INTRODUCTION

   Whenever i have to go someplace without my car whether that's on foot or by using public transportation i always carry a set of earphones with me since listening to music both relaxes me and tends to make time pass by faster. Through the years I’ve tried using a few compact headphone sets but no matter how small in the end they just can't compete with a good set of earphones, at least not in terms of comfort. Unfortunately compared to even just a decade ago earphones have changed quite a bit and so nowadays people need to go through an endless number of models from a large number of manufacturers and with various features (regular earphones, earphones designed for running and sports, rugged earphones, surround earphones, etc.) in order to find the right one for them (at least the really demanding consumers do). Today we will be looking at one of the latest earphone sets to hit the market the rain2 by our friends over at Thinksound.

   Thinksound™ was founded by Aaron Fournier and Mike Tunney, who met while working for Tivoli Audio. At Tivoli Audio, Aaron was an audio engineer, and Mike was the creative director. The duo then collaborated on the launch of Sapphire Audio, where Aaron had the opportunity to work with industry legend Cary Christie (cofounder of Infinity and founder of Artison). Following that, Aaron was a Project Leader at Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports Magazine. His experience in reviewing and testing audio equipment is vital to the strict quality control process at thinksound. After serving as Director of Engineering and Chief Sound Engineer at V-MODA, where he voiced and helped design some of the best-selling headphones on the market, Aaron re-teamed with Mike and began developing what would eventually become the first two products offered by thinksound, rain and ts01 in-ear headphones. With the firm belief that our products should be designed and manufactured responsibly, without sacrificing quality or price, thinksound was launched. Clear sound with a clearer conscience is what we believe in.

   Although i never had the chance to get my hands on the original rain earphones according to Thinksound the rain2 features upgraded acoustics for more accurate sound reproduction. The strange part is that although the original rain earphones used 9mm high-definition drivers featuring a frequency response of 20Hz–20kHz with 96dB sensitivity and 16Ohm impedance the smaller 8mm ones used in the rain2 feature a wider frequency response of 18Hz–20kHz with 96dB sensitivity and 16Ohm impedance. However almost everything else remains the same since both the rain and the rain2 feature wooden housings, passive noise-cancellation, Kevlar-reinforced tangle-resistant 1.2m long cables, gold plated 3.5mm and support for Comply foam tips. Since we don't have the original rain in our hands a direct comparison is not really possible but that aside we can still check and see just how good the rain2 are in general.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The rain2 arrived inside a small box with a product picture and name at the front and the company logo.

Some words about the product and its features are printed at the rear of the box.

As you can see the earphones and their bundle are placed inside a piece of recycled cardboard.

With the rain2 earphones Thinksound also bundles a carrying pouch (made out of cotton), 3 pairs of silicon ear fittings, cord clip, a thank you note and a warranty paper (unfortunately unlike the MS01 the rain2 don't feature active earhooks).

THE RAIN2

By default the rain2 get shipped with the large sized silicon ear fittings but i think it's worth mentioning that Thinksound also ships small, medium and extra large ones in the box.

The cotton carrying pouch may look retro to some people but it's actually quite unique in the market and almost certain to draw attention.

The 1.2m long cable used with the rain 2 is reinforced with Kevlar and tangle-resistant.

For the housing Thinksound has used both chocolate-stained wood (chamber) and gunmetal-colored aluminum baffle.

The company logo is placed at the rear of the housing (the hole in the middle is for the driver inside).

Removing the ear fitting is very easy thanks to the metal area of the housing (looks great right?).

Thinksound has also placed their logo on a piece of aluminum placed exactly where the cable divides into two.

Here we can see the gold plated 45' angled 3.5mm plug.

CONCLUSION

   Thinksound may not be one of the most popular audio brands in the market but they've yet to let me down since no matter what lands in the lab by them performs exceptionally and features a balanced price/performance ratio. This also stands true for the rain2 since aside the excellent build quality thanks to the marriage between wood for the chambers and aluminum for the baffle it also does incredibly well in audio clarity and soundstage. It offers plenty and warm bass (for its size always) with very good highs although after using it with much of my audio collection i have to admit that compared to them mids seem to lag behind slightly (still not by much). Of course as with all headsets, headphones, earphones and speakers a lot depends on the type of source you use (for example using it with a iPhone 6 produces better results than with the Lenovo A6000 - two of the smartphones we used it with) so do keep that in mind as well.

   Currently you can find the rain2 high definition in-ear headphones for just USD89.97 inside the USA (Amazon.com) and for 81Euros inside the EU (Amazon.co.uk) a price tag which puts them right into one of the most competitive price ranges in the market. The good thing about Thinksound and their rain2 however is that not many other manufacturers use wood and among those just a small percentage uses chocolate stained one. Ontop of that add the very good audio quality, the rich bundle and the "eco" direction Thinksound has been following for years now and you've got a top notch product well worth of our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality (Wood/Metal)
- Audio Quality (Warm Bass And Crisp Highs)
- Kevlar Reinforced & Tangle-resistant 1.2m Long Cable
- Green Product (Friendly To The Environment)
- Bundle
- Price (For Some)

CONS

- Mids
- Not Ideal For Sports (Unlike the MS01)