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Synopsis: The Rhapsodio Galaxy v2 are a high-end in-ear monitor with a 10.3mm titanium coated dynamic driver, a re-designed housing, and a braided copper cable. These earphones have a warm, well-extended bass, sweet midrange, and a boosted treble that, with the right fit matches the bass. These are a sizeable step up in clarity and range from cheaper dynamic driver iems. However, the fit is difficult to get right and will require time to find the right eartips and positioning in-ear. Without the right fit, the treble is bright, sibilant, and sharp without the proper bass to balance it. At its best, the Galaxy v2’s sound can come together in a coherent package, with rumbling bass and clear vocals that are hard to resist.

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Disclaimer: The Galaxy v2 I’ve had for a week is a loaner set from Rhapsodio which will be returned to them when the loaner tour is over.
 
A little about Rhapsodio: Rhapsodio is a small but innovative company in Hong Kong. If you ever have the pleasure of corresponding with Sammy, the head of the company, you will quickly find out that he has a million ideas about portable audio and is always thinking and working to make the best products possible. He’s been making balanced armature iems, such as the Solar, dynamic driver iems like our Galaxy v2 here, and hybrid armature dynamic iems. A friend of mine in Hong Kong introduced me to Sammy two years ago and when I heard that the Galaxy was coming out in a 2^nd version, I knew I’d have to see if a loaner tour was possible.
 
The Galaxy v2: At the heart of this iem is a 10.3mm titanium coated diaphragm. The ultra-thin coating of titanium adds rigidity which helps the dynamic driver to have better clarity. For this, the 2^nd version, the Galaxy receives a custom housing—for dynamic drivers, the housing itself can be an important part of its tuning. Here, the new housing helps to add bass depth and resonance. The cable is a high-quality braided copper. Overall, these are well-built and should really last. The price is $1450.
 
 

 
 

 
The Galaxy v2 (more pics to come)
 
 
Power: These are not hard to drive, but I think it’s good to give a dynamic driver plenty of power, so I used the apex Glacier as a portable amp on top of my ipod 5.5gen. That Wolfson chip equipped ipod is surprisingly still competitive!
 
 
Burn-in: I think the new generation of metallic coated diaphragms will make more people into believers about burn-in for dynamic driver iems as the stiffer diaphragms do need some flexing before they sound their best.
 
How to burn-in a dynamic driver? Well, I use the advice of one of the audio engineers who made the Monster Cable line of dynamic driver iems. He said that it didn’t make any sense at all to play soft piano music for a million hours. What you want is to flex the driver. That means high-volume (I say higher than is safe for a human to listen to, so take the iems out of your ears) and a playlist with heavy bass and bright treble, particularly the bass for a shorter period of time. Yes, a shorter period of time with much higher volume. I played the Galaxy v2 at about 110db with bass and treble heavy music for 72 hours in a drawer. Done. I did give a quick listen before doing this and the Galaxy sounded weird, my second listen was after burn-in and I could easily tell these were high-end iems.
 
 
Fit: There are several issues with fit here:
1.  The seal. Yes, you need iems to seal, people mostly seem to know that. You don’t get the right bass if you don’t have a good seal. The bass on the Galaxy v2 should be rumbling and resonant, reaching deeply. If you don’t get the full mid and sub-bass, then you don’t have a good seal. But, that’s only half the story.
 
2. Air pressure. This is a big one for dynamic drivers and iems generally. If you have a “vacuum” seal then your own ear drum can’t move, to say nothing of a dynamic driver’s diaphragm. The sound sucks, pun intended. The Galaxy v2 is very sensitive to this, you really have to get a good seal, then break the seal to allow the air pressure to normalize (without re-creating the air pressure issue upon re-sealing). It takes practice. After a few days, you’ll have it down pat, no problems. But, you should be prepared to tip-roll. I used some tips from another iem. The Galaxy loaner set had spin-fits, I don’t think these are the best tips, but YMMV. What might be an important note is that I used silicone tips in listening to the Galaxy v2, I think foam tips would have been a perfect choice as they would match the treble and lead to an even better sound. If I get a chance to hear these again, I’ll be sure to listen with foam tips.
 
 
The Sound: The overall sound is a little V-shaped with excellent bass presence, mids that give vocals nice clarity, and a bright treble that really works on many recordings, particularly acoustic, classical, folk, and jazz. After burn-in and with the right fit, some pop and rock were a bit sibilant at times, although not overmuch. With a poor fit, however, the sound does get harsh, so be sure to get that right. The clarity is good, but doesn’t match the best multi-BA iems and the soundstage is natural—which is my preference. There are tricks to make an iem have a large soundstage, but at the cost of sounding artificial. The Galaxy’s vented shell gives it a good-sized soundstage for an iem, but more important to me is that things sound relatively natural. Isolation is average, not bad for a vented dynamic driver iem.
 
Bass: This is good dynamic driver bass, with an emphasis on rumble versus punch or snap. You get that real air-moving bass feel which adds naturalness versus an armature’s bass. I think this is due to the housings as the sound resounds very nicely with a trade-off in bass texture and clarity for a high-end iem. The sub-bass is very good in extension. The quantity is at north of neutral levels for sure, but I didn’t find it overmuch and a little extra is important for commuting to deal with external sound.
 
Midrange: Vocals and lead instruments stand out well in the mix. This is important because when the bass and treble have a boost, the mids can get “sucked out” of the overall sound and a singer can sound in the background when they should be in the lead. The Galaxy v2 has things right, with sweetness and good clarity to male and female singers—something which is not just about the mids, but I think the treble adds something here as well.
 
Treble: This is the tricky spot. There is a boost here and you can definitely get some sibilance. The Gorillaz track Ghosttrain is an example the “S” in GhoSttrain sticks out a bit with a little sharpness. If one is sensitive to it, it is something to note. However, the flip side is that violins sound fantastic. The Galaxy v2 is very nice for classical music to my ears, because the treble brings strings alive in a nice way if you know the live sound of the instruments. Cymbals crash well as well. Acoustic music is a real strong suit with the Galaxy v2. I didn’t use foam tips but I have a feeling they would answer a lot of issues with the treble. That’s going to be a strong recommendation here.
 
 
Comparison: I think the main iem I’ll compare the Galaxy v2 to is the Campfire Vega, another high-end dynamic driver iem, this time with a ADLC coated diaphragm. The Vega definitely has more bass and more of a V-shape to its tuning, that is a primary difference. The Vega’s bass is definitely a lot more. I like it, but it’s big. The Vega’s treble is boosted differently, with a peak coming later and then falling off more than the Galaxy v2. They each had a bit of sibilance to me using silicone tips but on different tracks. Neither was too much for me but neither is for people who are particularly sensitive to sibilance and both should be used with foam tips. The Galaxy v2 is more balanced. The Vega is more v-shaped, more detailed but also edgier with greater dynamics, whereas the Galaxy v2 is more natural.
 
One further note: I had the Dita Truth and Answer editions a while back for a week and while I won’t do a full comparison, I will say that I think the Galaxy v2’s sound was superior in overall capability while having a not-so-different tuning. Overall, I think the Galaxy v2 is for the dynamic driver fan as high-end multi-BA iems will sound more separated and more clear but won’t have the naturalness and cohesiveness of a dynamic driver.
 
 
Overall: The Galaxy v2 is a welcome addition to the options available for a high-end dynamic driver. For the fan of acoustic music, this is a serious option. With the right tips and a good fit, the resonant bass, clear vocals, and bright treble of the Galaxy v2 really come together. I think this iem by Rhapsodio deserves more attention and as the word gets out, it’s going to get it for sure.

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Synopsis:
The RD3 is part of the next generation of earphones from Rhapsodio. Powered by a single high-end dynamic driver, it has a warm sound and a hearty bass response. The RD3’s design includes detachable cables and a strong metal housing. For $400, its sound and build quality make the RD3 a serious contender in the mid-level price range.

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Please note that this review was written listening to an RD3 loaner set. I played this for 100 hours on a loud and varied playlist before listening and I used an Apex Glacier portable amplifier through most of my listening to give the earphones all the power they could need.
 
 
Introduction:
Rhapsodio is the result of two men’s passion for music. Sammy and Sam have a thriving audio business in Hong Kong and they decided to take their love of audio to the next level by making and selling their own audio gear. The RD3 is part of a new generation of Rhapsodio products including earphones, cables, and I’m told there will be more to come!
 
 
The RD3:
The RD3 is powered by an advanced, full-range, single dynamic driver.
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Ear courtesy of Kunlun Modelling Agency
 
 
 
Build Quality:
The RD3 is built very strongly with the striking look of its reflective metal housing giving a clear sense that these are very solidly engineered. The cables are detachable and replaceable and the stock cable is both light and strong, terminating in a very hefty jack.
 
I should mention that Rhapsodio also has its own line of upgrade cables available.
 
 
Fit:
The RD3’s housing is more like a custom fit in-ear monitor than the typical earphone. It’s big and will stick out of one’s ears more than a lower-profile earphone. This might be a disadvantage for some and is worth considering. However, once it’s in, it doesn’t feel heavy in-ear and it’s fairly secure and quite comfortable.
 
 
Isolation:
The RD3 has average isolation of external noise. I found it certainly sufficient for commuting on the subway. Walking around was no problem with an average level of wind noise. People who need the ultimate in isolation may look elsewhere, but otherwise, these should be fine.
 
 
Impendence:
I tend to use a portable amplifier with my earphone, generally. However, coming straight from my old 5.5generation ipod, the RD3 sounds good. It’s warm, bassy sound does just fine. However, to bring out the RD3’s best clarity and to really see what it can do, I would definitely give it a higher powered source.
 
 
 
 
The Sound:
 
Overall:
The RD3 has a full bass, a warm midrange and a little bit of a peak in the treble just to keep things a little more balanced and avoid a dark sound. It’s a fun sound that lets you enjoy your music—a non-fatiguing sort of sound that people often describe as euphonic. Acoustic rock, folk, jazz and light classical are all well handled in the warm sound. I listened to pop, hip-hop, rock, choral, orchestral and more with the RD3. It handled it all well and let the music take center stage.
 
 
Timbre:
Like many dynamic drivers, the RD3 does well with a realistic reproduction of voices and instruments. To me, this is a vital ability for an earphone so the RD3 was a pleasure to listen to.
 
 
Soundstage and Separation:
The RD3 has an open soundstage with a natural sounding spaciousness. The single dynamic driver gives a very coherent sound where instruments and voices come together the way that they do in a live music environment. The separation is good, but those looking for a slightly unnatural, hyper-separated sound will do better with a multi-balanced armature earphone.
 
 
Bass:
The bass is strong point for the RD3. The bass here is well done with the mid-bass having the emphasis and decent extension into the sub-bass below that. Bass heavy music lovers will love the RD3. However, the control is good as well so the bass won’t interfere with bass-light genres.
 
 
Midrange:
If you want a warm sound with nice richness, the RD3 will give you that. It’s a sound that lets you relax in the music. There’s a little boost in the vocal range to allow the heart of the music to step a touch forward which works well in the overall tonality. The effect is to give you a bit of clarity with the warmth.
 
 
Treble:
The treble does a good job of keeping up with the bass and midrange. The treble has a little peak around 7-8khz which adds emphasis and the sense of clarity. It’s well done, I never found the treble fatiguing during the weeks I’ve listened. The treble starts to roll-off after that, allowing the music to have a bit of air, but not extending far into the upper treble.
 
 
 
 
Conclusion:
At $400, the RD3 is a definite, strong mid-range choice. It’s a very enjoyable sound and there’s enough control, clarity, and balance to go with the warm, bassy richness. Plus, the excellent build quality and detachable cable makes for a good package overall. Rhapsodio has a hit in the RD3.

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Synopsis: The Spectrum Series G10 is the next generation universal fit stage monitor from Future Sonics. Replacing the Atrio with a new driver, housing, and cables, the G10 surpasses it in detail and control throughout the frequency spectrum. It does this while keeping a tuning characterized by full sub-bass, a clear midrange with a small boost in the vocal region, and a balanced, non-fatiguing treble. At a MSRP of $219, the G10 is an excellent value for the sound and build quality.

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Thanks to Future Sonics for the loaner set I used for this review. Future Sonics has never asked me to write a review, although they did ask for feedback--which I'm giving, in the form of a review! The set was burned in on a loud, varied playlist for 100hrs prior to the review and a portable amp used during critical listening.



Introduction: The Spectrum Series G10 has a lot of history and experience behind it. Marty Garcia, CEO of Future Sonics was the first person to put custom in-ear monitors (CIEMs) on stage, back in 1982 (for Todd Rundgren). In 1985, Mr. Garcia offered the first commercially available CIEMs, for which he was later inducted into the TEC Hall of Fame (http://tecfoundation.com/hof/10techof.html). So, the G10 is designed by the person who kicked off the use of earphones on stage and has been around longer than anyone. And it’s the sound of live music on stage and the needs of the musicians making it that most shapes the G10’s engineering. Interestingly, Future Sonics has stayed with the use of single dynamic drivers in vented shells rather than closed shell multi-armatures. To understand why that is, we need to look at the thinking that goes into Future Sonics earphones.



Future Sonics' Philosophy: As a Future Sonics customer, I've had the chance to talk directly with Mr. Garcia and he's shared some of his views on audio. Listening to him, it's really a kind of philosophy of sound, based on the science of the human ear. As I understand it: The ear drum vibrates forward and back for us to hear sound waves. Due to the range and emphasis of the human voice, certain frequencies are emphasized over others and the ear canal itself has its own resonances (which change when something like an earphone plugs the entrance to the canal). At the lower frequencies, we feel the air-moving quality of bass sounds as much as we hear them.

As Mr. Garcia says in his own words: “Our ears breathe and our ear canals are not meant to be a sealed closed audio system, in my opinion. FS voice coil [dynamic driver] products allow for energy and air movement (balancing out the spectrum of sound) to move forward and release back like our bodies breath in and out.”

As he says, a dynamic driver's diaphragm also moves forward and back, like the ear drum, and the vent design allows not only the dynamic driver to move properly, but also lets the ear drum move without air pressure interfering with its movement. An earphone that allows the ear drum to move correctly is going sound better and the music will sound more real.
When it comes to bass, having a vented design allows for a real air-moving feel to bass. Marty Garcia found that musicians were turning up the volume on their closed-shell armature monitors in an attempt to get the feel of the bass. That's why even musicians with high isolation monitors tended to listen at a high volume level. Having a real bass feel means musicians can keep their volume relatively lower in a loud stage environment, even though the isolation of vented designs is slightly less. I find the same effect on a noisy subway or plane ride.




