[jwbrent]

I was on the Crutchfield site and I saw this …

 

[MusicTeck]

We hope you're enjoying your Memorial Day weekend! Just a reminder that today is the last day of our ongoing sale—take a look at our collection before it's gone tomorrow

https://shop.musicteck.com/collections/holiday-sale (includes the Mason FS and Fusang )

 

[bigbeans]

My Fabled Sound is out for delivery! Counting down the hours

 

[bigbeans]

It’s here! Currently listening to vocals and I will say this is the real deal. I’m speechless. I know what music genre I’ll be listening to more often.

 

[bigbeans]

I wrote a short impression in the 17 Shootout Thread. You can check it out here

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fli...dio-discussion.826876/page-2152#post-16387801

 

[RTodd]

Andrew had an open box he gave me to try out, someone must have returned one to him?
This set is almost clear over the BCs you can clearly see the top of them. Have a couple days to establish what these could be like to live with.

 

[RTodd]

Mason FS is on loan as a demo. Spent some time the past two days trying to determine how was the Mason FS compared to the Elysium with the M8 DAP. M8/Ely is what I use for late night, lights out, winding down. The M8 I find to have terrific synergy with the Elysium. Vocal presentation was one of the favorable feedbacks I read on HeadFi for the Mason FS, and vocals paired with the M8 are what prompted my acquisition of the Elysium, so for my use case this is a comparison that I am curious about, among others.

Volume matching was required the Elysium needs more power than the Mason FS.
M8 in Turbo gain
Elysium 27
Mason FS 38

Synergy could be a factor here, with the M8, I prefer the Elysium to the Mason FS for the bass and mids and the Mason FS for the Upper Mids.

I am giving my impressions here I think that there is a big dose of personal preferences here, and that others may prefer the Mason FS with the M8 over the Elysium. Both sets sound nice and I would be happy with either of them.

I narrowed the comparisons to two albums and two tracks on both, both fall under the genre of Jazz. The reason I approached this so narrowly is that this is the type of music I tend to use to wind down at night, and that is my primary reason for doing this comparison.

Karrin Allyson; Album Imagina, Karrin has a smokey voice, she has a wonderful timbre, and carefully chooses and plans each song, its accompaniment, what she wants to bring, this is one of my favorite album of hers, it is very well recorded, one of my desert islands. Bossa Nova and Samba rhythms. Most of the tracks were originally penned by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The arrangements are stripped down allowing me to more easily isolate aspects of the mixes.

Tracks
Desafindo (Slightly Out Of Tune): Vibraphone, Snare, Standup Bass
Vivo Son Hando (Living On Dreams): Acoustic Guitar, Snare, Symbols, Standup Bass

Ed Cherry Quartet: Album The Spirits Speak, this album features Electric Jazz Guitar, Saxophone, with Hammond B3 organ, it is intimate, well recorded, there are vocals on several of the tracks. Ed has a lot of influences that are evident in his playing, and harps back to familiar melodies in his solos, such as a direct pull from the Monalisa melody seemingly randomly thrown in, (it works and does not seem out of place). Typical of Jazz Quartets the musicians trade solos and the interplay between them is quite nice to listen to.

Tracks
Peace: Vocals plus Quartet, Hammond B3 Solo, a quiet calming Song.
Top Hat: Just the quartet, Saxophone, Hammond B3, both have hot solos, includes symbol work.

On this music the Mason FS has more sound coming from it to my ears in all frequencies.
The Elysium is overall a bit higher in frequency and dryer, more subtle except in the mids.
The bass of the Mason FS is not as well defined (somewhat slow) encroaching on the mids. The Elysium keeps the bass below the rest of the mix, it is still there but not the focus and there is no bleeding into the mids that I hear.

The mids of the Elysium and of the Mason FS both hold their own, and sound quite different compared to each other, both have comprehensive presentations that include air and intimacy. The Mason FS is quite a bit warmer sounding and wetter than the Elysium this makes the air of the Elysium more forward and more noticeable.

The Bass of the Mason FS veils the mids some. This may be a synergy issue as the M8 is a warm sounding DAP, that aids the Elysium’s drier tuning, the M8 exaggerates the Mason’s comparative wetter tuning. Some may prefer that added warmth over the Elysium.

The Ts and the Ss in the vocals I found more apparent, interestingly on the Mason FS which seems counter to the warmer veiled impression, these sounds are in the upper mids. It is on the edge for me with both sets, does not cross over at my listening volumes. I find with the Elysium I feel more aware of mouth shape, with its more audible and slightly more edgy vocal accents.

