Sound Analysis.

I analyzed and compared Traillii JP and Traillii Ti sound performance paired up with P6 Pro and LPGT sources, using their corresponding stock cables while playing a variety of my test tracks, such as Agnes Obel “The curse”, Sandro Cavazza “So much better” (Avicii remix), C-Bool “Never go away”, Ed Sheeran “Shape of you”, Alan Walker “Darkside”, Galantis “Hunter”, Iggy Azalea “Black widow”, Indila “Boite en argent”, Dua Lipa “Love again”, Counting Crows “Big yellow taxi”, Bob Marley “Jamming”, David Elias “Vision of her”, and Michael Jackson “Dirty Diana”.

Despite having the same driver config, the sound change between JP and Ti tunings is quite noticeable, even in a blind test. The first thing you’ll spot is the difference in the actual presentation of the sound, with JP being more laidback, more relaxed, warmer, while Ti being faster, tighter, with a more tactile punch, and cleaner tonality. The “cleaner” tonality of Ti doesn’t come at the expense of being brighter, but rather being less colored in mids which makes them more revealing. Ti version still has plenty of the analog texture, but the overall tonality is “cooler” now.

After spending a day of listening, and afterwards taking the measurements for confirmation, I hear Ti to have a scaled down bass quantity throughout sub-bass and mid-bass. With a slightly reduced weight of the rumble and a lower impact of the punch, the mids now come through more forward, being more balanced with the bass. Ti bass notes also have a faster attack and a shorter decay with more control which improves the speed of the punch and makes bass sound more layered and articulate. In comparison, JP bass has a more textured rumble and a bit slower attack and longer decay which contributes to fuller body lower mids and more relaxed presentation of the sound.

I can also hear mid-treble peaks being a bit smoother in Ti, shifting the focus more to upper-mids rather than mid-treble sparkle. In JP version, I usually focus on the weight and the texture of the bass and the sparkle of the treble. In Ti my focus shifted to a tighter punch of the bass notes and more forward details of the upper mids/vocals. That made Ti treble a bit smoother, which could also be a part of my listening perception. But when I collected my measurements, I noticed a slight reduction in 8k peak as well. It doesn’t affect the resolution of Ti version but did feel like the edge was taken off JP treble which shifted my “sound” focus to upper mids of Ti.

While I think the technical performance of Ti and JP is not too far off, due to a more revealing nature of Ti tuning, I find its performance to scale up a bit higher when it comes to layering, separation, and resolution. But it is closer when it comes to the soundstage expansion and imaging, though there was one interesting observation. When I was switching cables and paired Ti with the original 1960 4W cable from JP, I noticed a slight reduction in the width, compensated back when I returned to Silver/Gold stock Ti cable. Perhaps, that was one of the reasons behind the decision to use the new cable.

Cable pair up.

I’m aware that some people don’t believe in cables and have very strong opinion about it. It’s not my intent to change those minds. Instead, I’m just sharing what I hear during my testing. What makes sense to me, a metal wire is a material with physical properties of resistivity, conductivity, purity, and unique geometry, all of which put together act as a filter between your source and headphones. Variations of these physical properties can affect the conductivity of analog signal, resulting in a sound change, from a subtle to a more noticeable level. If the talk about cables upsets you, please skip this section. Otherwise, enjoy these short impressions.

I decided that cable pair up test will be relevant here since the new cable is important part of the new design.

Stock Silver/Gold/Copper to PWA 1960 4W (JP stock) – the tonality with 1960 sounds a bit smoother; the sound is slightly more laidback (but not on the level of JP), the sound sig is the same, but the sound itself is slightly more relaxed. Also, the soundstage got a bit narrower, extending more in depth out of my head.

Stock Silver/Gold/Copper to PWA FT – the tonality with FT is somewhere in between of the new Silver/Gold and 1960 4W. The sound is a bit tighter than with 1960 4W, picking up more punch and even extra sparkle, but not exactly on the same level as with Silver/Gold. I don’t have FT Shielding but suspect it should give the sound even blacker background and maybe some improvement in dynamics. Soundstage expansion was the same.

Stock Silver/Gold/Copper to Eletech Ode to Laura – was curious how the pair up with a triple-copper Laura will affect Ti performance. It has an interesting effect of making the sound a bit smoother and laidback in speed, similar to 1960 4W, and at the same time bringing mids a bit more forward like with Silver/Gold stock cable. Soundstage expansion was the same.

Stock Silver/Gold/Copper to EA Centurion – in this pair up I wanted to hear what happens to Ti with a more revealing cable and found another interesting pair up synergy. Centurion (Gold plated silver-gold alloy) does bring up mids even more forward and adds more sparkle and air to the treble. It gives the sound more clarity and improvement in resolution, but it also attenuated the bass, making it sound more neutral. Soundstage expansion was the same.

The only thing I would have loved to try is PWA Orpheus, which I don’t have, but I have a feeling it would push the tonality in the opposite of Centurion direction, adding more natural analog flavor to the tuning of Ti.

Conclusion.

Many audiophiles are waiting for MK2 of Traillii, and there is a lot of pressure to deliver something which could be considered as an improvement. Traillii Ti is a new version of the Bird with a different shell material, different stock cable, and a complementary tuning to the original JP version, more than just a minor sound change. To my ears, (JP) sounds more laidback and smoother, with a bit less-forward vocals and more relaxed and slightly more elevated bass that leans toward DD-like performance. The other (Ti) has a faster, tighter BA-like bass performance with a punchier sound and cleaner and more revealing presentation of the mids. The difference in tuning is obvious, nobody would mistake one for the other in a blind test.

Another interesting point. I can only go by what I have been told that driver config is the same, just the internal wiring, the shell material, and the cable were changed. But there is also a change in the spec, and while switching between these IEMs and doing measurements, I confirmed a small change in sensitivity even when using the same cable. I also confirmed in my measurements a change in bass quantity. In theory, the internal wiring and the shell material of non-DD IEMs shouldn’t introduce that level of sound changes, unless someone tweaked the crossover design. Perhaps, that could explain a difference in impedance and sensitivity between these two versions.

Of course, the big open question is if one should get Ti or not? It is a limited release, and the price went up, though that never stopped others back when Oriolus had to raise the price of the original Traillii JP because they couldn’t keep up with a demand. And as I already said, it is not MK2 upgrade, and it is not just a cosmetic change. One is not better than the other, they are actually different and complementary in tuning. But considering the iconic status of the original Traillii JP, I’m sure there will be a demand for Ti, and I have no doubt some of the original Traillii JP owners will add Traillii Ti to complement their “bird” collection.