The Spectrum Series G10
The G10 uses an all-new 10mm dynamic driver, a new overmolded metallic housing with strengthened strain relief, and stronger, braided cables. Just like all their earphones, it was designed and engineered by Future Sonics themselves.






Note: My ear not included with G10 purchase










With the separately purchased custom-fit silicone earsleeves






Build Quality: These are very sturdy earphones. The strain relief has been improved greatly over the older Atrio and the cable is beefier, too. The housing is clearly more robust as well, while still staying lightweight in the ear.



Fit: Both the proper seal and right angle of insertion make a huge difference for the sound of any earphone. In terms of seal, for a dynamic driver earphone, you want to avoid a vacuum which prevents the ear drum from moving properly. A lighter seal gives a brighter, more detailed, more open and spacious sound.

The G10 comes with bi-flange tips and also foamies. There is also the option to purchase custom fit full-custom silicone ear sleeves, which fit exactly like custom-fit silicone-shelled ciems.



Isolation: While these are vented, the isolation is actually very good. It's a definite improvement over the Atrio. I would say that it’s actually equal in terms of isolation to several of my acrylic shelled custom fit earphones, but not as isolating as my silicone shell custom fit earphones. Certainly, it’s better than my other vented dynamic driver earphones for external noise reduction.



Impedance: The G10 is designed for pro-audio use and so has a high-impedance design. What that means is that it can give you its very best with a powerful source or amp and will still have low hiss.

The G10 sounds good out of my ipod, and gains balance and detail when I use my portable amp—an Apex Glacier. I would recommend using the G10 with a more powerful source if you’d like to experience its full potential.



The Sound:
Overall: What we have with the G10 is a stage monitor that, once you become accustomed to it, really works well with a wide range of music. The thing to keep in mind if you want to know if this earphone is for you is: Do you want the sound of live music? That’s not a rhetorical question! Live sound is a particular sound and most earphones have a different tuning. Compared to other earphones, it has a full bass that goes very deep, if it's in the music, and really fills the soundstage just like bass in a live venue. Yet, it doesn't interfere with the clear, accurate midrange which has a live music take on timbre. That means an energetic, detailed, natural sound that gives you what the recording has, all the good--and also any bad that the recording has. The treble matches the midrange, with greater presence and edge than the Atrios had, grabbing your attention and balancing the sound, yet still not adding anything fatiguing that wasn’t there in the recording.



Tonality: The way the G10's vented drivers can give an air-moving, immersive sub-bass (if it's there in the music) with control is amazing. What balances this is the detailed midrange and treble. The accurate grip they keep on the heart of the music allows the G10 to maintain an interesting tonal overall balance. Play Glenn Gould on solo piano (Bach, naturally) and the piano sings truthfully. String quartets and choirs keep their balance from violin to cello or soprano to bass. Play dance music and there's an ocean of deeply layered bass throbbing with voices and brighter effects swimming clearly in the mix. If you like a very bass-capable earphone, then the G10 will handle a lot of music well, whether there’s a deep beat to it or none at all.

Now, that's a very positive take, so let me also say what the G10's tonal balance is not. It's not a very mellow, richness-added sound that takes all your music, whatever it is, and caresses your ears with silk. That can be nice, but it's not what the G10's about. The G10 also doesn't give those spikes in the treble that give the illusion of greater clarity (and can damage your hearing). Those treble spikes are often an artifact of the way balanced armatures produce sound, although some dynamic driver earphones have them. Treble boosted earphones are nice for some music, they can be fatiguing at volume, but that's not the G10. Although the G10 can really reach deeply with the bass, its control doesn't fit the usual, slightly uncontrolled bass cannon earphone, either.

The G10 is a stage monitor that tries to show you your music accurately and includes bass, particularly sub-bass, fully on a live music footing with the rest of the spectrum.



Soundstage and Separation: A single dynamic driver is going to give a supremely coherent sound, where all the instruments and voices are singing together in the same acoustic space. The G10 does very well with this portrayal of the way sounds come together from every player in the band. In general, I think (and the acoustic engineers I speak to say) that most of the cues for how we hear the soundstage—the sense of the space the music is played in and positioning of the players—actually comes from the recording itself, not the earphone. You can hear how different recordings will sound different in this regard. Having said that, some earphones use tricks to try and sound spacious all the time, while vented dynamics tend to sound spacious generally. Here, the G10 tends to put you on stage with the singers, or at least in the first row. So, while there can be depth to the sound, there is an intimacy or immediacy with the G10. Those looking for a very separated sound I would steer to the less coherent (everything’s a trade-off!) approach of a multi-armature earphone.



Bass: Superior bass extension, cavernous with control, that’s the G10’s bass. It’s the foundation of the sound and it doesn’t interfere with the midrange to my ears when playing acoustic folk and world music. There’s an air-moving, real life energy in the sub-bass. Sub-bass is such a part of sound and music when we listen live and it should be there in our earphones, too, I think. This bass may take a little getting used if a person isn’t accustomed to an earphone giving that, but I think once you do, you’ll always want that capability.



Midrange: This is a clean, monitor midrange with very nice detail and an honest sound. It’s not adding richness, nor taking it away. There’s a small lift to the vocal range and this adds the energy needed for a stage monitor to bring the main voice or instrument to the lead with clarity even when there’s a lot of musicians playing at once. This is also what avoids a laid-back, relaxed sound. Guitars have their rocking edge and female voices have their vocal fry and yet, it’s not overmuch.



Treble: The G10 gives us a nice treble which extends well, has good presence and timbre, and is non-fatiguing. There's definitely more treble presence here than on the old Atrio. It balances the bass and midrange and sings nicely without feeling boosted or shelved down. The G10 doesn’t have those treble spikes people might be used to from other earphones. It’s not adding an artificial sense of clarity, yet the G10 has a good amount of genuine resolving power and you can hear clearly the violin hitting the high notes in a symphony or the bright effects in a pop song.



Conclusion: With its very capable sub-bass, and monitor midrange and treble, the G10 was engineered both in sound and in its sturdy construction for the demands of live music and musicians on stage. For anyone for whom that live music tuning appeals, then the G10 works very well as all-around excellent earphone for a wide range of music. Everything from thumping hip-hop to rock to jazz and classical sounds true to life. On stage or on commute, the G10 is a hit.


 

Thanks to Greed for a 10-day loan of his Ref 1 set, which I fully burnt-in and auditioned. This set had the uber cable.
 
Super Brief Review (it's all just what my ears heard, if you love your Ref 1 set, that's great, no need to defend it here):
 
Pros:
-Real, air-moving bass sound thanks to the vented dual dynamic drivers. Bass is big, full and has great extension
-Clear treble. I didn't hear sibilance and the treble avoids a dark sound as well.
-Very good instrument separation
-Big soundstage
-I found the ref 1 to be less v-shaped in sound than the 1plus2
 
Cons:
-Bass control is not top-tier at all. For some the amount of bass will be a problem as it's quite a lot.
-Treble timbre is off for an expensive iem, some instruments, voices don't quite sound right compared to other iem/ciems which sell for hundreds less
-Large, clumsy earpieces, not a good design at all
-Uber cable is very stiff and practically unusable in any other context than sitting at home in a chair not moving or reaching for anything.
-Serious quality control issues. Many, many people have had to send their set back for repair

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Synopsis: The Future Sonics MG6Pro Ear Monitor is an excellent sounding custom earphone tuned for a supremely natural sound. The overall sound is very smooth, extended in bass and treble, and very well balanced by the clear midrange. The excellent reproduction of vocal and instrumental timbre, combined with superior soundstage and sense of stereo imagining are also standouts. Using a single dynamic driver which can cover the entire frequency spectrum without the need for crossovers gives the MG6PRO Ear Monitor a coherency which adds to the naturalness of its presentation. The bass deserves special mention for its control and its effortless extension down to the sub-bass frequencies. Additionally, the 13mm dynamic driver can move the air against our ears in a way balanced armatures cannot—this leads to better bass energy as we “feel” bass as much as we hear it. The amount of bass can also be adjusted to anyone’s taste by a changeable system of vents which allow the driver more or less airflow.

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Introduction: I’ve always really been drawn to earphones that feature a dynamic driver (also known as a moving-coil). These are basically like the speakers in one’s home stereo, only smaller. When I looked around for a custom-fit earphone, however, I noticed that almost every company uses balanced armatures, a technology used in hearing aids. One company, however, has been offering a dynamic driver custom in-ear monitors on stage for years. In fact, Future Sonics has been doing it so long they trademarked the term “Ear Monitor” and the owner, Marty Garcia, was the first to put custom in-ear monitors on stage, back in 1985. The fact that Future Sonics used a dynamic driver and the length of experience made me curious. Even more curious was the fact that while they are well-known in professional music circles for supplying Ear Monitors over the years to bands like The Grateful Dead, U2, Reba McEntire, Justin Timberlake, etc., they aren’t so well known in audiophile circles.
 
History and Background: When I had a chance to speak to Marty Garcia, the owner, and David Gray, director of operations, it was clear that the use of a dynamic driver in their custom earphone was the result of careful thought. While every other custom earphone manufacturer that I am aware of buys their transducers from outside manufacturers, Future Sonics engineers their own. The new for 2010 MG6Pro is a proprietary driver designed and made by Future Sonics. The history as I understand it from talking to Mr. Garcia is that he experimented with using balanced armature transducers multi-armature designs with crossovers. He consulted for Shure on their early designs and politely parted ways when he decided that a single dynamic driver was the way to go. He feels that a single dynamic driver has a number of advantages: It can cover the frequency spectrum by itself, it gives a coherent sound free from any artifacts from a multi-transducer approach and, very importantly, it moves the air that we can feel as well as hear for a more real sounding bass with living energy. Interestingly, when I spoke to K.W.Karth, who designed Monster Cable’s Turbine earphone, he gave many of the same reasons that Monster Cable went with dynamic drivers in their universal fit line of in-ear monitors.  
 
Disclaimer: I think it’s important to be open and up-front about the way one has received the product reviewed, so everyone can be clear about any underlying motives which might bias the review. Now, the usual price for these is $898. As for me, I paid for mine, however I did receive a small discount.  I had just missed out on a one-time sale on Ear Monitors in celebration of Future Sonics’ 25^th anniversary. They were kind enough to offer me a discount that ended up coming to $50 (a slightly larger discount minus the extra I paid going to a Future Sonics’ recommended audiologist on Mr. Garcia’s request). I’m happy for it, of course, but the opinions below will be my best attempts to honestly convey how these earphones sound.
 
Customer Service: Custom in-ear monitors take a lot of care. Throughout the process, I’ve really been struck by how important the custom service of the company you work with can be. Future Sonics deserves a lot of credit for the very high level of customer service they’ve provided. The fact that the owner of the company made time to really discuss his product and the philosophy behind it on several occasions speaks to how Future Sonics treats its customers. All my concerns (and I am a high-maintenance customer, so this is a lot of random concerns) have been graciously answered in over 60 emails…and counting! They have really gone the extra mile and treated me like the rock star most of their other customers are. Consider this as part of the disclaimer when I say that the excellent customer service and the way Future Sonics has gone out of their way again and again to make sure I was completely happy is certainly a part of the reason my experience has been so positive.
One of the first steps in getting a custom in-ear monitor is a trip to an experienced audiologist to make ear impressions which will be used to make an earphone which fits your unique ears perfectly. I went to Andrew Resnick, a Manhattan audiologist and Future Sonics dealer. He was professional and had a lot of experience in making ear impressions for musicians’ Ear Monitors. I won’t say that this means I haven’t needed adjustments to make the fit of my MG6PRO Ear Monitors perfect, but I think it has helped to start with a good set of impressions.
 
The MG6Pro: This is a custom in-ear monitor with a 13mm dynamic driver at its heart. My understanding is that Future Sonics released the MG6 early in 2010 to audio professionals and field tested it. They took that feedback and improved the driver further, with the MG6Pro coming out a few months after.
 
One key point about these customs is that their dynamic drivers are very durable and much more easy to service than armature-based customs, which tend to be more delicate. You can also upgrade your MG6Pro Ear Monitors whenever the next generation comes out for a fraction of the price of a new monitor! Think about that, it’s a great feature.
 
A second point is that the 13mm driver doesn't require extra room for crossovers, additional drivers, etc. I have small ears and the MG6Pro was no problem at all in terms of fit.
 
Another interesting thing about these is that while the outer shell is acrylic, but it’s not an all-acrylic design! A dynamic driver requires special positioning and so they use a second, proprietary, material inside to properly seat the driver. This second material is full of tiny bubbles and that gives a clear acrylic MG6Pro Ear Monitor an interesting look (of course, it can also come in many different colors, even in a chrome finish).
 
Another interesting feature is the system of Low-Frequency Vents (LFVs). In order to move the air for living bass energy, a dynamic driver needs to breathe. The 4 LFVs are little tiny interchangeable plugs with a hole (the vent) in them. They vary from a smaller hole to a medium hole to a larger hole, or no hole at all. One can easily be removed and another size vent used in its place. Each larger size brings up the sub-bass presence and energy up a bit. It also effects isolation, which I’ll discuss next.
 
Isolation: This, like the bass, is dependent on the Low-Frequency Vents. Using the LFV which closes off the vent, one achieves what I imagine is the exactly the same isolation as any other acrylic custom monitor. This is very good isolation indeed. With LFVs which allow air to pass, there is a loss of a few decibels of isolation, but the isolation is still reasonable, depending on your needs. Going out into a wind-tunnel of a chilly winter day with the MG6Pro and the medium size opening LVFs, there was decent isolation, but there was wind noise as well. You gain something in sound for any loss, though, so it all depends on your situation. I like to use the medium sized vents and have no problem using it on the subway, but then, my isolation needs aren’t so great. If I needed more isolation, I might use the LFV which seals the vent entirely, for maximum outside noise reduction. One could also very easily place a bit of foam (it's easy to buy replacement foam for cheap earbuds/earphones) in a vent and adjust  the bass and isolation perfectly to one's liking.
 
The Sound: The head audio engineer for the Country Music Awards told me (yes, I emailed him and asked what he thought) that Future Sonics Ear Monitors offered “true reference quality sound”, in his opinion. I’m not a professional audio engineer, but I can definitely hear where he’s coming from.
 
The overall sound signature is natural, balanced and engaging.
 
What natural means to me is that the MG6Pro doesn’t sound colored or boosted to me anywhere in its frequency range. It also refers to the superior timbre—that hard to define but easy to recognize ability to convey the true-to-life sound of all the richness and subtle resonance of an instrument such as the human voice or a violin. I think that these qualities are part of what the senior audio engineer I politely pestered was talking about.   
 
