Wan'er S.G - The Premier of Moderation

Author: Andy.EF

 
Foreword

1. At the point of this article, my Wan'er S.G has undergone over 120 hours of runtime
2. I don't do measurements, I just describe what I hear, from my own POV
3. My preferred sound tuning, Diffused Field Neutral (Etymotic)
4. The entirety of my impressions was done with my own Misodiko MIX 460 tips
5. Ultimately, my reviews are purely subjective and biased to my personal preference in sound

The Build

Tangzu Wan'er S.G is a budget IEM, that's pretty evident with the $19.90 price tag. Meant to be highly affordable to the masses. As such, the construction is pretty much very modest with simple transparent acrylic shells. Offered in two choices of color, Wan'Er S.G comes in either Transparent White Motif or Black Opaque theme - resembling Yin and Yang.
The overall build of the shells felt firm enough. It is very lightweight and smooth edged.
Wan'er S.G IEM shells boasted dual cavity chambers for sonic tuning purposes, this can be observed clearly especially with the fully transparent white version. The single Neodymium N52 PET diaphragm dynamic drivers anchored close to the nozzle port with generous chamber behind it.

Accompanying Wan'er S.G, set of accessories including OFC cable with QDC two pin termination, silicone tips and a very artistic piece of cleaning cloth depicting Wan'er S.G herself.
The selection of stock tips, both narrow and wide bore included. Normally wide bore for Treble focus and the narrow bore for emphasis on lower frequencies. For my own usage, I opted not to use any one of them, preferring my own Misodiko MIX460 hybrid tips.

Wearing Wan'er S.G is a straightforward affair. It is very comfortable and lightweight. The shells rest comfortably on my ear concha. I can use Wan'er S.G for 3-4 hours without experiencing any hint of wear fatigue. My only concern would be the stock cable, the ear hook section in particular - the curved hooks kind of looping a bit wider than my ear inner tips, and without a chin slider on the cable, it can appear as if my ears has become like an Elf pointy piece visually - swapping it to Kinera Leyding Cable solved that.

Equipment Used

• Sony Xperia 1 iV
• Windows 10 with Native USB Drivers
• USB Exclusive Mode with FLAC files
• CEntrance DACport HD
• Cayin RU6
• Ovidius B1
• 7Hz 71
• VE Abigail

Test Audio Playlist

Sound Impressions

 

Before I proceed any further with Sound Impressions, it is best to clarify that 90% of my review for Wan'er S.G will be based on combination of Misodiko MIX460 tips and Kinera Leyding Cable. After some tweaking and swapping, I have discovered that Wan'er S.G improved dramatically with that combo as compared to using stock tips and cable.

Out of the box, Wan'er S.G sounded fairly natural with good sense of organic temperament to the overall sound. I would regard the overall tuning edging closer to neutral territory, with an exception that there's audible elevation of lower frequencies with Bass sounding stronger and denser than true neutral sound curve. It's pretty much the trend nowadays, IEM's tuned with heightened lower frequencies to sate the demands of consumer which has grown fond of thicker and denser lower frequencies. Otherwise, Wan'er S.G would have been quite neutral with the Mids and Treble seemingly uncolored for the most part. To tone down the boosting of lower frequencies, I used the Misodiko MIX460 hybrid tips which has proven quite effective at tidying up Bass responses (more on this later).

Dynamic characteristic of Wan'er S.G can be best described as fairly extended and well balanced. Nothing too extravagant. Dynamic transients largely being clean and smoothly rendered. It has enough energy and pace to the flow of harmonics, as to be expected of sensibly tuned single DD. The vibrancy level being well controlled and mature - in contrast, the likes of HZSOUND Heart Mirror would appear highly energetic and euphonic. Wan'er S.G on the other hand resonate closer to Tangzu' s debutant of Yuan Li (which I really like until today).

Timbral and tonal characteristics of Wan'er S.G being highly organic and musical. End to end from lower frequency to the uppermost region, it is faithfully natural sounding and realistic. The only caveat I would complain would be the strength and depth of timbre imaging which can appear a bit fuzzy (due to preferences for overall smoothness). It is neither warm nor it is bright - just about right. The sort of natural tone and timbre to be heard from the likes of Shure KSE1500, Kinera Idun Golden or Sennheiser HD600 - of course the said devices being highly superior to the actual implementation - but you get the idea, Wan'er S.G hovers close to those sort of sound. It is non-offensive, smooth and flowing. No hint of being digital-ish or metallic - in my book, this is highly favorable to my taste subjectively.

The Midrange of Wan'er S.G is quite impressive actually. The staging and placement being amply forward, properly moderated to appear bold yet never too frontal. It is transparent to the intended nature of the sources - depending on the sort of mixing done on the subjected audio tracks. For example, on Jazz, Pop, Folk and Ballads, Wan'er S.G will appear audibly upfront, taking centerstage with Mids dominance as how it was intended. With Rock/Metal music, which are typically mixed with V curve tuning, the Mids will then appear stepped back appropriately.
Wan'er S.G offer rich and dense Mids, the texture felt wholesome and engaging, organic theme evident with the attack and decays, the pace being moderate and believable. It's absolutely at home for easy listening that impart musical emotions especially for Jazz and Ballads.
Instruments for the most part, sounding smooth and well defined - lacking only some clinical precision and depth as would be heard from higher end IEMs. I like the fact that Wan'er S.G handles stringed instruments and percussions with realistic tone and timbre, electric guitars offering ample bite while keeping the smooth theme still. Perhaps not as strong edged as some of the competitors but this also mean Wan'er S.G offer more musical experience over technical precision.

