Tripowin, a chifi brand which is well versed in manufacturing the cables also entered the IEM market and they have launched the TC01 and got a great response from the consumers. To continue that victory in the budget IEM market they have now collaborated with one of the great audio reviewer BGGAR known as HBB (Hawain Boy) and gave a birth to the MELE! The MELE is supposed to be the better version of the already praised BL03 and in this review let’s see whether this really stacks up to the BL03 and even their competitors.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Driver – 10mm Graphane Dynamic Drivers with Dual Cavity
Impedance – 16 ohm
Rated Power – 10mW
Max Power – 30 mW
Frequency Response Range – 10 Hz- 34 KHz
Sensitivity – 109dB
Connector – 2-pin 0.78mm
Table of Contents
PACKAGE:
Simple and Minimalistic! Came in a black box with the Tripowin, HBB and the MELE names on it. Sliding it, an white glittery box is present underneath it. In the box you get the case which is pretty spacious and nice. The case here is nicely designed which is compact yet very spacious and I would even expect other brands to provide this kind of case.
Inside the case you get the earpieces and the cable along with different sets of eartips. In the box you also get a warranty card. That’s it! That’s the packaging and I really welcome this simple approach since sound is what I would expect to be grand and not the package.
DESIGN AND FIT:
The MELE is made out of Aluminium shell which is matt finished and fingerprints are a no way here. The shell feels extremely lightweight (felt hollow in the hands) here which is kind of surprising since this is not a plastic build. It’s not even the weight of the BL03! This kind of disappointed me since i love some heft to the product since it gives nice premium touch to the shells. The faceplate is made of some peacock material which looks very premium especially the gold colourway. The BGGAR logo is printed on the top of the earpiece near the connector area, it’s a very nice touch but I would have preferred a carved out logo.
The nozzle here is of medium length and it’s kind of bi angled since it has two bends in them. This however helped in the best fit and the tips included are more than enough for getting a nice fit. The connector area is nicely flushed along with the shell and in an oval manner which looked unique and I liked the implementation of it.
The cable is a 4 core twisted cable which is an OCC cable and the cable is of great quality for the price and a definite improvement over the stock BL03 cable. For this price the MELE cable is far better and even though it’s one of the best stock cables you can get at this price point.
SOUND:
The sound signature of the MELE is based on the Bad Guy’s Target and this is similar to that of the OG Blon Bl03. It’s a slight V shaped sound but its not very drastic or ugly instead its a balanced v shape. Here the full focus is on the excellent extension on the low end with sweet sub bass rumble along with the nice and warm mid bass that doesn’t bleed much into the midrange. The treble is smooth and rolls off at a sweet spot thus avoiding the peaks and the unnecessary sibilance. In this review let’s dive into the complete sound review.
Source: iPhone + Avani, Zorloo Ztella MQA, Apple Dongle + Zen Can
Tips: Stock Tips
LOW END:
Sweet… The bass here follows the style of the Bl03 but in an even improved way. Now the bleed is reduced and the sub bass is even more extended to give that nice sense of rumble.
SUB BASS – The sub bass is extended very well and digs very deeper thus the rumble is more than enough even with very bass light tracks. Especially in the tracks like the “WHY DO WE FALL” – Hans Zimmer, the subtle sub bass presence can be heard very clearly. The best part is that even with that heavy bass presence the background minute instruments are heard very clearly without any problem. And in the track like SURVIVA – Anirudh Ravichander, at the start of the track the bass control can be heard clearly and as the track becomes very faster and complex the MELE was able to keep everything under control. At 0.50 the sub bass drop is felt evidently and overall this has an excellent sub bass presence which is tighter, moderately faster and highly resolved.
MID BASS – The mid bass here is full bodied and has enough warmth overall. The mid bass has nice control over the tracks and it nicely compliments the midrange. The bleed here is much reduced but still there is some which of course is necessary for the warmth and the body to the midrange. Now the mid bass is pretty cleaner and faster than BL03. The bass overall gives a nice sense of depth in the presentation.
