Tangzu’s back in the budget, and with a new Wan’er too! The Wan’er SE is a set that I did not expect coming, but glad for its existence as the Wan’er S.G. has been my go to recommendation for anyone getting into the hobby and I’d like to recommend something new but just as good. But the question is, is it just as good as the S.G.
Unboxing wise, it’s about the same ordeal. Beautiful aesthetics, somewhat barebones inclusions. You get a good amount of eartips and a piece of cloth with the illustration of the box.
Build wise, you also get the same thing as the S.G. Aesthetically, they’ve upped their game and made arguably the best looking budget IEMs by far. The Wan’er S.G. was one of the best looking IEMs in the budget when it was released and I’m glad that the S.E. keeps that trend up. However, they took a step back with the cable as I personally think it’s worse than the SG’s cable. It’s a similarly cheap construction with memory ear hooks that make it a pain to wear when you just want to plug it and go. You’ll have to fiddle around the hook to get the right shape and make sure it doesn’t move, otherwise it’ll make the ear hooks push the IEMs out of your ears. The shorter nozzle also doesn’t help and forced me to use my largest eartips just to get this thing to sit in my ear properly.
Thankfully, they’ve improved upon the sound quite drastically. The Wan’er SG was one of the best sounding budget IEMs when it was released in 2022 and still is one of the best sounding budget IEMs today with its superb timbre and generally inoffensive tuning. The SE takes that superb timbre and inoffensive tuning and improves upon its technicalities and further refining the sound. They took the bass down a few DB and brought up the upper mids, hence the SE or Studio Edition title to make it more appealing for professional application. However, I found that this is essentially a better sounding 7hz Zero as it doesn’t have that graininess and improves the tonal balance and timbre. This has the potential to replace the OG Wan’er as one of the best and safest IEMs to recommend in the $20 range, but is still an acquired taste if you enjoyed the thicker bass of the OG Wan’er.
Thank you for reading my impressions on the Tangzu Wan’er SE. If you would like to buy one, consider using the non-affiliated link below: https://tangzu.net/products/tangzu-shangguan-waner-studio-edition-single-dynamic-driver-in-ear-hifi-earphones