Vocals wise, Wan'er S.G is highly versatile and adaptable. Does not matter male or female, Jazz or Rock, Wan'er S.G offer good transparency to emit neutral sounding vocals that remained organic - perhaps some small hint of warmth especially for Baritone/Tenor (males) or Contralto type of voices. This in turn helps with imparting good emotions to savor the music with sensible vibe and nuances. Again, I wish the imaging would be slightly crisper here, I felt that the smoothing of Mids in general imparted that tingling sense of fuzziness on lesser quality recordings - but works quite well on the good ones.

Treble of Wan'er S.G is modest, yet sparkly and smooth. Non-offensive tuning that still offer good vibrancy and shimmer. The extension does feel a bit rolled off, with micro details barely audible. The most important part, Wan'er S.G Treble remains natural sounding with no hint of being plasticky or metallic. There's also good air and smooth transients with the flow of Treble timbre, soothing even. Largely attributed to the pairing of Misodiko MIX460 tips and Kinera Leyding Cable.
It is worth to mention as well, despite the decays being somewhat rolled off, it is still admirably clean and crisp - again with polished edge to disperse naturally, clearly evident with highly energetic recordings that contains lots of Hi-Hats and cymbals. What is certain, the range between upper Mids to Treble is free from any Pinna glare element, which means Wan'er S.G will not exhibit any upper frequency sibilance - ultimately offering non fatigue listening even for hours on end.

On the lower frequency, Wan'er S.G exhibited pronounced boosting for Midbass, with ample density on Subbass. After 100 hours of burn in, it is totally free from any element of Bass bleeds (of which up to 40 hours, there may be some occurrences of Midbass messing up with lower Mids, imparting minor element of bloat on some Bass heavy tracks). The good thing is, being a DD, Bass settled in admirably well - now it is very clean and disciplined. The vibrancy seemingly mature and sensible.
Midbass offer good texture and depth, the impact and slam being moderate - which means this may not be dense or heavy enough for Bass lovers, Basshead will still find Wan'er S.G Bass performances being leaner. However, for those preferring more uncolored sound, Wan'er S.G Bass is quite abundance and rich - especially for Midbass presence.
Bass overall texture while seemingly rich, I feel that it still lacks some depth and macro details, it is smooth yes, but then on some music it will appear slightly opaque sounding. This is just me being critical, the truth is, without critical comparison, Wan'er S.G Bass performances are quite good for casual musical indulgences. In fact I normally prefer less Bassy audio equipment. Wan'er S.G offer just about right amount of Bass overall density and body mass.
On Subbass, the decays are quite crisp and smooth - not exactly far reaching like how it is normally heard from Harman tuned IEMs, but Wan'er S.G has ample density to offer satisfying and realistic seismic sensations for the lowest range of Bass frequencies.

Technicalities

Wan'er S.G has wide and open sounding presentation of Headstage, which in turn impart good sense of expansive Soundstage that is spacious and airy. Separation lines being amply clean, not exactly clinical but I would not complain for it being fuzzy as well. Not difficult to track individual layers.
Spatial positioning and projection admirably holographic for a single DD, the imaging crisp enough and smooth. On the aspect of transparency and details handling, Wan'er S.G proved to be a competent unit - again not exactly an analytical set, with the retrieval of Micro details seemingly slightly subdued. Otherwise, it is still very good for casual usage - for enjoying music (not analyzing it). Wan'er S.G, transparency and resolution being quite good too, it renders the source faithfully with natural tone and accuracy - moderately if I must add.
Speed is average for Wan'er S.G. Not exactly as speedy as some of the competitors - with Wan'er S.G preferring the languid smooth attack over prompt precision. At least it is agile enough to avoid being congested or muddy sounding on some of the more complex audio tracks I thrown at it. So that's already a big plus in my book.

Scalability

Just like Yuan Li and Zetian Wu, despite being rated 20 Ohm with 107dB of sensitivity. Wan'er S.G scales really well with power. Yes is does sound already good directly connected to my Sony Xperia 1 iV, the output being rich and highly musical. Subjecting Wan'er S.G to higher powered partners will help to improve some technical aspects like stronger imaging and crisper note weight. Wan'er S.G seems to work really amazing with Cayin RU6, CEntrance DACport HD and Ovidius B1 - with technical element being heightened audibly. Worth to mention that Wan'er S.G remained stable with all the power fed into it without any hint of getting shouty.

Final Words

TANGZU Wan'er S.G is easy to like. The biggest value proposition, Wan'er S.G is a well balanced performer that is sensibly modest and easygoing. Even for certain degree of analytical listening, Wan'er S.G will prove to be competent enough to satisfy technical element of sound - for as long as it is connected to an equally competent partner that offer great technicalities. Not forgetting gearing up Wan'er S.G with good cables and tips. In stock trim I would say Wan'er S.G is more than enough for casual use, pimp it up a bit more and then the versatility will pay dividends with satisfyingly articulate output that remains musically well balanced.

Ultimately, for something that is priced just $19.90, Wan'er S.G offer amazing Bang for the Buck value that is hard to ignore. For the most part, it does not sound like a budget IEM at all. It will appeal greatly for those seeking close to neutral sound with sensible amount of lower frequency boosting. Without a doubt Wan'er S.G falls into something that I would recommend for anything below $20.

Pros: -

• Highly organic natural timbre, very musical
• Smooth and soothing dynamic transients
• Near neutral sound curve
• Good technicalities
• Well balanced throughout the entire frequency range
• Very comfortable ergonomics
• Bang for the buck price to performance ratio
• Great scalability with more power
• Highly efficient to drive

Cons: -

• Slightly soft edged with overall imaging
• Require better tips and cable to sound the best