MUZEN Trickle Clip-On Earbuds REVIEW (1) – Cut Me Deep
The $74.99 MUZEN Trickle clip-on earbuds were provided by the company for my review – and I thank them for that. You can get them from MUZEN Audio. Or get 20% off with Amazon code AREVIEWS. We do NOT get any kickback from either MUZEN or Amazon.
Loomis and I recently teamed up to review clip-on earphones. We each published a review of some models that had caught our attention. Reason for this: we think this design concept is the future. The big players have not caught on this kind yet, we received product from Tozo and SOUNDPEATS. The Tozo Open EarRing are a bit more detailed and midrange-dominated, the SOUNDPEATS Pearlclip Pro are bassier. Both are good in their own right.
What makes such clip-ons attractive to us is that they are barely felt. They are very light and do not intrude the ear canals. Their (dynamic) loudspeakers are sitting in a ball-shaped enclosure, which, unlike classic earbuds, always sit properly on top of the ear canals. This means enough bass while the listener is not entirely cut off from the outside environment. We had therefore high hopes for the MUZEN Trickle.
I generally do not EQ. If a product needs EQ-ing, it ain’t good for me. Basta! Fiddling with up to 31 EQ bands is simply too tiresome for me. If in doubt, I try to apply a reversible mod that works with all musical sources, instead of EQ-ing each source.
Reversible means, the headphones, earphones, or earbuds remain physically unaltered. No holes drilled or dampening materials removed so that the device can be returned quickly to its original state. For example, vents in an earphone are being covered with M3 surgical tape or a piece of toilet paper is added to a headphone driver.
My attitude to EQ-ing has changed recently with the advent of Hiby’s MSEB (“MageSound 8-Ball”), a proprietary tuning system that allows me to adjust various sonic parameters: you don’t have to worry about frequencies but holistically about “bass extension”, “vocals more up front” etc. This is much easier than the classic parametric EQ.
Why am I writing this? Because the MUZEN Trickle sound godawful OOTC (“out of the case”). Overly aggressive and sharp without any bass. NONE! Sonice icepicks. And they do not come with an app to fine-tune them.
TL;DR: if you don’t like EQ-ing either, you can stop reading this now.
In the box are a case with the earpieces, a USB cable, and a manual. Spartan. But it is getting interesting when putting the little rascals into my ears: they are small and super comfortable, and the tapping operation is smoother and more responsive than with all similar devices I have tested. Response is indicated by subtle clicking sounds which are NOT annoying.
Specifications MUZEN Trickle
| Driver | 16.5 mm dynamic |
| Frequency Response | 20 – 20,000 Hz |
| Impedance | 32 Ω |
| Speaker Power | 16 mW |
| Bluetooth Version | 5.4 |
| Supported Bluetooth Profiles | ???? |
| Supported Bluetooth Codecs | ??? |
| Mutipoint Connection | ??? |
| Battery Capacity | Earbuds: 40 mAh*2; Charging Case: 300 mAh |
| Total Music Play Time | 6 H Playtime | 38H with Charging Case |
| Charge Time | Earbuds: 0.53 h (Supporting Quick Charge) Charging Case: 1.77 h |
| Charging Input | 5 V/0.1 A (Earbuds), 5 V/0.5 A (Charging Case) |
| Charging Port | USB-C |
| Total Standby Time | ??? |
| Noise Reduction | Proprietary algorithm (phone calls only) |
| Auto-Turn Off Function When Disconnected | 3 min |
| Game Mode | Yes |
| Water Resistance | IPX5 |
| Net Weight | Single Earbud: 6.1g Earbuds+Charging Case: 47.34g |
| Other | Automatic Left/Right Channel Adaptation with Charging Case |
| Tested at | $75 USD |
| Purchase Link USA | amazon.com |
| Amazon 20% off Promo Code | AREVIEWS |
So far so good, until you actually play music. First, I did not get a decent volume out of these. My wrong as their internal amping and the player’s amping work independently. If you set the volume of both on high, these will blow your ears right out. Another bonus.
But we still battle shrillness. I use the Trickle with the TempoTec V3 Blaze DAP, which features the Hiby OS…with the MSEB.
By adding bass and thickening the midrange, the Muzen Trickle suddenly sound pretty darn good, with a decent beat and very good three-dimensionality. If you have enough time on your hands, you can use a standard parametric EQ.
But, when forking out $75 for a set of Trickle clip-ons [even minus 20% with AREVIEWS Amazon code], I expect decent sound OOTC, and/or at least a MUZEN app that allows me to finetune the earbuds.
Another issue is the noise cancelling that cannot be switched on and off. When walking around the neighbourhood, the automatic noise cancelling was zero. ZERO! And their “bass enhancement + EQ combination tuning” is completely misleading…as nothing can be adjusted by the user.
Contacting the company I was told that noise is only cancelled during phone calls when ambient noise is balanced against the human voice. MUZEN should generally clarify and supplement their published specifications, as there is a lot of important data missing.
In the end, these Trickle work for me very well, but only with the TempoTec V3 Blaze, as it offers the MSEB tuning algorithm. Whether they will work for you is another question. In any case will MUZEN have to adjust their tuning, develop an app, and release all relevant specifications which potential buyers rely upon.
Until next time…keep on listening!
