Tansio Mirai TSMR-6 Review – Shiny Glass Cannon

I recently had the opportunity to audition one pair of Tansio Mirai TSMR-6 IEMs, which – I anticipate – I did like quite a lot from the technical standpoint, although their presentation is not my cup of tea as they say.

We are talking about quite interesting IEMs, priced just above $500 and featuring a 3 DIP-switch mechanism allowing the user to fine-tune the presentation – up to a certain extent of course: SW-1 enchances midbass, SW-2 enhances mids and vocals, SW-3 apply a (further) boost to trebles. In the end I found myself preferring all 3 switches “ON”, as the presentation gets a bit more musical this way. Read on for more, considering that wherever not specified my notes refer to ON-ON-ON setup.

At-a-glance Card

PROsCONs
A very well executed bright-clear presentationOverly fast bass transients, some more body required down there
Vivid, sparkly, detailed treblesDifficult to pair due to low impedance and high sensitivity
Authoritary, clean, organic midsCapricious about eartips both on sound and physical grounds
Very good technicalities
DIP-switch based tuning customisation system

Full Device Card

Test setup

Sources: Apogee Groove + Burson FUN + IEMatch / Apogee Groove + iBasso T3 / Sony NW-A55 mrWalkman / Questyle QP1R – Sedna Earfit Light Short tips – Linsoul 4 Core Pure Copper cable – lossless 16-24/44.1-192 FLAC tracks.

Signature analysis

TonalityTimbre is lean and clean. Tonality is obviously bright-clear, with very well calibrated and unshrilling trebles and good, articulated and natural mids and highmids.
Sub-BassSub-bass is light, although not fully rolled off. With SW-1 ON there is some very modes addition to rumble which is anyhow limited at all times
Mid BassMidbass is shamelessly 100% BA-style: superfast, lean, modestly punchy. Definitely lean even for my jazz-sided tastes with SW-1 on the 0 position, I keep SW-1 ON to get at least some body in the mid-bass, and even so the presentation is definitely sided in favour of mid-treble lovers.
MidsTSMR-6 mids are the other star of the show here, together with trebles. Left free from any interference or veiling coming from the bass, mids come out authoritatively and in very good quality. Power is a stronger as we go, and the extreme high mids may become too hot for some; on the opposite end low mids are not recessed at all. If the source is competent enough, no or very limited glaring comes out from up there in spite of all that clarity and detail. Turning SW-2 ON does not simply add accent to the mids, it does add some more body too, which is a very welcome addition in my books.
Male VocalsMale vocals are very nice, most of all organic, realistic, quite well textured although free of any added butter (like all the rest)
Female VocalsFemales are extremely good, also very organic like males, and at times even more bodied and almost flutey. Higher registers only sometimes risk to scant into too hot territory losing realism
HighsTSRM-6 trebles are superbly clear, sparkly and detailed. Evidently tamed above 10K I presume to avoid “exaggerating” here, which would surely be the case given how much vividness and air is already delivered in the presence section.

Technicalities

SoundstageTSMR-6 offers a very wide stage, with good height and above average depth.
ImagingHelped by great clarity and high end note definition, imaging is just about perfect at all times
DetailsHigh mids and trebles deliver a huge amount of detail and microdetail, without scanting into excessive, fatiguing thinness. Not the same happens down low where the bass-dedicated BA is kept too fast.
Instrument separationSeparation just great as imaging. Layering is also very good, just some range compression can be spotted at times, consequence of transients kepts on the too snappy end. Liking this or not is of course 100% a matter of preferences.
DriveabilityTSMR-6 are not easy to properly drive with their low (15 Ω) impedance and very high sensitivity. Most budget (and quite a few non budget) sources will un-naturally either bump their bass up, or produce hiss, or both. If the source is powerful enough, this is one of those many instances where an IEMatch, on Ultra position, proves invaluable.

