Topping ArpegEar Hane IEMs – Feathers Of Musical Wings
Topping ARPeGEAR Hane is a $129 USD pair of IEMs or In-Ear Monitors with an excellent design, and a 10mm Dynamic Driver at the core producing the music of the Hane. Today we will take a deep dive in the world of music rendered by Hane and explore how they sound.
Introduction
Topping is a company typically producing high-quality DACs and AMPs for Desktop, but we are still hoping we will get to review some of their products as so far we only have explored their entry-level DACs and AMPs, which have been ok for the price point, but we’re much better at exploring high-end DACs and AMPs. It is unavoidable that after 800 written reviews rarely something impresses you anymore unless it is truly special. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to Topping for providing us with the sample for this review.
PROs – Detailed and crisp sound with good revealing ability, and excellent instrument separation. Strong price / performance ratio and superb shells. Natural sounding midrange with multiple sound tuning and fine tuning options.
Cons – At this price point nothing really.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3V26Veg
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdQyY61
Build Quality / Aesthetics
While nothing about the Topping Arpegear Hane is inherently limited edition or very special, the shells have a 3D resin printed aspect that resembles the blue feather of an exotic bird, giving them a really special look and design. This is also 3D material printing, not a basic 3D print with resin over, you can see the individual thread of each feather in the shells, although admittedly, you will only see this beauty while not using and wearing the Hane. The technique is similar to the “dian cui” chinese technique which yields a brilliant color that changes its hue as light shines on it at different angles.
The whole body is built from a resin material, it is fully made of it, with no gaps or open edges left. At the heart we have a DLC or Diamond Like Coated Dynamic Driver, and although I am not a fan of this, you have 4 switches at the back of the hane, all of them electronic crossover switches that can give you 16 different signatures for the Hane. The reason I am not such a big fan of the electronic crossover switch is that it increases the THD by a good margin, and Hane has a THD of around 0.05%, at 94 dB SPL, so once you reach around 110 dB, you can expect up to 5% THD and the biggest part is in the bass and the midrange.
I find the switches combo tedious to read and explore, there is no clear outline of what each one of them does, they add treble and bass, by around maximum 5dB of extra between the lowest and the highest setting, a mild, but fairly welcome way to fine tune the sound of an IEM. The way I read the graph is that the first two switches each add a bit of bass, while the last two add treble, but for some reason toggling just the 4th switch, but the 3rd switch will only attenuate the treble, either attenuating just the whole trebel if you engage the 3rd switch, and attenuating just the lower midrange, the 3-7 kHz range if engaging both 3rd and 4th switch. Sadly, because this is electronic attenuation, it adds THD.
If you want to skip the headache, for the most V-Shaped sound, engage 1st 2nd and the 4th switches, Hane’s baseline sound is supposed to be more neutral with less bass, and if you find them too bright engage just the 3rd switch. You can add back the treble by having 3rd and 4th and just engage 1 and 2 for bass.
The cable of the Hane is 1.5m in length, and has a textile braided material covering it, Topping delivers on the promise that Hane is tangle-free, and the cable is detachable and using a 2-Pin connector. The SPL of the hane is 115dB, with an ultra-high impedance for an IEM, of 80 OHM.
Fit / Comfort
I often marvel at the level of technological advancement we live in and yet at the fragility of it all and how easily data can be lost. Recently, Mary’s laptop died and Asus has been quite horrendous at providing any kind of help. We are still trying to get our money back, but the biggest issue has been that she lost a lot of progress on editing our videos, editing our photos, and her own personal projects too. It was both the laptop which died and the SSD, so she lost everything that was not backed up.
Right now, to work, we had to connect my Samsung S23 Ultra to her monitor, a Dell G32223D monitor, with S23U acting as the CPU / GPU / PC in this case. I have a wireless keyboard, the KeyChron Q6 Max and a mouse connected to the USB ports of the monitor, and the smartphone also connected via Bluetooth to an Astell & Kern Activo P1 which is the DAC / AMP for Topping ARPeGEAR Hane, powering them, streaming music via Tidal. There’s so much going in this setup, and yet it works… And yet the data is still lost, so please make backups of your files. While this won’t be the only setup used for the review, I just wanted to highlight how insane the level of connectivity we are reaching.
