Future Sonics \ XtremeMac FS1 Earphones
These are Future Sonics latest consumer canal earphones, branded for sale by XtremeMac. As consumer earphones go at approx. £65 (~$150) these are not cheap but are they worth your hard earned cash?
Supplied with the earphones are a good selection of ear fittings of various sizes. Three pairs of the expanding foam inserts (small, medium & large), two pairs of the double flange rubber inserts (small & large). There is a small wax cleaning tools as well a nice pseudo leather pouch to store your earphones while not in use.
As I recommend for all these types of earphones it is worth experminenting with the various fittings, look for good comfort and sealing between your ear and the drivers. Due to the infinite baffle design of these earphones the bass response is totally dependent on the seal you achieve between your ear and the earphone.
For me personally I find my ear canals are very sensitive to having things shoved in them! So I find the foam inserts give me the best levels of comfort and seal. The foam also has the added benefit of resistance free insertion and removal (if you follow my instructions), when most of the skin chaffing happens with the rubber inserts. As a side note Future Sonic foams are a lot softer and more pliable compared to other brands such as Ultimate Ears or Shure. I did not feel this made them any worse in creating a seal or holding the earphones in place.
I spent around 3 weeks listening to these earphones, over that time they performed extremely well. These are one of the most comfortable earphones I have tried, the earphones are light so is the cable, but most importantly the length of fittings are longer. This has the benefit of reducing the pressure on the ear canal by spreading the weight of the earphone over a greater surface area. The earphones stay virtually flush with the ears so resting your head while wearing them is possible, good for people who sleep to music.
Curved shape of the earphone allows them to be used with the cable exiting up and around the back of the ears or just straight down. Of course straight down means if the cable gets tugged the chances of the earphones being pulled out are greater.
On the ergonomic front the only downside has got to be the length of the cable at only 105cm (~45 inches) is too short for comfortable use.
Listening Tests
So after a couple hours of listening tests the first thing to report must be the bass response one word ‘wow‘. Normally you would not use the word ‘detail’ to describe bass response but thats what you get. Tight, very well controlled and damped bottom end - move on no flapping to be found here!
I threw in a early 80’s cd and listening to tracks such as Bryan Ferry / Slave To Love
Just like my youth the tweeters and the midrange drivers never really matched the subs and here is where the FS1’s fail. They are sadly lacking in the mid and high end, adjusting the EQ on player helped. I gave a small boost from 1K up and a even greater boost from 8k up and I was really pleased with the sound - well balanced but lacking detail.
Moving on to classical music. I was impressed in a piece like Bizet / Overture from ‘Carmen’ 
Next up was an album I know very well Jean Michel Jarre’s Revolutions. Surprisingly the earphones performed ok’ish I did however have to play with the EQ again, music like this needs to be bright and sharp. The smoothness which helped with the string music and vocals sadly lets it down in very dynamic fast changing music. In the title track ‘Revolution’ the instruments sound like they have all been crammed in to a small box and the lack of detail is very apparent - quick listen to the same track on a set of Shure E1’s really demonstrates the lack of detail from the FS1’s, you can hear the instruments stretching their legs!
Not one for giving up so quickly I moved on to some rock theme’s. We were definitely back in FS1 territory. On a track like Metallica / The Unforgiven
Finally I got to some modern Rap & Hip-Hop tracks, like Rock the FS1’s done really well here. These genres need a big bass experience and the FS1’s can deliver. I listened to 2Pac / All eyez On Me
Conclusion
- Very comfortable and light.
- Can tackle any bass line leaving you with a permanent smirk!
- Lacks detail very apparent in Electronic music and to anyone after small nuances in Classical pieces.
- Smooth mellow sound.
- Easy listening for long periods, no fatigue.
Ideal For
Undemanding listeners of Pop, Rock, 80’s, and Acoustic genres who want a big speaker sound with the bass line to smile about.
Reggae, Rap, and Hip-Hop lovers
All The Waterboys
Not For
Electronic music or demanding Classical lovers
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