Highs, Mason FS sounds to me a little better than the Elysium in this range, symbol work decays slower snare hits are not quite as snappy or brittle. For the saxophone in particular the Elysium can be a little fatiguing, snappy, crystal like.

Both of these sets have their own strengths, the bass implementation of the Mason FS holds it back in this pairing, the Elysium/M8 I enjoy a lot comparing it to the Mason FS shows what I thought I had tamed with the Code 51 cable I use, is still there. It is part of the charm of the Elysium with the M8, a slightly edgy one. The nature of a comparison like this is to be critical and in normal use the Mason FS is a great set and does pair well with the M8, it sounds very different than both the Traillii and the Elysium, vocals are good, something is happening at the mids to highs which is unique to the Mason FS, lots on offer here to enjoy.

I found myself needing another point of reference, so I also plugged in the Traillii and found it closer to the Elysium for vocals.

Next up I will do a comparison of the P6Pro as the DAP; Traillii to the Mason FS, once again the P6Pro/Traillii is one of my use case pairings, my portable choice. I will post this in the Mason FS, Traillii and P6Pro thread, once completed.

 

[tawmizzzz]

Mason FS is on loan as a demo. Spent some time the past two days trying to determine how was the Mason FS compared to the Elysium with the M8 DAP. M8/Ely is what I use for late night, lights out, winding down. The M8 I find to have terrific synergy with the Elysium. Vocal presentation was one of the favorable feedbacks I read on HeadFi for the Mason FS, and vocals paired with the M8 are what prompted my acquisition of the Elysium, so for my use case this is a comparison that I am curious about, among others.

Volume matching was required the Elysium needs more power than the Mason FS.
M8 in Turbo gain
Elysium 27
Mason FS 38

Synergy could be a factor here, with the M8, I prefer the Elysium to the Mason FS for the bass and mids and the Mason FS for the Upper Mids.

I am giving my impressions here I think that there is a big dose of personal preferences here, and that others may prefer the Mason FS with the M8 over the Elysium. Both sets sound nice and I would be happy with either of them.

I narrowed the comparisons to two albums and two tracks on both, both fall under the genre of Jazz. The reason I approached this so narrowly is that this is the type of music I tend to use to wind down at night, and that is my primary reason for doing this comparison.



Karrin Allyson; Album Imagina, Karrin has a smokey voice, she has a wonderful timbre, and carefully chooses and plans each song, its accompaniment, what she wants to bring, this is one of my favorite album of hers, it is very well recorded, one of my desert islands. Bossa Nova and Samba rhythms. Most of the tracks were originally penned by Antonio Carlos Jobim. The arrangements are stripped down allowing me to more easily isolate aspects of the mixes.

Tracks
Desafindo (Slightly Out Of Tune): Vibraphone, Snare, Standup Bass
Vivo Son Hando (Living On Dreams): Acoustic Guitar, Snare, Symbols, Standup Bass




Ed Cherry Quartet: Album The Spirits Speak, this album features Electric Jazz Guitar, Saxophone, with Hammond B3 organ, it is intimate, well recorded, there are vocals on several of the tracks. Ed has a lot of influences that are evident in his playing, and harps back to familiar melodies in his solos, such as a direct pull from the Monalisa melody seemingly randomly thrown in, (it works and does not seem out of place). Typical of Jazz Quartets the musicians trade solos and the interplay between them is quite nice to listen to.

Tracks
Peace: Vocals plus Quartet, Hammond B3 Solo, a quiet calming Song.
Top Hat: Just the quartet, Saxophone, Hammond B3, both have hot solos, includes symbol work.

On this music the Mason FS has more sound coming from it to my ears in all frequencies.
The Elysium is overall a bit higher in frequency and dryer, more subtle except in the mids.
The bass of the Mason FS is not as well defined (somewhat slow) encroaching on the mids. The Elysium keeps the bass below the rest of the mix, it is still there but not the focus and there is no bleeding into the mids that I hear.

The mids of the Elysium and of the Mason FS both hold their own, and sound quite different compared to each other, both have comprehensive presentations that include air and intimacy. The Mason FS is quite a bit warmer sounding and wetter than the Elysium this makes the air of the Elysium more forward and more noticeable.

The Bass of the Mason FS veils the mids some. This may be a synergy issue as the M8 is a warm sounding DAP, that aids the Elysium’s drier tuning, the M8 exaggerates the Mason’s comparative wetter tuning. Some may prefer that added warmth over the Elysium.