Balanced means to me that I don’t hear a certain frequency range coming ahead of any other, generally speaking. With the LFVs, this can change a little according to one’s taste, as I’ll mention below.  Other earphones may be tuned with a very forward midrange, or a boosted extra-bright treble or a mid-bass hump to give beats extra bounce—the MG6Pro has none of these, to my ears. I think people who want a colored (“fun”) sound won’t necessarily find that the MG6Pro is for them. It’s just a matter of knowing what kind of sound you are looking for and matching your preference to the earphone you buy.
 
And that brings me to the last adjective, engaging. These are professional reference and stage monitors and very smooth at every frequency, but they can really rock and I often find myself listening for longer and enjoying my music more.
 
Treble: This is a stage monitor in its tuning, so the treble is non-sibilant and non-fatiguing. The treble is well-extended, and nicely shines and sparkles. It’s very accurate and both violins and female vocalists, as well as cymbals, chimes, etc. all come alive with a good recording and the MG6Pro. However, it’s not the sharp, bright treble of a lot of earphones, so perhaps some people might say it’s not as bright at first. I spoke to Marty Garcia about how some people found his Atrios (universal-fit earphone) line a bit dark. From his own work as professional audio engineer and working with professional music clientele, he felt that it was better to give a natural treble than one he thought was artificially boosted. I can say the MG6Pro has a great natural treble with presence and sparkle. Lovers of treble on the edgy bright side may wish to look elsewhere.   
 
Mid-range: The mids of the MG6Pro really let the music sing without getting in the way. Whenever I try to describe them, I try listening to some music…and end up listening and listening… So, I think I can say first that they are not recessed, nor are they overly forward. It’s not a thin-sounding earphone by any stretch, but notes aren’t overly thick nor does the decay overstay its welcome. They are quite well-detailed, but not artificially analytical. I think you can see why I keep coming back to natural and balanced as descriptions.
 
Bass: I was surprised by just how well mannered and controlled the bass on these was while still giving that moving-air living bass energy that I wanted. It’s very well detailed and layered. The bass doesn’t have a mid-bass hump and doesn’t intrude on the midrange. It does, however, extend down all the way past human perception. Marty Garcia mentioned that Ear Monitors are intentionally engineered to give bass down to 10hz (where we can’t really hear it) because he feels that the feeling of the air against our ears at that vibration still adds something meaningful. I have to say that I have experienced what he means, it’s really something interesting and there is a life and a dimension of space added to the bass somewhere deep in that sub-bass range.  Further, I can also say that there really is something to this moving air quality that is part of our perception of bass. This is one of the key things that sets the MG6Pro apart from armature-based customs as they don’t move the air. When I use my fingers to plug the MG6Pro’s vents while listening, the effect is immediate and tangible—I feel a slight but noticeable pressure in my ears from the driver moving air! It’s also not recommended, but I did it for science.
 
On to the Low Frequency Vents: With the LFV which seals the vent entirely, the air cannot fully move and the sub-bass takes a step back. It’s very well controlled and still quite muscular when the song calls for it, but sounds to my ears politely as though it allows the mids, and treble to take the lead forward. This is probably many audiophiles’ idea of balance and they will love this sound. The isolation is also the greatest with this LFV.
 
The small opening LFV lets the driver breath and the sub-bass takes on that added dimension of life and comes up a little, with a loss of some isolation. The sense of space and soundstage also increases. The bass quantity is equal with the midrange to my ears and things will be just right for many listeners.
 
The medium opening, well, this is my favorite at the moment and I would say it’s pretty great as the sub-bass comes up by a decibel or so, yet still balanced.
 
Even at the largest opening LFV, the bass is well controlled, but it’s presence and space have increased. I could see this LFV being very nice for stage use. Lovers of bass will like this setting as well, although I would not say it’s overmuch to my ears.
 
Music genres: I tend to listen to classical and Indian classical music, both types of music that require excellent timbre, good levels of detail while remaining natural-sounding and excellent extension in the bass and treble. Anyone who thinks that classical music lacks bass has never heard a timpani or double bass in a symphony! The MG6Pro handles these music types very well, sounding coherent yet with the spaciousness to avoid any congestion. Every part of the orchestra sounds clear, even as they are all playing together. Stereo imaging, the out-of-the-head sense that each musician is playing in a different space, is excellent. I was happy to note that the non-sibilant treble could also extend high and sparkle with piccolo trills, chimes and sopranos hitting the highest of notes. String quartets sound lovely, solo piano, too. Jazz is another genre the MG6Pro does very well with, unsurprisingly. Indian classical music presents a special challenge in terms of very, very fast drumming (the tabla's treble drum) and a variable-pitch precise low frequency (the tabla's bass drum) combined with micro-tonal precision in the melodic instruments--such as the famous sitar--which have a number of strings resonating sympathetically underneath the main melodic ones. All this leads to music with a lot of very subtle and complex tonal colors which stretch the frequency spectrum from base to very high treble and go from very slow to very, very fast. It's a challenge for any earphone and the MG6Pro handles this hard-to-produce music superbly and just like I've heard it live in concert. And that's really saying something.
 
I also listened to some fast trance and some Norwegian death metal to see if the MG6pro could keep up. While they aren’t my cup of tea music genres, the MG6Pro is clearly completely at home with trance, its spaciousness is unreal for this music. In fact, I would say that the MG6Pro are fanstatic earphones for trance. It has the speed for the death metal, every hoarse shout and growl was…you know, I really need to talk to the guy who recommended that…However, a person who listens mainly to death metal with a lot of heavy distortion may not appreciate the truly excellent reproduction of guitars and voices this earphoes has. In that case, perhaps a different custom with a multi-armature design (most other brands) might be an option. 
 
For a bit of rock I listened to one of my favorite drummers, Thomas Pridgen, and a few tracks from the band he used to be with, The Mars Volta. The MG6Pro captures his drumming very nicely and I’m happy to report that his cymbals sound perfectly real, which is something that many earphone can't reproduce nearly as well.
There really isn’t a type of music I could see causing a problem for these earphones. That’s what you expect at this level. It’s nice to confirm, though.
 
In Conclusion: I think these custom in-ear monitors have a lot to recommend them for professional or audiophile use. They certainly deserve more attention from audiophiles as they have a high quality sound with excellent customer service. The MG6Pro reproduces music in a realistic and natural-sounding way that puts even much more expensive custom earphones to shame in direct comparison. The way they can be upgraded to the next generation driver for a fraction of the cost of a new custom, their durability and ease of repair and the way the bass quantity can be adjusted make them a very strong choice. Certainly those who come from dynamic driver earphones or headphones should think about the MG6Pro Ear Monitor, as well as those wanting a balanced, natural sound at every part of the frequency range. Those who like a very bright or a colored sound or if isolation is more important than sound quality might wish to look at other options.
 
Update! Three years later (!!!), I'm still very happy with my MG6Pro!

 

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Synopsis: The Future Sonics MG5pro is a professional stage monitor for audiophiles. It offers a different tuning than its brother, the fully stage-oriented MG6pro, by offering a brighter, more overall tonally balanced tuning. The MG5pro lifts the vocal ranges and matches this with an accurate, well extended treble. The bass is very well controlled and yet has one of the most real low-end sounds of any earphone. Using a single, full range 10mm dynamic driver, it competes with more expensive multi-armature earphones. By keeping the price at $750, Future Sonics has one of the best values in custom-fit earphones with the MG5pro.

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Disclaimer: I paid for my set of MG5pro earphones. Future Sonics has never asked me to do a review of any kind for any of their products. I'm writing this review solely because this set has become one of my go-to earphones and I think more people should know about it.
 
 
Introduction: Marty Garcia, CEO of Future Sonics was the first person to put custom in-ear monitors (CIEMs) on stage, back in 1982 for Todd Rundgren. In 1985, Mr. Garcia offered the first commercially available CIEMs, for which he was later inducted into the TEC Hall of Fame (http://tecfoundation.com/hof/10techof.html). So, the MG5pros are designed by the person who kicked off CIEMs and has been around longer than anyone. And interestingly, they use a different set up than most CIEMs available today, going with single dynamic drivers in vented shells rather than closed shell multi-armatures. To understand why that is, we need to look at the thinking that goes into Future Sonics CIEMs.
 
 
Future Sonics' Philosophy: As a Future Sonics customer, I've had the chance to talk directly with Mr. Garcia and he's shared some of his views on audio. Listening to him, it's really a kind of philosophy of sound, based on the science of the human ear. As I understand it: The ear drum vibrates forward and back for us to hear sound waves. Due to the range and emphasis of the human voice, certain frequencies are emphasized over others and the ear canal itself has its own resonances (which change when something like an earphone plugs the entrance to the canal). At the lower frequencies, we feel the air-moving quality of bass sounds as much as we hear them.
 
This is what led Marty Garcia to work with vented shell designs with dynamic drivers. A dynamic driver's diaphragm also moves forward and back, like the ear drum, and the vent design allows not only the dynamic driver to move properly, but also lets the ear drum move without air pressure interfering with its movement. An earphone that allows the ear drum to move correctly is going sound better and the music will sound more real.
 
When it comes to bass, having a vented design allows for a real air-moving feel to bass. Marty Garcia found that musicians were turning up the volume on their closed-shell armature monitors in an attempt to get the feel of the bass. That's why even musicians with high isolation monitors tended to listen at a high volume level. Having a real bass feel means musicians can keep their volume relatively lower in a loud stage environment, even though the isolation of vented designs is slightly less. I find the same effect on a noisy subway or plane ride.
 
 
Customer Service: As owners of CIEMs have found, customer service is a huge factor in owning a custom-fit earphone (and issues can come up with earphones from any company). Future Sonics has a longer gap in between new generations of their earphones and they really take the time to get things right before they go up for sale. Once you buy a Future Sonics product, they treat you like a rock star, which only makes sense since the vast majority of their customers are pro musicians.
 
Future Sonics has been in business for 25+ years, so they have a system in place for customer service. For example, when I had fit issues with my first CIEM, the MG6pro, there was a series of steps to go through, starting with making adjustments to the shell (a re-fit) before jumping into having a new earmold made, which I ended up needing. I worked with them patiently, but, of course, when there's an issue, everyone wants things fixed yesterday. It was worth it to get things right. Future Sonics has been one of the most professional companies I've worked with.
 
 
Fit: Fit makes a giant difference in the sound you hear from your earphone. What we hear isn't only what an earphone sounds like! It is how that earphone's sound comes through your unique ears and auditory system. Everyone's ear canal is slightly different and, contrary to what's often said, there's a lot of variation even with CIEMs that fit comfortably. Without the right fit (no vacuum feeling, no pressure in the ear, but good isolation with full bass and an open feel), you won't get the sound you want.
 
Furthermore, there are types of hearing damage that can give you extra sensitivity to certain frequencies, causing you to hear spikes that aren't present in the earphone response itself. All that is to say: Work with a good audiologist who has a lot of experience with making earmolds for musicians and then work with your CIEM company until things sound right and don't stop until it's right. I just tell audiologists that I'm a singer (which is true, in the shower) so they know I want a great fit even when my mouth is open. A good piece of advice is: Don't cheap out on your visit to the audiologist and have a hearing test while you are there.
 
 
Upgrades: One special thing about Future Sonics CIEMs is that when a new generation driver comes out years from now, you can have your set upgraded for a fraction of the price of a new set. However, you should also know that these cannot be sold and re-shelled by a third party.
 
 
The MG5Pro: The MG5pro has a single 10mm high-performance dynamic driver. It's $750 when purchased directly from FutureSonics.com
 
 


The MG5pro*
*Tiny piece of my earwax I just noticed on the left earpiece not included with purchase
 
 

An in-ear shot of the MG5pro
 
 
The 10mm driver: 
Maybe this should go under customer service, but I confess, I have asked Marty Garcia and his chief of operations, David Gray, about the MG5pro driver many, many times. And they've always been very nice and incredibly patient. So, there's the 13mm MG6pro's driver and then there's the universal fit Atrio (now only available from Future Sonics themselves) which also has a 10mm driver. Where does the 10mm MG5pro driver fit in? (question one of a hundred I asked). Well, first of all, the MG5pro has a different driver than the Atrio. The diaphragm itself is a bit different, and, interestingly, in order to have a driver in a custom-fit design, there are a number of differences versus a universal fit. So you couldn't really just take your favorite dynamic driver earphone and put it in a custom-fit shell. Not if you want it to sound its best, at least. And the MG5pro sounds pretty darn good.
 
 
Isolation: While the MG5pro is vented behind the driver, it actually has quite good isolation, just a step behind fully sealed acrylic customs. Furthermore, noise from wind-the turbulence of air passing over the vent-is present but small as well. It does very well in the subway and commuting situations, as well as international flights, assuming, of course, that the fit is good.
 
 
The Sound:
 
 
My set-up: different set-ups can definitely give a different emphasis to sound, so let's get that out of the way. I use the excellent Apex Glacier portable amplifier coupled with a 5.5 gen ipod for my main audio set-up. It's small, portable and has a great sound. The Glacier has plenty of power for earphones and headphones and is tuned to sound like a high-end tube amp. It has a clear, well-extended range with a bit of warmth and organic smoothness to it. It's a non-fatiguing sound that pairs well with a range of CIEMs.
 
Impedance: While the MG5pro sounds great straight out of a galaxy S5, I'd say it scales up in sound quality when you give it the power the Glacier offers.
 
This is perhaps in part because the MG5pro is a higher impedance earphone, thanks to the juice pro set-ups offer. That means MG5pro likes power and has a black background (no hiss). While a Galaxy S5 can drive it to quite loud levels, a decent portable player or even a small portable amp to drive it, would be a nice match. You'll get that extra little amount of detail and control to your sound, really bringing the MG5pro to the pro level at which it was meant to perform. Speaking of which...
 
 
A story about the MG5pro's sound quality: A while back I had a full three day weekend with universal fit demos of three top CIEMs. I very carefully found eartips that didn't obscure the sound nozzles, got a perfect fit that disappears in the ears and allowed at least 30 minutes of listening just to allow my ears and brain to get used to the tuning of a CIEM (usually while reading and pretending to get some work done) before really doing at least an hour of serious listening. Then, I'd switch to the next CIEM...that's a normal way to spend time, right?
 
At the end of one of these long listening sessions, I said to myself "This sounds really great, which CIEM is this one, again?" When I looked over, all the demos were on a side table and I realized that 120 minutes before I had taken a break from them and put the MG5pros in my ears!
 
I've had the MG5pro for 4 months now, so it's no passing fancy or flavor of the month, but a true favorite. Each person is going to look for a different sound. With that in mind, if the MG5pro is right for you, it really does compete at a much lower price. Let's look at how it sounds.
 
