Tansio Mirai Sands
The company that keeps on making high quality in ears brings to the masses their very first traditional hybrid. Composed of a new 10mm bass dynamic, 2 Sonion BAs for mids, 1 Knowles BA for the highs. All in a compact medium sized resin shell. Well vented for the bass complete with 3 tuning switches that mildly boosts the region they are taxed with. If you have never heard of Tansio Mirai or have heard any of their offerings. Tansio Mirai started out making arguably some of the best all BA designs.
The new Sands are a departure from the traditional TSMR shell molds of their past BA designs. The new shells have a few differences, its shape is more traditional semi-custom in form and the nozzle now has a proper lip to retain tips. Prior shell nozzles did not. This little added aspect of the new shell design is worth noting as the prior shell nozzles just had a straight nozzle. The issue with prior shell design was that sometimes tips would slip farther down the nozzle than I would have liked or not fit at all. This new design fixes the one real quibble of their prior shell designs.
The shells are more compact in form, a smaller medium sized all Resin filled cavity design with a nice vent for the bass dynamic on the backside of the shells. The Sands shells are finished off with a nice-looking clear yellow/gold flake face plate and 3 tuning switches.
The rest of the included stuff is their smallish square white faux leather zip up case, several sets of silicone tips, 2 different switch tools, cleaning brush, and their newly developed silver-plated OCC cable. You can purchase the cable in balanced terminations when ordering otherwise they come in single ended.
A word about the cable. This cable Tansio has provided is a nicely resolving well balanced cable in what it does but due to the highly detailed nature of the Sands tuning I do recommend doing some cable rolling for the best synergy for the Sands. The included cable is certainly a good product and is a much better cable than what was provided with TSMR earphones in the past. It is a thinner version of the cable on Tansios flagship Akibas. However, the cable match up here is subjectively not the best with the Sands. Of course, this is just my opinion. I highly recommend a more copper based cable for added fullness and warmth to add to the tonal character of the Sands.
ISN G4 cable shown.
Standardly disclaimers: The Sands was provided by Penon audio for the purpose of a review. If you feel the need to add to your collection one of the best $300 plus earphones for its type in the market, you can get yourself a set
here. The Sands was burned in for a period of a week straight and are now ready for evaluation using my sources. Ibasso DX300Max, Fiio M15, Shanling M6 pro, M5s, M3s line out to IBasso PB3m IBasso DX160, Sony ZX300 and IFI Black Label for amping.
Tansio Mirai has emerged as a premiere IEM maker/ designer. Their earphones are all of the highest quality standards and consistency. I am most definitely lucky to have had the opportunity to review and hear most of their best IEMS. They all have differences in their sounds of course but the one consistency is their quality. There is no question what you're getting for your hard-earned bucks when it comes to a Tansio Mirai earphone. I have yet to read about or experience any type of negative when it comes to their builds or their designs. The tunings and sounds of course are all subjective but the consistency of a quality solid built product is clearly there.
The Sands represent the group's very first actual dynamic infused hybrid. They recently ventured out of the TSMR all BA designs and have dabbled in a tribrid in the higher end Lands and several flagship level EST infused hybrids BA + EST designs in the Sparks and their newest flagship the Akiba.
I remember when I did a review of their TSMR-3 pros a long time ago thinking just how great that earphone would have sounded with a nice dynamic thrown in there handling the bass for the earphone. Lo n behold not only are the Sands just this but it is clearly a leap in performance from those TSMR-3 pros as well. The design of the Sands incorporates 3 sound bores that emanate the parts of the sounds they are taxed with. Bass is separated from the mid bands which again is separated from the treble. Love this design for multiple driver IEMS as I feel this design not only makes sense but actually has an effect of cleanly separating the sound bands better than utilizing a single tube. This design is more common in much higher end flagship level IEMs, the results of the 3 bored design comes through with a highly detailed reference like level of technicalities.
The sound
Sands have a clear w shaped signature due to the bass, upper mids and mid trebles playing a role in their sound signature but this time around the tuning here is more of a reference tuned detailed analytical sound signature. These share some sound traits from much higher end Tansio offerings including the bass end of the Lands and the treble of the TSMR-6 and mids of their flagship Sparks.
A note about analytical signatures. There is a stigma attached to such tunings and signatures that don’t really seem to garner a favorable ideal sound type signature among enthusiasts. Of course if that is the type of tunings you like then there is no problem with that but for the rest of the enthusiasts out there.. You see the word analytical and it is an immediate nope for me. To these folks I say hold on partner. There is more to analytical than just a bright signature. Let me explain what is happening with the Sands here and you can make a judgment call for yourselves. Please read on.
The technicals
A stand out aspect of the Sands signature is how detailed they are and when I say detailed, I mean being able to pick off macro and micro details even with slight tonal nuances of every mid to high notes. Utilizing two Sonion BAs that work together for the mid bands in conjunction with a Knowles treble BA. The Sands have a much higher level of resolving detail that is some of the best, if not the best I have heard at the price point. There are a few earphones I can think of that come closer to the Sands for their detail aspects at the price point, the old Dunu DN2000J, Ibasso IT04 and the recent Yanyin Canons comes to mind, but as a whole package, I can honestly say the Sands are unequaled for its sonically chiseled detail retrieval.
Sound separation mentioned from above is clearly a stand out. For nicely recorded orchestral pieces or live music sets you can hear exactly where the instruments and vocals lie in a moderately large spacious field you’re hearing. It has good depth but more importantly very good height of sound all within a nicely encompassing medium wide sound field. Nuanced and layered well beyond what was achievable from yester years earphones and very competitive in these aspects to much more expensive in ears.
