Late last year TFT Acoustics sent us three canal phones and one standard earphone for comparative review, and we’ve finally gotten around to posting our reviews. Overall, we’re impressed.
The 2100 2V1S canalphone is a stand out performer. It has a clear, well balanced sound, great bass that doesn’t overwhelm, and it’s just a pleasure to listen to. There’s also an “extra bass” version that gives you a little more bass at the expense of the mids and highs, though they’re still reasonably well balanced. The little brother 2101 2V1 model is a decent performer for a very decent price. The 1101 earphone model’s a bit crap, but my view is probably biased, i’ve never much liked that style of headphone. Overall the canalphones are very good value.
One problem is the sensitivity – they’re just too loud. Even on minimum volume on my iPod Touch I often wanted to turn the volume down. High sensitivity is common to thin film earphones, but these are ones are extra sensitive. On maximum volume these things would do permanent damage to your ears in no time flat – seconds, or minutes. If you get them, be careful. Hearing loss or tinnitus are serious problems, and neither can be cured – hearing problems are for life.
As the company is new availability is limited, but that should improve in the next few months.
On a lighter note I think they need to make better use of a spell checker – Acoustics has only one C . I suspect a name change will be forthcoming in the near future 😉