Sudio Tre Wireless Earbud Review

For a $99 set of wireless earbuds, the Tre isn't horrible (there certainly are far worse performing products out there), but fails at producing the "balanced" sound that it advertises.
Pros
  • Fashionable design
  • Doesn't "feel" like a cheap product
  • AptX compatibility
Cons
  • Exceptionally average sound quality
  • Overall "meh" impression
Final Rating
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Rating Details
Bottom Line
For a $99 set of wireless earbuds, the Tre isn't horrible (there certainly are far worse performing products out there), but fails at producing the "balanced" sound that it advertises.
Table of Contents

Specs

  • Driver configuration: 15.2mm Dynamic driver
  • Frequency response: 20 Hz ~ 20 kHz
  • Sensitivity: 103 dB/mW
  • Wireless Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.1 (AptX)
  • Range: 15m
  • Battery-life: 9 hours, 10 days standby
  • Weight: 35g

Packaging

The first thing that struck me about the packaging is just how “grown-up” it is, despite Sudio not being a very well-known manufacturer. Seriously, next time you’re out and about, pay attention to the difference in packaging design and functionality between big brands and smaller brands. But here the packaging seems very much akin to that of a big name like Apple. Perhaps the nearly all-white colour has something to do with it.

tre-box

The front features a large image of the Tre, along with the Bluetooth and AptX logos in top-left corner, and finallys the Sudio logo at the bottom edge.

The left and right edges simply have Tre printed, whereas the rear is used to describe a few of the features as well as all items included in the packaging.

tre-open-box

Opening the box requires you to flip the right side up (which is held closed by magnets), which then reveals the Tre being displayed behind a clear plastic window, and some text to advertise the product’s expected battery-life and wireless range.

In order to gain access to the Tre and other accessories, there’s a clear plastic tab on the right-hand side which is stuck to the main packaging. Releasing the adhesive tab allows you to flip up the clear plastic window.

What’s in the box?

  • Sudio Tre
  • Leather storage case
  • 3 x Pair of silicon wing-tips
  • Shirt-clip
  • Short micro-USB cable
  • Owner’s manual
tre-box-contents

Accessories

Whilst Sudio perhaps didn’t include a great big lot of extra bits and bobs, what they did include is nonetheless.
Of course, nobody’s ears are the same, so the extra wingtips (a total of 3 different sizes) are rather essential, as they’re fundamental to the design and functionality of the Tre. The USB cable is perhaps not quite as necessary, as I’m sure we’ve all pretty much lost count of just how many micro-USB cables we’ve got lying around or stuffed in that drawer that we promised ourselves on New Year’s 3 years ago that we’ll get around to sorting out.

tre-case

Finally, we do get a leather case/pouch which is actually quite nice. Due to the shape though, it can make stuffing the Tre in there and closing the flap a little on the cumbersome side. It seems designed for only the Tre and that’s it.

Read: Fiio EX1 2nd Gen In Ear Headphones Review

Design

tre-1

The design of the Tre isn’t anything revolutionary or otherwise vastly different to what you could expect with similar products.
The overall design of the housing looks very reminiscent of the likes of other open-earbud designs such as the various MX500 designs. However, the differentiating feature here are the silicone “wingtips”. The purpose of these is no just to hold the earbud more securely in the ear, but also in an attempt to “direct” the sound more towards the ear-canal. They also somewhat create a seal, although nowhere near as much as proper IEMs.

The Tre comes in for colour variations; Black, Classic Blue, White, and Pink. The white review unit looks oddly akin to an Apple product from a far, and you’d be forgiven for mistaking the one for the other. The white model also features just a slight pop of colour in the form of some painted accented pieces just at the bottom of the earpiece shells where the cable enters. The colour is almost rose-gold, with perhaps just a touch more purple in the hue.

Moving onto the cable – it’s of the flat-variety, which should mean far less tangle issues. Although, with such relatively short cables, tangles are rarely an issue anyways, but it does help to avoid unwanted kinks, etc.

tre-remote

Roughly 2 inches away from the base of each earbud shell is another housing. The one on the right-hand side holds the power button, pause/play/answer button, volume/skip buttons, microphone, as well as the micro-USB charging port. The unit on the left-hand side of the cable looks identical in dimensions to the one on right, but it’s unclear as to what it contains, perhaps the battery or perhaps some other circuitry, or perhaps even both of those. For the one that contains the remote and mic, the buttons are almost flush with the casing, so it can be a bit difficult to press them if you’ve got larger fingers. Moreover, all the buttons are identical, meaning that you’d likely have to look at the remote to see which button you want to press. If perhaps there was some sort of raised nib on the “+” or “-” button that would make it easier to distinguish between them simply by feel.

tre-2


Overall, whist the design might not be anything new to behold, it can be considered as an efficient and purposeful design. The use of the wingtips seem to be a must rather than merely an optional extra, but it does seem to aid in a more comfortable and secure fit compared to similarly designed products that do not make use of these wingtips. The light-weight nature of the Tre certainly also adds to the comfort, as it avoids any feeling of something constantly tugging at the ear.

Read: Fiio F9 In-Ear Headphones Review

Sound

Unfortunately, the sound is where things start to fall apart a bit.
You see, the Tre suffers from the same issue as all IEMs do if you don’t get a proper seal in the ear canal. However, the Tre also ins’t supposed to seal in your ear canal. And yet, when you press each earpiece firmly against the ears there’s an immediate improvement in the sound – more bass presence, and less “shouty” highs. I wouldn’t call it a super-bright set of earbuds to begin with, but the high frequency extension is fairly far from what I’d call smooth or refined.

What this tells me is that, even though the design of the wingtips are supposed to create somewhat of a nozzle to direct the sound more directly towards the ear canal, the actual response of the driver doesn’t seem to have been optimised for what is essentially an open earbud.

Sudio actually goes so far as to advertise that “the Tre’s sound signature is well-balanced with each tone represented clearly for an even listening experience”.
Well, that’s simply not correct. If you were to test the actual frequency response of the driver, then yes, perhaps they would be correct. But, if we take into account how the sound signature changes (due to the shape of the ear, etc) when actually used, then the sound signature really isn’t all that balanced at all.

To be quite frank, purely from an audio fidelity perspective, the Tre simply couldn’t compete even with something like the $5 VE Monk+ earbuds. But then again, the Monks probably have the biggest bang-for-buck value out there.
Overall, in terms of sound, the Tre just performs like an average earbud.

Read: Fiio F5 In-Ear Headphones Review

Value

It would seem then, that the Tre was mainly designed as a fashion accessory. When we take it all in and judge it as a complete design, it seems like something that was crafted by a group of designers, not audio engineers. It looks good, and there are oodles of people who will be drawn to the design, but none of those people will be getting the Tre for it’s audio performance.
So, for a $99 set of wireless earbuds, the Tre isn’t horrible (there certainly are far worse performing products out there), but fails at producing the “balanced” sound that it advertises.
As such, just know that, if you do end up purchasing the Tre, you’re paying for a fashion accessory, not so much a set of earphones. For a set of wireless earbuds, the price is very competitive, but the actual sound quality not so much.