 
Overall Sound Signature: The MG5pro starts with a lifelike, vibrant midrange and adds an accurate treble that's not too bright or dark and a special bass that isn't too much in amount but has extraordinary punch and depth. It's got a very spacious soundstage (with a good fit that doesn't have a vacuum effect, of course) and great timbre. I'll expand on each of these points below:
 
 
Tonality: The overall tonality is balanced, avoiding over-thick sounding warmth on the one hand and thinness on the other. One of the MG5pro's strengths is that it does very well with a wide variety of music genres and this is part of the reason. People coming from either extreme will take a little time to grow accustomed to the MG5pro's monitor sound, but it's worth it as these are a real treat.
 
 
The timbre, or realistic reproduction of subtle qualities that make vocal and instrumental music sound truly lifelike, is very good. Dynamic drivers often do very well with this and this earphone is no exception. Violins, male and female voices, guitars, pianos sounds real with the MG5pro.
 
Clarity: The clarity is excellent overall, even beating those flagship CIEMs which have a slight veil to their sound. However, there's no 5khz spike with the MG5pro. That's what usually gives an artificial clarity (compensating for hearing loss in that frequncy-as well as causing it!). Here, you get a clarity that doesn't push itself in your ears. Plus, the lack of added thickness and richness to note decay does give a clearer sound simply by avoiding any muddiness. Due to this choice in tuning, I'd say it'll be middle of the pack for top-tier CIEMs, ahead of the veiled ones and lacking the added clarity of ones with a 5khz boost.
 
 
Soundstage: Spacious and as close to a headphone as an in-ear monitor can be. The vented design probably adds to this here while maintaining isolation. Of course, fit plays a role here to get the best soundstage and sound and the recording itself has many of the cues our ears rely on to create the sense of a soundstage with earphones. That's why an earphone like the MG5pro has the ability to sound greatly spacious with some recordings, and to sound more intimate with others.
 
This a very cohesive, lifelike sound. Thanks to the single driver, artificial separation and even the smallest phase issues are avoided entirely. To me, dynamic driver designs like the MG5pro give me what I want, which is the sound of live music. Each instrument has its place, but the single driver and sound tube gives that sense of all the instruments and voices playing together in the same space. For dissecting one's music, the multiple drivers and separate sound tubes of a multi-armature design might serve more.
 
 
Midrange, the heart of the music: The MG5pro is a professional stage monitor and its tuning and sound are part of an interesting take on its purpose. Future Sonics is perhaps the only CIEM maker where the chief of operations is a musician who uses his FS products on stage.
 
The first and maybe most important part of this is that the heart of the vocal range has a boost. This is what allows the lead instruments and voices to rise above the mix of sounds in a performance so everyone can accompany them. Having said that, the MG5pro has less of a vocal boost than some other stage CIEMs, including its brother the MG6pro. The MG5pro is balanced in tuning so that full range instruments, such as a piano, sound great and natural from top to bottom.  Plus, the human ear is keyed to sounds in the human vocal range, so we tend to hear to this boost as sounding natural, bringing music alive. I've had some very expensive CIEMs that have a drop in frequency response at this range and they eventually ended up in my desk drawer for having a dull sound. Not the MG5pro, which is in my ears as I write these words. This slight boost allows the MG5pro to really rock while at the same time having the non-fatiguing, flatter, accurate sounding tonality of a true monitor. Across a wide range of genres, from classical and jazz to rock and pop, these earphones give a real sense of letting you immerse in a feeling of live music.
 
The only fatigue I found was on a poorly recorded musician-self-published track where there was ringing resonance at 3khz or so. Every CIEM I own reproduced this ringing in the recording and the MG5pro, true to its accurate tuning, rang heartily at high volumes with this recording. People with lot of really poorly recorded music or those with a "noise notch" (hearing damage usually around 4khz with hypersensitivity to 3-3.5khz and elsewhere) will want to avoid loud listening to this sort of track with these.
 
 
Treble: This is a smooth, full sounding treble with good extension. Unlike other stage monitors, the MG5pro avoids a dark sound with a brighter tuning. It's a fully present treble with no thinness and a nice weight to the high notes of a violin, cymbal or woman's voice.  By having a flatter, more "matte" tuning, it avoids glaring harshness in the treble as well for a non-fatiguing, clear, monitor sound. People who want a dark sound, or those who want extra edgy harshness or those who like added sibilant bite to their treble may look elsewhere.
 
 
Bass: For a real bass sound, this is one of the best. The bass here has less quantity than some bass heavy earphones (still north of neutral), yet it more than competes in bass feel thanks to the real air-moving quality provided by its vent system. I really enjoy my closed shell multi-armature CIEMs, but they don't have the air-moving quality in the bass found here.
 
Maybe it's that special vent design that gives the MG5pro some of the best bass punch I've ever heard in an earphone. Bass dynamics, going from silence to a powerfully and fully textured boom, are phenomenal here. The bass is balanced enough to enjoy in a library, but has the punch and feel to make its presence felt over the growl of the plane or train. I'm always a little surprised when I go to more bassy earphones because it's a reminder of how the MG5pro's bass achieves more with less quantity.
 
Overall, this is a natural sounding bass with excellent sub-bass extension and texture. It allows the MG5pro to sound great with bassy music while remaining balanced with acoustic genres. 
 
 
 
Conclusion: The MG5pro is an excellent all-around CIEM at a price several hundred dollars less than some of its rivals. With a less warm, accurate tonality that lifts the vocal range, this stage monitor for audiophiles is balanced by a non-fatiguing treble with good brightness and a bass that keeps surprising power well under control. For those who are looking to bring this kind of live stage music sound home, the Future Sonics MG5pro is one of the top choices around.

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Synopsis: The Noble Audio 4C is a custom-fit in-ear monitor (ciem) characterized by a flat tuning with no peaks or dips from the lower bass to the lower treble range. This upgraded tuning eliminates the dip in frequency response found in the older model. The bass, while not boosted at all, has excellent extension , the mids are clear and the treble is flat until a lift in the upper range which adds a sense of clarity and air to the sound. The tuning is excellent for acoustic, classical, folk, jazz, and rock genres and generally for audiophiles looking for a flat, accurate sound. Those who prefer bass-heavy earphones and music genres as well as those who listen primarily while travelling may wish for a tuning with more bass quantity for their dubstep or to balance train/plane engine roar.

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I’ll be reviewing a sample provided by Noble.
 
 
Dr. John Moulton and the team at Noble Audio
Dr. John Moulton, known as The Wizard, needs no introduction  but I will say that Dr. Moulton has assembled a highly experienced team of experienced engineers to form Noble Audio. Noble is set up very wisely: By giving each of his team a share in the company, they can really put their hearts into what they do and everyone will reap the benefits of their hard work and talent. John has assured that Noble is built to last for years to come, just like his earphones.
 
 
The Noble Audio Line at NobleAudio.com :
Noble Audio will carry a full line of custom fit in-ear monitors (ciems) and universal fit in-ear monitors (iems). The high-end iems will be rolling out soon, but for now let’s look at the ciems available:
 
Kaiser 10, this is the all-new 10-driver flagship. Here is my review of the Kaiser. Here’s a review by the scholar and gentleman, Sorensiim.
8C, this is the re-tuned and updated version of Dr. Moulton’s earlier 8-driver. He says it adds clarity and treble presence to his older tuning. Here’s a review of the Noble 8C by the professional reviewer and full-time nice guy, project86.
 
5C, this is John’s 5-driver custom. It’s the same as his earlier 5-driver universal, now in custom form. He describes it as having a bassy signature similar to his older 8-driver. This model will be available in both acrylic and silicone shells. The silicone shells are innovative in that they allow for a custom faceplate!
 
4C, this is the re-tuned and updated version of his earlier 4-driver. You’re reading a review of it right now! You can look at project86’s 8C review for his thoughts on the 4C as well. A review of the 4S—the silicone shelled version—by |joker| will be coming soon as well.
 
3C, this is all-new, totally re-designed 3-driver with some special, new drivers from Knowles (the foremost designer and manufacturer of balanced armature drivers). Dr. Moulton says it’s tuned for a v-shaped, fun signature. It’s available in both acrylic and silicone shells. Yes, the silicone shells can have a custom faceplate.
 
 
CIEMs:
One thing I always like to mention is that with any ciem from anywhere, ever, is that this is a product designed to fit your unique ears. Fit is absolutely vital to the sound quality and isolation and comfort. You get that all-important fit by having an audiologist make an impression and this is what the audio company has to work with. Don’t try to go cheap with this! Work with audiologists who have experience making impressions for musicians and audiophiles and not only with hearing aids which require a much less precise fit. Even with the best audiologist, you may not get a perfect fit the first time, that’s the nature of ciems. Again, this is true with any company, anywhere, ever. So, it’s important to consider not only the product, but the customer service when it comes to ciems.
I’m repeating this from my Kaiser review verbatim, but I’d like to add that having a great fit is even more important with the Noble 4C and ciems like it that have a flat sound. The reason is that the bass isn’t boosted and a perfect fit is vital to get the bass that is there in its proper amount. A more bassy-earphone might be able to get away with some poor fit-induced loss of low-end, but a flatter tuned ciem won’t.
 
 
Customer Service:
Noble Audio may be a new company, but everyone in it has a long experience in high-end portable audio and ciems. They really know how to give excellent customer service. I’ve worked with John for several years now with a few of his earlier ciems and I can say that I’ve had great experiences and I’ve talked to others who have as well. You’ll be in good hands.
Noble will have representatives in the U.S. for American customers and a representative in the U.K. for customers in the E.U. Of course, for folks in S.E. Asia, shipping can come direct from China. Noble Audio is on top of things from the start.
 
 
The Noble 4C:
This is a 4 driver design, with 2 drivers for the low-end, one for midrange and one for treble.
 
I’ll be reviewing a review sample set.
 
These are some professional pictures by Darrin Fong. My set has mother-of-pearl faceplates. These pictures are much better than I could take, but I will say that this set looks even better in real life!
 

 

 
Here's a silicone shell 4S for head-fi reviewer |joker|:
 

 
 
Here’s another set of Noble 4C with a feather in the faceplate! That’s a first. Look at Noble Audio’s facebook page for examples of what Noble can do in terms of colors and special faceplate designs.
 

 
 
The Sound:
One of the first things to know about the sound is that the Noble 4C is a re-tuning of Dr.  Moulton’s earlier 4-driver design.  Dr. Moulton’s earlier generation of a flat-tuned 4-driver generated a lot of attention, some of it very positive, some not quite as positive, and then there were a few very negative reviews. The negative feelings, for those who had them, centered around a dip in the frequency response around 4khz. Obviously, it’s something that some didn’t notice and others noticed a lot.
 
You should be aware that the new Noble 4C has been re-tuned to explicitly address some of the critiques of these older designs.
The new Noble 4C’s tuning removes entirely the dip in the frequency response.
 
 
Overall:
I’ve been listening mostly out of an Apex Glacier amp paired with my trusty 5.5^th gen ipod.
 
Sensitivity: The Noble 4C runs nicely straight out of my 5.5^th gen ipod. I think people running from an anemic source might lose that last full measure of extension and detail the 4C has to offer, so amping would be a good idea then.
 
Tuning: The Noble 4C has a flat tuning that extends very well into the sub-bass range all the way through the bass and all the way through the midrange up into the treble, where there’s the first obvious rise at around 5k. Proponents of a flat tuning often say that it’s the most true to the recording as it’s not giving or taking anything from what the recording has to offer. The Noble 4C sounds balanced through the majority of its range and the rise at 5k serves to give a slightly heightened sense of clarity and brightness. It’s a clean sound with no excess warmth or richness added in, but rather a sense of accuracy. Those of you who want this sort of sound will have found your slice of heaven here and those who are looking for a bassier, warmer or darker sound will need to look elsewhere. I find this tuning does very well with classical, jazz and acoustic music genres as well as rock, for example. Not so much for dubstep!
 
 One thing I’d like to add is that the Noble 4C has a nice timbre—the realistic reproduction of vocal and instrumental sounds. Cymbals do nicely with the 4C.
 
Imaging and Soundstage:  The Noble 4C does well with imaging, but I would say it doesn’t match the Kaiser 10 in this regard. The soundstage feels quite spacious but the instruments themselves are placed a bit more intimately overall than top-tier ciems. 
 
Bass: The bass extension of the Noble 4C is really quite excellent. There’s no roll-off, but rather a flat extension down to the lowest of lows. However, there’s no boost, either. It’s a clean, clear, tight, controlled bass that can punch when called on by the recording. It’s really quite enjoyable and it fits the overall tuning perfectly. In a quiet room, those who like flat tunings will find there’s plenty of thump for them. I could use a bit more down below for added naturalness, but people who are familiar with my reviews know my preferences are for bassier tunings—and I often listen on the go where added bass helps to counter plane/train engine roar.
 
Midrange: It’s very clean and this adds to the sense of clarity the 4C gives. While the absolute detail retrieval may be second to much more expensive, top-tier ciems, the 4C really nails giving you a “window-on-the-music” sort of accurate sound. It sounds as if nothing has been added to your music and nothing taken away. You may want something added in terms of warmth if you want that sort of sound, but people looking for clean and clear will find it here.
 
Treble: The 4C’s treble is interesting. The lower treble is part of the broad flat tuning that covers the bass and midrange. That lift at 5k adds to perceived clarity and gives some added excitement to cymbals and violins. The flipside of this is that, while it passed my sibilance prone test tracks without a problem, I do feel that the Noble 4C isn’t going to take any harshness away from tracks that already have it. So, you may find that listening to poorly mastered, harsh tracks is more easy with darkly tuned earphones than the brighter 4C. The flat tuning below 5k doesn’t continue above it and I get a sense of some dips after the rise at 5k, although the “air” (which audio engineers define around 10k) is good. Treble extension isn’t as good as the Kaiser 10, which simply has more drivers to devote to the high-end.
 
 
Conclusion: The Noble 4C is a very well done middle-tier custom in-ear monitor with a sound that will appeal to everyone who wants a flat, accurate sound with an extra dose of clarity and brightness in the treble. To those who want and enjoy best hearing the music just as it is in the recording, the 4C is a good match. People looking for extra bass and warmth, those who like a darkly tuned earphone and those who listen to bassy music on their urban commute may wish to look at a different earphone.

