TFZ Secret Garden HD Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TFZ Secret Garden HD Review

A Beauty from the Heaven

 

TFZ Secret Garden HD Review About TFZ (The Fragrant Zither):

TFZ (The Fragrant Zither) is a Chinese Company located in Shenzhen – China, which is specialized in the production of portable audio equipments like Earphones & In-Ear Monitors. The company is well known with some popular models like the TFZ Series, King, Exclusive and Tequila. The TFZ Secret Garden HD is the latest member of this family and is the flagship model in the TFZ In-Ear Monitor lineup.

TFZ Official Website: http://www.tfzither.com/

 

Disclaimer:

The TFZ Secret Garden HD was provided to me by the company TFZ via Penon Audio for review purposes. I am not affiliated with TFZ or Penon Audio beyond this review and these words reflect my true and unaltered opinions about the product.

 

Price:

The MSRP price for the TFZ Secret Garden HD is around ,00 USD and can be purchased under the following link.

Purchase Link: https://penonaudio.com/tfz-secret-garden.html

 

Package and Accessories:

The TFZ Secret Garden came in a white box, which is made of a pretty solid cardboard material that contains the following items;

  • 1 pair x TFZ Secret Garden HD In-Ear Monitor
  • 1 pcs x Detachable cable with 0,78mm 2 pin connection
  • 6 pairs x Silicone ear tips with wide-bore
  • 1 pair x Foam ear tips
  • 1 pcs x White Carry Pouch

 

Design & Build Quality:

The TFZ Secret Garden HD is an In-Ear Monitor with a 12mm Double Magnetic Circuit Graphene driver that is packed in a semi-custom acrylic housing, which has a very nice design and good built quality.

The Secret Garden HD is available in four (4) different color options, which are Purple, Blue, Black, and Red. My unit came in red color that looks very eye-catching.

On the front of the monitor housing, which is described as faceplate of the monitor is a small TFZ Logo and the Secret Garden model branding. This faceplate has silver color pattern and shows a glossy surface that looks pretty nice to my eyes.

At the back of the each monitor shell is one vent with a metal ring to serves as pressure balancer that is occurring inside the monitor.

On the inner surface of the monitor shell is a TFZ-IEM description and serial number printed in gold color.  The sound nozzle sports a tick lip and a metal grill/mesh to prevent the driver form dust and earwax.

On the Top of this monitor part is the type 0.78mm female 2pin connection.

 

 

 

 

The Cable:

The cable that comes with the TFZ Secret Garden HD has a nicely twisted 4 core, 5N purity OFC (Oxygen Free Cooper) wire cable, which has a soft rubber like black coating. This coating is very efficient to avoid any possible microphonic effect.

The 2pin male connectors have a transparent hard plastic housing, where you can find the left and right markings that are very hard to read and which is male only complain about this otherwise beautifully made cable.

The cable has built-in ear guides near the connector for a better behind the ear comfort experience.

This cable has a Y splitter, which is made of a soft black colored plastic material that sports on both sides the new TFZ logos.

The 3.5mm unbalanced (TRS) headphone jack has a straight profiled metal housing that sports also the TFZ logo.

 

Fit and Isolation:

The TFZ Secret Garden HD is a very comfortable to wear In-Ear Monitor thanks to the semi-custom shell which is also not too big. This shape makes it very ideal for long listening periods. The isolation is average and pretty ideal for the use in the public.

 

Technical Specs:

  • Driver              : 12mm Double Magnetic Circuit Graphene Driver
  • Impedance     : 30 ohm
  • Sensitivity       : 108 dB mW
  • Freq. Range   : 5 Hz – 40 kHz
  • Lowest power : 8mW
  • Connectors     : 0.78mm 2-pin replaced cable
  • Plug type        : 3.5mm TRS (unbalanced)
  • Cable length   : 4FT (1.2 M)

 

  

Drivability:

The TFZ Queen is a relative efficient In-Ear Monitor with an impedance of 30 Ohms, which makes it pretty suitable for the use with devices like phones, tablets, etc. that have less power than modern DAP’s or small portable amplifiers.

 

Albums & tracks used for this review:

  • Leonard Cohen – You Wnt it Darker (Spotify)
  • Dave Gahan – Kingdom (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight True (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • Casey Abrams – Robot Lover (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Vivaldi – Le QuarttroStagioni “The Four Season” (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Otto Liebert& Luna Negra – The River (DSF) – Binaural Recording
  • Future Heroes – Another World (Tidal Hi-fi)
  • Lorde – Team (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
  • Tom Player – Resonace Theory “Album” (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Massive Attack – Angel (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Portishead – It Could Be Sweet (Spotify)
  • First Aid Kit – My Silver Lining (Spotify)
  • London Grammar – Interlud (Live) (Flac 24bit/44kHz)
  • Laura Pergolizzi – Lost On You “Live at Harvard and Stone” (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Minor Empire – BulbulumAltinKafeste (Spotify)
  • Liquid Tension Experiment 2 – Acid Rain (Spotify)
  • Opeth – Damnation (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Metallica – Sad but True (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
  • Megadeth – Sweating Bullets (Tidal Hi-Fi)
  • Slayer – Angel of Death (Spotify)

 

 

Sources:

  • IEM’s                          : TFZ Secret Garden HD, Brainwavz B400
  • DAP/DAC/AMP’s      : Cayin N5II, Fiio M7, Chord Mojo, xDuoo XD10 Poke, iPaid Air2

 

 

The Sound:

General Sound Signature:

The TFZ Secret Garden is an In-Ear Monitor which shows good depth and speed in the bass department, has a warmish midrange, is pronounced in the upper midrange and sounds airy in treble region.

