[Review] Future Sonics MG6PRO Ear Monitors: Dynamic Driver Custom-Fit In-Ear Monitors

[Bazirker]

Quote:

Kunlun how does the MG6PRO Ear Monitors compare to the new Atrios with the MG7 dynamic drivers?
 
Thank You.

He's got a brief comparison in one of his posts immediately following his OP.

 

[tuahogary]

Kunlun, great comparison with the JH16! Looks like the only way up for me is the MG6pro 

 

[Kunlun]

 
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Thanks a lot for this review there few and far between and usually extremely biased persons. That being said i started out using Shure's e2c and se210 onto cx300 then 500 then onto my Atrio V2 which i had for almost 2 years and really loved them but they were getting into bad shape from the fact that i use them at work and at home. So i recently bought both the ie8 and tf10, i absolutely love the ie8 after its burn in and never thought i'd want anything else ... the TF10 is brighter but not enough volume or bass for my likes HOWEVER the ie8 isn't exactly the most comfortable and I've been thinking of getting custom tips made from Fisher but i don't like the idea of having them stick out even further from my ears . So If you know anyone or can get a loaner pair of IE8 to compare the mg6 too Please come back with some comparisons because now that I've gotten used to ie8s sound stage and almost invisible boundries and open feeling like open air cans have, I'd hate to give that up just for a better fit/slimmer view. So any feedback in the future on this would be loved bookmarking this review now for later buying pleasure (god i need to stop reading stuff here. all my wife keeps saying is Don't you have Enough headphones yet" hehe i'm waiting for xb1000 to release in america and already put money aside for em) But seriously the FS custom is the only dynamic driver custom and if they sound as good as ie8's i'm sold

Well, if anyone in NYC has the IE8 and wouldn't mind meeting in a library for an hour or something, I'd be happy to listen. They are welcome to hear my mtpc. PM me!
 
As for soundstage, the MG6Pro feels like an open air headphone when the LFVs (see my first post in the thread) are open--the soundstage and spaciousness are great, I'm positive you won't be disappointed.

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

Kunlun how does the MG6PRO Ear Monitors compare to the new Atrios with the MG7 dynamic drivers?
 
Thank You.

Hi there. Yes, as others have said, comparisons are all in the third post from the start of the thread.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/539898/review-future-sonics-mg6pro-ear-monitors-dynamic-driver-custom-fit-in-ear-monitors#post_7280030
 
Look just below the comparison with the JH16. 
 

 

[TekeRugburn]

nice review

 

[james444]

Quote:

Comparison with the JH16 added!!!
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/539898/review-future-sonics-mg6pro-ear-monitors-dynamic-driver-custom-fit-in-ear-monitors#post_7280030

Why am I not surprised by the outcome?

Thanks for the effort, I guess if I ever decide to go custom, Future Sonics will be high on my list.

 

[shamrock134]

So the legendary bass of the JH16 I've read so much hype about is bested by these Future Sonics customs?

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

Why am I not surprised by the outcome?

Thanks for the effort, I guess if I ever decide to go custom, Future Sonics will be high on my list.

Yeah, well

. I was actually a little surprised. I imagined that the JH16 would blow everything away, but that was definitely not the case.
The main thing was that I was disappointed with the JH16's reproduction of the timbre of vocal and instrumental music. While I couldn't recommend the JH16 to anyone, hearing it has made me think that a multi-ba custom which had better timbre might be quite nice, such as how Anaxilus has described his ES5. So, while I chose well for my tastes, I could see others enjoying other customs which aren't the jh16.

 
 

 

[Kunlun]

 
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So the legendary bass of the JH16 I've read so much hype about is bested by these Future Sonics customs?

Yes, definitely for me and others who hear the same way I do, if you like a real bass sound, a high quality dynamic driver bass has something that a balanced armature lacks. Read my review and you'll hopefully get a good picture of why I say what I do about the bass of the Future Sonics MG6Pro Ear Monitor. See if it makes sense to you based on your own preferences for what you want to hear. There is a lot of hype on head-fi, even over products that may indeed have their good points. I've tried to write a review that makes clear how I hear the MG6Pro and where I'm coming from.  

 

[shamrock134]

I noticed you said the MG6Pro did trance really well.
 
Would it be possible for you to give some more impressions with other bass-heavy electronic genres? Perhaps some dubstep or DnB. I'm particularly interested in high impact in the mid-bass and visceral, deep sub-bass. It sounds like I'd like these with the LFV completely open, although at the cost of isolation.
 
I also agree that for some reason BA bass is just not quite as satisfying as DD bass (for me).

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

I noticed you said the MG6Pro did trance really well.
 
Would it be possible for you to give some more impressions with other bass-heavy electronic genres? Perhaps some dubstep or DnB. I'm particularly interested in high impact in the mid-bass and visceral, deep sub-bass. It sounds like I'd like these with the LFV completely open, although at the cost of isolation.
 
I also agree that for some reason BA bass is just not quite as satisfying as DD bass (for me).

Sure, pm me with links to a few things you'd like me to listen to. Can't promise it won't take me a few days, though!
 
