Truthear Pure review: One of the best value IEMs

The Truthear Pure looks like the successor to the popular Hexa IEMs. The Pure instead has a milled-out corrugated look, which gives it a more industrial aesthetic. If you’re looking to get the Pure, is it just a reskin of an older product or an actual update?

The Truthear Pure has a polycarbonate body and a metal top shell. During my use, the black coating on the metal shell has already started to rub off in the sections with sharp corners. Since it has a corrugated look, that applies to all the ridges. But I actually like the industrial, worn look. It’s like a unique patina pattern that represents how you use the IEMs. Some people might not like this effect. Although if you can avoid shoving them into your pocket as I do, they’ll probably be fine.

My main issue with the Truthear Pure is that the stock 2-pin cable is uncomfortable to use. The ear hooks keep tugging on the earbud. The Left earhook especially doesn’t curve behind my ear, which then tugs the earbud off my ear. I’ve tried twisting the earhook to little relief. The earhook slowly but surely moves back to its original position. With the neck cinch tightened, it happened less often, but again, the left earbud ended up falling within an hour of use. The issue is relatively common, although I haven’t encountered it in a long time. This would have been unlikely to be an issue if it were an MMCX design instead of a 2-pin. Unlike 2-pin, with MMCX, I can twist the earhooks to a better position.

Swapping the stock cable for an aftermarket cable solves my personal issue with the Truthear Pure. Without the cable hook slipping off my ears, I was able to wear the Pure for over 6 hours before it became a little uncomfortable. If you can find a cable that fits your ears, it should not pose a fit issue. The Truthear Pure also comes with a variety of eartips, for most people to be able to get a proper fit.

For powering the drivers on the Truthear Pure, you don’t need an external DAC or AMP to get enough volume from the drivers. The Truthear Pure have 2-pin on the earbuds themselves, and the stock cable is terminated in a 3.5mm TRS cable.

The included cable is a twisted cable with a silver pearlescent sheen, terminated in a 3.5mm TRS connection. The cable is thick and feels like it leans on the more premium side, but it’s too stiff and shiny for my tastes. There’s no in-line microphone or playback controls. Not the biggest issue, but it is something to be aware of. If you’re using a DAC for your phone on both Android and iPhone, it will assume that the external headphones have a mic. This means that when you take a call, you’ll need to unplug both the adapter and the earbuds.

There is no Active Noise Cancelation on the Truthear Pure. Still, the passive isolation blocks around 80% of the ambient noise. It does well, dulling the subway train’s screech as it passes through the tracks. However, it doesn’t block it out enough that it still tends to overpower music. The murmuring of crowds is muffled, and the ambient noise is near silent. While music is playing, speech will be drowned out, and without music, speech is mostly unintelligible.

How do the Truthear Pure sound?

The Truthear Pure is a slightly dark-sounding IEM that doesn’t overpower the vocals enough to muddy the mix.

Multi-Dimensional Audio Quality Scores (MDAQS)

Reviewer’s notes

Editor’s note: this review uses a hover-enabled glossary to describe sound quality based on a consensus vocabulary. You can read about it here.

The frequency response of the Truthear Pure has many sections that follow the SoundGuys preference curve. The bass is increased from 20Hz to 30Hz, which adds to the feeling of pressure from the bass. Except for the peak in the 155Hz region, the mids follow the preference curve closely. This can increase the presence of many male vocals, but can also make female vocals sound darker than they usually do. The entire treble shelf is lower than our preference curve. The upper treble is significantly rolled off, similar to a low-pass filter. This can make metallic sounds sound unnatural, such as cymbals or other stringed instruments. The 2,000Hz to 5,000Hz region makes the treble section lack brilliance, but many people are unlikely to find it painfully sibilant.

The Truthear Pure is a great-sounding IEM that most people would enjoy. I would recommend them for those listening to music with a lot of hard-hitting bass. For gamers, it’s a great overall sound that amps up most action games.

What should you get instead of the Truthear Pure?

For those who don’t like the dark sound of the Pure, you can get the previous iteration at the same price, the Truthear Hexa. It still sounds good, but it isn’t as bass-heavy as the Pure. If you want something a little more similar to the Truthear Pure, there’s the Truthear x Crinacle Zero: Red, which has a similar sound profile but costs less.