SeeAudio x Zeos Rinko's Review
General/Build/Comfort/Packaging
Rinko is SeeAudio’s first collaboration with Zeos, who’s the popular youtuber/reviewer. If you have been following Zeos for a little while, you will/should know his library’s preference, in which directly reflects to the tuning of Rinko, if you’re not a fan of his library, perhaps you may skip this review , but if you’re curious to find out how it sounds, read on!
The shell is 3D printed and very light, it has got the matte finishing with Zeos’s wording on the shell. I have no issue with the comfort throughout my listening session with Rinko which lasted roughly 3-4 hours, packaging wise, the box is the usual “waifu” printing, it came with a IEM storage case which is the same as the one found in their Yume II, three pairs of ear tips based on Zeos’s recommendation/selection. The cable is alright to me, thin and slightly prone to tangle, other than that, nothing much to comment on the packaging as it’s fairly standard.
Gears used for this review
Earmen Angel Dac/Amp
Xduoo XP-2Bal
Xduoo XA-10
iFi Gryphon
Macbook Air M2 3.5 Out
Hidizs S9 Pro Copper Edition
iPod Touch 5th Gen
Rinko with stock eartips and stock cable
Foreword
My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far
Sound Impression
Rinko is another fun set that isn’t following the harman curve but tuned to be a fun sounding set emphasising on the bass. In terms of sound profile on stock cable and eartips, they are V shaped sounding to my ears, mids are a little recessed, bass and treble emphasised. Slight planar timbre is audible, tonality wise Rinko is leaning towards slight cool rather than warm. Note weight is somewhat lean with the stock tips.
Bass
Bass is being emphasised here and this is Rinko’s main focus i believe, all about the bass
Rinko’s bass is focusing more on mid bass so the punch is harder than the rumble
Sub bass rumble has adequate rumble and transition nicely into the mid bass
Rinko response very well to various eartips, depending on the eartips of your choice, the bass can be tight and clean to boomy, the stock tips that came with it is rather balanced
Mids
Mids are slightly recessed but the details in this range still present themselves adequately
Female vocal is slightly more forward compared to male vocal, texture is adequate
Male vocal is slightly recessed, some artist’s vocal tend to be recessed while some are forward, one example when i’m listening to Michael Jackson’s track, his voice sounded recessed while Jason Mraz’s voice sounded forward
The gain on the upper mids is evident that it favours female vocal more than male’s, if you are listening to J-Pop with female artist, you might like Rinko
Treble
Treble is lively and energetic, but not offensive at the same time
Detail retrieval is alright, nuances can be heard without much effort
Non sibilant
Good amount of air leading to good perceived sense of space
Soundstage/Imaging
Soundstage is slightly out of your head, average depth and width, slightly lacking in terms of height
Imaging is good, instruments can be pinpointed easily even on complex tracks such as Metallica’s Lux Aeterna, Slipknot’s People = Shit!
Driveability
Rinko is easy to drive, reaching my usual listening volume without any efforts on Apple’s Lightning Dongle
Having said that, it does scale with source and power, source will affect the overall presentation in terms of soundstage and dynamics (based on my own listening experience)
Feeding it with more power (Gain+ on Earmen Angel), more dynamics, mid range somehow comes forward a little, bass has better control (tighter)
Comparison (vs 7Hz’s Legato)
In terms of tuning, both are different and the difference is day and night
Legato has the vintage kind of sound, speaker like sound, if you have any experience with vintage speakers, you’ll understand. Rinko is more modern sounding, irrelevant but something like digital vs analog
Rinko is mid bass focused whereas Legato is more on the sub bass which the rumble is literally felt by your jaws and transitions nicely into the mid bass
Mids on both are slightly recessed but Legato does in better in terms of vocals for both female and male, whereas Rinko tends to favours female vocal more than male vocal
Treble on the Rinko is more energetic compared to Legato, but both aren’t offensive nor sibilant
Soundstage for Legato gives a different perceived feel compared to Rinko, Legato has got the atmospheric kind of staging whereas Rinko just sounds flat despite it does give you the sense of slightly out of your head
With all that being said, it’s not to say that either one is bad but it depends on your preference
Final Thoughts
There have been too many harman target tuned IEMs in the Chi-Fi’s space, of course there are some who enjoy it and some who don't. Rinko is a refreshing addition to the market for those who don’t like harman target tuned IEMs. I don’t consider Rinko as an all rounder due to how it’s tuned, you might get away with it if you’re willing to spend some time cable rolling (That is if you believe in cable, not going to argue more and just leave it here) and tips rolling. Do I recommend Rinko? Yes, if your library mainly consists of modern music and especially jpops, if you’re into classicals and instruments, Rinko is not for you. Period.
*This sample is sent over by HifiGo in exchange for this review. I thank them for the opportunity.
Head over to the following links(Non Affiliated) if you’re interested in getting one yourself:
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