Pros:

Price vs performance

Dongle included in the cable

Turning switches cater to all music tastes

Makes great gifts

Great balanced sound

Cons:

Thin, flimsy cable

TRN- Orca- Apex budget earphone review

I am an audiophile from sunny South Africa and have always wondered about the brand TRN as I have seen them around for years. As one of my goals with my reviews is to get more people interested in portable audio, I like to review offerings and earphones that might serve well as an introduction to the wonderful world of in-ear monitors. With the Orca being the apex predator in the oceans, we will have to see if the TRN Orca is the apex of budget earphone offerings. 

Unboxing:

The $17.99 or 323 ZAR Orca comes packaged in a small box a little bit bigger than a cigarette box with a beautiful ocean scene of an Orca swimming in the ocean and the earphones on the slide over cardboard cover. When you slide it open you are greeted by those cool looking faceplates. When you lift that out you get your cable and tips. You get 3 pairs of balanced ear tips in S, M, L and a pair of size M treble ear tips. No carrying case or drawstring pouch is included and at this price this is no complaint from me carrying cases really are cheap and you can just buy a generic one.

Look & Build:

I absolutely love the Orca theme as it as an amazing animal and TRN nailed the design. It easy with these types of themes to get it wrong and make the killer whale theme faceplate look like a penguin but not in this case. TRN made a budget earphone with a really cool theme. The finish on the shells looks very durable. The shells also aren’t big so if you have small ears and are plagued by not getting a good fit with some of the bigger shells you will love the Orca. As per my previous reviews, I do not like thin, flimsy cables which seems to come out without most earphone offerings. This should not be taken too seriously as it is just my personal opinion on cables and what I prefer which will differ from other people’s preferences. I have also found with these types of cable that they go hard after a few months use. As this is not a kilo-buck in-ear monitor I can’t complain about the cable though as you also get an included chip in the cable illuminating your need for a dongle or Dac/amp. The ear-tips included are the standard balanced silicon ear-tips and are really nothing to write home about. There is a pair of transparent tips also included but I could not use them as they are size medium and I wear large tips. Maybe a suggestion for TRN is to just ad a section on the buying page where you can select the size of the included T-tips. 

Specs:

Product model- TRN Orca

Transducer type- Dynamic Drivers Monitors

Frequency response- 20Hz-20000Hz

Impedance- 40Ω

Sensitivity- 112dB

Connector type- 2Pin-S

Jack type- 3.5mm/Type-C

Weight- 9.4g+12g (earphone+cable)

Cable length- 1.2m±3cm

Inside the Box- 1 x TRN ORCA, User Manual

Connectivity:

My Orca came in a USB-C termination and as the Orca is geared towards mobile phone users it works great from your phone’s Usb-C port. The only thing we need to remember is if you are using an Android phone you will need to bypass the standard Android audio protocol which outputs all audio out to 16bit 44KHz. If you are a Tidal Hi-fi user like me you can download the Hiby music player from Playstore and the Hiby player will bypass the Android protocol and output bit perfect files to the Dac included in the orca cable. If you own an Apple phone, there is no lightning adapter included or option when you buy. I also used the Orca with my laptop and Desktop Pc by using a USB-C to USB adapter. The power in the Dac chip in the Orca cable is more than sufficient to drive the Orca to insanely loud levels without any distortion.

Please note as an English speaker there is no info about the tuning settings in the instruction booklet. I have taken the info from the product page and am adding it here in the review for quick reference.

Sound:

When I evaluate the sound, I always look at what the company designed the earphone for and obviously you have to keep the price into consideration. According to TRN the Orca is geared at mobile phone users. With less and less phones coming out without a 3.5mm audio port the USB-C connection on the cable is understandable. If TRN just added a small Lightning to USB-C converter, then iPhone users could also use it.

Bass:

I listened for bass with most of the switch configurations and for me the Orca bass sounded more prominent with all the switches at off position. As an audiophile I am not very fond of equalizers and I very much prefer a mechanical thing like a tuning switch if I do want to alter the sound than a digital equalizer on my phone. The bass in balanced mode and with the provided balanced tips sound very balanced and keeping up with fast paced EDM music from my Tidal EDM folder. On Hardwell – Sanctuary the mid-bass slam and punch sounds really controlled and there is no over extension of the driver producing muddy bass. This also means that the chip in the Orca cable has more than efficient power to drive the Orca. When listening to rock music with the Orca and with the switches set to the setting for rock I listened to the Def Leppard- Hysteria album and was nodding my head in-between chores to the music. Those drums on the song Women stood out head and shoulders above all other instruments. The bass on Rap and Reggae music was really tight on songs like Shaggy- Go Down Deh but the sub-bass is a bit rolled off for me.

Mids:

When listening for midrange I normally slow things down a bit as far as music genres are considered. The Orca sounds very nice with deeper female voices like Sarah K. Her voice sounds so smooth with a bit of huskyness. The acoustic guitar also did not sound veiled at all on the song I Can’t Stand the Rain. Male voices also not reaching the higher notes like on Kip Moore- She’s Mine makes the Orca really sound good with rock and those types of voices. With the sound being balanced the mids also do not sound drowned out by the bass or treble at all which makes the Orca suitable for most music lovers.

Treble:

On purpose I never include the word “high-hats” in my reviews. It is as if you find that word in every single review that you read and it sounds like nerd-word to me. So, I am going to say that the cymbals that are operated by a foot pedal sounds really great as drums as a whole really sounds nice through the Orca. If you really want to treat yourself then listen to the drum solo called Little ‘B’ by Brian Bennet from The Shadows and hear how good those cymbals that are operated by a foot pedal sound. As a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne the higher notes on the piano sounded just as balanced as Ozzy’s voice on dreamer. Add to that how good the Orca sounds with drums it makes the Orca the perfect set for this type of song. In transparency mode on the tuning switches, I opted for some old school Jazz at the Pawnshop the boosted mids and highs and man it sounded really good for the price. On high frequency mode and listening to Falco- Rock me Amadeus the violin sounded very prominent as the treble rolls off less but it still does not qualify for me as a bright sound.

I am not going to be getting very technical about the soundstage and other technicalities as you can’t expect that from a budget earphone.   

Conclusion:

I am giving the Orca a 4-star rating. In true killer whale fashion TRN dominated price vs performance for me and at this low price with everything you get this is a no brainer and everyone should buy one. The Orca is just so versatile that with the price and day and age we are living in with crime, you can walk around with them and not be worried if they get stolen. I used the orca the most with my Hiby M300 Dap as that Dap is perfect for my pocket when doing chores around the house. Christmas is a few months away and I think if you can get a couple of sets you can give people the gift of music without breaking the bank. The tuning switches makes the Orca a great base for someone getting into the hobby without a lot of money but want to experiment with different sound signatures as you can play with the switches and also with the Orca being so budget friendly you can easily order an upgrade cable like a balanced 4.4mm, some ear-tips like the Penon liqueur range and a hard carrying case for storage.