Halo is TSMR’s previous co-flagship along with RGB – their current flagship is RGB2. It is a 12 driver 8BA, 4EST IEM that retails for $2000 USD. I drove this using the Lotoo Paw Gold Touch and tried both the stock SPC cable as well as the Vortex Nadia cable with it.
Halo comes with a nice leather case, a SPC cable and 9 pairs of silicon eartips. The design of the IEM itself is ok, it’s translucent with the font being a clear reference to the Halo video games in my opinion.
Bass:
The Halo’s bass is quite anemic, it doesn’t have quite the depth or slam of a dynamic driver, nor does it have much quantity or subbass extension. It’s just… there but barely there, if you know what I mean.
Mids:
This is the best part of the Halo in my opinion as it has incredible depth, presence and body in the mids. Vocals just bloom on this IEM and remind me of the much more expensive Oriolus Trailli and Aroma Jewel in its character.
Treble:
The treble is quite good, although not very elevated, it has good treble extension and doesn’t sound harsh or fatiguing, it complements the beautiful mids.
Technicalities:
Soundstage and detail are about average from the $2k price point but that’s fine, I think it’s still very good for what it is.
Everything is open, still technical, great details, good vocal emotion, and treble, the treble is sounding fantastic, like how good lower and upper treble should sound like. No gimmicks, no over boosting, its airy and sweet. Just the way it should be. Same with upper mids, smooth and sweet. Bass is a very weak link, technicalities are good in some aspects, but poor or average for other aspects. The width is pretty much on par with most $2000 iems, depth is average, height is average. Imaging is above average but not on the world stage level. Still for the driver tech. and price, this smokes a lot of iems at its price point. Note weight and density are just a tiny bit thin for my preference. Tactility and 3D presentation is missing that the Jewel creates. Air control is not there. However this is for sure at least 70% of Oriolus Trailli for 1/3rd the price in terms of tonality.
Overall for $2k this IEM is somewhat of a specialist – a vocal specialist and a mids specialist. It doesn’t have much bass to speak of, but it has very beautiful Trailli-like mids and decent airy treble presence. Basically – this is not your energetic IEM, but if you love mids and vocals and you want to get a reasonable facsimile of the vaunted $6k Oriolus Trailli (roughly 70% of it at least) for 1/3rd the price, this is your IEM.
Halo comes with a nice leather case, a SPC cable and 9 pairs of silicon eartips. The design of the IEM itself is ok, it’s translucent with the font being a clear reference to the Halo video games in my opinion.
Bass:
The Halo’s bass is quite anemic, it doesn’t have quite the depth or slam of a dynamic driver, nor does it have much quantity or subbass extension. It’s just… there but barely there, if you know what I mean.
Mids:
This is the best part of the Halo in my opinion as it has incredible depth, presence and body in the mids. Vocals just bloom on this IEM and remind me of the much more expensive Oriolus Trailli and Aroma Jewel in its character.
Treble:
The treble is quite good, although not very elevated, it has good treble extension and doesn’t sound harsh or fatiguing, it complements the beautiful mids.
Technicalities:
Soundstage and detail are about average from the $2k price point but that’s fine, I think it’s still very good for what it is.
Everything is open, still technical, great details, good vocal emotion, and treble, the treble is sounding fantastic, like how good lower and upper treble should sound like. No gimmicks, no over boosting, its airy and sweet. Just the way it should be. Same with upper mids, smooth and sweet. Bass is a very weak link, technicalities are good in some aspects, but poor or average for other aspects. The width is pretty much on par with most $2000 iems, depth is average, height is average. Imaging is above average but not on the world stage level. Still for the driver tech. and price, this smokes a lot of iems at its price point. Note weight and density are just a tiny bit thin for my preference. Tactility and 3D presentation is missing that the Jewel creates. Air control is not there. However this is for sure at least 70% of Oriolus Trailli for 1/3rd the price in terms of tonality.
Overall for $2k this IEM is somewhat of a specialist – a vocal specialist and a mids specialist. It doesn’t have much bass to speak of, but it has very beautiful Trailli-like mids and decent airy treble presence. Basically – this is not your energetic IEM, but if you love mids and vocals and you want to get a reasonable facsimile of the vaunted $6k Oriolus Trailli (roughly 70% of it at least) for 1/3rd the price, this is your IEM.
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