Tripowin Piccolo: Aria-esque

This unit was bought with my own money.

My past experience with Tripowin IEMs would lead me to expect that this one wouldn’t be very good. I found the tc-01 to fit my ears extremely well, but it was also tuned like donkey dung. The lea wouldn’t fit in my ear and at best sounded like it was tuned alright with no semblance of detail. I have no experience with Tripowin’s collab IEMs, so I cannot speak on those. So, when it came to the Piccolo, I had little expectations for it and honestly just got it with my Z300 because I was curious to how it sounded. 

Tldr; Close enough to the aria that I could recommend it at 35usd if that’s something you want to try, but the usual recommendations at this price point outclass it.

Packaging, Build, and Fit

The Tripowin Piccolo is an 11mm single DD IEM that comes with an extremely decent 4-strand cable and a fairly typical selection of translucent silicon tips in three sizes: Small, Medium, and Large. Regarding the cable, it terminates in QDC to 3.5mm jack and isn’t very tightly twisted. It is not very behaved, yet easy enough to deal with. Regardless, it looks more impressive than it is when physically using it. 

The Piccolo uses an all metal shell that is a bit thick but not very tall or wide. The nozzle is 5.9mm wide at the tip and is 5.3mm after the lip. I measured it to be ~4.8mm long as well. I found fit to be adequate and most people shouldn’t have issues with the shape of the shell. The Piccolo uses QDC connectors, but the connectors themselves are fairly low profile, so 2-pin cables shouldn’t protrude so much if you prefer to use them like I do. 

Sound Impressions

This YT playlist is representative of the genres or types of music I listen to when coming up with a review (they are not the specific tracks I use for testing). Any listening was done with L size Moondrop Spring tips.

My first thoughts when listening tot his were that it sounded uncannily similar to the Moondrop Aria. People like to meme about the Aria-fication of IEMs, especially in the budget space, but to my ears, things like the Wan’er and Hola did noticeably different from the Aria. They were really obvious things like: mids were more forward, vocals sounded shoutier, bass wasn’t as quick, and other things like that. In contrast, I found mids and vocals on the Piccolo to sound eerily similar to what I hear on the Aria. Regardless, this means I found them to be good enough. That, along with decent instrument detail makes an overall pleasing listening experience.

The bass is decent. The amount is alright for me, though I often prefer less. The impact of the bass is nice and weighty, but it isn’t very fast or clean. It’s a bit obvious on songs that prominently feature bass like Figure 8 by Paramore. Additionally, decay on drums and other percussions can be noticeably slow. In the end, bass can be nice but a bit sloppy.  I found songs without vocal content didn’t give this notion of slowness on low notes. Pigstep by Lena Raine sounded pretty clean, all things considered.

Too keep it simple, treble extension isn’t terrible, but also nothing noteworthy. The same could be said about imaging. The intro to Steppin Out ~extended version~ by JUNNA should have sections where there’s a low rumbling that moves around you. This is not so apparent on the Piccolo.

Vs. Moondrop Aria

I alluded to this comparison a lot throughout the review, and truth be told it’s the only reason I found this pair interesting at all. As I mentioned previously, mids and vocal content sounded very similar between the two sets. The main areas of contention come in bass and technicalities. The Aria and Piccolo have similar bass quantity, yet I prefer the speed of the Aria. The impact and slam of the piccolo were better, but not so much better that it would be enough to compensate for the relatively slow bass. Additionally, the Aria is more detailed with better imaging. All-in-all the Aria sounds better, it’s just difficult to recommend because of the terrible cable, incidents of paint coming off, and filter malfunctions (Though, I can only say that I’ve experienced the paint issue, and, even then, it’s easy for me to attribute that to general wear and tear over 2 years of use).

Vs. Moondrop Lan

Another Moondrop comparison? It just so happens that my favourite set in this price bracket is also a Moondrop product. The Lan is sort of what I wanted the Aria SE to be (instead it was just a worse sounding Aria with less bass). An Aria with better mid clarity while toning down the bass quantity. It does all this and more. Cleaner bass with much improved impact and weight as well as brighter upper-mids, specifically with female vocals. Compared to the Piccolo, I find the Lan to just be better. I has better detail and tuning while having decent imaging. Furthermore, I prefer the accessories and fit on the Lan. Realistically, unless you need the increase in bass quality, the Lan is just better. Yet, even then other options like the Cadenza, C2, or Z300 exist at this price point and could be considered better.

Vs. Truthear Hola

The Hola is likely the golden standard for a budget option at this point. Inoffensive tuning alongside a decent fit and very good accessories. Regarding tuning, I prefer the mid-forwardness of the Piccolo. Though the Hola doesn’t lag behind in this aspect. While I think the Hola has too much bass for my tastes, I found it to have a better quality bass vs the Piccolo. Regarding build and fit, I believe the Piccolo to win in this category. The metal shell and smaller fit work out better for me. In the end, I think the Piccolo could be considered better as expected when considering it’s priced 15usd more.

Conclusion

The Tripowin Piccolo is a decent option that I believe to the outclassed by the other heavy hitters at this price bracket. However, its tonal similarity to the Moondrop Aria gives it an interesting value proposition, especially for people considering the Aria. With this IEM you can get something very close to Aria for half the price. Final Verdict: Good Enough