Martin Logan Mikros 70 - Page 3

Oh and I'll add that I haven't waited the "break in" period. Of course, my understanding is that "break in" is 100 percent psychological.

Strings sound pretty good (classical).

 

Unfortunately, it's not.  Drivers aren't the only part to break in, brain isn't the only part to break in.  Over time, tips actually conform to the shape of your ear, changing the physical seal the IEM makes with your ear (softens it up in some areas, hardens it up in others).  The change in seal is definitely more than enough to change sound signature.  

 

Secondly, this does a disservice to anyone who does believe in any sort of break in.  My question back to you is that, even if it is all psychological, if nothing changes, why not just break it in to "shut up" all the people who demand it?

"My question back to you is that, even if it is all psychological, if nothing changes, why not just break it in to "shut up" all the people who demand it?"

 

 

I don't think the psychological effect is necessarily insignificant. The proverbial Joe "Sixpack" likes bloaty bass.  Why?  Because that's what they're used to.  My initial reaction was negative in part because I am very used to the Etymotics sound.  I've been listening to these Martin Logan's now a good chunk of the day.  I am enjoying them.  They are definitely a different experience.

Hmm.  So, I have a pair of sennheiser 680 IEMs (the addidas version) for working out and I just threw those on for a direct ABAB comparison.  The Martin Logan's have no treble.  I think that's the bottom line.  There are some good aspects to them, but I think I am going to send them back. 

To clarify my treble comment, this is particularly noticeable with cymbals but also the general sound feels dead, at least in comparison to the much cheaper sennheiser's and the more expensive ety hf3s. Also, while the mids are more forward, relatively speaking in the presentation, they aren't the most tonal, meaning some of the higher frequency bass lines aren't all that discernable. I think this contributes to an overall thinness of the sound for me. While I do appreciate some styles with this, e.g. more relaxed jazz (piano) even there, the bass lines are kind of muddy, and the details of ghost notes on snare and cymbal work are lost in the shuffle.

Sounds like there are some mixed reviews on these bad-boys.  For my ears, they are unquestionably the best sounding headphones in my house.  I have a pair of Grado 325i's, a pair of Audio Technica ATH-ESW9's and Phonak IEMs PFE111s.  Lately I have been wondering when I might ever listen to the other three.

 

I wish I was eloquent and could break down the sound like my friends on this board, but I am a bit of a mouth-breather.  All I can tell you is that I find joy in the way these sound.  I like the used to like Grado 325i's when I wanted to listen to fast music loudly, I used to like the ATs when I wanted to listen to smooth music, relax and feel refined (what with the wood, leather and all) and I used to like the Phonak's when I was in bed and my wife yelled at me for having the leaky Grado's on.

 

Now all I listen to is the Martin Logan's.  More than anything the thing that gets me is the detail -- I am forever hearing things I have never heard before on my most familiar songs.

 

The odd thing though is that these things HATE all the headphone amplifiers that I own.  Through the headphone amp they are muddy like Woodstock --- but plugged straight into my ipad (no external dac or anything) I am simply amazed.

 

Amazed that is until my ears start to itch from having them crammed into my ear canals, and then I have to take a break.

 

I hope I am not leading anyone astray, but for $150 I honestly could not be happier.

I'm a new member that just joined because I wanted to offer my impressions of these headphones. The best in-ear headphones I've ever used are a pair of skull-candy INK'd that I purchased for 7.99 at Marshall's. I own grado SR-80 headphones, and have a very nice bowers and wilkins 804 setup for home listening with mcintosh amplification. 

 

To be honest I have always been impressed with the sound of the skull candy headphones. Weighty bass, clear highs, very pleasant sound that brings a lot of life to the music I listen to which is a pretty even mix of jazz/acoustic/blues/rock/classical/vocal. 

 

I figured I must really be missing out on great sound if I listen to my 320kbps MP3s with $8 headphones from skullcandy. I went to Magnolia in Best Buy ready to pick up the Bowers and Wilkins C5 IEMs but saw the martin logans. Martin Logan is a serious audio company and their electrostatic speakers are crystal clear and detailed so I figured the Martin Logans IEMs would be awesome. Did a quick search on my iPhone in the store to find reviews on the Martin Logan Mikros but guess what? No reviews! 

 

Here's my review after using them with my iPod classic and iPhone 5 last night: 

 

Weighty bass. Not lacking in this department at all. 

 

Not harsh. Classical music is sounds wonderfully balanced with a bit of bloat in the lower midrange (around 250hz)

 

The place these headphones is lacking, and severely so, is in the mid and upper-treble. There is no sparkle to speak of and upper frequencies seem rolled off. You can't hear the space in the music and I struggle to hear fine detail and shimmer. It's a deal-breaker for me because I wanted head phones that would be crisp and clear with a healthy weight to the low end. Unfortunately these martin logans don't offer much in the way of clarity. I went back and listened to my 7.99 skullcandy INK'd headphones and felt like despite the exagerrated bass, they actually offered better mid-range and clearer highs than the martin logans. It's like listening to a speaker with a blanket tossed over it. 

 

The tips fit in my ears with ease. Rather comfortable to wear, no issues there. The aluminum construction is pretty nice but the actual cord is rather thin and cheap feeling. I absolutely hate the volume rocker, without looking right at the buttons it's very hard to feel where you are supposed to press to adjust the volume or play/pause. 

 

I'm going to return them. How can I justify spending close to 20 times more money on IEMs that offer so little? I was hoping to be blown away with clarity- liveliness-robust sound that puts you in the room with the musicians. Instead the sound was off-putting, dark, and muddy. On another note- these things probably cost Martin Logan less than $10 each to make, including the packaging. Charging $150 is just SO ridiculous, and I almost thought because of the price and the brand name it would actually be that much better than budget headphones. No such luck. 

Any other impressions people? I'm curious about the treble in comparison to the etys. Some say it's rolled off and others seems to think it's detailed. What about sources? The ipod classic may not be a good source because of the relatively high output impedance for the 22 ohms of the mikros. Maybe someone can try it with the fuze or a low OI device?  

actually the Mikros doesn't change with impedance. It does seem a bit rolled-off fwir, but it seems to be flat before the roll-off though...idk...we'll see.