Ok guys, I am going to do my first report on any audio equipment purchased since my introduction to Head-Fi.com.
A little background about me: low 60's with typical aged ears that roll off after 12000. I am a small business owner, not an audiophile, and own equipment that I purchase only after careful research to keep forever. I do not buy to just own but to enjoy and will stop looking further until something breaks.
I have read every review in every forum in Head-Fi on every IEM made. This took months. I could do this only on weekends. I do have a life. After a great deal of mind changing, I decided to purchase the Future Sonics mg6pro because of the following:
1) Dynamic drivers would give me the sound that I want vs. the more unnatural separation of the balanced armatures. My wife has balanced armatures in her hearing aids and in discussion with her hearing issues, I did not like the problems she had with the unnatural sounds she got from these.
2) I have the Audeze LCD 2 Rev 2 headphones. I wanted iems that would approximate the sound from these fabulous headphones. These headphones brought me into a world of music appreciation I have not had since college years. I hoped the iems would match the sound quality, sound stage, and pure enjoyment these offer. As an aside, if you do not own any world class headphones, beg, borrow, or steal to purchase these. You will never hear music with this much enjoyment as through these headphones.
3) The lady that answers the telephone at Future Sonics answered all my questions well and was a good representative of the standards at FS. Although I had paid for the iems before they received my ear impressions, they gave me the additional discount that came by email after this. This was greatly appreciated.
4) Future Sonics appears to have been doing iems longer than anyone. Expertise matters.
OK. So what did I get.
The mg6pro has gold flake on the outside and clear inside. The ear pieces are big. Looking at all the photos do not give a true indication of their size. I never realized that my ear canals were that large or that the space in the inside of my outer ear would be that large.
They are not easy to put in. These are my first iems so I do not have any experience for comparison of insertion ease. I have to precisely twist them, front to back 1/8 th turn, and then move ear parts around edges so they flatten around outside of the ear. Once they are correctly placed, my ears are red from the handling and pressure. I now need to use a mirror to correctly place them. I hope I will be able to do this in the future without the need for a mirror. I experimented by using medical grade clear silicone on the outside of the iems to help the outer skin slip around the hard plastic. This seems to work but it negatively effects the outer seal. I will continue to experiment to find what works best for me.
The quality of the seal is very good. At first you feel that the ears are stuffed with a hard object but this subsides over a short time. Immediately after insertion, I use techniques used to clear the pressure on your ears during an airplane flight and I hear a single popping sound in each ear. I am guessing that this is due to the seal breaking. In a few minutes after inserting the iems, I can open my jaws fairly wide, talk, chew, and try to pop the seal through the airplane technique and I do not get any popping sound. I guess I have to say the fit is correct. Thanks Future Sonics for getting it right the first time. My audiologist had a lot of experience in making musicians’ ear pieces. She only charged $35.00 so this is probably why. I had quotes for up to $50 per ear. So I guess I should complement her as well. If anyone lives in the Oklahoma City, OK USA area I will happily give you her name. You quickly get accustomed to this hard foreign object that was aggressively inserted into two of your cavities. I have listened for 8 straight hours and have no discomfort.
How about the sound?
Are they as good as the Audeze headphones? No they are not. But damn close. The instruments in the Audeze are further in front of me and wider. The music is just more beautiful but not by much.
Now what about the sound of the mg6pro? The best way I can describe about how I enjoy these is to describe what happens to me when I use them. I listen to Pandora on my Motorola Droid X Android phone while playing poker at a local casino. I primarily listen to the Blues. I can barely hear the conversation around me due to the isolation of the iems. This is a good thing; they get rid of most of the distracting casino ambient noise. If I have to talk to someone at the poker table I have to turn off the music. I then can carry on any conversation needed. However, the music quality is so good that I find myself listening to all the details in the song, bobbing my head, drumming my hands and easily floating away from all my surroundings. This could get expensive in playing poker but I do not give a s***. I am a conservative, non-outwardly demonstrative, white male. I am feeling the joy, pleasure, and musical immersion that I have not enjoyed since my teen years. You can be a kid again.
The bass, mid range and treble are all that I can want. The port is the one that FS sends inserted in the iem, the middle one. Many of the blues songs are renown for their bass and great guitar rifts and these iems pull out every detail and musical naturalness that I have heard in live concerts. All the sounds seem smooth and correct. This is not a bass heavy sound, but bass impacted. The bass is solid and strong without sounding unnaturally overpowered. The vocals are fabulous. I can hear all the detail and musicality of every raspy sounding blues vocalist. The treble in the screaming guitars is almost unbelievable. You feel that you are sitting directly in front on Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and BB King. You can see their fingers moving in your mind and enjoy their talent and music as if they are playing just for you. What an experience!
I also wanted to use the mg6pro in my car while driving. I drive a very good car with a very good factory upgraded sound system. I choose a car based on 3 things, 1) I have to fit, I am 6 ft 8 in. 2) It must drive well and be quiet, and 3) It must have a great sound system. I bring reference CDs to compare before purchase. This car has the best factory sound system I have auditioned. However, it does not sound as good as listening by headphones. The cops frown on using headphones while driving. So, I needed earphones that were as good as my best headphones. The mg6pro fills this need. Even though they isolate, you can still hear tire noise and some ambient noise. Enough so you can still be aware of what is happening around you and be safe. I was worried about this prior to purchase. No problem, as long as I do not crank beyond ½ volume. Now every daily drive, some are as long as 1 hour, seem short because of the music enjoyed en route.
Final thoughts.
Am I happy with my expensive purchase? Ecstatically so. Would I recommend them? Unequivocally.
