iBasso 3T-154

Effortless!

PROS: very coherent tuning, clean, detailed, natural tonality, full-size headphones-like sound, big 15.4mm diaphragm DD, quality cable and other accessories, budget price.

CONS: strong pair-up source dependency, bigger shell design to accommodate the large driver.

The product was provided to me free of charge for review purposes in exchange for my honest opinion.

Manufacturer/product website: iBasso.

Intro.

As one can see, I’m back-to-back with another budget IEM review which might puzzle some of my readers considering in the last few months I reviewed IEMs that cost 50x more than these new iBasso monitors. It’s a phenomenon of this wild audio hobby, with audiophiles in search of sound perfection, willing to pay a few extra grand just to squeeze out the last 5% in sound improvement, and at the same time getting super excited to discover a budget gem which shines and punches way above its price when paired up with the right source and cable.

Everybody knows the iBasso name is associated with audiophile quality DAPs, yet, they have surprised us in the past with many IEM releases, often flying under the radar due to a lower price. As I continue with my analysis of the latest iBasso products and since I already covered the DC Elite mega-dongle, D16 DAC/amp transportable powerhouse, and PB5 dual NuTube smooth-operator, today I’m looking at their 15.4mm single DD driver IEMs with a powerful magnet (generating 3 Tesla magnetic flux), appropriately named 3T-154. Here is what I found.

Unboxing and Accessories.

iBasso 3T-154 IEMs arrived in a modest compact packaging, considering its lower tier price, but it was still packed with a few surprises. Usually, manufacturers try to cut a few corners when it comes to budget-priced IEMs, but that wasn’t the case here. Aside from the manual and warranty card, you get a nice custom green leather storage case which follows the latest theme of “green” cases of their other releases. I also found a set of replacement nozzles, and not just a nozzle screen like in other iBasso IEMs, but the actual full nozzle.

Furthermore, iBasso included a ton of eartips, a total of 5 sets in different shapes, sizes, and materials to cover every ear’s needs. A foam eartips (S/M) with less absorbing material, white silicone eartips (S/M/L) with a tall cap and a small-bore opening, grey silicone eartips (S/M/L) with a shallower cap and a large bore opening, black soft silicone eartips (S/M/L) with a shallower cap and a medium size bore opening, and blue/black soft silicone eartips (S/M/L) with a taller cap and a large bore opening.

The included stock cable was rather nice, soft microphonics-free all-black PVC jacket, 4 braided conductors each with high-purity silver-plated copper wires, gun-metal finish plug housing with a gold-plated plug, matching round y-split, however no chin-slider (would have loved that), pre-shaped heat-shrink earhooks and angled plastic mold IEM connectors with standard 2pin, 0.78mm plugs. Yes, finally, in this release iBasso switched from mmcx to 2pin, making it compatible with a lot of other aftermarket cables. To top it off, the headphone plug is modular, using 4x 1.2mm internal pins, and it comes with 3.5mm SE and 4.4mm BAL plug tips. There is a small hex screw to keep it together and a screwdriver to secure it, and it does take a minute or so to loosen up the screw, unplug, and replace it. But if you think about it, we usually decide on one or the other and don’t often go back and forth changing between SE and BAL. Thus, I didn’t mind taking extra time to exchange the plug tips and having peace of mind while securing it.

Design.

As I already mentioned in my intro, these new iBasso IEMs are designed around a large size 15.4mm beryllium-coated diaphragm with a strong magnet capable of producing a maximum flux force of up to 3 Tesla units to provide a more powerful output with a lot faster dynamics response and ultra-low distortion. The “spec” of 3 Tesla magnetic force and 15.4mm diaphragm size is captured in model number 3T-154. The IEMs themselves are easy to drive, thanks to their average Sensitivity (116dB) and Impedance (16ohm).

The shells are made of a high-hardness magnesium alloy and come in two finishes, black and silver. Despite a larger shell design to accommodate a bigger driver and have enough room for the acoustic chamber area, the shells are lightweight, even lighter than aluminum alloy, and have a pretty comfortable fit and decent isolation. They do stick out more out of your ears, but that extra part of the shell is on the outside, while the inner part of the shell which sits in your concha cavum area of the ear is small, rounded, and has a smooth and comfortable fit.

The inner part of the shell is where you will see multiple pinhole vents for the DD. One interesting thing to note is while I have found a spare pair of included gold-plated replacement nozzles, I would have never guessed that the whole nozzle with its mesh cover at the tip is removable and replaceable. I tried to unscrew it and found it to require a lot of force, so I just left it alone. But it is nice to know there is an option to replace it. In the previous iBasso IEM releases they had replaceable mesh tips you could unscrew, but I found them to come a bit loose when exchanging eartips. Having a whole replaceable nozzle won’t cause that problem.