Future Sonics 010-045 Atrio Series M5 Earbuds (Onyx Black)

I bought these on a whim, due to a deal too good to pass up, and with the interest to hear something with more bass presence. (Edit: I purchased these a second time from atrio.me and received them in Jan 2012)  Here is my review.

Fit and Isolation:  The Atrios are pretty light weight and when properly seated do not touch the ear.  They are very comfortable and provide very good isolation with the right tips.  Isolation is above average and they most you can get from a vented dynamic driver.

Build Quality:  The Atrios are built from a lightweight but heavy duty plastic housing and provide good strain relief on where the cables exit the housing.  I think these could take some abuse and keep providing years of use.  Cables are of medium density and do a fair job of staying untangled and are fairly supple.  Worn over the ear, I haven’t noticed any microphonics issues.  For iPhone users, the right angle plug will fit in bumper style cases with ease.

Accessories:  My Atrios came with a rectangular case that is pretty flimsy and unnecessarily large.  I use it carry a small cmoy and put the M5’s in something else.  The latest version of the MG7 come with a very nice case made from recycled material.  It has extra cushioning and both sides have netted pockets.  The supplied tip selection is the weakest attribute to an otherwise fine product.  Three sizes of bi-flanges and 2 sizes of barrel foam type tips are supplied.  I find bi-flanges uncomfortable and either go in too deep or too shallow for quality sound.  The barrel foam type are pretty useless and they do not fit in normal sized ears.  (I found the best tips to be the Shure PA749M, now called EASFX2-10M, which had to be modified to fit by taking out the tube from one of the stock foam tips).  Enough with the negative and on to the sound. The latest version comes with black barrel style foam.  These provide excellent isolation and comfort, as well as providing the best sound the Atrios can offer.  If you want to try something different, the Klipsch gels are a close second in sound and comfort.

Sound:  The new M5’s have an new proprietary driver called the MG7.  The driver is a reported improvement over previous models by having better and more prominent treble.  The result is a fairly balanced presentation for what are considered bassy phones.

Most dynamic driver phones need a period of burn in.  The Atrios require a fairly long burn in time of about 100 hrs to sound their best.  I noticed significant changes to bass over that period. The second time around with the Atrios, I experienced no changes or sibilance like I did the first time.  This is due to previous experience with fit.  Most changes during burn in are psychoacoustic in nature and also due to fit.  Not having the fit issues of the first time around, I benefited from top notch sound for the moment I first plugged them in.

Bass:  A bass lovers delight.  The M5’s have bass in spades, however it is not all about quantity.  The bass is of superb quality as well.  Most phones achieve their bass signature by boosting mid bass.  Not so with the Atrios.  The M5 has a great deal of sub bass that effortlessly reaches very deep; deeper than any other phone I’ve ever heard.  The quality of the bass adds a dimension of realism (timbre) to bass guitar and drums not exhibited in other phones.  Best of all you get all this bass without it stepping all over the midrange.

Mids:  Mids are placed just right.  I find them neither recessed nor forward.  They are clean, detailed and natural, if a bit dry.  Vocals and guitars are placed in the mix just where you’d expect them to be when heard live.  Once again, realism with strings is something really special here. 

Treble:  The new Atrios treble is clear and non-fatiguing with plenty of detail; however for my ears, I would prefer even more treble presence.  For instance, the perfect treble for me is found in the Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10’s.  I suppose this is due to the M5 design as studio monitors and the need to listen for extremely long periods of time.  The Atrios cannot match the effortlessness and airiness of the TF10’s but they are no slouches;  the fact that you can easily pick out small details like cymbal splashes in bass heavy songs is a testament to their improved presentation.

Soundstage:  Just average or maybe slightly below average in width (this is dependent upon fit and I have experienced a slightly larger soundstage the second time around).  Depth, however , is very good.  The M5’s often make me feel I’m in the recording studio with them.  In contrast the TF10’s make me feel I’m at a concert and maybe 15 rows back, presenting a wide soundstage for an IEM.

Overall the new Atrio M5’s are a very fun and enjoyable phone and does very well with good and poor quality mastered songs.  While being a bass oriented phone, they still offer up a fairly balanced sound.  If you’ve felt that your IEM’s have always been missing something in the bass department, whether quality or quantity, then give the Atrios M5 with mg7 driver a try.

(updated with a few additional thoughts from my second time around in Jan 2012.)

The Future Sonics Atrios line of earphone monitors have undergone a revision, moving from the MG5 to the new MG7 dynamic drivers, improving the build quality and changing to new eco-friendly packaging.

