Tipsy M3's Review - Balanced across every range
General Info/Comfort/Build/Packaging
Tipsy is a brand founded by recording engineer Masan Lee with the aim of re-creating studio quality sound, with the philosophy of “See The Sound”. Does it deliver? We’re here to find out in today’s review. I have the M3 with me today and it sports a triple driver configuration, 1DD+2BA, having had and reviewed the M1 previously which in my opinion is a superb bang for buck that delivers great sonic performance at an entry level price point, naturally, i have the same expectation for M3 as well.
The M3 is fully made out of resin, which looks visually stunning and solid to hold, with a QDC connector, very light and comfortable throughout my listening session, no sharp edges that will cause any discomfort.
Packing wise, it is stunning and looks very premium, M3 comes with both silicone and memory foam based eartips, and a single ended cable, as well as a hard case to store both the IEM and the cable itself.
Gears used for this review
Nipo A100
xDuoo Link 3
Foobar2k Offline DSD Files/Flac, Tidal Streaming
Tipsy M3 Stock Cable and HE Galaxy Eartips (due to stock eartips unable to sit well and seal well)
Sound Impression
Out of the box, I would say the M3 is not as refined in terms of bass, and treble. After putting the unit in my burn in rig, for approximately 50-60 hours, the bass has improved, tight and better control, treble is slightly more refined and doesn’t sound edgy.
Tuning wise it is mild v shaped and it will not get offensive.
The timbre sounds quite natural to me across all the frequency range with relatively good note weight, the BA’s timbre is there but barely noticeable unless you pay really hard attention to it.
Bass
The sub bass definitely has enough rumble to it when it’s called for, i wouldn’t say it is anywhere near basshead territory but it certainly has good rumble, for tracks like Billie Eilish’s bad guy, a joy to listen to
Mid bass has good slam to it and it doesn’t bleed into the mids, and it punches hard
Very good speed for the price, capable to reproducing the drumming of Metallica’s Lux Aeterna’s high speed drumming without sounding muddy
Bass texture and control is good overall for the asking price
Mids
The mids are clean overall and they’re neither recessed or forward, somewhere in between
Vocal positioning is not too forward, but not overly in your face nor intimate, but i have experienced a slightly more forward vocal when i was cable rolling as well as tip rolling, this again is based on my listening experience, if you do not believe in cable, just skip it
Male vocal especially Zhao Peng who sings at low baritone has a very good texture to it, doesn’t sound thin at all
Female vocal sounds very pleasant as well, listening to Faye Wang’s song, i would say the voice is rather sweet and well textured, and also thanks to the slight boost of the upper mids, it is also very lively
The upper mids as i mentioned earlier, good energy and lively, but never once shouty
Treble
The treble is with enough energy without being overly offensive nor coming across as dark sounding
Detail retrieval is good and soft instruments playing on the background can be picked up easily
Timbre performance is good and the instruments in this range has very good note weight as well
The treble is safe in general and not offensive even when you crank the volume up
Soundstage/Imaging
Soundstage is not overly huge nor 2D-ish, it is slightly wide with good width and depth, this is again depending on the eartips used, with the stock bore eartips, the perceived stage size is slightly narrower, switching to Eletech’s Baroque or the HE Galaxy edition’s eartip, the perceived stage size is slightly bigger with wider and taller stage, as well as depth, this is evident especially listening to live recorded songs (Zombie, Live from Bludfest by YungBlud)
Imaging is good, instruments can be pin pointed easily and complex track doesn’t sound mushy
I have also tested it with gaming as well as watching some movies, surprisingly it works quite well
Driveability
M3 is not hard to drive, but it does scale with amplification, higher power output dongle does offers a better control in terms of bass, tighter and doesn’t sound as loose, better dynamics overall as well
With Nipo A100, the staging is wider and bigger than usual due to the nature of the tuning
I personally find that low gain is more than enough, when using high gain, the sound becomes too forward (this is based on my listening experience as well as gears), so i am using it with low gain
Comparison (7Hz Divine)
In terms of tuning, they are slightly different, Divine is more on the slightly V shaped sounding that is quite bassy with deep rumble and slight energetic treble kind of sound signature while M3 is more balanced in terms of tuning
Driver configuration is different as well, with the Divine being a single planar, while M3 being a hybrid 1DD+2BA
Build quality is more or less similar with the Divine being a full metal IEM with mirror finishing, it is a fingerprint magnet though
Divine sounds a little fuller due to its slight warm nature, whereas M3 has slightly thinner note weight when compared with Divine, timber performance for both are equally good with the exception of Divine having a little planar timbre
Mid bass on the M3 is slightly more punchy compared to Divine, which is more focused on deep sub bass rumble
The M3 offers a more versatile and balanced tuning
Final Thoughts
M3 is a solid product overall, it does everything right and for me, the M3 can be sort of like an all rounder. This is not to say that M3 is without any cons, the mid itself can be improved in terms of resolution and note weight, but other than that, it is all good, a solid product in the segment nonetheless.
Recommended? Yes! Definitely!
*a big thanks to Tipsy for sending this over for the purpose of this review
Head over to their store if you are interested in getting a pair:
At the time of writing, the M3 is going for 180$ instead of the usual 219$, don’t miss out!
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