[paddy567]

Well, my future sonics custom molds have arrived! Time for some pics, my thoughts, and perhaps some advice from sage head-fiers (and my first thread, be kind!).

Background: My old e4g's died earlier this year; I wanted to try something else, convinced that I was paying partly for the Shure brand name.

I bought the Atrios. I was very happy with the sound and quality of Atrios. I feel that they punch above their price point and the sound quality was one I quite liked: clear, but bassy. And a nice sound stage.

There was only one catch: The isolation. I had come from e3c's, then e4c's, and the Atrio just doesn't match em for the isolation, for me. They weren't quite as badly isolating as the UE 5 pro's I had last year (my opinion/ exp only! I'm not talking for everybody!), but they weren't far off. I could hear pretty much everything with them on, regardless of tips (eventually settled on the olive foamies). And I know when something is properly isolated. The Atrios just let in too much noise.

So, I got in touch with Future Sonics, and asked them about if the custom molds would provide better isolation. The answer - from the incredibly kind and helpful Dan East - was a "probably yes", so I signed up for them. Now, to the molds, photos self explanatory

Initial thoughts (most of these are unlikely to change):

Service: Outstanding. Dan and the FS crew are incredibly courteous, responsive, flexible. I could go on, but I won't. Best service I've ever had from an electronics vendor.

Build quality: Good. The molds are silicon, smooth and flexible. The are solid, and there don't seem to be any hole or rough bits. These will last a while I feel.

Sound quality: Great. Interesting, people have spoken about the Shure olives making the Atrios "darker". I never really felt that until I plugged these in. Yes, the bass is a bit more recessed, and the sound seems slighty more clear. I have to turn the the volume up a bit more than w/ the olives, presumably because the ends of the phones are slightly further away from my ear (more on this soon...)

Comfort: Fine. I find them as or a tiny bit more comfortable than the olive foamies (imho the most comfortable tips, EVAH!).

Isolation: And here's the rub. This is what I bought the customs for, and - damn it - they're hopeless!

I want to put a caveat here - I do know what proper isolation is, and these are doing that (you know, when your own body's noises suddenly amplify, etc. etc.).

So, I have a simple test for isolation (maybe too simple for head-fi! ): Can I listen to classical music on the phones?

For me, and the classical I listen to, if isolation is not good, classical music isn't doable - you can't hear it when it's quiet; and if you turn it up, when you reach a crescendo, you **** your ears off.

These fail that test miserably. I have a sub test: can I hear cars driving past? Or just buses?

Unfortunately, I can't just hear cars, I can hear everything. The muzak piped through the tinny grocery store speakers, the clink of my belt buckle when I pick it up. Conversations that are two rows ahead of me on the train. There's no improvement in isolation, and perhaps even less.

I think it's the build of the atrio themselves, they are, by nature, lighter and airier than Shures for example. I think the weak link here is not the molds, but the actual structure and shape of the phones.

Sigh, I'm pretty disappointed. $150 bucks down the drain (I know it could have been a lot worse!) No disrespect on Futuresonics here - Dan was very straight up with me and never guaranteed that the molds would isolate better than the olive foamies. He was polite and his service was excellent - I would recommend FS and Atrios to anybody.

But this is the first time I've made a headphone related purchase where I just couldn't see any value whatsoever. If you're after comfort etc, and not happy with the tips available, then maybe the molds are for you. But for me, there is no improvement in what I wanted most, and certainly not $150 improvement in any area.

Now the advice part. Fellow head-fier's, any suggestions on ways to up the isolation on these puppies somehow, with or without the molds?

I feel pretty confident that the seal is fine, and also I'm in Australia, so don't really want to go through the rigmarole of sending them back and forth to the US for tuning, and trying FS's no doubt already stretched patience.

Or will I just have to go back to Shure or Etymotics to pass my classical test? Thanks everyone.

 

[Mr_Junesequa]

Yeah Atrio's are pretty bad at the isolation part. otherwise the are great phones. but on the train......useless


edit: i mean they are ok but i think in a noisy environment there isnt much difference between say and atrio and a cx300....mostly because the atrio lets so much noise intermingle with the sound....

 

[joeshambro]

keep in mind that, due to their design, the future sonics monitors require a small porting to allow air into your ear canal, or else bass response suffers. the slightly less isolation you hear is a result of that process -- on the fully custom monitors, it's a visible port on the outside of the shell. i'm not privy to how it's done on the atrio, but i do know it's done somehow.

 

[Babalou]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Junesequa /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah Atrio's are pretty bad at the isolation part. otherwise the are great phones. but on the train......useless edit: i mean they are ok but i think in a noisy environment there isnt much difference between say and atrio and a cx300....mostly because the atrio lets so much noise intermingle with the sound....

I use my Atrios as IEM's in a live setting with a band. I was using Shures and found them to isolating. In my live setting, they work the best of all in ears that I have tried. Lots of definition and low end and very natural sounding.

I have been amused, that at first IEM's for bands were designed with maximum isolating ability, and recently ambient sound is being introduced back into the sound mix, ie: UE and Sensaphonic. In the past I used -9db earplugs when I played and I always wished I could get that db reduction while still sounding live. The Atrios do that for me.

I have the custom Softwear tips on order as well as a set of custom Ear Monitors. I should have them in about 10-14 days, it will be interesting to compare their isolating capabilities. As well as the sound since the custom In Ears have a larger dynamic driver than the Atrios.

Perhaps the Future Sonics are better suited for performing musicians who are looking for less than total isolation, and not for recorded music listeners looking for total isolation in noisy environments. Just my thought.

 

[paddy567]

So I take it there's no magical solution to up the isolation? Lol, back to the drawing board for me I feel..

 

[younglee200]

So in total that cost about $250 right?

FreQs / Livewires are around that price range... best advice I can give you i suppose.

 

[paddy567]

A bit more, sob, cause I'm in Australia. Thought about the freqs, but this experience has scared me off the whole customs thing...

 

[Mr_Junesequa]

buy a pair of image x10 and use both depending on the setting