TANGZU WAN'ER SG: The Paragon Premier

Wan'er Shangguan was the only known female prime minister that was ever recorded in China's illustrious imperial history. She was one of the most important personalities during the Tang dynasty. Besides being a prime minister, She was also an imperial consort to Empress Wu Zetian's son. She was also known to be a talented poet, calligrapher and an accomplished scribe-administrator while working as her mother-in-law's secretary. Her life ends in a tragic manner as she was executed during a political coup inside the imperial palace.

Wan'er S.G. is Tangzu's first foray on the ultra-budget segment. First, I need to introduce this audio company and what they are in the audio industry. Tangzu Audio was an audio brand formerly known as Tforce Audio. Their first product was the TForce Yuan Li and it received some praises and accolade from the audio community as it delivered an impressive sound  that it was considered as a price to performance product that delivers a tonality beyond its price value.

Wan'er S.G. is a single transducer IEM and it has a self-developed 10mm single dynamic driver with a PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) diaphragm which offers a more durable, better resistant to wear and tear due to constant vibration with less distortion. The internals were encapsulated in a solid polycarbonate plastic shell with geometrical lines and some design-inspired from Tang dynasty era on its faceplate  with utmost exhibiting in an attention to detail and it uses a QDC-type 2-pin connector.

The fitting is incredibly comfortable as it is quite light that I don't encounter any issues in a long listening usage. It has a satisfying sealing into my lug holes that it block some external noises from the outside surroundings.

With its product packaging, Tangzu Wa'ner is commendable on this one as it has a decent number of included accessories. For an ultra-budget level set, the presentation of the included accessories are well-organised. Even the product box itself is attractive and it has a stylised portrait of the Premier at the front then some basic specification, QR codes and address at the back. Tangzu really knows how to make the unboxing of their product very appealing.

Here are some included accessories:

● a pair of Tangzu Wan'er S.G. IEMs.

● a white-coloured OFC cable with an L-shaped, 3.5mm termination plug.

● 3 sets of white, medium bore ear tips in different standard sizes. (It actually reminds of a Final audio ear tips)

● 3 sets of black, narrow bored ear tips in different standard sizes.

● a cleaning cloth with a print of the Premier.

For amplification and driveability, Wan'er S.G. is an easy to amplified set that a device with decent power output will be able to power it suitably. It will deliver a good amplitude and full range sounding due to its low impedance circuitry on its internals.

As for tonality, Wan'er S.G. takes a more of a U-shaped sound signature with a balanced-warmish profile on its tuning. This kind of tuning is somewhat of a norm on current Chi-Fi tuning.

LOWS/BASS:

My initial impression of the bass quality of wan'er was it is thumpy, intense with ample impact. This is not a quantitative bassheads' preferred low frequency sound per se but it delivers a sufficient bass texture. It seems that it focuses more on the mid bass rather than sub bass.

Sub bass certainly has a presence as I discerningly felt those reverb and grumble coming from the instruments such as synthesisers, electric drum machines and low tuned bass guitars on my favourite tracks on certain genres like classic rock, synth-pops and old school hip-hops.

Mid bass has a good texture that will gives more body in bass drum kick, bass guitars and bass-baritone vocals. Bass kicks definitely have this full and thunderous sound while bass guitar has this sombre and resonant then bass-baritone vocals have this broad and dark sound quality that gives a weight and depth in the overall voice quality. This is not the cleanest bass, I hear a noticeable smearing towards the midrange.

MIDRANGE:

Due to some smearing from the bass region, it does give that warmth sounding but it gives a good amount of note density. Another observation that I heard on its midrange quality was that it has a smooth and decent crisp on it. Both male and female vocals boon to the quantity of the note weight. Baritones especially the lighter ones have substantial pleasant and mild with substantial gravelly tone while countertenors have this glassy and mellow quality especially if someone is doing a falsetto singing then tenors have a chesty, fuller and powerful sound that gives a sustaining range. Female vocals especially contralto and mezzo-soprano singers have  this euphonic, luscious and tender sound while soprano has a rather a bit warmer sound as I expected a more lighter, brighter and energetic sound especially on lyrical and coloratura types. At least Björk sounds good on this but Mariah Carey and Celine Dion sound a tad lethargic.

On how the instruments sound, strings like acoustic/electric guitars had this crisp sound with ample bright sound on them while violins have this brilliant and sparkling sound on them. Brass instruments like trumpets have this vivid, metallic brilliance sound while trombones have the tense, full and brassy on it. Meanwhile, the flutes have this rich and penetrating sound on them while saxophones have an expressive and reedy sound on them. And the last ones are percussions, toms seem to have a hard and menacing sound, snare drums have this cracking and sharp on them, celesta have a lustrous and bright sound, and pianos have this vibrant and warm sound.

HIGHS/TREBLE:

The treble on Wan'er SG takes on a smooth and  safer tuning. It has a enough shimmer due to some possible elevation on the upper mids to presence then a gradual slope towards the brilliance region that gives a lack of air and dampens a bit of its harmonics. The inherent reduction of the upper end is a double-edge sword, it gives a fatigue-free and less sibilance listening experience but at the expense of less detail and resolution capability.

Cymbals have ample glistening and lustrous sound on them and hi-hats have a soughing and shortened buzzing sound.

SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING & OTHER TECHNICALITIES:

Like its contemporaries within its price range, Wan'er SG has a rather average technical performance. On the overall dimensions of its perceived sound/speaker stage. It has an average to above-average on wideness, a decent height and enough depth on it.

Imaging performance is just usual and nothing exceptional as it gives a fairly 2-dimensional stereo panning that I was able to locate vocals and instrument placement. Separation and layering aspect on this set is passable as it has an enough spacing on each element and stacking of each frequency and dynamic layering on the sonic canvas are quite bog-standard that playing a more complex tracks like multi-instrumental movies scores and orchestral tracks exhibits a thronged and jumbled presentation.

Coherency of the driver performs  pretty well, it gives a homogenous and faster transient response given that it has a newer generation of dynamic driver. Resolution-capability wise, it has a more rigid presentation on macro-dynamics and micro-detail retrieval has an ample sharpness to exhibit nuances and fine subtleties of elements on its tracks. Timbre is more natural with  just a hint of warmth and a bit of glint.

PEER COMPARISONS:

CCA CRA

● They are actually analogous in everything from implementation of drivers to build quality but Wan'er SG has better product packaging presentation and a bit better stock cable.

● This will be their contrasting aspects and it is their sound profile. CRA is more of a V-shaped sound profile. It focuses on sub bass, a less textured mid bass and lean and recessed midrange. then a scintillating and tad airy treble but it has sibilance and raspiness on it.

● As for technical performance, they have similar technical performance with the exception of soundstage width on which CRA has a narrower presentation.

TRUTHEAR HOLA

● Both Wan'er and Hola are comparable in many ways. Hola shells are 3d-printed, it has an LCP driver and a thicker cable which is currently the best stock cable in the under US$20 price segment. It also has a IEM faux-leather pouch which is quite a rarity on the said price range.

● As for tonality, both of them have a U-shaped sound signature but Hola has more emphasis on sub bass which gives a more tight and cleaner bass, a less textured midrange and an even more smoother treble.

● Technicalities-wise. They are almost alike with the exception of resolution capability but it has less sharper definition on detail retrieval and a narrower soundstage.

To wrap up my review on Tangzu Wan'er S.G.It seems that Tangzu did a good job on Wan'er SG as it became one of the cherry on the top set in under US$20/£17 which makes this price segment even became a crucial point on the current state of portable audio market.

With a very attractive pricing and a competent tuning that you can only find on a $100/£83 price segment a few years ago. For sure that this is not the most technical set but Wan'er SG  seems to deliver the best possible sound quality that Tangzu can offer, a compensating feature set in affordable form.

TANGZU Wan'er SG is still available on all e-commerce platforms. Grab and try this set out.

SPECIFICATION:

MODEL: TANGZU WAN'ER SG

IMPEDANCE: 28Ω

SENSITIVITY: 107dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:  20Hz – 20KHz

CABLE LENGTH: 1.2M

PIN TYPE: QDC-TYPE 2-PIN CONNECTOR (0.78MM)

PLUG TYPE: 3.5mm

DRIVER UNIT(S): (1) DYNAMIC DRIVER

PROS:

△ Affordable pricing.

△ It offers 2 colourway options to choose from.

△ A warm, U-shaped tonality that will be more versatile on almost known music genres.

△ Sufficiently punchy bass.

△ Decently textured midrange.

△ Good quality stock cable.

△ Smooth treble with just a hint of sparkle on it.

△ Easy to drive set.

CONS:

▽ Scantiness of treble air and subdued harmonics.

▽ Noticeable bass bleed.

▽ Technical performances are rather unremarkable.

Some Tracks Tested: ( * = 16-bit FLAC, ** = 24-bit FLAC, *'* = MQA, '*' = DSD, *'= .WAV)

Alison Krauss -When You Say Nothing At All *

Jade Wiedlin - Blue Kiss**

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks **

Mountain - Mississippi Queen *

Queen - Killer Queen **

Guns N' Roses - Patience *'*

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven '*'

Sergio Mendes- Never Gonna Let You Go '*'

Pearl Jam - Daughter **

Roselia - Hidamari Rhodonite *

Assassin - Fight (To Stop The Tyranny)*

Celtic Frost- Visual Aggression *

New Order - Blue Monday *

The Corrs- What Can I do (unplugged version) *

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child *

The Madness- Buggy Trousers *

Metallica - Motorbreath **

Mariah Carey- Always Be My Baby *

Destiny's Child - Say My Name *

Malice Mizer- Au Revoir *

Mozart - Lacrimosa *

New York Philharmonic Orchestra - Dvorak- Symphony 9 " From the New World." *

Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold (Sting cover)*

Michael Jackson - Give In To Me *

Exciter - Violence and Force *

Diana Krall - Stop This World **

Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat *'*

The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection**

Suzanne Vega – Luka **

Lauren Christy – Steep *

Ottoman Mehter - Hucum Marsi *

P.S.

I am not affiliated to TANGZU nor receive monetary incentives and financial gains as they provide me a review unit for an exchange of factual and sincere feedback from yours truly.

Once again, I would like to send my gratitude to STEVE TONG and also to KENT ALFONSO for providing this review unit. I truly appreciate their generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.