The MELE is not able to handle the faster tracks well since the bass is slightly slower but overall for normal speeds they are pretty great and wonderful.
The clarity in the mid bass is much improved, even when the kick drums and a lot of bass instruments are in the background the MELE was able to pick them and separate out faster. Especially in the faster tracks like the OPEN ROAD – Hans Zimmer, the track gets busier as it progresses but the MELE was able to bring out the separation and the clarity without messing with the background instruments. The kick drums, trumpets and the piano notes everything is brought out very well.
In another track Saroja Saman Nikolo – Yuvan Shankar Raja, the drums are fast and precise thus having a nice attack and bite to the overall listening experience. The whole presentation is done very well by giving a nice sense of wideness and openness. The claps and the other background instruments are represented wonderfully.
SUB BASS: 10/10
MID BASS: 9/10
MIDRANGE:
The midrange in the MELE is deliciously tuned. Yeah it’s a V shaped sound hence a slight recession is experienced but as a whole the presentation is done very well. The placement of the vocals are done in a sweet spot where they are not that forward or laid back instead the placement gives a nice sense of wideness and depth.
The vocals are not intimate thus making the whole listening experience spacious. The mid bass bump also gives nice warmth and body to both the male and female vocals. There is no shrillness in the vocals nor sibilance is experienced. They sounded pretty smooth and engaging. The energy is present in the midrange thus it’s very engaging and lively.
The instruments in the background are clearly presented even when the vocals take the center stage. Another good point I noted here is that the channel balancing is done exceptionally well where the center imaging is done precisely which many brands at this budget tend to lose.
The piano notes and the acoustic guitar takes a nice timbre and tonality making the whole listening experience pleasing and natural. No artificial timbre or tonality is seen here which I consider to be my utmost priority in choosing the earphone.
Especially in the tracks like PERFECT – Ed Sheeran, his vocals are presented very well with nice tonality and fullness. Even the background instruments sounded very realistic and natural thus providing a nice lively experience. The acoustic string pickups are portrayed very well with a nice bite.
In the tracks like ANNUL MELE – Harris Jeyaraj, the female vocal is depicted nicely with the background table going on. The separation is done really well and the whole track appears full and complete rather than thin and bodiless.
In another track like the Adadaa Ithuyenna – D.Imaan, both the male and the female vocals are presented very well with nice center staging. The layerings of the instruments are done great. Even with a lot of background instruments the whole presentation doesn’t appear claustrophobic or very closed, rather they sounded nice and spacious without overlapping with the other instruments.
In MELE the vocals are well bodied and fuller, the instruments are nicely layered with great instrument separation, detail retrieval and engaging sound output. Another speciality of the MELE is that the tonality and the timbre, they are exceptional for a budget pair of earphones. Great Job BGGAR!
HIGHS:
The highs in the MELE are nice and smooth. They are not the well extended and bright pair, instead they are polite and smooth. The separation and airiness are adequate in quantity with nice resolution. The detail retrieval is not the star show here but as an overall package the highs are nicely tuned with no hint of sibilance or harshness.
The cymbal crashes are very sweet to hear here and all those hi hat instruments sound excellent and crispy. I know that BGGAR focuses more on the accuracy of these instruments to sound natural and he tuned the MELE to attain that perfection. The cymbal hits are precise and faster hence the after effect of those instruments doesn’t cause any kind of harshness.
Even in the complex tracks like the GRAFFITI – CHVRCHES, the background kick drums and the female vocal are nicely separated while the synthesizer runs in the background. The piano notes also clearly separated out from the other instruments making the track very cleaner to listen to. Overall I loved listening to the hi hat instruments via the MELE.
In the tracks like DREAMS – Fleetwood Mac, the cymbal crashes are great and the overall listening experience is pretty satisfying.
In the tracks like “MOVE YOUR BODY” – Sia , this is one of the tracks used to test out the female vocal and the sibilance test point and the MELE neatly passed out without any harshness.
