General / Packaging / Build / Comfort
The Ola II comes in Tanchjim's usual clean, no-frills packaging. Inside you get the earpieces, a high-purity silver-plated copper Litz cable, six pairs of silicone tips (three narrow bore, three wide bore), and a storage pouch. Nothing extravagant, but nothing missing either.
Build quality is where the Ola II punches above its price bracket. The faceplates are aerospace-grade CNC-machined aluminum alloy, and the round-and-square design carried over from the original Ola still looks distinctive on the table. The shell is polycarbonate, roughly 5 grams per side, so weight is a non-issue.
Comfort-wise, I don't feel any discomfort during my listening session that lasted 2-3 hours, and to my ears that translates to a genuinely ergonomic fit. The nozzle has a reasonable bore size and I don't feel any driver flex or pressure buildup issues to report here — vented design does its job.
Gears Used for This Review
Aune S18 Evo DAC
Aune S17 Pro Amp
Burson Conductor Stellar
Tanchjim Space II
FiiO M33 R2R
xDuoo Link3
FiiO K17 R2R
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
Out of the box, the Ola II already sounds fairly composed, but after the 30-40 hours on my burn-in rig, the treble settled slightly and sounded more refined, and the bass became slightly more controlled over the first 20 hours. Overall tonality lands on neutral warmth with a tinge of energy at both ends — Tanchjim didn't go full V-shaped here, but there's enough sparkle and bass presence to keep it funalytical rather than clinical.
The coaxial arrangement between the 10mm DMT5 dynamic driver and the PURE Hi BA is doing real work. Coherence between the two drivers is excellent — no obvious crossover seam, no timbral mismatch that you sometimes get with cheaper hybrids.
Bass
DMT5 dynamic driver delivers punchy, well-textured bass
Sub-bass rumble on Daft Punk has good depth without turning boomy
Mid-bass has decent body but stays controlled — doesn't bleed into the mids at all
On Slipknot's People = Crap!, bass speed keeps up with the double kick reasonably well, though it's not the fastest I've heard at this price
Texture is a step above what I expected from a budget hybrid — you can hear individual bass notes decay rather than smear together
Mids
Vocals are pushed forward slightly — picture the artist as 3-4 steps in front of you
Male vocals have a good chesty weight to them — Zhao Peng's low baritone comes through with proper density, not thin at all
Female vocals on Faye Wong tracks are clear and textured, with just enough sweetness to avoid sounding sterile
Mids sit slightly forward in the mix compared to a strict neutral tuning — vivid rather than laid-back
Instrument separation in the midrange is solid for a single BA handling this region indirectly through the coaxial design
Treble
The treble extends well without turning shouty
Cymbal decay on Hans Zimmer's Why So Serious is detailed, with good retrieval of micro-details in the string layering
Energy at the top is present but Tanchjim kept it just on the right side of politeness — to my ears it avoids being borderline shouty on certain tracks, which is a common trap for hybrids at this price
Air is good, not the most extended I've heard, but for the asking price this is a non-issue
Soundstage / Imaging
Staging leans slightly out of head rather than 2D-ish, which is a nice surprise for a $50-class IEM
Width is more generous than depth
On YungBlud's Zombie Live from Bludfest, the live recording ambience translates reasonably well — you get a sense of space rather than a flat wall of sound
Imaging precision is good enough to track individual elements during Metallica's Lux Aeterna without things collapsing into a blob during the faster passages
Not quite a hall like effect, but there's real dimensionality here
Driveability
FiiO KA17 (dongle): Drives the Ola II with zero effort. Bass control and dynamics are already close to what I'd consider the ceiling for this IEM.
xDuoo Link3: Slight warmth injection compared to the KA17, complements the already-neutral warm signature nicely, especially for vocal-centric listening.
Aune S18 Evo + S17 Pro stack: More resolving top end and a noticeably blacker background — pitch black noise floor here — but honestly this is diminishing returns given the Ola II's 30 ohm impedance and 121dB sensitivity.
FiiO M21 (DAP): Comfortable, full-bodied pairing, good for long listening sessions without fatigue.
Entry level or mid range dongle will do just fine here. The Ola II doesn't scale dramatically with better sources — you get incremental gains in resolution and noise floor, but nothing that changes the fundamental character.
Comparison
vs. original Tanchjim Ola: No contest here — the Ola II's coaxial hybrid setup simply outclasses the single dynamic driver of the original in every category: bass texture, treble extension, and staging. If you already own the original Ola, this is a worthwhile upgrade. If you don't, just skip straight to the II
Final Thoughts
The Ola II is a genuinely well-rounded IEM for its price bracket. Tanchjim clearly put real engineering into the coaxial DD-BA arrangement rather than just slapping two drivers together and calling it a hybrid, and the result is a coherent, vivid, and easy-to-drive set that doesn't ask much of your source gear. It's not going to run circles around IEMs twice its price, but for the asking price it does everything right, and there's very little to complain about beyond some purely nitpicking observations about the stock cable and case.
The Tanchjim Ola II was sent over by Tanchjim for the purpose of this review. Big thanks to the Tanchjim team for the support and opportunity as always.
Head over to their store if you are interested in getting a pair:
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