Tansio Mirai TSMR-5

The TSMR-5 is a very solid mid tier offering that puts Tansio Mirai on the map for me, both in terms of craftsmanship and tuning knowledge. If you're looking for a reasonably priced clear and highly engaging IEM with a great soundstage and very good craftsmanship then you can't go wrong with the TSMR-5!

Manufacturer website : https://tansio-mirai.com/
Price : 419$

Fit, Build & Isolation

The TSMR-5 feature a solid acrylic shell and the build quality is flawless, the build breathes quality as clearly shown the inside of the shells the craftsmanship is very good up to the switches system with tight tolerances. The TSMR-5 looks sturdy and well suited to daily use.

The fit is perfect with lightweight shells that you quickly forget once you wear them. The included tips are high quality and I didn’t need to do any tip rolling, a good thing because the stem of the TSMR-5 is among the bigger I have seen (over 5mm) and this means not everyone of your tip collection will fit.

Isolation is very good despite the fact the fit is not too deep either which make the TSMR-5 quite comfortable especially for those who don’t like deeper fits.

The cable is a nice 8 core silver-plated copper cable with 2 pins connectors, nicely. I like the standard 0.78 2 pin connectors, as they open things up for cable rolling but honestly I tried upgrade cables (for example Null Audio Tiburon 8 wires) with the TMSR-5 but I ended preferring the stock which is a testimony to the stock cable quality.

Introduction

I must confess I hadn’t heard much about Tansio Mirai before this review but I am very happy that my fellow headfiers mentioned it as a brand to get a look into. Just like Fearless Audio, Tansio Mirai is one of the chinese brand to keep tabs on as they are getting quite a bit of traction among audiophiles that want to get high sound quality at affordable prices. Their performance and tuning knowledge is now such that audiophiles like me who have dabbed into the TOTL bracket for a while are curious for a listen.

So here I am with their mid priced 5 BA offering, the TSMR-5. I was not sure what to expect, as I had quick auditions of some of its competitors and let’s just say not everything is as good as the Fearless S8 Pro (I had a few minutes with at a meetup) for example. One thing I often find myself finding gripes with is those IEMs who are artifical sounding with over emphasis on bass or treble. This has more to do with tuning than anything else and to me remains the heart of the craft of creating good audio gear.

Let me drop the suspense, I was not disappointed with the TSMR-5 and once I found my sweet spot in terms of choosing one of the 7 signatures I actually enjoyed my time with the TSMR-5 for it’s a very engaging IEM.

But let’s get down to the important question : how does the TSMR-5 sound?

Sound

The TSMR-5 features a very good soundstage and very precise imaging, with deep and well textured bass, full and articulate mids and clear highs. This is a clear sounding and fun IEM, with very sound technical foundations. As mentioned earlier, this is a versatile IEM as well thanks to no less than 7 signature variations :

Tuning switches
The TSMR-5 features 3 switches (lows, mids, highs) with each 2 positions which translates to 7 tuning modes where 0 means pushed down, 1/2/3 means pushed up.

100: Bass boost, darkest
120: Bass and mids boost, fuller sounding
020: Balanced mode 
103: Bass and highs boost, U shaped
003: Highs boost
023: Mids and high boost, most detailed.
123: All boost, full sounding and detailed (manual indicate this is the lowest impedance)

I personally prefer the 123 and 120 setting, which are the fuller sounding to my ears while the default 020 sounds more balanced but I find it less engaging. 123 sounds a little more refined than 120 with more treble presence that grant more air and better perceived resolution. On the flipside depending on music genre and recordings 123 can be a bit too much in the treble section, at least for my taste.

The rest of the review will be based on the switches set to 123 and 120 but I’ll mention the baseline 020 as well when relevant.

Let’s dig a bit deeper!

Bass

The TSMR-5 bass is very good. It extends fairly well and sub bass have good presence when called for providing the TSMR-5 with power and a good rythmic baseline. Mid bass avoids the easy route, with no excessive presence and excellent control which in my book is a sign of maturity in tuning.

I cycled through my usual test tracks and the TSMR-5 mature bass tuning certainly makes the TSMR-5 a good all rounder. It sure is fun on sub bass heavy tracks like Sohn’s Rennen but it’s equally as enjoyable on Latin Jazz where the double bass is portrayed fairly faithfully with accurate tone. Last but not least there is no bass bleed into the mids, another sign of a well mastered bass tuning.

The TSMR-5 bass presence is more neutral on the 0 bass setting. Setting 020 provides less bass presence as expected but I still wouldn’t call it bass light. The bass is satisfying, and provides good rythm on 020, just less visceral fun with less sub bass and a leaner mid bass. I feel 123 and 120 do provide better bass textures as well. The bass switch does have more impact than just adding bass presence, it contribute to an overall fuller bodied presentation.

Logically, 123 is the setting that has the bigger soundstage (along with 103) because both of the bass foundation which provides greater soundstage height and the treble boost helps the width and separation.

Mids

The TSMR-5 mids are quite accurate and there is no coloration here, it’s a clear well articulate midrange that is fairly balanced in terms of body. The TSMR-5 will be fuller bodied if the bass switch is on 1, but it still not a thick signature.

Timbre and tone at spot on to my ears and instruments are faithfully portrayed. The lower mids are on the leaner side while the upper mids has the necessary bite to add some excitement but I wouldn’t call it a bright midrange either the upper mids are gently boosted either on setting 0 or 2.

Interestingly the switch setting has more impact on how recessed or forward the mids are rather than be warmer or brighter as I would have expected. Tone remains the same on both 0 and 2 and the noticeable difference will be distance to the singer and lead instruments. This is interesting as it opens up the ability to open the soundstage on settings 0 with a deeper soundstage. This explains why setting 103 will have the biggest soundstage of all the settings. I for one prefer more vocal presence of 123 but it’s nice to have options and the switch system shows its strength here.

Treble

When listening to the TSMR-5 it’s very apparent Tansio Mirai engineers aimed at providing clarity to the signature no matter which setting is chosen and treble is a key to this.

Note that I am insisting on clarity as opposed to brightness, the 4 to 6kHz range has been carefully tweaked to provide maximum clarity while avoiding harshness. This is still a difficult exercise and in so doing on switch 3 on there is a bit of an edge on some specific tracks or rich treble music genres can be a tad too close to the limit for some. I think it was smart though because if you’re a bit sensitive like I am you can set switch 3 to off and safely go from there. On the flipside if you like your treble more defined and get maximum resolution and excitement you can set switch 3 to on.

Treble has great importance in the TSMR-5 tuning, on either treble setting it does provide very good air, separation and excitement as well as contribute to the TSMR-5 resolution.

Verdict

Listening for the first time to a brand’s IEM is often a key moment, as first impressions do matter and I must say I was very positively impressed by Tansio Mirai TSMR-5. From now on, it’s a brand that will be high on my list of chinese manufacturers along with QDC, Fearless and and I will keep an eye on their products. I most definitely am now very interested in their latest flagship the 12 BA Zodiac and how it compares to my flagship collection… stay tuned!

In the meantime, the TSMR-5 is a very solid mid tier offering that puts Tansio Mirai on the map for me, both in terms of craftsmanship and tuning knowledge. If you’re looking for a reasonably priced clear and highly engaging IEM with a great soundstage and very good craftsmanship then you can’t go wrong with the TSMR-5!

Listening notes
I spent approximately 30hours with the TSMR-5, listening on iBasso DX160 using the stock cable. 

Special Thanks
Thanks to Tansio Mirai for providing a review unit of TSMR-5. As usual, this review is my honest opinion. No incentive was given for a favorable review.