review: thinksound rain and ts01

Wooden earbuds are in something of a category unto themselves, as the audio they produce sounds a little less digital and a little more natural than what you’d get from standard earbuds made of metal or plastic. That “natural” isn’t going to be to everyone’s liking, but if you’ve ever heard a wooden stereo system and liked what you heard, the same principle applies here. And the latest entry in the small but growing wooden earbud market comes from thinksound, in the form of the $99 rain and the $74 ts01 (formerly “thunder”).

The difference between these two products is immediately apparent: the rain sounds equally desirable in the low, mid and high ranges, while the ts01 sacrifices some of the overall quality in favor of pumping up the bass, and I mean really pumping it up – making the rain the more mainstream-oriented model of the two. In testing the rain up against the top competing (non-wooden) earbuds at its $99 price point, the rain mostly held its own but couldn’t quite crack into that top echelon in the price range due to the fact that it sounded a little dry in comparison. Don’t confuse “dry” with “natural” – I’ve used other wooden earbuds that didn’t sound dry like this. So there’s something of a tradeoff here; you can get better overall sound at this price point elsewhere, but it won’t sound as natural as the rain does.

As to the ts01, it offers an almost startling level of bass, making it a niche product that’s only really recommendable to those listeners who love their bass. That having been said, it plays that role well, with the bass maintaining a surprising level of fidelity considering just how thumping the bass can get when listening to certain genres. Aside from that, the ts01 largely resembles the rain in terms of audio quality, being a little too dry to compete with the top earbuds in its $74 price range, but still sounding more natural than any of them. The rain and ts01 are a novel concept, to say the least.

Learn more about thinksound rain and ts01 at thinksound.com