 

The Bass:

The subbass depth of the Secret Garden is good and adequate, but is not the sort of subbass for that will satisfy bass-heads. The subbass quantity is good enough for the most types of music genres.

The midbass area on the other hand is pretty strong in terms of slam and shows a fast and tight presentation.

The TFZ Secret Garden shows no negative situations such as a bass hump or sharp midbass roll-off, while the extensions of the bass is on a moderate level.

The overall bass speed, control and tightness of the TFZ Secret Garden is pretty good while listening to a wide variety of instruments such as cross drums, trumpets, contrabass (double bass) or synthesizers.

The Midrange:

The midrange of the TFZ Secret Garden is presented in a lively, transparent and warmish (close to warm) tonality. The lower midrange shows a good depth that gives male vocals a nice bodied presentation. There is also no negative situation such as mixing or hollowness in this area.

Female vocals are sounding clean and have good extensions thanks to the pronounced upper midrange presentation. Female vocals in genres such as EDM or Trance can sound sometimes a bit sharp due to the peak around 7 kHz, while there is no such situation with other genres.

When it comes to the instrument presentation, the TFZ Secret Garden HD shows a vivid and seat presentation, with pretty good definition and separation for this price range. The tonality of Guitars is soft and lightly bassy, violas are close to warm (slightly warmish) and pianos are vivid and slightly bright.

The Secret Garden HD’s performance in terms of separation between instruments and vocals is pretty good and instruments are behind the vocals. It sounds pretty airy and spacious thanks to the small gaps between the instruments with very low mixing.

The Upper Midrange:

The TFZ Secret Garden HD shows an emphasis in the upper midrange, which is more pronounced than the treble region. The upper midrange is showing a little bit of sharpness, especially with bad recorded/mastered songs (mostly EDM or Pop songs) due to the peak around the 7 kHz region. But it I can confirm that the upper midrange of the Secret Garden is otherwise fairly controlled with many genres such as acoustic, metal, jazz, blues, etc.

The detail level and extension in the upper midrange of the TFZ Secret Garden HD with instruments such as violins to the flutes, from the female vocals to the pianos is quite successful.

 

The Treble:

The TFZ Secret Garden HD has a slightly recessed and non fatiguing treble presentation, which is not as strong pronounced like the upper midrange.

The hits of instruments such as Hi-Hat’s are coming more from a bit more form the background than normal and the extension is average but shows a fairly good definition.

The hits of the ride and crash cymbals are sharper and more noticeable than those of the hi-hats and there is missing a slightly more force and extension, but sounds otherwise pretty controlled and fatigue free.

Instruments in classical music such as flutes, violins, piccolos are sounding quite realistic except of a little shortage in extension.

The treble range of the TFZ Secret Garden HD shows a slightly above average airiness.

Soundstage:

The TFZ Secret Garden HD has a pretty wide and deep soundstage that shows a quite precise instrument placement. The soundstage is slightly wider than its depth and there is enough space and air between instruments for a good definition.

 

 

Comparison:

TFZ Secret Garden HD versus Brainwavz B400:

The Brainwavz B400 has a warmer tonality, while the TFZ Secret Garden HD shows less warmth and an airier presentation.

Both In-Ear Monitors performing pretty well in terms of subbass depth, while the B400 shows more quantity and better extension in this area.

The TFZ Secret Garden HD is superior to the Brainwavz B400 in terms of bass speed, control and tightness, while the B400 shows better extensions and quantity in the midbass region.

Both the TFZ Secret Garden HD and the Brainwavz B400 sharing a quite emotional and sweet midrange presentation.

The Secret Garden HD sounds more realistic with female vocals due to the more pronounced upper midrange, while the tonality of the Brainwavz B400 is more suitable one for male vocals.

The TFZ Secret Garden HD is superior to the Brainwaz B400 in terms of resolution, separation, definition and airiness of instruments and it sounds also more transparent and spacious.

The Secret Garden HD IEM is more successful in the upper midrange due to the better extension and emphasis, while the Brainwavz B400 shows better control in this frequency region.

The treble presentation of both of this IEM’s is slightly recessed, while the TFZ Secret Garden HD has slightly more quantity and better extension in this regarding, which makes the overall presentation of the Secret Garden more airier and spacious than those of the Brainwavz B400.

The B400 sounds warmer and thicker in the treble region which makes the presentation also more suitable for longer listening periods than those of the Secret Garden.

Both the TFZ Secret Garden and Brainwavz B400 have a good stage width for a precise placement and good separation of instruments. The Brainwavz B400 has the wider stage, while the Secret Garden HD performs slightly better in terms of soundstage depth.

 

 

Conclusion:

TFZ did a good choice by making a nice looking IEM by using a new acrylic shell and beautiful faceplate for the Secret Garden HD series. The detail retrieval and overall sound quality in combination with design and look makes the TFZ Secret Garden HD to a nice option in a price range between 250 – 400 USD.

 

 

Pros and Cons:

  • + Nice V shaped sound signature
  • + Great bass response
  • + Good detail retrieval for this price range
  • + Beautiful housing and faceplate
  • + Very comfortable and lightweight
  • – Peak around 7 kHz
  • – Small amount of driver flex

 

 

 

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