The Ts and the Ss in the vocals I found more apparent, interestingly on the Mason FS which seems counter to the warmer veiled impression, these sounds are in the upper mids. It is on the edge for me with both sets, does not cross over at my listening volumes. I find with the Elysium I feel more aware of mouth shape, with its more audible and slightly more edgy vocal accents .

Highs, Mason FS sounds to me a little better than the Elysium in this range, symbol work decays slower snare hits are not quite as snappy or brittle. For the saxophone in particular the Elysium can be a little fatiguing, snappy, crystal like.

Both of these sets have their own strengths, the bass implementation of the Mason FS holds it back in this pairing, the Elysium/M8 I enjoy a lot comparing it to the Mason FS shows what I thought I had tamed with the Code 51 cable I use, is still there. It is part of the charm of the Elysium with the M8, a slightly edgy one. The nature of a comparison like this is to be critical and in normal use the Mason FS is a great set and does pair well with the M8, it sounds very different than both the Traillii and the Elysium, vocals are good, something is happening at the mids to highs which is unique to the Mason FS, lots on offer here to enjoy.

I found myself needing another point of reference, so I also plugged in the Traillii and found it closer to the Elysium for vocals.

Next up I will do a comparison of the P6Pro as the DAP; Traillii to the Mason FS, once again the P6Pro/Traillii is one of my use case pairings, my portable choice. I will post this in the Mason FS, Traillii and P6Pro thread, once completed.

I & @bluestorm1992 also felt the M8 was not an ideal pairing for FS. FS is just incredibly picky. I heard some upper mids and lower treble splashy-ness from FS + M8 in my brief listening, but great to hear a more intensive and articulate description of the pairing.

 

[Tanalasta]

Van Nuys cases have never been cheap!

 

[mvvRAZ]

A photo from the upcoming full review of the FuSang!

 

[jwbrent]

I & @bluestorm1992 also felt the M8 was not an ideal pairing for FS. FS is just incredibly picky. I heard some upper mids and lower treble splashy-ness from FS + M8 in my brief listening, but great to hear a more intensive and articulate description of the pairing.

I have a similar issue using the SA700 with its bumped up midrange.

 

[RTodd]

Traillii vs Mason FS, a strength of the Traillii is that it plays all genres of music well. Leading to this comparison; what various tracks sounded like to me using both IEMs. I did not focus on technicalities or trying to explain them. I was influenced by the recent graph discussion on the Oriolus Traillii thread, cannot unlearn that.

Remembering the fitting words of @Rockwell75 in reference to the late hype train for the Mest OG “Bone Conductor, something, something, something…” there is “something” going on in the upper mids and highs they sound (maybe even feel) kind of tingly to me.

Traillii and the Mason FS are priced the same, the Mason FS being a limited edition, a standard lower priced version is available, still priced in the upper echelon of IEMs. I believe these both pair well with the P6 Pro. For me the edge goes to the Traillii, the Mason FS just does not have the bass presentation it should have for the price, in my opinion, it has the volume and does create rumble, it lacks control and does not stay put, bass is also a little slow for my taste.

I can see the Mason FS being a good choice for some, if the music that they listen to takes advantage of the strengths of the Mason FS and does not have too much of a negative impact from the bass presentation. On some tracks the slow bass added some gravity to the song.

Volume matching was close here with the P6 Pro on high gain, Traillii 27, Mason FS 30.



Suphala: album The Now, this album is centered around the tabla and percussion, where the quite often electronic drums of dance music are partly replaced by the persistent rhythms of the tabla and other live percussion sounds. This music is quite dynamic with a wide range of instruments vocals and electronic tricks going on.
Track: Secret Language, includes the tabla, various sounds, piano, flute, horns, and fretless bass.

Traillii presents, space and more space between the instruments, percussion never gets painful, bass in the sub region is evident and stays there. The timbre of the tabla high note hits makes me smile.

Mason FS bass is more assertive, slower, encroaches on the mids, though does have nice volume. Piano is a bit further back and more drowned out. The high treble of the flute is nice to my ears. Drums sound slightly less crisp. Not as much instrument separation as the Traillii.

For this music I preferred the Traillii that said the Mason FS flute solo work here sounded better on the Mason FS than it did on the Traillii.



Vladimir Horowitz: album Mozart Piano Sonatas
Track: Piano Sonata #3 Rondeau Allegro

Mason FS the piano has a bit more vibrato, Mason FS seems to be tuned for this. Note weight is good, the high register comes off with great authority. The low keys and low mid bass keys are more present than they are on the Traillii. Looking forward to other people diving more into this type of music with more experience than I have who can better describe how the Traillii and Mason FS handles this kind of music.