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Synopsis: The Noble Audio Kaiser 10 is at the summit of custom in-ear-monitors representing the flagship of new designs from Dr. John Moulton. The Kaiser 10’s 10 drivers have been brought together seamlessly for superior coherency and a very realistic, natural sound. These drivers give great depth and extension to the Kaiser 10’s balanced tuning. The bass is present and very capable but not boosted or forward, the midrange is clear and very smooth with slight warmth, the vocal range has a gentle lift to bring it to the forefront, and the excellent treble is smoothly bright and non-fatiguing. With no sonic weaknesses, the Kaiser 10 does very well with a wide array of music genres, making it a very good choice for audiophiles looking for the most versatile choice at the top-tier of portable audio.

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Dr. John Moulton and the team at Noble Audio:
Dr. John Moulton, known as The Wizard, needs no introduction but perhaps a little history and background: John is a doctor of audiology and has a long history of working with high-end portable audio. His first company was Full Circle and the seed of his later ciem designs first came to fruition there. Next was Heir Audio, which was quite successful as John continued refining his designs and the artistry for which he quickly became known for. He brought together a team of highly experienced technicians and engineers with finely tuned skills. It is this team which John has brought over to Noble Audio. Noble is set up very wisely: By giving each of his team a share in the company, they can really put their hearts into what they do and everyone will reap the benefits of their hard work and talent. John has assured that Noble is built to last for years to come, just like his earphones.
 
 
The Noble Audio Line at NobleAudio.com :
Noble Audio will carry a full line of custom fit in-ear monitors (ciems) and universal fit in-ear monitors (iems). The high-end iems will be rolling out soon, but for now let’s look at the ciems available:
 
Kaiser 10, this is the all-new 10-driver flagship. You’re reading a review of it right now!
 
8C, this is the re-tuned and updated version of Dr. Moulton’s earlier 8-driver. He says it adds clarity and treble presence to his older tuning.
 
5C, this is John’s 5-driver custom. It’s the same as his earlier 5-driver universal, now in custom form. He describes it as having a bassy signature similar to his older 8-driver. This model will be available in both acrylic and silicone shells. The silicone shells are innovative in that they allow for a custom faceplate!
 
4C, this is the re-tuned and updated version of his earlier 4-driver. The 4C’s new tuning eliminates any dips in the frequency response. It’s a clear, clean sound which is flat with a bit of brightness in the treble. I have it and will write a review later. This is the one you want if you want an analytic sound. It is available in both acrylic and silicone shells. Did I mention the silicone shells are innovative in that they allow for a custom faceplate? I’m going to repeat it for the 3-driver custom, too!
 
3C, this is all-new, totally re-designed 3-driver with some special, new drivers from Knowles (the foremost designer and manufacturer of balanced armature drivers). John says it’s tuned for a v-shaped, fun signature. It’s available in both acrylic and silicone shells. Yes, the silicone shells can have a custom faceplate.
 
 
CIEMs:
One thing I always like to mention is that with any ciem from anywhere, ever, is that this is a product designed to fit your unique ears. Fit is absolutely vital to the sound quality and isolation and comfort. You get that all-important fit by having an audiologist make an impression and this is what the audio company has to work with. Don’t try to go cheap with this! Work with audiologists who have experience making impressions for musicians and audiophiles and not only with hearing aids which require a much less precise fit. Even with the best audiologist, you may not get a perfect fit the first time, that’s the nature of ciems. Again, this is true with any company, anywhere, ever. So, it’s important to consider not only the product, but the customer service when it comes to ciems.
 
 
Customer Service:
Noble Audio may be a new company, but everyone in it has a long experience in high-end portable audio and ciems. They really know how to give excellent customer service. I’ve worked with John for several years now with a few of his earlier ciems and I can say that I’ve had great experiences and I’ve talked to others who have as well. You’ll be in good hands.
Noble will have representatives in the U.S. for American customers and a representative in the U.K. for customers in the E.U. Of course, for folks in S.E. Asia, shipping can come direct from China. Noble Audio is on top of things from the start.
 
 
The Kaiser 10:
 
The Kaiser 10 retails for $1599. An important point is that wood or carbon fiber faceplates, custom colors are INCLUDED in that price. Yes, wood or carbon fiber faceplates are free, that’s huge. To get a faceplate personally designed by the Wizard himself costs a bit extra.
 
Also, shipping is INCLUDED in that price.
 
The key point is that you can get a Kaiser 10 which looks just like the one I've reviewed (minus the Wizard signature) for $1599 flat.
 
 
Here are some professional pictures of my Kaiser 10 by Darin Fong. He did a lot better job than I could have! This is a beautiful design by the Wizard.

 
 
 

 
 


Incredible, right?
 
 
 
Design:
The Kaiser 10 is set up with two giant CI drivers for bass, a dual armature for mids, a dual armature for upper mids, and a dual armature for treble paired with another dual armature for upper treble in a 4-way design. This design uses the same two huge CI drivers as the 8 driver design but several of the other drivers from the 8 have been replaced with different models for the Kaiser and the overall sound is far different than older version of the 8-driver which I am familiar with.
 
 
Isolation and Fit:
This is an acrylic shell custom and has the same isolation as every other acrylic shell ciem (assuming you have a good fit).
One thing to note is that multi-armature ciems that have 8 and more drivers are going to be larger than ones that have 2 or 3 drivers. The drivers and other components take up more room. Now, this is all relative as ciems run pretty small as it is, but for those with small ears, your ciem may stick out a few millimeters more with an 8 or 10 driver ciem. It shouldn’t be an issue for most, but it is something to be aware of.
 
 
Cable: Although the cable on mine is a usual generic custom cable, all Noble Audio orders will go out with the new improved Magnus cable at no extra charge. I'll be receiving a review sample of that cable to try on the Kaiser 10. It should be a great cable.
 
 
Overall Sound:
 
The Kaiser 10 I'll be reviewing is a review sample from Noble Audio. I've taken several weeks to listen to it and get over any "honeymoon" period. I'll be describing it just as I hear it.
 
I tend to run the Kaiser out of my 5.5^th gen ipod paired with an Apex Glacier portable amplifier. Another thing to note is that I did extensive listening both at home, but also on commute in the noisy subways of New York City. This is important as you should consider where you will be doing your listening. If you listen on commute, be it plane or train, keep in mind that you may need an earphone that has more bass capability to balance the outside noise. Of course, isolation is important as well.
 
 
The Tuning: The Kaiser has a balanced, natural sounding signature with a very cohesive overall sound. This is a very skillfully tuned earphone! I don’t want to overstate anything as the whole tuning is about gentle lifts here and there to give this natural, balanced effect. Watch me use the word “slight” to describe everything! Usually earphones have some extreme somewhere in their sound, a boosted bass or a piercingly bright treble, the Kaiser just doesn’t. The vocal range is slightly lifted and takes a gracious center stage, as it should being the heart of the music. The bass has great presence. However, to the ear, it’s only very slightly lifted and comes in level with the treble, which is smoothly bright and extended. There’s a nice amount of realistic thickness to the note decay and warmth to the midrange. It avoids a dry sound and gives life to the music. Clarity is very good without distracting your attention from the holistic sound the Kaiser faithfully presents. The soundstage is nice, allowing cues from the recording rather than forcing the sound to be intimate or far away. The 10-drivers could almost be a single driver as far as the ear is concerned. All problems of poor driver coherency such as an artificially separated sound or each driver having its own soundstage are eliminated with the Kaiser.
People who are looking for one part of the sound or sound quality to be emphasized (always at a cost somewhere else) will want to look elsewhere as the Kaiser really gives a complete package.
 
 
Treble: The Kaiser’s treble is extraordinary. It really gives a very nice brightness and air without harshness—a balance that is very hard to find. Violins and cymbals sound great and the timbre of voices and instruments are very good, surpassing the older, darker 8.A in this regard. The treble extension is superior and there’s no fatigue. It’s the best treble I’ve heard from an multi-armature design. People looking for a dark sound or people looking for extra edge and sibilance won’t find that here.
 
Midrange: The beautiful midrange has nice warmth, but far less than Dr. Moulton’s older, thickly warm 8.A. The Kaiser’s mids are clear and the vocal range has a slight lift to bring it just a bit to the forefront. Music comes alive with this tuning and the Kaiser has a way of making drawing you into your music.
 
Bass: This is a very high quality bass. The bass is very well controlled and not boosted beyond what sounds natural. It’s a much less bassy signature than the 8.A. Yet the Kaiser’s bass is powered by those same huge drivers, so there’s exceptional presence in that refined bass signature which remains in align with the treble and just a touch behind the vocal range. The Kaiser has excellent bass extension and can really thump and thunder when the music asks, even as string quartets and jazz also sound excellent.
 
 
The Kaiser’s balanced tuning means that it works very well with just about every genre of music. All kinds of classical and jazz sound phenomenal with the Kaiser. Pop and rock are great and ballads are beautiful. The bass comes alive with rap and hip-hop and there’s bass depth for dubstep (although the bassier Noble 8C and Noble 5C may fit dedicated fans of this genre better).
 
 
 
Is the Kaiser right for you:
Have you noticed that the Kaiser really doesn’t have any flaws to talk about? It’s a very well done earphone, no question. However, whether it’s right for you depends on what you want to hear and only you can decide that. The first thing is that you have to know what you really like and not just for 5 minutes or 50 minutes, but what you want to hear for the long term. I have a story to illustrate this:
 
A Story:
Storytime! This actually happened:
 
True Storytime!
I received a message a while back from a guy who had been reading about another ciem that had reviewed very well. The ciem was said to have a mostly flat signature and this person liked more bass in his music. People were really excited about this ciem and said it was so great that the person got caught up this excitement. He knew that the ciem didn’t have the sound signature he like but he thought it’d be so great that he’d just love it anyway. You can see where this is going, right?
 
Guess what? He didn’t like it! The expensive ciem which didn’t have the sound he wanted wasn’t good for him, even if it was good for other people. The moral is you have to know what you want and get something which matches that. Noble Audio has a bunch of ciems and they will all sound different and be right for different people. The Kaiser will be right for a lot of people, but only you know if you are one of them.
 
 
 
Conclusion:
The Kaiser 10 really defines what a flagship should be as an all-around excellent custom fit earphone with a versatile tuning that sounds great with a very wide range of music. A great deal of care went into every aspect of this earphone and it really shows. When it comes to having the total package, not only sound but customer service and appearance that’s a work of art, look no further than new Noble Audio Kaiser 10.

I may fill out the review a bit more.
 
No earphone is for everyone, so read reviews and decide what you want to hear--that's the most important thing. The 1plus2 will be excellent for many people.

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Synopsis: The Aurisonics AS-2 is a high-end custom-fit in-ear stage monitor with a lively, rich sound. It has a unique, crossover-free design that allows its 15mm dynamic driver and two special balanced armatures to work together seamlessly. With an adjustable bass port system, the AS-2 provides a real bass energy in just the amount you want. Combined with a lush midrange and an accurate, non-fatiguing treble to balance it, the AS-2’s focus on an organic, live feel to music will make it a hit with both musicians on stage and music lovers at home.

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Introduction: Aurisonics entered the high-end professional stage and portable audio scene with a bang. Innovative designs (the very first of which was nominated for a TEC award last year), continual evolution and an openness to input from pro musicians and audiophiles alike, have made it a company to watch. In particular, many of us have been watching for the AS-2, Aurisonics’ flagship earphone. With the AS-2 custom-fit in-ear monitor (ciem) and the universal-fit ASG-2 rolling out, I knew I had to hear the best Aurisonics has to offer.
 
 
 
Aurisonics and its founder: Dale Lott may have just recently founded Aurisonics, but he has a long history in professional audio. With experience making high-end audio designs for military, aerospace (!) and professional sports applications as well as stage designs for professional musicians, Dale is way more than your typical audio engineer. He offered his expertise to some of the popular high-end audio companies and when they let the opportunity slip through their fingers, he opened up their his own company. Boy, are they going to be sorry! He’s bringing his experience to his in-ear monitor designs and the results are very interesting.
 
Before we start looking at the AS-2, there are some things that you need to know:
 
 
 
Custom Fitting: For a custom fit in-ear monitor, first you need to get the right fit. The process, as many of you know, involves going to an audiologist to make a set of impressions of your unique ears. Getting a perfect fit with a custom monitor is the key to getting the best sound, the best comfort and the best isolation. Your fit will be only as good as your set of impressions, so it’s very important to work with an audiologist who has experience specifically taking ear impressions for pro musicians’ stage monitors. Do not cheap out here, you will pay for it later! You deserve the best and it will save a lot of trouble. My advice is that the audiologist should use a 1” bite block—this holds open your mouth as the impressions are made. This is necessary because as you open your jaw to sing (or yawn, I suppose, it’s your music), the shape of your ear canal changes. Try to relax your jaw as much as possible during the process as that effects the ear canal as well.  Because each set of ears is unique, keep in mind that it’s a process that has the potential for an imperfect fit, either for sound or comfort. If that’s the case, contact the manufacturer (Dale, in this case) immediately. Don’t come here to whine, I can only offer sarcastic comments, whereas Dale will actually help you. That leads me to the next topic:
 
 
 
Customer Service:  Because we’re dealing with custom-fit design and no one has ears quite like yours, customer service is a huge consideration with ciems. It’s very, very important. Many companies have dropped the ball here, some catastrophically, some just by being run by people who don’t get customer service. Fortunately, Dale is a completely stand-up guy and Aurisonics has already shown itself to have excellent customer service in the year and half it’s been around. While there are always, and I do mean always, issues that will come up, Dale has your back and he will work with you and he will take care of you. What more can I say? Let's go to the AS-2:
 
 
 
The AS-2:
We’ll start with the price: It’s $800 and it competes with ciems that run hundreds of dollars more.
Buy them here
The AS-2 I reviewed is a review sample.
 
 
 
Design: The AS-2 is innovative in a number of ways. This starts with the drivers that actually produce the sound. Typically, customs use balanced armatures in multiple sets and have crossovers to divide which part of the music is produced by each armature. This often leads to a particular, artificially separated sort of sound. The TWFK family of dual armatures used for treble or midrange and treble in many ciems also has a slightly artificial sound due to a spike in its sound signature at around 5khz. Bass is as much felt as heard and armatures in a sealed earpiece also do not to produce the air-moving quality that allows us to have a sensation of feeling this real bass energy.
 
Dale overcame these issues one by one: First, by using a large 15mm dynamic driver that’s more like a miniature speaker for real bass. There is an adjustable bass port so each person can dial in the amount of bass they want. Next, for added treble performance, he combined this driver with two new, special armatures which have a more natural sound than the TWFK armatures. Finally, the way he combined these two driver types is also unique as he did it in a crossover free design, giving the AS-2 an organic soundstage that gives a much more live music feel.
 