I've had a chance to hear these for two weeks now. I'm happy to give a complete overview so you can decide whether Atrios are right for you.

The packaging: Future Sonics has moved to using much more eco-friendly materials. They have a new case for the earphones which is made from recycled tire rubber (and looks great). They've done a good job and I hope other companies follow their lead.

On to appearance. It's easy to judge a picture, but often what looks good on a computer screen looks horrible sticking out of your ears. In the ears, the Atrios look good--not too attention grabbing, but their curved design adds a touch of style. They come in several colors, the red is most eye-catching, if you want that.

Fit: Atrios are made from a high-strength, low weight plastic. They are light and easily stay in the ear, even seeming to disappear. There are small, medium and large bi-flange silicon eartips and two sizes of foam tips as well. Getting a good seal is essential to getting good sound. Future Sonics gives a reasonable selection of eartips, but some other companies give more and better eartip options.
One nice thing about the Atrios' design is that they can easily be worn cable down, or over-the-ear.

Cable: On earphones, the cable is the most-likely part to fail. How do the Atrios do? Pretty well, I'd say. The cable has a sturdy right-angle plug with good strain-relief and good integrated strain relief at the housing of the earphone. The cable itself is light. It's a bit microphonic (you can hear sounds when the cable brushes against something), but this can be pretty much entirely eliminated by wearing them with the cable over the ears, which is easy and comfortable to do.

Build Quality: These should last if you take good care of them. Again, the cable is always the weakest part of an earphone, so don't just wrap the wire around your ipod and throw the mess into your briefcase... Future Sonics also has an excellent customer service reputation and I can say from personal experience they are really top-notch on that.

Isolation: These earphones are vented for better bass, but they still do a good job of blocking external noise. There are other earphones that can block even more, if that's primary concern (The Monster turbine pro, for example. Etymotic's earphones are the kings of this). Atrios do well, most people will be satisfied.

Sound: The most important part, of course. Future Sonics Atrios are engineered to have a particular sound signature. In fact, Future Sonics is one of the very few companies to design and manufacture their own transducers. I'll try to describe that sound, as I hear it in the new Atrios, so you can decide if it is what you want. Keep in mind that this is just my take on it, but I think I have a pretty good feel for it.

One important note before I begin: These earphones have dynamic (moving coil) drivers. It's like a miniaturized version of your home stereo speakers. Many audiophiles find that this kind of driver needs playing time to "break-in". Whether it has to do with the diaphragm which produces sound breaking-in a bit or whatever, I found that to be the case with Atrios. The bass settled down and tightened up a bit after 50 hours of playing. Speaking of which:

Bass: This is something special. Thanks to the dynamic driver, the bass has excellent energy and a living feel that most earphones with an armature transducer (Shure earphones, for example) don't. The bass reaches down deep to the sub-bass region easily, where many other earphones can't go. Even earphones costing much more don't do this as well as the Atrios. The Atrios' bass is fairly detailed and well-controlled. Some other earphones have an artificial sounding bass, but the Atrios do an excellent job. It's there when you need it, as much as you need. Hip-hop and bassy genres sound great. However, when I played string quartets (e.g. non-bassy music), the Atrios handled it very well, too. The only thing I want to note is that the sound is bass-forward. The drummer will sound a bit ahead of the singer if you close your eyes. Speaking to people in the music industry, it seems that this feature comes from Atrios' heritage as a stage monitor where a forward bass is helpful for a musician during a loud concert performance. You may or may not like it.

Mid-range: It's important to note that the mid-range is clear and accurate. It doesn't sound boosted or thickened. It's fairly detailed and has an excellent reproduction of the timbre of strings and vocal music. You may be used to artificially-boosted mid-range sounds on other earphones, so an accurate mid-range may not be for you. I like it. Again, it's a bit recessed behind the bass, but always clear. I enjoyed pop and classical music equally. It occasionally has a bit of trouble with pop songs that have a bloated lower mid, such as a not-so-clearly recorded electric bass, but the Atrios generally does a good job. It's accurate like you'd expect an in-ear stage monitor to be.

Treble: This is where the new Atrios should show an improvement over older versions, with enhanced treble extension. The treble is indeed well-extended. Violins and soprano voices can sound great. One key thing to note is that the treble is slightly dark. That means that it is non-fatiguing without spitty, sharp, piercing, nails-on-blackboard sounds. These sound toned-down a bit so you can listen a long time, while keeping the treble accurate. The down side is that a dark treble doesn't shimmer and sparkle as much as a bright treble for things like cymbals crashing, etc. Many earphones have a bright treble and stronger treble energy, if you love that, then the Atrios aren't for you. However, if you're sensitive to glaringly bright treble and want something that you could listen to for as long as you like without fatigue, then you'll like the Atrios.

