a small demographic of people won’t be too happy about the way these sit in their ears. There’s also the fact that it goes way beyond the borders of your ear.

It worked well for all our testers though, so we have no complaints.

Audio Quality and Battery Life

With no app or EQ settings to speak of, what you get out of the box is permanent. They don’t have any Active Noise Cancellation features either. This pair was built to sound great being the first ever TWS with a 6mm beryllium-plated dynamic driver, and not much else. Do they achieve this feat?

Yes. Yes, a million times. The TINHiFi Tin Buds 3 in this review proved to us that you can actually get this kind of sound at this price point. TWS buds often fall short compared to their wired counterparts due to digital processing. Despite this, these buds still sound extremely natural. What they’ve achieved here works with a lot of fun genres too, since there’s enough defined bass go to around. It doesn’t get as lively as the Sony LinkBuds S we used before these, but the boom is tighter and is packed more neatly. The sharpness and speed give it clearance and don’t leak into the note after it.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, the sound isn’t perfect: vocals are clearly the priority here. The mids are also pushed way upfront and emphasized; sometimes overshadowing the highs and instruments in the background. The treble is also amped up but isn’t sibilant at all. If something can be considered just average here, then it’s the lows. Listening to our roster of serious reference tracks also exposes a tiny bit of airiness, but most people wouldn’t notice it at all.

Playing music at reasonable levels was enough to mute cicadas and other insects in the background – a testament to superb fit and passive isolation.

Overall, the low-power Qualcomm 3040 chip inside these buds do a splendid job. They’re advertised to support APTS-Adaptive ACC lossless audio transmission which is another big plus.

The battery life of these is rated at 6 hours per use, with 4 charges or 24 hours in the case. Specific numbers are 400 mAh for the case and 40 mAh per earbud.

Multiple warnings on the box and the branding tell the user not to plug this into a fast-charging adapter. We’d rather not test out the possible effects of doing so, but TINHiFi claims charging the case to full with a standard power brick only takes 1 and a half hours.

Wrap Up and Conclusions

The TINHiFi Tin Buds 3 in this review are a niche pair of earbuds for those who want to prioritize sound quality over anything else. However, it does so without completely sacrificing fit, comfort, looks, and other characteristics people may find important. If you don’t mind the lack of an app, advanced features, and ANC, then these buds are for you.

For a first effort, TINHiFi has done a tremendous job worthy of praise.

TINHiFI Tin Buds 3 Review Price Philippines

We’d like to give a big thank you to HiFiGo for sending over this unit for a fair review. You can buy them at this link for a price of $89 USD, roughly exchanging to PHP 4,977 at the time of writing. Check their article out for more information on the buds or their website for audiophile equipment of all sorts.