He didn't stop there:
 
For better fit and comfort, the part of the AS-2 that goes into your ear canals has a special coating over the acrylic.
 
The socket where the removable cable meets the earpiece is one of the most likely places to fail on a ciem. Dale has a special reinforced semi-recessed socket design for greater reliability.
 
The faceplate has a unique design for reliability and easy servicing.
 
There are some patients pending on all this!
 
Take a look at my poorly-taken pictures (really, they do not do the AS-2 justice):
 
 
 

I have the black, stealth faceplates. For your AS-2 you can choose a different look entirely if you like.
 
 
 
 

The big round 15mm dynamic driver is easily seen.
You can just make out the two special armatures below it.
 
 
 
 
 

My ear is for display purposes only and does not come with the AS-2.
 
 
 
 
Isolation:  Isolation is the amount of outside noise blocked out by the earphone. Some people will want less isolation so they can be aware of the outside world for safety and other reasons (being aware when people are trying to talk to you, etc.). Many people will want more isolation because then they can focus on their music and at lower volumes. The AS-2 has moderate isolation with the vents open which can become quite good if you close the vents. With the vents open, there is wind noise, so if you go outside, you may want to close the vents which will eliminate it.
 
 
 
The Sound: I used the lovely Apex Glacier DAC/amp to drive my AS-2 for this review with high quality sound files on my beloved ol’ 5.5^th gen ipod.
Note that the AS-2 is absurdly easy to drive. There always seem to be people who want high-end ciems but don’t want to use an amp that has the power to drive them properly. This is like buying a Ferrari and then putting cheap low-octane gas and flabby little tires on it. The AS-2 is perfect for people like this as it sounds great even out of an ipod. It’ll sound a bit better with a small portable amp, of which the Apex Glacier is one of several examples, but it’s quite easy to drive. For getting the very best performance, particularly with healthy, lower volume listening, consider an amp for your high-end custom in-ear monitor and better tires and gas for your Ferrari… 
 
 
 
Overall: The AS-2 excels at conveying the experience of being in a room where live music is playing. The overall focus is definitely on the total sound coming together in the room and rocking you. There is good detail there and excellent imaging in a very nice soundstage that lets you know where every musician is the room, but this is secondary. This is a very dynamic driver style sound—even though it’s a hybrid with special balanced armatures along for the show (and it is a show with the AS-2), the no-crossover design leads to a very organic, very coherent sound. If this is what you are looking for, you’ve found it with the AS-2.
 
This is a stage monitor by design and tuning and that means a few things you should know when considering the AS-2: You should expect a slight lift in the vocal range to bring male and female singers just a little forward and bring music alive. Although everyone has their preferences, I find this small lift in the tuning makes a big difference for an enjoyable listening experience. Without it, an initially great sounding earphone will start to lose its luster for me over time.
 
The second thing you’ll often hear in a stage monitor is a non-fatiguing treble. A non-fatiguing treble should still be able to sparkle, but it should also avoid spikes in the frequency response that lead to sibilance or a screechy sound. This stage monitor sound is just how the AS-2’s treble is tuned. That doesn’t mean you won’t hear overly bright or harsh high-pitched sounds in your music, just that the AS-2 won’t be contributing to that harshness coming from your recording or player/amp. Keep in mind, some people actually prefer a raspy or piercing treble as these can give the illusion of added clarity (as the listener goes deaf…). You won’t find that here, for which I’m thankful!
 
The final thing that a stage monitor will often have, but not always, is a bit of extra bass for drummers and bass players. The adjustable bass in the AS-2 goes way past 11, so it’s got this angle covered. I’d recommend keeping the bass vent mostly closed as just a little opening is all most people will need. Bassheads, however, (you know who you are) will be very happy letting the big 15mm dynamic driver breathe.
 
 
 
Treble: The AS-2 has a lovely, smooth, accurate treble. As I mentioned, it’s non-fatiguing, and doesn’t add any sibilance harshness or glare to what’s there in the recording or added by your player/amp. I tried out a few recordings I know that are particularly bright and the AS-2 gives you that brightness with a bit of the piercing glare polished down for you. I like the accuracy combined with a smooth sound. It’s very nice for long listening sessions and the AS-2 lends itself to losing yourself in the music. 
 
Perhaps it’s the special armatures used but the treble has great timbre for a ciem—the life-like reproduction of subtle resonances in voice and instrument that rings true to the listener’s ear. It’s simply superior to balanced armature based custom iems using the popular TWFK family of dual-armatures (which is many of them). Cymbal crashes sound great and natural, for example. The AS-2’s treble manages to give a detailed sound subsumed within the lush sound that the AS-2 seems to naturally flood the ear with due to the big 15mm dynamic driver. We’re not looking at an analytic or cold treble here, but one that brings immediacy and presence to your music. It isn’t recessed but nicely balances the power of the midrange and bass. Female voices sing out clearly in the rich mix of sound.
 
 
 
Midrange: These mids are rich, warm and they really bring music alive. While the AS-2 can easily keep up with fast music, it adds a thick, full, powerful sound to guitars, bass and strings. Male voices are resonant and clear as well. Other earphones may end up sounding dry and a little dull to you after you experience the AS-2.  Interestingly, I found the bass vent also gives a little added flavor to the mids. You can open up the adjustable bass vent more for an extra helping of this resonance in the lower registers or keep the bass vent only open a small amount for just a little added juice to the lower midrange which is quite nice.
 
 
 
Bass: The AS-2 gives you what bass sounds like. Real bass is felt as much as heard and for that you need a vented shell design for your earphone so air can move. I’ve heard audio engineers talk about how air movement with a vent shell earphone is important for ear drum and listening fatigue as well, but I can’t speak to that except to say I think the AS-2 lets you experience it for yourself. The AS-2 is qualitatively different from the typical closed shell balanced armature ciems out there in terms of bass. You are getting something that even the most bassy balanced armature earphone lacks. If you want that, you’ve come to the right place. If you don’t, well, you can close the bass vent entirely and…you’ve still come to the right place! The vent system means you can really choose what you want and you can go from a very polite bass all the way to bass that powerfully booms.
 
There is truly exceptional, superior sub-bass extension with the AS-2. The mid-bass is plentiful. I love bass and I needed to dial the AS-2’s adjustable vent down to just a little open. Dale himself told me he keeps his around ¼ of the way open—and that’s still a very good amount of bass! At that level, it's nicely controlled and has a great heft to it. If you go more than that...well you'll get more!
 
Just to be clear: If you close the bass vent entirely, you get very polite bass which is still present but stands a little behind the midrange—perfect for people who don’t want a bassy earphone. So, the AS-2 with the vent system is quite a versatile earphone.
 
 
 
Conclusion:  The AS-2 is a professional stage monitor with a very lively, organic sound where each part of the music comes together and rocks. There is great bass energy, rich mids and treble that sings while never shouting. Although the detail is all there for you, the AS-2 is for living the music, not picking it apart. Music just seems to flood your ear at every volume with the AS-2 and you can’t help but be moved. It’s an excellent ciem for those who are looking for the sound it so richly provides and I think it will be very popular both on stage and at home.
 
 
See here for comparisons with the Heir 8.A, Tralucent 1plus2, etc.!

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Synopsis: Sensaphonics dB Check is an important hearing preservation device. Connecting between your iems and your amp or source, it can tell you, in real time, exactly how loudly you are listening to your music with your gear. The dB Check then gives you safe listening times for that volume. It’s portable and has a mic for measuring ambient noise levels in a room or space as well. The main drawback is that it only works with Shure and Sensaphonics in-ear monitors.

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Introduction: Dr. Michael Santucci, the founder of Sensaphonics, is an audiologist who’s serious about hearing preservation. His custom in-ear monitors, like the excellent Sensaphonics 3MAX I had a chance to review, are as much hearing protection devices as they are great earphones and stage monitors. That’s why he uses the superior isolation and comfort of silicone for his ciems—protecting your hearing so you can enjoy your music for your whole life is in every part of the design.
 
In working with his pro-musician clients, Dr. Santucci started measuring just how loudly the pros were dialing up their music on stage. The whole idea with using ciems as stage monitors is that the musicians can hear themselves and their music at a lower, safer level, due to the isolation the ciem provides and because you no longer need an external set of speakers playing back at the musicians adding even more noise. However, Dr. Santucci found that people were dialing up their ciems to the loud volume they were used to hearing before they went to in-ear monitors. So, there had to be a way to help them see exactly what volume was going through their earphones with the music they were playing. The dB Check is the result and it is a very useful tool for seeing exactly how loud you are playing the specific music you play or listen to.
 
 
 
What it looks like:

 
The dB Check is very small and very portable. It’s about 3¼ in. by 2in and ½ in. thick.
 
 
 
How to use it: The dB Check goes between your iem (Shure or Sensaphonics iems only, for now) and whatsoever source or amp/source you use.
Once it’s on and set to iem mode, you just choose the Shure/Sensaphonics iems model you have, and then set the amount of time you want it to measure for.
Now you can play any kind of music you like at whatever volume level you like. After the amount of time you’ve set has arrived, the dB Check tells you the following:
 
1)The average volume in decibles (dB) you’ve been listening to your music.
 
2)The safe listening time for your volume by the newer NIOSH hearing preservation standards. That’s the number before the “n”.
 
3)The safe listening time for your volume by the older OSHA standards. That’s the number before the “o”.
 
The newer NIOSH standards give shorter safe listening times, so if you want to be safe, stick to those.
 
 
Relatively small reductions in volume give surprising benefits in reduction of risk of hearing damage.
 

 
When I decided to play my music at what I would consider to be "really quite loud", but which will be normal listening for a lot of folks, I was at 98dB, which is only safe for 24minutes by the NIOSH scale.
 
The dB Check doesn’t get in the way of your music as you listen. I do find there’s a bit of added hiss, but remember, it’s not that you would use the dB Check every time you listen to music. Rather, it’s a key part of training your ear to listen at a safer level. For different types of music, or from different amps and sources, you will want to go back and check again.
 
 
You can also set the dB Check as a straight-up ambient volume level meter to see how loud you are listening or playing in a room with speakers, etc.  
 
 
Personally, I found that I was listening louder than I thought and it was a key player in my move to slightly lower, much safer, listening levels.
 
 
Conclusion: The dB Check is a really important hearing preservation tool. If you want to be able to enjoy your music for years to come, then you need to protect your hearing. For now, there’s nothing better for that than the dB Check. It’s worth every penny and I highly recommend it. I just hope that in the future more audio companies will step forward and put their iems on it, too.

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Synopsis:
The Sensaphonics 3MAX is a top-tier, custom-fit, in-ear monitor with a sound designed by an audiologist and tested by pro musicians.  With a professional clientele in mind, the 3MAX has been superbly engineered for a natural-sounding tuning. Vocal music comes to the fore with a smooth midrange and a non-fatiguing, yet well-extended treble. While its sister, the two-driver 2MAX aims for a more neutral version of this sound, the 3MAX adds an additional bass driver for a judicious warmth and depth. One of the keys to making this sound possible is the excellent silicone shell which gives the 3MAX superior comfort and isolation over the standard acrylic. The end result is a very well designed stage monitor which will appeal to audiophiles and professional musicians alike while letting them enjoy their music at a lower, safer volume.

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Introduction:
Custom in-ear monitors have become very popular among audiophiles in the last few years. While it seems every few months a new company offering ciems pops up, I became very interested in a company which had a long experience in making custom fit stage monitors. Sensaphonics has been making ciems for professional musicians for 20 years, working with performers from the Rolling Stones and Bon Jovi to Beyonce and Coldplay, yet there’s almost no up-to-date information about them on audiophile websites. They have almost exclusively worked with the pro audio market. Their whole design philosophy, offering a top-tier sound with just two or three armatures and the superior isolation of a silicone shell, is dramatically different than the typical 6-8 driver flagship designs. Judging by my experience with the 3MAX, Sensaphonics has custom iems that will appeal to audiophiles who want an excellent sound they can listen to in comfort and at a lower volume.
 
 
History:
Dr. Michael Santucci is an audiologist who started working with professional musicians in 1985. A musician himself, he wanted to protect the hearing of his pro clients without sacrificing their ability to hear every part of their music. The fruition of his research and collaboration with pro audio engineers was Sensaphonics, founded in 1992. Dr. Santucci helped to pioneer truly accurate measurement in the ear canal, both based on understanding the physiology and the way sound resonates inside. Sensaphonics uses their proprietary measurement methodology to tune for a more natural sounding earphone. They have been using silicone shells exclusively since 1998, that's 14 years experience, using the extra isolation to get the maximum sound quality from the most essential design.
 
 
Why haven’t I read more reviews of Sensaphonics’ custom iems?
Because Sensaphonics is focused on the pro audio market, they don’t give free samples out to audiophile reviewers (I paid for mine). There’s your answer. It says something about how the audiophile market works. In any case, I can say the 3MAX will definitely be worth it for those audiophiles and professionals who like what they read below.
 
 
Customer service:
One of the under-emphasized keys to choosing a custom iem is the customer service. It’s worth it to go with a company who takes care of you in the event something goes wrong and I’m happy to say Sensaphonics has been excellent. The number one issue with custom iems is the fit. A ciem is made just for your ears and a bad fit means you won’t get the sound, the comfort, the isolation you want. So, make an investment first and foremost in the best audiologist you can find. Your audiologist absolutely must have experience in making molds for musicians, not only hearing aids. Sensaphonics has a very useful set of instructions on their website you should print out for you and your audiologist to follow. They can also help you find the best audiologist in your area. It’s worth it.
 
 
The Sensaphonics 3MAX:  
Let’s start with some pictures:
 

The hard Pelican case the 3MAX comes in is very nice.
 
 
 
 

With the older cable attached.
 
 
 
 

The pictures don't do it justice. The 3MAX looks incredible in-ear.
 
 

The new, clear cable. It's very nice and doesn't turn green (oxidize) like other clear cables.
 
 
 
 

The new cable also comes with a shirt clip.
 
 
 
The Silicone Shell:
These are special. I’ve had several different silicone custom-fit earsleeves for my iems. Some were better than others, but the Sensaphonics custom shell is the best. While silicone is often a little cumbersome to put in and take out, these fit right in the ear about as easily as an acrylic shell for me. They are marked left and right for easily identification and they come in a number of colors. I got them in clear.
Compared to my custom iems with a standard hard acrylic shell, the Sensaphonics silicones are a big step up in isolation. As for comfort, I’d say silicone is much easier to achieve a comfortable fit with. My acrylics are very comfortable, but only after a long process of several fitting adjustments.
 