I preferred the Mason FS, not by a large margin.



Bill Evans: album Sunday At The Village Vanguard
Track: Gloria’s Step Take 2, Live recording, Piano, Standup Bass, Drums wire brush, wine glasses, chairs moving around, talking.

Mason FS piano high register is clear, lower register and bass mingle a bit too much, snare and symbols remain on top. The Mason FS creates a bit more bass rumble than the Traillii does. The noises from the Village Vanguard are more noticeable, colliding a bit more with the stage, you can more clearly hear sounds like Bill moving on his bench.

Traillii bass notes are fast with good decay, there is more air in the track than with the Mason FS, the piano upper register has less volume. The atmosphere of the Village Vanguard is outside the space of the musicians, creating a feeling of sitting at one of the tables sipping a glass of red, hearing some of the best music ever recorded.

I preferred the Traillii on this track.



Tool: album 10,000 Days
Track 10,000 Days (Wings Part 2), song starts out with a bass line, symbols and a building thunderstorm. What follows a long build up is mania, with muted stretched chords, driving bass, one of my favorite percussion sounds the tabla makes an appearance, at least that is what it sounds like.

Traillii has less bass volume, Mason FS bass notes and thunder hit harder decay slower, making it more ominous sounding. As the guitars stretched notes come in, they are drowned out, it is only when the guitars frequency increases that the guitar comes a little more forward. As the song builds and the vocal volume raises as well as the drumming picks up, guitar starts to rip, the advantages of the Traillii approach becomes apparent.

On this track I preferred the Traillii although I did enjoy that more ominous sounding intro.



Herbert Von Karajan: Berlin Philharmonic album: Holst The Planets
Track: Op.32. H125 – Mars, The Bringer Of War

This is a track that many are familiar with. Traillii plays this track very well, Mason FS in contrast takes the strings and horns a little further. More visceral. The bass bleed that burdens other genres has less impact here, nevertheless, is still present and in this case lifts what is there which I liked.

This one goes to the Mason FS.



Pallers: album The Sea Of Memories
Track: Another Heaven, this is an atmospheric track, electronic keyboard, and restrained vocals, those familiar with the later two albums of the band Talk Talk will find some similarity here.

Traillii is perfect for this track, the bass implementation is beautiful to hear. Mason FS also plays the track well, the vocals come of slightly better on the Mason FS, and some of the higher register electronic sounds shimmer a bit more.

On this track it is a toss up.



The Mason FS loan period is over for me, it heads back to Andrew today. It has left an impression on me. I am already missing the unique presentation.

 

[bigbeans]

Congrats to @blankdisc for his Mason FS review hitting front page! I have noted similar observations in my experience using this iem. It is truly a special iem that I am proud to have in my collection!

 

[aaf evo]

Great review. Really describes the Mason and sums up the differences between the Mason and Traillii well.

 

[jwbrent]

I’ve been listening to the MFS for the past week and I’m now better understanding what I’m hearing. When I first got it and listened, it sounded so different than anything I’ve ever owned, I felt confused so I set it aside for awhile to rotate my new collection. On the second go around I’ve come to one certainty: I’m totally smitten!

One of the changes I made between listens was ordering an adaptor so I could hear the MFS on my AK SA700. Prior, I was using the ZX300 with custom firmware and I was pretty happy with it, but after listening on the SA700, I’m very satisfied although I now know I will have to buy a better source down the road to hear the MFS at its best … I questioned early on whether there would be much of a difference as well as the necessity of buying a flagship dap when driving iems.

The other difference that contributed to better sound as well as comfort was trying out the included Comply TSX tips. I used Comply when I first got into iems but ultimately I moved on to final E tips. The new Comply tips have changed a bit where they are more comfortable than I remember and they create a great seal with my ears with its rounder shape. A side advantage is the wax filter; I worry about getting earwax into a couple iems in my collection that have exposed bores, so one less thing to worry about. The filters are very thin with an open cell design, so I can’t imagine there being any detrimental effect. Finally, the outer foam portion of the tips have a sheen to it as if it has been coated. If this is the case, that might mean greater longevity which was a problem with the originals I used long ago.

I mentioned in the Shichiku.Kangen thread I was also quite happy with this set even suggesting it was my favorite, but now that I have a better source and some lengthy listening sessions behind me, The Mason FS is the King!

Check out the last track if so moved.