Review - Tripowin Cencibel

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Also available on YouTube in Spanish: Acho Reviews YouTube

The Tripowin Cencibel were sent to me by Linsoul for me to try them out and publish this review. Linsoul have not requested anything specific and I will try to remain as unbiased as possible in this review, although it is good to remember that these IEMs were sent to me free of charge.

You can find the Cencibel on the Linsoul website here: https://www.linsoul.com/products/tripowin-cencibel

(as always, this is a non-affiliate link)

Intro…

I am going to start out by being honest and straight to the point.

Not long ago I reviewed the Tripowin Rhombus which were sent to me at the same time as the Cencibel that I am reviewing today. In case you didn’t read that review, basically I didn’t enjoy them. After finishing the Rhombus review, I moved on to the Cencibel, which I hadn’t yet listened to.

Upon first listen, I immediately discovered some parts of the tuning that resembled the Rhombus, which I have to say was not the best way to start off. As I said in my Rhombus review, I would much rather review items that I like. The reason is that I spend at least 4 or 5 days using each set almost exclusively and I would much rather spend that time listening to a set that I enjoy rather than something I don’t.

I am saying this because I really didn’t feel like spending another week listening to something I didn’t enjoy, so I moved on to something else and didn’t come back to the Cencibel until this week. So at least I was starting with a reset attitude, rather than coming at it in a negative way. I think that is fair both to the brand and to my ears.

Presentation…

The external presentation of the Cencibel is similar to that of the Rhombus, although a little smaller. A simple black box in a sleeve with nothing but the Tripowin logo on the cover and the only mention of the model being on the sticker of the bar code.

However, upon opening the box, we find a large case that is the size of the box. The storage/transport case is of the semirigid style, big enough to store the IEMs and plenty of accessories (although there aren’t many included) with the Tripowin name also on the cover. I have no idea why the Cencibel gets a nice case for 50€ where the 80€ Rhombus only gets a drawstring bag but I am not complaining.

Inside the case we find the exact same contents that were included in the case of the Rhombus. That is: the IEMs, the cable, 6 sets of silicone tips (of two different types) and the user manual.

I didn’t complain about the contents of the previous Tripowin model so I certainly can’t complain here as we get a nice case thrown in for 30€ less.

Build and aesthetics…

In this case, the Cencibel are constructed of resin with a more simplistic shape. The faceplates sport a kind of marble effect in silver and grey over the black background of the sheels, with Tripowin written on the left IEM also in silver.

The shells are relatively small an of a generic shape that should work well for most people, myself included. They don’t cause any discomfort over longer sessions and are generally pretty comfortable.

The included cable is exactly the same as the one included with the Rhombus, as are the tips, which is a simple black cable with black metal hardware that is nothing fancy but does the job.

In general the aesthetics are fine, as is the build and comfort of these IEMs.

Sound…

So, I said that these IEMs had some aspects that reminded me of the Rhombus, so here is the graph comparing the two models against my usual preference curve.

You can clearly see that, while not identical, there are a lot of similarities. Unfortunately the changes are not necessarily for the best.

Starting with the lower notes, the subbass is also very reminiscent of the subbass on the Rhombus, quite a way above my usual target. Once again, I get a similar feeling with this as I did in my previous Tripowin review, the subbass is there and is a decent performer, when the subbass is not accompanied by other frequencies in the higher mids range.

Again, with “Chameleon”, in parts of the track where the subbass is dominant, the Cencibel does a decent job of providing rumble while still keeping it relatively clean. However, once the track gets busier in other areas, the subbass seems to fade away.

The sensation is that it suffers in exactly the same way that the previous set I reviewed did, and in this case, the higher mids (which I will get to) are even more dominant. One positive thing is that this is a single dynamic driver set, which avoids the sound being taken hostage by the BA on the Rhombus.

The midbass is again a similar affair. It is a long way from providing what I would say is a “nice low end” on things like acoustic guitars. The guitars still have a bit of a hollow sensation and are missing body in their presentation.

In the mids, we find that scoop again, which is even more pronounced on this set although the differences are minimal. It is dipped enough to make the mids suffer. This again makes female vocals, such as Alison Kraus in “Down To The River To Pray”, sound fragile and lacking smoothness to her lower notes.

As we get into the upper mids, we have a peak at around 2.5kHz which is around 3dB more than on the Rhombus, and then another peak just below 5kHz, which is just as exaggerated.

We need to remember that I am quite sensitive to the 5kHz region, it is where the peaks most annoy me and the Cencibel manages to boost the frequency (by a lot) almost dead on the mark. This is obviously something that is going to irritate me much more than someone who does not suffer from the same allergy to this mark, so take that into consideration.

By this I mean that I am (almost) always going to find tunings that have a big peak in this range to be uncomfortable. There are some sets that have quite a bit of presence in the 5kHz region but are surrounded by more presence in the adjacent regions, which seems to smooth the sound over a little for me. I’m afraid that the Cencibel doesn’t do that, it is just a big peak right in the uncomfort zone.

Now, I do understand that this will not affect other people in the same way, as I have said many times before, listening to music is such a subjective experience that there are as many “tastes” as there are “flavours”. However, just take into consideration that the difference between the 700Hz mark and the 5kHz mark (or even the 2.5kHz mark) is around 16dB. That is a rather big difference.

Up in the higher ranges, we have even more of the same story, with extension that isn’t bad but is not too smooth, creating what I feel is a false sensation of detail and air. I would say that the details on the Cencibel are not as good as they are on the Rhombus (speaking strictly of detail retrieval and not how the details sound), but they are acceptable.

Sound stage is around average, with image placement about the same. You can appreciate binaural recording such as “La Luna” but it is not an easy task to isolate and follow the sounds of a Yosi Horikawa recording such as “Bubbles”.

Finally, isolation is also similar to the Rhombus. Its not the best but is is on the higher side of average.

Conclusion…

I guess I won’t be reviewing any more Tripowin models in the near future 😉

Seriously though, I really expected a lot more from these two Tripowin models. The Leá was something that was not spectacular but was enjoyable (at lower volumes) yet the Cencibel and the Rhombus just seem to hit almost every frequency that I find irritating.

I will say the same thing about these as I did in my closing words of the Rhombus, I am sure there are people out there that will enjoy this sound signature, unfortunately I am not one of them.

All I can say is that I am extremely grateful to Linsoul for not getting upset when I post my negative opinions on something they sent me, at least they haven’t done so far…