 
The Cable:
The weakest point on any ciem is the cable and its attachments. Sensaphonics just upgraded their cable. It’s 48" at standard length and very sturdy, moreso than the usual stock ciem cables.  With a fully detachable design that snaps into place with a satisfying click, the Sensaphonics cable system is a better design than that of most custom iems. However, it’s not quite as easy to coil the Sensaphonics cable. Overall, it’s a good wearable cable that seems very reliable.
 
 
 
 
 
The Design:
The 3MAX has three balanced armatures, with a two-way crossover system. The advantage to this system is that it’s a lot easier to tune properly. Combined with the superior isolation of a silicone shell, the 3MAX manages to sound more natural than a lot of other custom iems.
 
 
The Sound:
One of the most interesting things about Sensaphonics is how they tuned their custom iems. Rather than presenting pro audio clients with a finished product and making a few adjustments based on feedback, Sensaphonics went for a more client-driven sound. They tried many different tunings based on their research and then let the pro musicians and audio engineers come back with what they liked and wanted to hear. The result was a sound shaped to a much greater degree by what musicians themselves felt sounded the best on stage.
 
 
Set-Up: 
Before I describe that sound, I’d like to mention here that I’ve listened mostly out of an ipod 5.5^th generation amped by an Apex Glacier. The 3MAX sounds very good straight out of an ipod and it’s the easiest to drive custom iem I’ve heard. However, portable amps like the Glacier are very thin and small… So, to paraphrase an audiophile: Why buy a Ferrari and then insist that you are only going to put the cheapest gas in it? The 3MAX (and every other custom iem I’ve heard) sounds better when my ipod is amped. I’d recommend that for any ciem as they scale up when given a better set-up.
 
Much of my listening was among the noisy crowd and roaring trains of the NYC subway, so I got a chance to see how the 3MAX did in loud conditions as well as quiet ones.
 
 
Overall:
The 3MAX was tuned to have a natural sound that you could enjoy without cranking the volume and it succeeds completely at this. The 3MAX’s three balanced armatures have been tuned superbly and the result is very similar to a high end dynamic driver earphone in how natural it sounds. The timbre—the accurate reproduction of all the subtle resonances that make instruments and voices sound true-to-life—is the best I’ve heard from a balanced armature based ciem. Cymbals, which can be quite difficult for an earphone to get right, sound great on the 3MAX. The extension in the treble and bass are well done as well.
 
The sound signature gives a boost to the upper midrange and lower treble (the vocal range). This is what pro musicians wanted in their stage monitor to allow their voices and instruments to lift above the crowd noise. It gives music life and immediacy as our brains have evolved to really pay attention to frequencies in the vocal range. I personally like stage monitor tunings like this one a lot as you can listen at a lower volume and still let the music sing. However, some people feel that at louder volumes, vocal music can be a little piercing with this sort of tuning. The 3MAX is very smooth all along its range, but it isn’t shy about letting vocal music soar, so that’s something to keep in mind.
 
While the 3MAX’s sister ciem, the two-driver 2MAX aims for a more neutral take on this sound, the 3MAX has an extra bass driver and adds richness, warmth and bass depth to the midrange and below. This was really well done as the warmth added isn’t overmuch. It’s perfect for listening in a noisy environment like a plane, subway train or on-stage as the judiciously added bass and warmth plus the enhanced isolation of the silicone shells countered the engine and crowd noise. These are really the perfect custom iems for commuters and travelers. Of course, they do well in quiet places, too.
 
The sound from the 3MAX is nicely enveloping, although on the intimate side. An audio engineer once pointed out to me that cues for our sense of a soundstage mostly come from the recordings themselves, so any earphone should sound more spacious or more intimate depending on what’s played. That’s true here, of course, but compared to an open headphone or vented earphone, the close-shelled 3MAX brings you closer to the music.
 
The 3MAX has a natural, coherent sound. It completely avoids the artificial instrument separation or the sense that different instruments have been separately pasted into the mix which some ciems have. Obviously, I like the more natural presentation, so this was a plus for me. Some people will want that very separated sound as it’s what they have become used to.
 
The 3MAX has nice detail resolution, but this is an earphone that puts the music as a whole over a hyper analytical presentation. Other ciems out there may sound (due to tuning or otherwise) a bit more detailed and this may be something to consider. However, I don’t think you’ll be able to hear anything you can’t hear just as well on the 3MAX.
 
 
Bass:
The 3MAX has excellent bass, no question. There’s a very nice balance between the mid-bass and sub-bass. It just sounds natural and right with drums of all kinds. There’s a natural sounding decay and the bass has a good punch to it. The sub-bass extension is also good, with the sub-bass coming down a bit from the mid-bass.
 
 
Midrange:
The midrange is on the warmer side with the 3MAX. What I like about it is that it’s warm but not overdone.  It gives bass guitars, cellos and pianos a lovely, rich sound. Of course, for a less warm presentation you have the 2MAX as an option as well. Getting into the upper midrange, there’s the stage monitor lift that brings up voices and lead instruments in the mix.
 
 
Treble:
The treble begins with that stage monitor lift we saw in the upper midrange. Women’s voices can really sing out in the 3MAX. It’s a smooth presentation with a lot of liveliness to it. Some people may be sensitive to the boost in the lower treble at higher volumes, however. Above that, sibilance-prone regions of the treble are handled nicely for a non-fatiguing treble. Even further up in the frequency range, in the upper treble where a little boost gives music a sense of airiness and sparkle, the 3MAX does excellently. It has very good treble extension.
 
 
Music genres:
The 3MAX sounds excellent with everything from jazz to rock to pop to classical. I’ll keep this section brief as pretty much everything I threw at it sounded great. It even handled dubstep well, although if that’s all a person listens to they may want a more sub-bass centric earphone.
 
 
Conclusions:
While the Sensaphonics 3MAX is designed and tuned for professional use, I think it will be excellent for audiophiles who appreciate its stage monitor sound. The 3MAX’s silicone-shelled superior comfort and isolation, combined with its just-right warmth, vocal-centric sound and sparkle make the 3MAX the perfect earphone for audiophile commuters by train, plane or subway, hands-down. Certainly anyone who finds themselves in any sort of noisy environment owes it to themselves and their ears to hear what Sensaphonics has to offer. This is the first 3MAX review anywhere that I can find, but given the 3MAX’s musical charms, it certainly won’t be the last as this is an earphone well worth letting audiophiles know about.

Short Review: All observations made with the high pass filters. Naturally I listened with each of the three filters, but the high pass was my preference.
 
Pros:
I really liked the tuning of these. With the K3003, you get an approximation of a neutral sound in terms of a good balance between treble, midrange and bass and the filter system gives you a means of adjusting this balance (at a cost of slightly loss of detail with the non-reference filters). What's great is that the sound is still very fun. I'm not sure I can put my finger on exactly why, but these were great to listen to. I think the combination of the brightness of the treble with the full bass give the fun of a more v-shaped sound, but I didn't find the midrange recessed. Add that to the nice detail in the midrange and treble, and you've got a tuning that lets you sit up an really listen to your music while still rocking out.
 
Cons:
The main issue for me was the incoherency between the drivers. You can certainly tell the difference between the sound characteristics of the dynamic driver for the bass and the balanced armature drivers for the midrange and treble. I'm not sure why AKG used this particular dynamic driver, but it's markedly less detailed and has a slower decay than the armatures. It's not terrible, but it's a serious flaw in an earphone with a huge pricetag. I often listen to music where the bass, midrange and treble are equally balanced, string quartets are an example. Another is renaissance polyphony where the bass, tenor, alto and soprano singers must be balanced. The bass voices were less detailed and crisp than the sopranos with the k3003. I imagine there will be music where this issue is less noticeable, but if you listen, you'll hear the discontinuity in the earphone.
 
EDIT: After writing the review, I've come across a graph which may help: The CSD graph in this post perfectly sums up the issue with the k3003. You can see very clearly that the decay in the bass from the dynamic driver is way, way, way longer than in the rest of the frequency range as produced by the armature drivers.
 
The treble will definitely be a bit harsh for some using the high pass filters, but using the other filters takes a bit away from the detail resolution. It's a trade off that I don't want to make at $1,400.
 
Some found issues with isolation, I thought it was average. Others have reported fit issues, I didn't have any, but certainly it's always possible and one can carefully try different brands of eartips. The standard tips worked for me so I didn't explore that.
 
Reliability is a serious concern as well. The stress relief on the pair I used for this review was showing signs of wear after only a few months.

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Synopsis: The Aurisonics AS-1b is a very nice custom-fit monitor with a sound tuned for the needs of professional musicians performing on stage. It gives the listener a mid-centric sound that emphasizes the vocal range so a singer stands out in the mix. The large 15mm dynamic driver has an excellent, rich bass and on top there is a non-fatiguing, flat treble. The AS-1b offers musicians and audiophiles a lot of versatility in terms of a user-adjustable bass vent and ambient port, plus replaceable cables. It’s well-designed and well-tuned and, at $599, it comes in a mid-range price for a custom-fit stage monitor.

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Introduction:  Aurisonics is a relatively new company and it has generated a splash among audiophiles with its blend of interesting custom and universal fit stage monitors plus friendly and responsive customer service—much of it directly from Dale Lott, the owner of Aurisonics, himself. Dale has been a pro audio engineer for over 20 years and he is quite articulate about the sound he’s found works best for performing musicians. It’s been very nice to see how responsive he’s been in working with musicians and audiophiles, soliciting their feedback, and evolving his products. This review is part of that process. I am reviewing the AS-1b version 1.2—Dale has added a new filter to improve the sound from the original version. In fact, this review will be updated as Dale comes up with ways to make the AS-1b even better.
 
 
Disclaimer: I always have one of these in my reviews to let readers know how I came by the set of earphones I’m reviewing. I believe being open and transparent leads to a review you can trust. In this case, these were provided by Dale so I could give feedback and review them. He was clear that he only wanted an honest review and I wouldn’t have it any other way, so here we are.
 
 
Custom Fitting: The process, as many of you know, involves going to an audiologist to make a set of impressions of your unique ears. Getting a perfect fit with a custom monitor is the key to getting the best sound, the best comfort and the best isolation. Your fit will be only as good as your set of impressions, so it’s very important to work with an audiologist who has experience specifically taking ear impressions for pro musicians’ stage monitors. My advice is that the audiologist should use a 1” bite block—this holds open your mouth as the impressions are made. This is necessary because as you open your jaw to sing (or yawn, I suppose, it’s your music), the shape of your ear canal changes. Try to relax your jaw as much as possible during the process as that effects the ear canal as well.  And don’t sneeze.
 
 
Customer Service: This is really second only to the sound in importance when buying a custom fit earphone from any company. It’s very, very common for a set of custom earphones to not quite fit perfectly the first (or second) time around even with a great audiologist. And there are many tiny parts in a custom earphone which can fail or otherwise break. So, you need to work with a company that’s responsive. Aurisonics has done a great job so far and Dale has shown he has your back when you need it. Just the way he has listened to customers’ feedback and added a special acoustic filter to this version 1.2 is an excellent sign. Listening and responding to customers’ needs is the definition of good customer service and it gives me a lot of confidence in Aurisonics.
 
 
The AS-1b: The AS-1b has a single 15mm dynamic driver. A dynamic driver is basically a smaller version of the same kind of speaker that’s in most people’s home stereo systems. In an earphone or headphone, a single dynamic driver can cover the frequency spectrum. This is different from the balanced armatures often found in custom monitors and which were originally developed for use in hearing aids. Armatures often do well in multi-driver set-ups, but dynamics are most commonly found on their own. So, don’t be surprised by use of a single dynamic driver here.
 
 
Build Quality: The build quality seems very good as it’s a sturdy design and the hard plastic shell seems quite tough. The socket for the replaceable cable is particularly well designed. In fact, it looks more secure than any custom earphone I’ve seen. The only issues I see are that the little screws for the bass vent and ambient port need to be treated carefully as they are threaded into the hard plastic shell directly. Of course, you should be treating your several hundred dollar earphone carefully to begin with, so maybe that’s common sense.
 
 

 
The two screws on the left are the user adjustable bass vent above and the ambient port below. The gold ringed disk is the face of the dynamic driver itself. You can see a hint of the black acoustic filter inside the nozzle.
 
 
 

 
The AS-1b comes in a sturdy otter box. You can see the key used (with the red at the end of the handle) to adjust the bass vent and ambient port.
 
 
 

 
It may not look like much in the picture, but for some reason, the AS-1b is a compliment magnet. I've gotten friendly comments on it, from women and men, in the subway, the supermarket, everywhere I go. It's actually generated more positive feedback than my other, ostensibly higher-end, custom earphones with fancy wood inlays.
 
 
The Adjustable Bass Vent and the Adjustable Ambient Port: As you can see in the pictures above, a key is used to adjust both the bass vent and the ambient port. These are two separate user-adjustable features and they add a lot to the versatility of the AS-1b.
 
The Bass Vent: Opening or closing the bass vent allows more or less air to the driver and that means that you can adjust the bass response (particularly the lower-register bass rumble) from fully rich and present to something more meek and subdued. I prefer the more fully present bass, but you may roll differently. It’s up to you with the AS-1b.
 
The Ambient Port: The ambient port reduces isolation when opened. This can be good when you need to hear the crowd on stage or in situations when you need maximum situational awareness. With the ambient port open, you can easily have a conversation, hear that important call come in, not get hit by a bus—all the times when you need to pay attention to something more than your music. Otherwise, keeping the port closed gives you the best isolation. And the isolation is reasonably good on the AS-1b. Assuming you’ve closed the ambient port, you’ll close out a good percentage of outside noise. It’s in the same league as the usual acrylic shelled custom earphones out there, just a tiny bit less with the bass vent open.
 
 
Sound: Overall, the AS-1b has an upper midrange centric, specifically vocal-centric, sound, with a good-sized rise around 1-3khz. It’s a warm, darker sound whose up-front vocals and excellent backing bass give it a rocking sound. There’s a good thickness of note so a piano, violin or voice doesn’t sound thin or frail. Instead, each strike of the keyboard resounds with a good weight and decay. Generally, the AS-1b does very well with giving a realistic and natural sound to strings, pianos, etc.
 
The sense of a soundstage is intimate with a good depth to it. The soundstage may not be the largest, but it does well. The soundstage sounds more left-right oriented than to the front to my ears, but it is an engaging and enveloping presentation. Spatial cues can come across well depending on the recording. For example, I have a field recording where the person holding a microphone stands with their back to a stream and you can hear the waters swooshing gently behind you just as it originally happened. Keep in mind that for any earphone or any headphone that many of the cues for soundstage come from the recording itself.
 
