EarMen TR-Amp Review
EarMen TR-Amp
$249.99
Pros
- Very compact and portable. Decent battery life.
- Powerful Portable Amplifier, Well priced.
- Solid Build Quality, Clean dark backgrounds
Cons
- No optical inputs or balanced outputs
- No wireless inputs
Functionality and Sound Signature Style
Supporting a 3700mA battery, the TR Amp will give you around 9 to 10 hours which should be a suitable duration for daily listening sessions.
I have heard some users mentioned a channel imbalance between left and right channels but this is not something we experienced on our unit and the channels were calibrated correctly.
The audio output is very powerful for such a small device with an output level of 400Mw , able to drive full size Headphones as well as power demanding IEMs.
Sensitive IEM’s have clean output with little to no hiss with the earphones we tried.
For such a compact sized portable item the technical specifications certainly look interesting.
The back of the Amp has solid RCA outputs should you wish to use the TR-Amp to feed another audio component.
Using QED Quinex spiral silver cables the RCA connections are strong and no chance of coming loose, performing as expected with smooth clean output signals.
For such a modestly priced DAC/Amp the supported formats are comprehensive, DSD, DXD, PCM and MQA up to 384Khz.
I’m sure a lot of the Tidal and Qobuz users will be happy to hear about the MQA support.
Switching between different formats is seemless and the TR-Amp doesn’t seem to overheat or struggle even with the more compute demand auto formats.
The overall tone of the sound signature is one of size and power, meaty and rich mids with solid bass impact, especially when paired with the right headphones.
I would say there is meaty aspect to the sound signature style and this certainly aligns well with more modern musical styles, delivering bass warmth for a very immersive portable audio experience.
Background has an earthy blackness, providing a comforting void to keep the listeners focus where it needs to be, directly on the music.
Being a powerful portable device the ‘on the go’ experience is very personal and bold.
A natural slightly coloured mid range gives an element of warmth but retains a natural sound signature, not overly warm but more of a bump of musical focus.
The Texas Instruments TPA6120 component delivers a dynamic aspect to the pace of tone, keeping the unwanted distortion and jitter in-check.
Sound scaling does not degrade as you move to higher volumes, quite impressive for an amp in this relatively affordable price range.
Pairing with all the earphones and headphones we tried worked well and we did not find any poor synergies.
Due to the TR-Amp’s size of signature and rich character, don’t expect the level of micro detail or clarity that you get on the much higher prices DACs but this is to be expected, however you will get good overall detail and articulation especially for a device at this price.
Surprisingly even some of the more demanding headphones (HifiMan Susvara) had enough power to perform relatively optimally.
With both headphone outputs being able to run in parallel, you can share the music with your partner on those long plane journeys to add some further luxury to your journey.
While driving both Headphones and IEMs the battery didn’t seem to be impacted and operated the same as driving just one earphone but your mileage may vary depending on the particular set up you have.
I am impressed with the accessibility of the overall signature and it seems to work well with all manner of musical styles and the range of high res and lossless, audio formats we tried.
Extremely accessible for many musical genres and very versatile, providing drivability and dealing with sensitivity all in one, with a price that is a drop in the ocean in relative audiophile terms – impressive!
Conclusion
As expected the TR-Amp does not disappoint, punching above its price point. Delivering a rich musical portable experience. Solid, robust and straight to the point, the TR-Amp holds true in providing a pleasurable audio mid-fi experience. I can see the earphonia.com team revisiting this DAC/Amp time and time again. I’m sure it will be a welcome permanent inventory addition for most audio fans out there.