Physicals

BuildMedical grade resin, offered with aesthetic customisation options. Each housing carries a block of 3 DIP switches allowing for signature finetuning: flipping each one ON adds a boost to bass, mids and trebles, respectively. Nozzles are long and quite thick, making a few common eartips e.g. final E and some sednas unfit for TSMR-6. Furthermore, no “lip” is present to help retain eartips in position, just the plastic surface is matte, offering “some” grip, so on the opposite end eartips with stem a tad wider then wanted are also a difficult go.
FitExtremely easy to fit them, once you go through the pain of pairing the “right” tips – which may be a double issue do to how the nozzles are constructed (see above). My end preference goes to Symbio Peel silicon tips, helping on bass delivery, avoiding to overdo on trebles and “gripping” the nozzle more than appropriately in the back end
ComfortOnce finally tip-fitted, comfort is near-perfect at least in my case
IsolationIsolation is not the best I ever experience but definitely above average, also depending on tip selection
CableI tried the TSRM-6 with the upgrade cable they came with, a well made Linsoul 4 Core Pure Copper. No information about their stock cable.

Specifications (declared)

HousingMedical grade resin, offered with aesthetic customisation options. Each housing carries a block of 3 DIP switches allowing for signature finetuning: flipping each one ON adds a boost to bass, mids and trebles, respectively.
Driver(s)2 independent Knowles 29689, 2 composite Sonion 33AJP007I, 2 composite Sonion 33AJ007I/9 drivers, 3-way crossover, 2 tubes
Connector2-pin 0.78mm
CableN/A (assessed a privately owned unit)
Sensitivity115 dB
Impedance15 Ω
Frequency Range20 – 20000 Hz
Package & accessories N/A (assessed a privately owned unit)
MSRP at this post time$529,00

More about switch-based tuning

Product literature is slightly misleading in simply tagging the 3 switches as respectively acting on bass, mids and trebles.

More precisely SW-1 applies an obvious flat horizontal push up to all bass (mid and sub). SW-3 essentially does the same with trebles. SW-2 is different: it leaves central mids where they are, but enhances lowmids and midbass, and makes highmids a bit hotter.

As for my tastes I wanted to make bass more bodied, I started of course by turning up SW-1 and -2, but I found that this way highmids get too hot and most of all too evident, somehow even “stealing the scene” to trebles. Simply put, for how odd it may seem without trying, I found that flipping all 3 switches on I could get more bass as I wanted, while keeping the highmid+treble section still “strong”, even stronger than before but not “unbalanced”.

Conclusions

Even in its ON-ON-ON (aka “1-2-3”, as product literature calls that) configuration, TSMR-6 definitely fall into the clear / analythical drivers category, offering wonderfully clean stage, superb imaging, a very technical ultralean bass and loads of articulated macro and fine micro details from the mids up. So-called “treble-heads” rejoyce: these are for you.

Musicality is kept on a second priority here, at least for my tastes that is, although an exception is worth mentioning regarding vocals, which are delivered in a quite organic an realistic way.

As mentioned at the beginning, this TSMR-6 sample I auditioned for a few days is privately owned, not offered as a review/loaner unit by the manufacturer nor any distributor.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

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Author

  • Tansio Mirai TSMR-6 Review - Shiny Glass Cannon 1

    Head-Fier “Hooga” since 2020. Alberto is a part-time music and audio lover. He’s got limited time to concede himself to listening to music, and that’s why his primary focus is min-maxing his audio enjoyment sessions. To make things further complicated, due to family compromises he stays away from airing music on room speakers and dedicates himself exclusively to in- or over-ear drivers. A technology enthusiast since he was a kid, Alberto is not overly attracted by novelties for the sake of themselves, he’s indeed not a compulsive gear roller, and is interested in understanding why and how a given piece of equipment produces better or worse results. His articles are about sharing his experience with the hope that it may be useful to others on the same quest. In real life he is Italian, in his mid fifties, works as a sales&marketing executive, and his other main technical competence is IT.

Alberto Pittaluga (Bologna, Italy)

Head-Fier “Hooga” since 2020. Alberto is a part-time music and audio lover. He’s got limited time to concede himself to listening to music, and that’s why his primary focus is min-maxing his audio enjoyment sessions. To make things further complicated, due to family compromises he stays away from airing music on room speakers and dedicates himself exclusively to in- or over-ear drivers. A technology enthusiast since he was a kid, Alberto is not overly attracted by novelties for the sake of themselves, he’s indeed not a compulsive gear roller, and is interested in understanding why and how a given piece of equipment produces better or worse results. His articles are about sharing his experience with the hope that it may be useful to others on the same quest. In real life he is Italian, in his mid fifties, works as a sales&marketing executive, and his other main technical competence is IT.

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