The 15mm driver is quite resolving for good detail, although it’s a bit smoothed over, perhaps by the filter.
 
Bass: The bass is truly excellent. It’s quite rich and also has great punch. There’s very good extension into the sub bass, which makes for nice bass rumble.  One thing that stands out to my ears is that the mix between midbass and sub bass is very well done, it just sounds how awesome bass should sound. It’s adjustable, too. Bravo.
 
Midrange: It’s voices to the fore, perhaps the main signature for the AS-1b. This is great for stage as it allows the singer or main instrumentalist to be heard over everyone else’s playing as well as the roar of the crowd. It tends to add a sense of immediacy to the singing that I like. Generally, the filter allows the midrange to rise without harshness. In some recordings, however, you’ll find there’s already an emphasis in this range, so the beep of a pop song will seem to stand out a bit more than with other earphones. This is something I’m sensitive to and I didn’t have a problem with the AS-1b, so the filter did a great job. I would like a little more sense of transparency, but there is good detail.
 
Treble: This is a non-fatiguing treble for hours of comfortable use on the stage. The treble sings well with violins and soprano voices and has a flat, accurate sound as high as it reaches. However, it’s a bit rolled off (not fully extended) on the very top. You can hear this a bit with cymbals on the drum kit. They tend to lack that extra shimmer on top--the "air" that audiophiles talk about. So, there’s a lack of sparkle and a slightly dark sound which contrasts with the rise in the midrange. Dale says the AS-1b responds well to EQ and it does. I think many users will choose to add a rise to the treble.
 
 
Conclusion:  The AS-1b is very nice stage monitor with a sound focused on the vocal range for a mid-level price. Its bass vent and ambient ports give it a versatility not found even in custom monitors for twice the price. I expect the sound quality and tuning will quickly draw a following among the stage musicians for whom it is intended and also among audiophiles who prefer a non-fatiguing dark treble, vocal emphasis and excellent bass.

 

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Synopsis: The Future Sonics MG6Pro Ear Monitor is an excellent sounding custom earphone tuned for a supremely natural sound. The overall sound is very smooth, extended in bass and treble, and very well balanced by the clear midrange. The excellent reproduction of vocal and instrumental timbre, combined with superior soundstage and sense of stereo imagining are also standouts. Using a single dynamic driver which can cover the entire frequency spectrum without the need for crossovers gives the MG6PRO Ear Monitor a coherency which adds to the naturalness of its presentation. The bass deserves special mention for its control and its effortless extension down to the sub-bass frequencies. Additionally, the 13mm dynamic driver can move the air against our ears in a way balanced armatures cannot—this leads to better bass energy as we “feel” bass as much as we hear it. The amount of bass can also be adjusted to anyone’s taste by a changeable system of vents which allow the driver more or less airflow.

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Introduction: I’ve always really been drawn to earphones that feature a dynamic driver (also known as a moving-coil). These are basically like the speakers in one’s home stereo, only smaller. When I looked around for a custom-fit earphone, however, I noticed that almost every company uses balanced armatures, a technology used in hearing aids. One company, however, has been offering a dynamic driver custom in-ear monitors on stage for years. In fact, Future Sonics has been doing it so long they trademarked the term “Ear Monitor” and the owner, Marty Garcia, was the first to put custom in-ear monitors on stage, back in 1985. The fact that Future Sonics used a dynamic driver and the length of experience made me curious. Even more curious was the fact that while they are well-known in professional music circles for supplying Ear Monitors over the years to bands like The Grateful Dead, U2, Reba McEntire, Justin Timberlake, etc., they aren’t so well known in audiophile circles.
 
History and Background: When I had a chance to speak to Marty Garcia, the owner, and David Gray, director of operations, it was clear that the use of a dynamic driver in their custom earphone was the result of careful thought. While every other custom earphone manufacturer that I am aware of buys their transducers from outside manufacturers, Future Sonics engineers their own. The new for 2010 MG6Pro is a proprietary driver designed and made by Future Sonics. The history as I understand it from talking to Mr. Garcia is that he experimented with using balanced armature transducers multi-armature designs with crossovers. He consulted for Shure on their early designs and politely parted ways when he decided that a single dynamic driver was the way to go. He feels that a single dynamic driver has a number of advantages: It can cover the frequency spectrum by itself, it gives a coherent sound free from any artifacts from a multi-transducer approach and, very importantly, it moves the air that we can feel as well as hear for a more real sounding bass with living energy. Interestingly, when I spoke to K.W.Karth, who designed Monster Cable’s Turbine earphone, he gave many of the same reasons that Monster Cable went with dynamic drivers in their universal fit line of in-ear monitors.  
 
Disclaimer: I think it’s important to be open and up-front about the way one has received the product reviewed, so everyone can be clear about any underlying motives which might bias the review. As for me, I paid for mine, however I did receive a small discount.  I had just missed out on a one-time sale on Ear Monitors in celebration of Future Sonics’ 25^th anniversary. They were kind enough to offer me a discount that ended up coming to $50 (a slightly larger discount minus the extra I paid going to a Future Sonics’ recommended audiologist on Mr. Garcia’s request). I’m happy for it, of course, but the opinions below will be my best attempts to honestly convey how these earphones sound.
 
Customer Service: Custom in-ear monitors take a lot of care. Throughout the process, I’ve really been struck by how important the custom service of the company you work with can be. Future Sonics deserves a lot of credit for the very high level of customer service they’ve provided. The fact that the owner of the company made time to really discuss his product and the philosophy behind it on several occasions speaks to how Future Sonics treats its customers. All my concerns (and I am a high-maintenance customer, so this is a lot of random concerns) have been graciously answered in over 60 emails…and counting! They have really gone the extra mile and treated me like the rock star most of their other customers are.
One of the first steps in getting a custom in-ear monitor is a trip to an experienced audiologist to make ear impressions which will be used to make an earphone which fits your unique ears perfectly. I went to Andrew Resnick, a Manhattan audiologist and Future Sonics dealer. He was professional and had a lot of experience in making ear impressions for musicians’ Ear Monitors. I won’t say that this means I haven’t needed adjustments to make the fit of my MG6PRO Ear Monitors perfect, but I think it has helped to start with a good set of impressions.
 
The MG6Pro: This is a custom in-ear monitor with a 13mm dynamic driver at its heart. My understanding is that Future Sonics released the MG6 early in 2010 to audio professionals and field tested it. They took that feedback and improved the driver further, with the MG6Pro coming out a few months after.
 
One key point about these customs is that their dynamic drivers are very durable and much more easy to service than armature-based customs, which tend to be more delicate. You can also upgrade your MG6Pro Ear Monitors whenever the next generation comes out for a fraction of the price of a new monitor! Think about that, it’s a great feature.
 
Another interesting thing about these is that while the outer shell is acrylic, but it’s not an all-acrylic design! A dynamic driver requires special positioning and so they use a second, proprietary, material inside to properly seat the driver. This second material is full of tiny bubbles and that gives a clear acrylic MG6Pro Ear Monitor an interesting look (of course, it can also come in many different colors, even in a chrome finish).
 
Another interesting feature is the system of Low-Frequency Vents (LFVs). In order to move the air for living bass energy, a dynamic driver needs to breathe. The 4 LFVs are little tiny interchangeable plugs with a hole (the vent) in them. They vary from a smaller hole to a medium hole to a larger hole, or no hole at all. One can easily be removed and another size vent used in its place. Each larger size brings up the sub-bass presence and energy up a bit. It also effects isolation, which I’ll discuss next.
 
Isolation: This, like the bass, is dependent on the Low-Frequency Vents. Using the LFV which closes off the vent, one achieves what I imagine is the exactly the same isolation as any other acrylic custom monitor. With LFVs which allow air to pass, there is a loss of a few decibels of isolation, but the isolation is still respectable. Going out into a wind-tunnel of a chilly winter day with the MG6Pro and the medium size opening LVFs, there was good isolation, but there was a small amount of wind noise--it was very windy outside! You gain something in sound for any loss, though, so it all depends on your situation. I like to use the medium sized vents and have no problem using it on the subway, but then, my isolation needs aren’t so great. If I needed more isolation, I might use the LFV which seals the vent entirely, for maximum outside noise reduction.
 
The Sound: The head audio engineer for the Country Music Awards told me (yes, I emailed him and asked what he thought) that Future Sonics Ear Monitors offered “true reference quality sound”, in his opinion. I’m not a professional audio engineer, but I can definitely hear where he’s coming from.
 
The overall sound signature is natural, balanced and engaging.
 
What natural means to me is that the MG6Pro doesn’t sound colored or boosted to me anywhere in its frequency range. It also refers to the superior timbre—that hard to define but easy to recognize ability to convey the true-to-life sound of all the richness and subtle resonance of an instrument such as the human voice or a violin. I think that these qualities are part of what the senior audio engineer I politely pestered was talking about.   
 
Balanced means to me that I don’t hear a certain frequency range coming ahead of any other, generally speaking. With the LFVs, this can change a little according to one’s taste, as I’ll mention below.  Other earphones may be tuned with a very forward midrange, or a boosted extra-bright treble or a mid-bass hump to give beats extra bounce—the MG6Pro has none of these, to my ears. I think people who want a colored (“fun”) sound won’t necessarily find that the MG6Pro is for them. It’s just a matter of knowing what kind of sound you are looking for and matching your preference to the earphone you buy.
 
And that brings me to the last adjective, engaging. These are professional reference and stage monitors, but they can really rock and I often find myself listening for longer and enjoying my music more.
 
Treble: This is a stage monitor in its tuning, so the treble is non-sibilant and non-fatiguing. The treble is well-extended, and nicely shines and sparkles. It’s accurate and both violins and female vocalists, as well as cymbals, chimes, etc. all come alive with a good recording and the MG6Pro. However, it’s not the bright treble of a lot of earphones, so some people might say it’s dark at first (although I’d say it’s more neutral, just dark in relation to someone used to something bright sounding). I spoke to Marty Garcia about how some people found his Atrios (universal-fit earphone) line a bit dark. From his own work as professional audio engineer and working with professional music clientele, he felt that it was better to give a natural treble than one he thought was boosted. I can say the MG6Pro has a great natural treble. Lovers of treble on the bright side may wish to look elsewhere.   
 
Mid-range: The mids of the MG6Pro really let the music sing without getting in the way. Whenever I try to describe them, I try listening to some music…and end up listening and listening… So, I think I can say first that they are not recessed, nor are they overly forward. It’s not a thin-sounding earphone by any stretch, but notes aren’t overly thick nor does the decay overstay its welcome. They are quite well-detailed, but not artificially analytical. I think you can see why I keep coming back to natural and balanced as descriptions.
 
Bass: I was surprised by just how well mannered and controlled the bass on these was while still giving that moving-air living bass energy that I wanted. It’s very well detailed and layered. The bass doesn’t have a mid-bass hump and doesn’t intrude on the midrange. It does, however, extend down all the way past human perception. Marty Garcia mentioned that Ear Monitors are intentionally engineered to give bass down to 10hz (where we can’t really hear it) because he feels that the feeling of the air against our ears at that vibration still adds something meaningful. I have to say that I have experienced what he means, it’s really something interesting and there is a life and a dimension of space added to the bass somewhere deep in that sub-bass range.  Further, I can also say that there really is something to this moving air quality that is part of our perception of bass. This is one of the key things that sets the MG6Pro apart from armature-based customs as they don’t move the air. When I use my fingers to plug the MG6Pro’s vents while listening, the effect is immediate and tangible—I feel a slight but noticeable pressure in my ears from the driver moving air! It’s also not recommended, but I did it for science.
 
On to the Low Frequency Vents: With the LFV which seals the vent entirely, the air cannot fully move and the sub-bass takes a step back. It’s very well controlled and still present, but sounds to my ears politely as though it allows the mids, and treble to take the lead forward. This is probably many audiophiles’ idea of balance and they will love this sound. The isolation is also the greatest with this LFV.
 
The small opening LFV lets the driver breath and the sub-bass takes on that added dimension of life and comes up a little, with a small loss of some isolation. The bass quantity is equal with the midrange to my ears and things will be just right for many listeners.
 
The medium opening, well, this is my favorite at the moment and I would say it’s pretty great as the sub-bass comes up by a decibel or so, yet still balanced.
 
Even at the largest opening LFV, the bass is well controlled, but it’s presence and space have increased. I could see this LFV being very nice for stage use. Lovers of bass will like this setting as well, although I would not say it’s overmuch to my ears.
 
Music genres: I tend to listen to classical and Indian classical music, both types of music that require excellent timbre, good levels of detail while remaining natural-sounding and excellent extension in the bass and treble. Anyone who thinks that classical music lacks bass has never heard a timpani or double bass in a symphony! The MG6Pro handles these music types very well, sounding coherent yet with the spaciousness to avoid any congestion. Every part of the orchestra sounds clear, even as they are all playing together. Stereo imaging, the out-of-the-head sense that each musician is playing in a different space, is excellent. I was happy to note that the non-sibilant treble could also extend high and sparkle with piccolo trills, chimes and sopranos hitting the highest of notes. String quartets sound lovely, solo piano, too. Jazz is another genre the MG6Pro does very well with, unsurprisingly.
 
I also listened to some fast trance and some Norwegian death metal to see if the MG6pro could keep up. While they aren’t my cup of tea music genres, the MG6Pro is clearly completely at home with trance, its spaciousness is unreal for this music and it has the speed for the death metal, every hoarse shout and growl was…you know, I really need to talk to the guy who recommended that…
 
For a bit of rock I listened to one of my favorite drummers, Thomas Pridgen, and a few tracks from the band he used to be with, The Mars Volta. The MG6Pro captures his drumming very nicely and I’m happy to report that his cymbals sound real, which is something that not every earphone reproduces well.
There really isn’t a type of music I could see causing a problem for these earphones. That’s what you expect at this level. It’s nice to confirm, though.
 
In Conclusion: I think these custom in-ear monitors have a lot to recommend them for professional or audiophile use. They certainly deserve more attention from audiophiles as they have a high quality sound with excellent customer service. The way they can be upgraded to the next generation driver for a fraction of the cost of a new custom, their durability and ease of repair and the way the bass quantity can be adjusted make them a very strong choice. Certainly those who come from dynamic driver earphones or headphones should think about the MG6Pro Ear Monitor, as well as those wanting a balanced, natural sound at every part of the frequency range. Those who like a very bright or a colored sound generally might wish to look at other options.
 
 
P.S. See comparisons with other earphones including the JH16 in my review annex!
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/539898/review-future-sonics-mg6pro-ear-monitors-dynamic-driver-custom-fit-in-ear-monitors#post_7280030

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.