Senfer 4in1

| Balanced Armature | 8.6 mm Driver |

? The Senfer 4in1 has an nice original design, not the standard reused bullet design, and some interesting technical specifications: detachable MMCX cable and an hybrid configuration with a balanced armature + an 8mm dynamic driver. The balanced armature is responsible of mid and high frequencies while the 8mm dynamic driver takes care of bass and sub-bass frequencies.

Senfer is a brand of earphones that are difficult to find, they have and have had some models on the market and usually they offer pretty interesting technical specifications, design and price. Lately there is a trend with hybrid earphones and Chinese manufacturers are already responding with a variety of products to cover this trend desire at much more accessible prices than big classic brands; one excellent example is the Xiaomi Mi Quantie Pro Hybrid (that name, though).

Although having a retail price above other hybrid contenders, they are still much cheaper than any major brand. They also offer a much better construction quality than other Chinese hybrids that are priced cheaper, like the: Xiaomi Mi Quantie Pro Hybrid, Xiaomi Mi Pro HD, URBANFUN HiFi, Vots QT100.

The Senfer 4in1 are made of ceramic… they are heavier than many other earphones but feel very solid

The Senfer 4in1 are made of ceramic with a silicone layer over the logo, they are heavier than many other earphones but feel very solid when you grab them. They have a detachable MMCX cable that can be bought as part of the package or not. Senfer offers the Senfer 4in1 in goldish/silver with golden details or black with golden details. Each earpiece can be identified by a small ring near the MMCX connector, the ring is coloured red to identify the right earpiece and blue for the left one. The MMCX cable provided (if bought with the cable) usually is either black, blue or silver. There is a terrible hidden drawback… nozzles are entirely made of a low quality plastic, why Senfer!? It makes no sense, we know.

Below you can see a photo of the Senfer 4in1 vs Xiaomi Hybrid vs KZ ZST.

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Senfer 4in1 - Review

Tests & Scores

Weight

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Accessories & Packaging

We got no packaging box with our Senfer 4in1. Senfer resellers tend to sell them like this but there is an official packaging and some retailers might ship them with the original retail box. We did get some nice accessories: 4 extra eartips, a pair of silicone guides to give more body to the cables when using them around the ears and a carrying case.

^10_/10

Bass & Sub Bass

Out of the box the Senfer 4in1 seems to have a low overall bass presence, with little mid bass and distant sub-bass; sounding more like some of the microdriver iems we have tested (for example, see the Remax RM-565i). Swapping around all 4 different eartips bass presence remains very similar. So, right out of the box they can be a “bassophobic’s” dream. If this is your bass preference you should leave it like this.

Instead if you want a warmer sound and better bass presence you can swap the eartips and put the largest eartips bundled with the KZ ATE; bass will change drastically. With KZ ATE’s large eartips fitted on the Senfer 4in1 sub-bass becomes beautifully deep and clean, mid-bass presence improves too though still has a conservative mid-bass presence overall. Mid-bass does not leak onto mid or vocal frequencies.

put the largest eartips bundled with the KZ ATE; bass will change drastically

Equalizing makes mid-bass grow into punchy bass and sub-bass gets incredibly deep.

Adding a custom basshead equalization and amplifying them with a Fiio E12 amplifier (set on high gain and bass boost on), the Senfer 4in1 can take 52% of Fiio’s maximum power. Bass impact and rumble becomes great, above the JVC HA-FX1X, KZ ZS2, KZ ZST, Elecom EHP-CA3580, Doboly Q18, KZ ZST, KZ ZS2, Xiaomi Mi Quantie Pro Hybrid and below the Plextone X41M, Sony MDR-XB50AP or Sony MDR-7550/800ST.

^9_/10

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Mids & Vocals

Mids are present and not recessed in general but vocals can sound thin and lack some warmth for some. The very high mids can get harsh when peaks are reached, alternatively the rest of mids and vocals frequencies do not exhibit any hint of harshness. Cutting down frequencies from late 3kHz to 5.5kHz makes harshness disappear. To warm up vocals and low mids, replace eartips with the KZ ATE large eartips and eq up frequencies between 220Hz and 440Hz and the Senfer 4in1 will get much warmer and still not muddy nor boxy.

^8.5_/10

Highs & Treble

Many earphones struggle to reproduce high frequencies with details getting lost and needing an eq to poorly recover them. The Senfer 4in1 are definitely not the case, highs performance is where the Senfer 4in1 show off, highs are bright, defined and very detailed.

highs performance is where the Senfer 4in1 show off

A risk of having forward highs is that they may fall into sibilance and become piercing and here the Senfer 4in1 follow that rule, they are sibilant and highs are piercing when highs reach high and medium peaks. Eq can be used to try to cut them down but still they continue to be piercing and sibilant. The great detail and definition of the Senfer 4in1 might make you oversee the sibilant and piercing highs issue but if you are a treble sensitive person the Senfer 4in1 might not be the best choice for you.

^9_/10

Sound Leak

On this subject they fall short, the sound leaking from them is heard even on noisy environments. Sound levels are louder than many of the iems that we tested and reviewed.

^5_/10

Sound Isolation

Reducing noises is another not so great asset of the Senfer, ambient noise will get reduced but they are far from the great levels of the KZ ZS3.

^6_/10

Comfort

Although being heavy they fit comfortably in the ears, you can use them in a sport way with the cable up and around the ears or the standard way.  They do not generate soreness of any type.

^8.5_/10

Response to Equalization

The Senfer 4in1 have an incredible response to bass equalization making sub-bass deliver great depth. Mids equalization response is very good, mids can be warmed up if desired without introducing boxy sounding and harshness can be completely eliminated by cutting down the very high mids. There is no need to emphasize highs with the Senfer 4in1 but you might want to try to reduce sibiliance and piercing highs, in this case they high frequencies do not respond very well to equalization, sibilant and piercing highs will not go away.

^10_/10

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Scores

• Accessories - 10/10
  10/10
• Design - 10/10
  10/10
• Bass - 9/10
  9/10
• Mids - 8.5/10
  8.5/10
• Highs - 9/10
  9/10
• Sound Isolation - 5/10
  5/10
• Sound Leak - 6/10
  6/10
• Comfort - 8.5/10
  8.5/10
• Response to EQ - 9.5/10
  9.5/10
• Value for Money - 10/10
  10/10

Summary

AWARDS

Pros

• Detail and definition of highs is top-notch
• Bass versatility, can be a bassophobic’s dream or a hard hitting basshead contender
• Responds greatly to equalization, in general

Cons

• Very frequent sibilance
• Piercing high peaks can be a no-no for treble sensitive people

Notes

The Senfer 4in1 are greatly constructed, offer amazing high frequency detail and can either deliver a conservative bass or become a true basshead contender. They can be easily recommended to audiophiles or bassheads.
Due to the construction quality, extra detailed highs, great bass and overall performance the Senfer 4in1 are part of the Editor's Picks Earphones Chart. Moreover, their exceptional basshead rumble and impact while under our extreme bass test positions them in the Best Basshead Earphones Chart

8.6/10

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Senfer 4in1 Frequency Response

Senfer 4in1

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Photos

Senfer 4in1

8.6

SCORE

8.6/10

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