 

 

[music_4321]

.

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

Kunlun,

Interesting impressions, and once again all very nicely written.

Like james444, I'm not surprised by your findings. I should imagine you won't be becoming a JH Audio rep any time soon. 

One other thing: the use of the word "timbre". I strongly suggest you ask james444 about music_4321's 'love affair' with "timbre". 
 

Well, I tried to separate my feelings about Jerry's business practice with his skill as an audio engineer. They are really two separate things. My expectation (bias) was that the Jh16 would be great. It wasn't, at least in direct comparison to what I had.
 
Timbre is a bit of jargon, n'est-ce pas? I got tired of saying violins and women's voices didn't sound real with the JH16. It's hard to define, kind of like when you see a mannequin, it's not quite real and it looks weird. They call that the "uncanny valley" where we can identify with a story told using hand puppets (which look nothing like us) and even get emotionally invested a bit, but if we see something that looks like a person but is just wrong, we perceive it as very weird.
 
While the word to describe this may be problematic, it is important that an earphone reproduce the subtle nuance of a human voice or a viola authentically.
 
What would you suggest?
 
 

 

[music_4321]

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[Kunlun]

Quote:

^^ Well, I'd suggest something like "the subtle nuance of a human voice or a viola".  

I'm sure you're aware I don't mind if some people - like you - use the word "timbre". Unfortunately, I've seen "timbre" being (over)used, misused & 'abused' in the last few months. And of course you know I echo your thoughts on hype on Head-fi. Some of this hype, as you also know, comes with a fair share of jargon - "timbre" is one of those terms that has lately been 'doing the rounds' a bit too much for my liking.

Yes, I see what you are saying, certain buzzwords become popular and get used when a person wants to gush about how "good" an earphone is, regardless of whether the term fits or not. People don't seem to use PRaT anymore, maybe that's a good thing! Please do pm me if you ever feel I've fallen into buzzword-itis.
 
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One thing, though, that I think would have been a bit fairer would have been to have stressed even more the fact that you were using a JH16 universal fit demo for your comparison. I know you did mention this at the beginning, but I think it would have been better to have been reminded of this at the end. Perhaps a comparison with the FS Atrios with the new MG7 driver would've been fairer? Or perhaps you feel you would have come to very similar conclusions?
 

 
Yes, I can add another mention at the end. I'm not really sure a comparison between a custom demo and a universal which retails for over a thousand dollars less would be entirely fair, but I suppose nothing is entirely fair (the sony Ex1000 did fairly well against a custom-fit JH16 in a review on headphonia recently). While I don't have a set of MG7 Atrios (if you check my comparison with the MG6Pro, the Atrios were a long-term loan from FS), from memory, I would say that some of the frequency response imbalances and subtle nuance not quite being accurately reproduced were actually a little similar between the Atrios and JH16 demo in that neither quite satisfied my ears terms of "this really sounds like a viola"  in comparison to the MG6Pro. I used rubber bi-flanges on the Atrios I used. Again, memory is a tenuous thing. I would say that the bass of the Atrios will convey that dynamic-driver quality which the JH16 will lack, while the JH16 demo I heard will have more accurate, more controlled and faster bass. However, I enjoyed the Atrios to listen to a bit more than the JH16 demo, that's just an expression of my particular interests in a certain type of sound. I really liked the Atrios' midrange timb--uh, ability to authentically convey the subtle nuances of vocal and instrumental qualities better than I remember the Jh16 demo. The Jh16 demo had better soundstage than the Atrios as I remember them and less sparkle in the treble with the foam tips I used. So, I would say that the Jh16demo I heard was certainly technically better than the Atrios as I remember them and for 1075$ more would please more people. The price difference would be less with softerwear custom sleeves on the Atrios, but those are silicone--I haven't heard the Atrios with those, so I can't say more.
 
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You used foam tips with the JH16 universal. I, for one, have always found foam tips to not render sound the way I feel it should and much prefer single-flange silicone tips. This has always been the case with all universals I've tried. Not saying you used the wrong tips as I know others find foam tips to work better than silicone tips, but I'm just making the point that these aspects may play a bigger part than we'd like think. Having said all that, I still find that a lot of what's been said of the JH13 & JH16 is pretty overblown and exaggerated.

Your impressions remain very interesting and I'd love to be able to try the FS customs.
 

Hmm, well, I only had the option of using foams as my custom silicon sleeves didn't fit (I tried!). I have used foam tips on my universals such as the mtpc and feel the same as you do. However, I wouldn't say that the impact on sound is so large  (unless one has a poor fit--in which case it certain changes everything, particularly in the bass, although foam tips tend to eat some treble while giving the bass a bit of boom). Here is an idea I would like to put forward: Perhaps the effect of tips on sound has been a bit hyped as well? Of course, tips DO make a difference, I am only gently suggesting that perhaps the effect is not the night-and-day thing that has been implied (not by you!) elsewhere sometimes. In fact, I think I have overstated the difference tips make in the past, confusing the tips' effect on the fit I had versus the effect of the tip itself. But, again, yes, tips do make a difference and a universal demo is not the same as a custom-fit.