Tripowin Leá Review – Sisyphus Revisited

Pros — Organic sound, good technicalities; great build.

Cons — Lean notes, lacks kick, shouty and unbalanced; springy cable.

Executive Summary

Introduction

Tripowin is one of Linsoul’s in-house companies. It was established in 2019 – and we rarely had the pleasure to test their products. Linsoul, of course, is a major Shenzen audiogear retailer.

The Léa is a single dynamic-driver earphone aiming to the super-budget crowd whose goal it is to find a cheap iem that punches well “above its weight”. I personally have yet to find such a model, let’s see whether the Léa can convince us.

Specifications

Physical Things and Usability

In the box are the two earpieces, one set of eartips (S/M/L/), a pair of clip-on earhooks, and a cable. The shells ae built very well, the silicone eartips work for my ears, the cable is springy, rubbery, and tangles easily, but it does the job. Everything works out of the box.

Comfort and fit are good for my ears, isolation is average. The Leá are easy to drive with a phone.

Tonality and Technicalities

Leá’s signature is warm-neutral, organic, but notes are lean. It is unbalanced to my ears with lack of bass dynamics and too much of an edge in the mids.

Bass is exceptionally tight and clean right down to the lowest frequencies, although it does not reach very deep into the sub-bass. Slam is lacking. The low end lacks bite and is too polite.

This politeness is turned into the opposite in the midrange. Vocals are lean, and pointy, though overall still reasonably organic. They are attenuated by an over-energized upper midrange and lack weight, though note definition is ok. Call it shouty, there is too much harshness and some body lacking in the mids for my gusto.

The midrange is simply a too edgy and lean. When turning the volume up to reach satisfaction in terms of vocals body, all I get is bleeding eardrums. It is like the torture of Sisyphus as the desired result is never achieved. At low to moderate volumes, the midrange is fine, though.

Treble rolls off way to early. Cymbals are frequently buried and lack substance. They are clean but lack weight.

Stage is relatively narrow and has decent depth and height. Imaging, instrument placement, and separation are surprisingly good. So are clarity and resolution. But bass kick is lacking, painted over and taken hostage by the strident, over-energized mids, which knocks the whole experience out of balance.

In comparison, the $20 Astrotec Vesna sound fuller, wider, and smoother — just way more cohesive. Notes are also much better rounded in the Vesna.

Concluding Remarks

The Leá turn out to be too aggressive in the midrange and too dull at the bottom end for my ears. Some smoothness in the midrange is urgently needed. Technicalities are surprisingly good. They are average iems for listening at low to intermediate volumes in their price category. Build and haptic of the earpieces are excellent, though.

In summary, Leá offers nothing new, sonically. Another one for the lowest drawer in my desk.

Until next time…keep on listening!