Who is Tennmak?
Tennmak is a China company that produces good quality audio gears at a really cheap price, otherwise cheekily known as ChiFi. Priced at less than $30, the Tennmak Pro is $10 cheaper than the Carbo Tenore but has two dynamic drivers. So can it measure up to be a quality budget IEM? Let’s find out.
Package
Out of the box, you get the three standard S, M, and L silicon ear tips. They also included a foam ear tips which was a nice inclusion. A notable mention about something that they did well over the Carbo Tenore is the hard cover carrying case.
Build Quality And Comfort
The Tennmak Pro has an over-the-ear configuration which you will find on the B200. The only difference is that the Tennmak Pro has a very stiff ear hook that gives no damn about fitting around your ears. I had difficulty getting a good seal with the Tennmak Pro initially because I kept forcing the hook to fit around my ears, just like how the B200 will gently wrap around it. But I eventually found the trick to wearing it. Once I put in the driver unit into my ears, I just have to rotate it forward until I achieved a proper seal. However, the hook will be pointing out awkwardly. See the “Before” photo below.
Tennmak Pro Modification: Bring out your hair dryer!
So it happens that I came across a review that mentioned a lifehack that can improve the comfort of the ear hook. Basically, the shape of the ear hook can be modified by the heat from a hair dryer. This makes sense since the material of the cable feels malleable. So armed with a hair dryer, I went to work on the cable. A few mins later, I have the result and it felt glorious.
From the two pictures above, you can see the ear hook became softer and could better take on the shape of your ear. Personally, I think the detachable MMCX cable has a downside to it. Since the “L” and “R” marking on the driver unit is barely visible, I rely on the direction of the nozzle to quickly determine the sides. Due to the rotatable nature of the cable, I get confused every time I take the IEMs out of the carrying case and I have to spend some time figuring the correct sides.
Noise Isolation
The Tennmak Pro has really good noise isolation. Most external noises are already filtered out by at around quarter of the max volume. This is partly because of the good seal and that the Tennmak Pro is a really loud IEM (more on that in the technical specs section).
Sound Leakage
Since the Tennmak Pro is a really loud IEM, you do get some sound leakage at around half of the max volume. However, this was tested in a quiet environment. Any ambient background sound would have rendered the sound leakage negligible.
Technical Specs
Cable: 1.2 m Resistance: 16Ω Sensitivity:100±3dB Frequency Response Range: 10-20000Hz
The 1.2m cable length lands at the sweet spot for me. The Tennmak Pro is a low-impedance IEM and with a sensitivity of 100dB/mw, any mobile devices can drive it to “rock concert”-level (110 DPSPL) of loudness. You can verify this with the headphone power calculator.
Sound Quality
The Tennmak Pro has a decently wide soundstage and a sound signature that emphasizes on the bass. I like the punchy and weighted bass that the dual dynamic drivers produce. This is evident in bass-heavy songs like Swish Swish by Katy Perry and Bassline Riddim by Vato Gonzalez. It does have a decent amount of sub bass and it pass the rumble test on “Intro” by Yoshi Horikawa. As much as I like the punchy bass, it does sometimes overwhelm the mids. Although the mids are not recessed, the bass takes centerstage in the Tennmak Pro. Vocals performance is generally good but nothing too outstanding. The treble sparkles and does not sound grainy nor too bright. It handles the electronic violin distortion in Rude by Daniel Jang well. Despite the budget price, I don’t feel like I had a deeply discounted sound experience with the Tennmak Pro. It handles most of the songs genres I throw at it. Bassheads who are on a budget will love the Tennmak Pro.
Conclusion
As for whether I will pick the Carbo Tenore or the Tennmak Pro? It depends. The Tennmak Pro delivers on the bass response for me but the Carbo Tenore has a more well-balanced sound signature and also has a more detailed mids. So to each its own, I guess.