In the track SUFFER – The Smashing Pumpkins, the instruments are neatly laid out and I especially liked the portrayal of the electric and the acoustic guitar strings. They sound very realistic and natural. A very smooth sounding earphone indeed!
The separation, airiness and the resolution are very nice and if I want to nitpick the con then I would have to say a little bit more of brightness and detail retrieval but it’s not a big deal breaker for me considering the already well tuned sound of the MELE.
TECHNICALITIES:
SOUNDSTAGE: The soundstage of the MELE is well rounded and deep enough. I would not say that it’s the widest but at this price point it feels wide enough and the depth is really nice. The presentation is not inside headed or intimate instead they are nicely rounded giving a nice sense of space. The presentation is overall nice and grand enough. Since the sub bass is pretty massive here the depth of the staging is very nice and deep creating that nice 3D presentation.
IMAGING: The imaging is very precise and above average since the mid bass presence is not that elevated which creates that mess in the midrange and makes the imaging fuzzy. Now the imaging is pretty accurate and even in messier tracks the instruments can be spotted.
The 3 point imaging is not present here; rather the transient response is pretty smooth and the channel sweep across the frequency range is pretty smooth and sweet.
Overall the resolution, separation, control are pretty great in the MELE and punches way above the price point but needs some bit more detail retrieval since the highs needs a bit more brightness too. But the sound via the MELE is as per my music taste which is non fatiguing and smooth! The MELE is a cleaner sounding pair for sure when compared to the BL03 and other competitors in this price range.
Tracks Used:
- Hideaway – Jacob Collier
- Crossing – Yosi Horikawa
- Global Gear – Punya Srinivas
PROS AND CONS:
Pros:
- Fine Tuned Balanced V shaped sound signature
- Imaging and Layering
- Sub Bass Boost
- Clean Output
- Design, Build and Fit
- Cable
Cons:
- Slower Bass (Can’t handle faster tracks)
- Detail Retrieval
VERDICT:
MELE, the latest offering from the house of Tripowin is a product that emerged after the collaboration with one of the famous audiophile reviewers “BAD GUY GOOD AUDIO REVIEWS ” shortly called as the Hawain Boy. His main intention was to create a product for the BL03 lovers with added improvements in the sound and in reality he did it! I would happily say that this is a pure upgrade to the BL03. The improvements I wanted over the BL03 are the added sub bass, clear midrange and extended treble and the MELE just did it! The sub bass now digs deeper, the highs are not rolled off like the BL03 and the overall presentation is pretty clean and detailed enough. Even if I need to compare to any of its competitors I would easily pick this over the T2 PLUS, BL03, TC01! The MELE has one of the accurate tonality and timbre in its price range and I would keep these factors as a high priority over any other thing.
Even the build is great with a nice seamless finish in the brushed CNC machined aluminium. The faceplate looks absolutely gorgeous and the included stock cable is a great upgrade over the stock cable of Bl03! And all this for the price of 50 USD! This is the damn deal and definitely this is a PRODIGIOUS product under 50 usd!
This Review is Written By KATHIRAVAN.C
Follow him on – Instagram | Facebook
I’m Kathiravan from Tamilnadu. A budding audiophile here with high love towards music and audio equipment. My first experience of enjoying the hifi audio came when I started to use budget chi-fi gears and now it came all along the way of reviewing the gears with high end stuffs. I love reviewing audio products.
Shubham
Shubham Garg (Editor Shubz.in) is an engineer with a specialization in Mechanical Engineering from AKTU, Uttar Pradesh. Being a mechanical engineer he has always loved to learn the inner working of various machines and consumer electronics. He regularly tests various audio, home appliances, and daily use products, to provide the best advice to readers. He is a wizard that can make your shopping easy, saving you time and stress of figuring out what to buy.
[…] Tripowin X Hbb Mele IEM Review – A Prodigious […]