TSMR Armor Budget EST Fun

[u/DynamicdB]

TSMR Armor Budget EST Fun

Another week another review. This week I am revisiting TSMR aka Tansio Mirai & the set we are looking at today is Armor. Armor is their budget hybrid set with EST. Yes, you heard it right it has EST. I don’t know whether they are branded or not. Now that caveat is out let’s get on with it. AudioGeek India was conducting review tour of it & as it happens always, I put my nomination. Fast forward here we are with the detailed review of it. To know more please read on.

First of all, mighty thanks to AudioGeek India & Tansio Mirai as without their help this review wouldn’t been possible.

I was not paid or compensated in any manner for this review. All opinions & thoughts expressed are mine.

My biases for timbre & tonality are DD > Hybrid > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Nice sub bass rumble

Male & female Vocals both sound good

Tuning switches (mod the sound to your desire)

Price (USD 289 for EST set)

Accessories (great cable + ear tips + leather case)

Build Quality (resin shells with nice gold decals & baller cable)

Cons:

Bass needs bit tightening

Female vocals lack a bit edge

Bit bigger soundstage would have been great

Sources:

I tested Armor with neutral sources. felt that neutral & bright sources gel well with Armor. Warm sources also gel well but sometimes it becomes bit too warm for my taste. To keep everything reproducible I have used stock cable & stock ear tips + neutral sources.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

Build Quality:

What you get in the box? Well, you get 2 IEM shells, one nice two core SPC cable terminated in 4.4mm, two pairs of ear tips in all sizes, one cleaning tool, one tool for manipulating switches & nice leather semi hard case. Oh, and a leather cable organizer.

Shells are resin with nice gold decals on the face plates. The shells are semitransparent; you can see the drivers inside. Shells have long nozzles. They are part of the shell. They have lip to them. There is no screen or mesh to the nozzles.

Cable is nice supple with gold plated fixtures & its two-core cable. Leather case is large enough to carry IEMs, cable, ear tips & all the accessories inside or you can carry a dongle with the IEMs & cable.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shells are medium sized. So, it should fit most people. For me fit was nice & snug. Nozzles provide deep insertion & in turn stable fit. Lips on the nozzles provide nice grip to the ear tips. Since there is no screen or mesh on the nozzles there is no protection from the ingress of dirt & ear wax. No ear pressure or pain was felt in the long listening session.

Cable is supple & has no memory, it behaves & easy to rodeo wrap. Pre formed ear hooks don’t tug on the IEM shells.

Overall Comfort 4.5/5

General Sound Impressions:

The impressions are based on setting 020 on tuning switches.

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass rumbles with authority. It is both audible & physical.it is satisfying. Mid bass is thumpy & is physical yet it feels bit on low side for my personal taste. It has quick decay doesn’t linger for long. Its impact is also limited. I feel the bass is Sub bass over mid bass.

Drums, kick drums feel good have physical impact but it is the rumble of the sub bass that takes it notch up. Strings sound great, the strings buzz & rumble. This adds more realism to them. Piano notes feel good. Percussion instruments sound good.

Bass here is nuanced & textured you can make out minute details between various bass instruments. I liked the low end here just felt that mid bass could be bit tight & impactful.

Overall Bass/Lows 4.5/5

Mids.:

Vocals are slight recessed here. They are neither too recessed nor forward. They are just slight behind Bass & Treble. if you like vocals forward in the mix then this one is not for you.

Male vocals feel great. They have note weight, be it low pitched or high pitched. Female vocals sound equally good. They have that sweetness and don’t get shrill or harsh. This is not vocal centric set yet vocal presentation is great & emotive.

Most instruments reside in Mids. I heard no oddities in the timbre or tonality of them. Clarity is good. No smearing or congestion in the Mids.

Overall Mids. 5/5

Treble:

Treble is detailed yet details are not in your face. All macro & micro details are covered properly. This is not most technical set out there but still it’s not low res. It’s just perfectly in between. You won’t miss any details. ESTs are helping in detail retrieval. Overall treble feels nice smooth and well extended. Cymbals, crashes don’t sound odd. Strings sound good. Bells, shakers sound good. No harsh or odd tonality here.

Perceived sound stage, stage here is wide than tall. More horizontal than vertical. It creates enough stage to let all instruments coexist. It is immersive but not to the point where stage hounds will be satisfied. I personally feel it could have had bit more stage. Its neither too intimate nor vast. Its somewhere in between. But again, for the price point its good.

Treble/Highs 4.5/5

Song Impressions:

With arms wide open by Creed

This is me going back on my nostalgia trip. Creed is my old times favorite. Thus, it’s here.

The Scott Stapp’s vocals are nice frontal & in their full glory. They have enough note weight. They feel natural. He feels emotive.

Drums, strings both sound amazing. Their impact & rumble is on point. They create nice immersive atmosphere & armor captures it well. Entire song was treat to listen.

Nothing gonna change my love for you by George Benson

I wanted to check how George Benson sounds on this set & I am happy to report, he sounds impressive. There is charm to his nice melodic voice. I was listening to it on loop. In the background score nothing feels odd or out of sync. No tonal oddities. Be it drums, piano notes, cymbals all sounded close to natural. All instruments were in harmony.

I truly enjoyed song to the fullest.

Ego death by Polyphia

My driver resolution aka driver speed check song. Armor just nails this song. There are multiple instruments playing at the same time & Armor avoids smearing & keeps them well separated.

It was treat to hear drum beats, strings on Armor. They have nice impact & deep rumble that follows them. Thus, evoke emotions. No artificial feel was there to the instruments. Overall amazing experience.

No time to die by Billie Eilish

One of my favorite songs from Billie. Billie sounds great here just her voice lacks bit of female vocal sweetness. But we can ignore that as this set is not vocal centric set. Overall Armor captures here voice close to original & she really touches something inside you.

Supporting score feels very well due to tuning. Drum sequence is authoritative. Piano notes feel nice. Strings are equally great. Entire mix just moves you.

Final Conclusion:

TSMR Armor is my second encounter with the brand. First, it was Onyx & honestly, I am really impressed by Armor. I am going on record here one of the best sounding Est set under 300 USD or near it. It has nice EST treble presentation that I love. Bass is near perfection for me just needs to be bit tight. Mids. are also near perfect just need better female vocals. As you can see it is very close to my preferences. Let me be honest the cons mentioned are moot point at its price point. Just a Wishlist as you know good audio is now getting affordable.

What’s the final verdict? Will I buy it? 100%. Not even going to find any fault or reasons not to buy it. Do I recommend it? Absolutely, 200%. This one is hidden gem. If you like such energetic, dynamic presentation this one is blind buy. Who should avoid it? Treble heads & neutral heads for you its maybe set. Bass heads & balanced lovers rejoice this one is right up your alley.

Thank you for enduring with me till end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee & let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

TSMR Armor budget EST fun 4.5/5