Back to Topping ARPeGEAR Hane, this is an IEM which is fairly comfortable, with a cable that does not conduct noise much, and in fact feels really comfy and pleasing to use. There is no driver flex or void and Hane feels natural and comfortable inside of my ears. The passive noise isolation is fairly good, around 20 dB, but Hane leaks music loudly, and people around you will hear rather clearly what you’re listening to and might find it annoying as it comes out as a high-pitched sound.
Sound Quality
Pairings – Over the course of the review, I have paired the Topping Arpegear Hane with a collection of sources including Dethonray Listening M1, Astell&Kern Activo P1, Creative Sound Blaster G8, HIFIMAN EF400, SMSL DO200 PRO connected to Singxer SA-1 V2, HIFI Walker H20 PRO, HeartField R1 R2R DAC, and iBasso DX180. Hane is pretty hard to drive for an IEM, and you can easily reach the maximum volume on maximum gain level on an Astell & Kern Active P1 and other sources, those 80 OHMs of impedance are hard to move, but this keeps the Hane free of background noise, having a really low noise floor for IEMs. The THD grows at loud SPL levels, but it is low and not audible at normal listening volumes, below 90 dB.
Overall Signature – Topping has a house sound similar to SMSL, a bit more mellow and mid centric, but Hane is exactly the other thing, aggressive, bright, brilliant and V-Shaped, with a deep sub-bass, rolled off middle bass and midrange, and a bright, sharp and sparkly treble. This creates the idea of detail nicely, and Hane can render some background information really nicely. The sound is flat in the dynamics at low levels, coming alive loud.
Bass – Starting with the bass, Topping and Arpegear put all their cash on the sub-bass, creating a really lush and deep presentation for the Hane, but they roll it off around 100 Hz, with the roll off starting at 90 Hz. You can say that this sound is really unveiled, having no veil over it, but it is somewhat thin as a result, having a bright presentation that has a thin body relying more on raw weight than warmth to create the feeling of presence for each instrument.
Midrange – We have a recessed midrange that sounds exceptionally natural and clean, with a natural tonality, and the whole sound is detailed, has a crisp resonance to it and a good instrument separation. Overall, here Hane excels and despite the midrange being the most recessed part of their sound, it is also the cleanest and most detailed, most refined part as well.
Treble – To create some contrast for the bloomy sub bass, hane has a sharp, edgy and brilliant treble that has a lot of body and presence, but which has the downside of revealing harshness easily, even with mildly bright sources. Overall, the presentation is exceptionally clean and the bright treble aids the feeling of resolution and air, but it is a bit on the really bright side of things, so perfect for a treble head, but can be tiring.
Dynamics / PRaT / Textures – Hane has a crisp, detailed texture presentation that reveals detail and micro details nicely, but which is not fatiguing to hear, nor is it harsh. The secret here is that hane sounds slightly splashy like Sennheiser Ie900 rather than sounding grainy and dry, so despite the bright treble and the revealing textures, it ends up sounding enjoyable and easy in the ADSR. The dynamic range is very good and sound is dynamic, the sound is punchier and more dynamic at louder volumes, and flatter, more linear at lower volumes.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – Despite the high impedance, Hane has quite a bit of variation in the sound with variation in the volume. The lower the volume, the more pronounced the U-Shaped character is, and the deeper and bloomier the bass is and the brighter the treble is. Louder volumes increase the dynamics drastically, bring up and forward the voices and create a much more enjoyable, more even signature. The resolution stays fairly consistent, but THD grows audibly and logarithmically above 95 dB.
Soundstage – We have a wide and holographic soundstage presentation, with Hane having a downright excellent instrument separation for their 129 USD price tag, along with good imaging and a clean distinction between a forward and a background layer.
Value and Conclusion
With a price tag of $129 USD, Topping Arpegear Hane has a great value, it has a solid construction quality, excellent comfort and a beautiful design, plus a lot of extra fine tuning. The company even managed to keep that THD much lower than I would have assumed, as they have a high impedance for the Hane, and I can see no drawback for the Hane at this price point.
At the end of the day, Hane is fairly fun to listen to and enjoy, it has a bloomy, full bass and a sharp and sparkly treble. I cannot see myself using the sliders to either increase the bass or the treble, and decreasing it does not work for me, but I can enjoy them as they come and still have a lot of fun, so it is a fully recommended IEM as an overall package.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3V26Veg
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DdQyY61
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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