Intro

So a while ago a brand by the name of Truthear decided to have a crack at the very competitive audio industry and more importantly the IEM segment or the In Ear Monitor space. Now they started this off with an exciting collaboration with Crinacle and launched the Truthear zero, which for obvious reasons was well received by the audience they soon followed this up with the Truthear Hola, which is a sub-2000 rupee IEM, which again for the kind of tuning and the features it offers did very well. However today I'm really excited and the IEM we'll be talking about is the Truthear Hexa, so let's get right into it.

Unboxing + In The Box

All right so here's the box and like most of the Chi-Fi brands you see Truthear going with this anime-inspired look which personally I'm not a big fan of, so sorry to all you weebs out there but what I'm really interested is in this design right here I think this is quite a cool looking box and if you're like me and interested in collecting product packages I think this is definitely going to be a part of your collection. Now taking a look inside the box what you get is your paperwork along with a nice set of ear tips. So you have three silicone ear tips and you have a set of foam ear tips and you also have this nice leather pouch which will have your earphones.

Build Quality

Okay all right so let's start with the build quality on these. I personally love the triangular design language which they've gone for. Now it kind of looks like the Truthear Zero but it's a little bit more compact and has sharper edges which I personally like. Now the entire body is made out of this plastic material but it still feels quite well put together and honestly in terms of weight also it's pretty nicely distributed so when you have them in your ears not only do they keep a low profile but they're also quite lightweight so that ensures you can listen to them for hours and for me the angular design just worked. An absolute treat they kind of isolated me so well that even without having any music playing, it kind of cut me out with the rest of the room and once you have your music on then it definitely does help elevate that listening experience. Now a little bit of anitpick that I'm going to do over here is the bottom side of the uh the shell over here tends to catch a little bit of grime and dirt, so if you're someone who likes clicking pictures and showing off your IEM online you might have a tough time doing that because you have to really make sure you get a good clean on these before you can you know show them off but given the fact that these are in your ears most of the time you're not really going to see that as much.

First Impressions

Honestly, first impressions on these are really nice. So one of the things that had me the most impressed and excited to review the Hexa were initially when they launched and people were giving out their first impressions, a lot of people refer to them as the mini Blessing 2 or budget-friendly Blessing 2, so that got me quite intrigued and when I tried them out myself, I must say I was really really impressed especially for what these can achieve for a third of the price.

Technical Specification + Performance

Now in terms of drivers, it's rocking a one dynamic driver and three balanced armature drivers. I personally don't like getting into drivers a lot because every brand, every other IEM has their own take on doing things and I like to judge the sound quality of an IEM by its own capabilities rather than the driver configuration. So having said that I think the Truthear Hexa do an impeccable job especially with vocal centric and instrument-based music. It really just feels and comes all together really nicely and has this natural presentation which is unmatched in this price range. Now I want to talk a little about imaging on the Truthear Hexa because I think single-handedly this is the most impressive feature on them. So I tried this out with my favourite test track which is wonderful slippery thing by Guthrie Govan. Now this is a track that has little elements but a lot going on right. So there's a guitar, a couple of guitars on this along with the bass guitar and drums but the way everything is panned out and you know the music how it all comes together is really really good and whatever equipment you listen to kind of puts it to the test. So with the Hexa it was able to impeccably catch the minute nuances and details which actually kept me so intrigued. I've listened to this track hundreds of times but never the way I've heard it on the Hexa, it's just it so brilliant from start to finish. I had a huge smile on my face. All right so now coming to the tough part for any IEM out there - Sound Stage. Now we all know soundstage is a hard part for an IEM to get right because of physical limitations by that I mean the IEMs themselves sit inside your ears quite close to the ear canal. This makes it difficult for your brain to kind of visualise and have music feel like it's coming a little bit more from an arms length. Now with these IEMs, I found that they kind of are a bit of a mix-bag right so on tracks that are well recorded and have good sense of space on them the IEMs scale up pretty well - case in point Chu loo by Local Train is a grand song and regardless of what gear you use it, it typically sounds really nice and the Hexa were no exception. It was quite nicely spaced out, the way the strings and you know the whole separation comes in very very very well and did absolutely brilliant but for most modern songs like something from Miley Cyrus or even Charlie Puth, matter of fact the latest album I was listening to it didn't really blow me away but it still kept me engaged and kept listening for me for music for a long time and that puts it in a mixed bag category. I would say it's still very versatile IEM when it comes to sound staging not the best out there but still one of the better performers in this price segment.

Conclusion

Now over the last few weeks I've always found myself grabbing the Hexa, whether it's to listen to my own music or stumbling across a new test track that I want to put the Hexa to its paces whether it's detailing, tiny nuances, sound stage capabilities, the Hexa does such a good job of ticking all the right boxes that it's really hard to go wrong with it for me it's become my new benchmark for what good performance should sound like at this price point. An absolute no-brainer for me if you're looking for a really good IEM under rupees 10,000. For all of you who enjoy written reviews, you should hop over to the Indian Audiophile Forum where I've gone in depth with a written review for the Truthear Hexa there's a little bit more details and some test tracks that I've dropped in over there in case you're interested in that. While you're at that you can also consider joining and we have tons of fun spaces to hang out over there with like-minded audiophiles. I hope you found this helpful, as always if you want to try the Truthear Hexa, you're most welcome to drop into our experience studio here in Mumbai or catch us at one of our Headphone Connect event happening in a city near you. That's all and I'll see you in the next one.