I like the Atrios and I think they are competitive with more expensive earphones. As I listen, their sound only grows on me. It's musical and enjoyable. If you like how I've described their sound signature, the Atrios might be perfect for you.

For any of you looking to purchase authentic atrio's go to "Atrio.me" and enter the following code for 50% off: "CostProg50%"   I absolutely love my atrios! they are great sounding, comfy, and bass heavy, an overall exciting sound.

I bought the Atrio M5 with MG7's, whilst they were on the $115 deal, however I paid $95 shipped to France, which was an even better deal.

The MG7's for me were something I was hesitating at first, due to their looks, and their pro-claimed bass.

I was looking for something to replace my TFTA's which had as much bass, at least in quality, had the same soundstage, a better isolation, but most importantly, better mids.

Let's get down to this review!

Here is the unboxing of these:

Packaging, accessories, box content, overall first impressions (look wise)

I really like what Future Sonic did here with their new eco packaging. the packaging at first wasn't familiar to me, as I was reading reviews, and most of them had the M5 logo in green, with no "special edition" written under the Future Sonic logo. more so, the case inside was different from the "normal version" - I later found out this was their new eco-packaging.

It had a recycled tire for the carrying case, and what it seemed like, recycled cardboard.

I love the initiative, and the attention to our planet approach. Good on you, Future Sonic!

I did find the case being a little useless though, it's very flat and quite large, I find it not very portable, nor very useful for the earphones. Yet they are brilliant for carrying around tips. I bought myself a MTPC pouch, and now use that daily in order to carry around my MG7's

Now for the contents themselves, they came equipped with quite a few tips.

Here they are individually:

4x Large Cream foamies

4x Medium Cream foamies

4x Large Black foamies

4x Medium Black foamis

2x Small bi-flange

2x Medium bi-flange (which is on by default)

2x Large bi-flange

There is also the cleaning tool, the carrying case and an information booklet

Overall, great job - I think however the inclusion of some normal silicone tips might not have been a bad idea, instead of all the foam tips. that said, I use the foam tips anyway, as they don't hurt my ears as of the bi-flanges, and provide me with comfort and isolation.

That said, as they aren't "rounded off" they aren't smooth, so I would look into Comply tips if you're not 100% satisfied with them.

And now unto the initial impressions of the look.

I do have to say these look like £5 earphones you would buy from HMV (equivalent of your bestbuy) - they look cheap a little tacky, and not very pleasant. Especially the "coloured" versions, such as the blue versions look like toys. That said, don't judge a book by its cover - more on the sound quality later.

Build Quality

The build quality of the M5's isn't bad, but not great either.

The earphones themselves however, feel like they will survive a quite a beating. I don't know exactly what material it is, but its obviously plastic. This is great for the weight of the earphones, as they are very light, and thus can be worn for hours on end.

I like that the earphones are attached to the cable via a soft bendable, if you will, material. which means they can be flexed to a certain degree.

The wire itself, is of decent, but not great quality. The main, good thing about them, is the fact that they don't tangle. The MG7's are terminated by a L shaped 3.5mm gold plated jack - which is good, especially if you want to put them in your pocket.

Now the main problems/concerns I have, are:

-The wire going into the earbuds causes microphonics when worn straight down, and feel a little flimsy going in - as in there is no glue holding them in place

-The splitter is far too short. Seeing as these have to be worn over-the-ear to prevent microphonics, the splitter ends up 2-3cm away from your chin. it would have been better, if there was more splitter length. The actual wire length however is perfect. Not too long, not too short. Its around 1.2m long.

Now the overall look, comfort and isolation

The look of these, as described before is like a £5 set. They do however grow on you, from your initial impressions, however it goes without saying that they don't look like the "real deal" at first sight.

The comfort is very good, however its mostly tip dependant. Due to their long-ish nozzle, they do go in quite a bit, and thus when you eat or open your jaw, they tend to move a little out of your ear, as they are reasonably (deeply) inserted.

The isolation, is a great in my opinions for these earphones, especially for universals. To the point I think, how well would customs do. They do a very good job in isolating, and this is also due to the fact, that they have no air port, unlike other earphones I've heard.

Sound Quality

Now this is what the most important factor is. The actual sound quality of the earphones is one fo the biggest factors behind buying them.

Added a video review too!

I hope this helped!

-TotallydubbedHD