You get a rich yet slightly brighter, clean tonal character from the mids which is capped off by a very detailed treble end. The highly detailed treble presentation is done by a highly specialized Knowles treble BA. Instrument separation is most definitely above average for typical hybrids on the Sands due to the two BAs firing off in unison. The spacious nature of the sound, images in a way that you probably have not heard at this price range. If you take a premium for pinpoint precision in your sound presentation, with high levels of detail for your music, the Sands is properly named as much like each small piece of grain that makes a Sand pile. You will hear every individual piece of instrument that makes up the music you're hearing.
At the $300 price level, your typical hybrid IEM will present some good technical aspects that are above average, but the Sands here are for folks that take a premium for outstanding technical aspects and will absolutely love the Sands sound presentation. However there is a caveat to how technical the sound is. I will cover that in my final statement.
Treble.
Is clearly separated from the mid bands due to the treble BA outputting sound out of one of the three sound tubes. This and the treble tuning has a mid treble shelf from 7Khz all the way to roughly 9 Khz. That is 2K, khz of treble coverage in the most sensitive treble area for earphone tunings. Most IEMs will have a spike around these regions for better presence, but the Sands have a moderately boosted shelf. The result is you get treble detail that is not too common at this price range. Treble details are highlighted more so than treble outputting through a single tube mixed with the mids and bass. Treble imaging is heightened due to this design. Treble emphasis is slightly greater than the mids for the Sands. Treble has a very good extension and its tonal character has a roundness/ substance to the treble notes which is something I am not accustomed to hearing at this price range. On much higher end IEMs Yes, but certainly not at the asking price of the Sands. The treble being nicely separated; it has air around the treble notes with easy to hear micro detailing. Folks that love them some full range trebles will love how the Sands portray treble.
However, the Sands full range treble presentation can come off as being slightly aggressive but this is where source and cable matchups play a crucial role in getting the Sands to where you want it. If you get the wrong synergy with the wrong cable and source match up. ( Do not use neutral bright sources and or pure silver cables for example) The Sands can sound aggressive for its treble presentation. If I was to nitpick I would have liked a bit less treble presence by a few dbs especially at the 7-8khz mid treble area. But for what is on there, out of my Ibasso DX300Max and using an aftermarket. ISN G4 cable it is pure ( bliss )
I am going to tell each and every one of you reading this you will have never heard anything like the Sands at this price range achieve the sound they are capable of. It has absolutely no business at the price level it is being sold at. I have done reviews and own some of Tansios highest end earphones. The Lands, the TSMR-6, TSMR-10, Sparks and Akibas. And I would put the sound quality level right around with these much higher end Tansio Mirai earphones. The Sparks and Akiba are both north of $1500 dollars in price point.
This being said the treble here is like a double edge sword. If you are highly sensitive to detailed treble presentations, I would look elsewhere but for folks that want that detail in their treble with ideally extended, tight, rangy, sparkly, sizzly, speedy, crisp, it has a full on treble with zero roll off showing a full gamut of treble character, airy and dimensional to its fullest. The Sands are for you.
However this treble presentation comes with a bit of that analytical stigma attached. A lot of the detail properties for the Sands comes from the treble region hence micro details will be clearly heard. The full treble end of the Sands are a bit much for recordings with too much saturation to begin with. Sands are brutally non forgiving of poorly recorded music. Rock, metal, EDM and some Pop music. They do amazingly well with more instrumental vocal, older analogue recordings in fact you can say the Sands specialize in it. But the catch there is, anything overly emphasized for the treble to begin with will be highlighted, you're going to hear every bit of the details in the recording including its flaws. The Sands do not gloss over anything.
The mids.
The Sands have put to good use two Sonion BAs for its mids. If you use the wrong cable not only the trebles are affected, so are the mids. The mids using the stock cable are relaxed a bit not overly forward but due to ample upper mid pinna gain, vocals are clearly highlighted. Female vocals especially sound stupendous out of the Sands. The mids imaging is worth noting as you're going to get impeccable imaging and precision that is really difficult to hear at this price range. The mids body of sound is moderate in emphasis with a tonal character that can sound slightly bright but once again with the right cable the mids tonality is corrected and sounds superbly natural in the process. Shows hints of that organic rich tonal character Sonion BAs are known for. Mids have somewhat of a scoop for its central mid band but nothing that is egregious.
Some male vocals are not as forward sounding vs female vocals using the Sands but the reference level of clarity in conjunction with its highly technical presentation makes up for any lack of presence in the region. This is another reason why I mention aftermarket cables for the Sands. If you were not a cable believer before. The Sands will make you into a believer. Due to the highly resolving character of the Sands presentation. You will notice differences using cables more than any other earphone you have ever used a cable on. My friendly advice is you want to use a cable that retains its technical aspects and adds some warmth and fullness to the tonal quality while smoothing out the treble area. Will show some pics of what I ended up using for its final sound at the end of the read.
Reference like in clarity, it's overall clean tonal presence with that high level sound imaging, sound separation and you get a euphoric listening experience that achieves much greater results than you would imagine. Instrumental timbre while BA in nature does a great job reproducing a nuanced sound if not just a bit edgy due to how chiseled the sound can be. Stringed instruments especially sound superb. The Sands are a euphoric analytical sound tuning. With well recorded material the Sands will dissect and portray every bit of that recording at every layer of that sound.
Ample upper mid pinna gain means instruments and vocals will be highlighted clearly. Showing excellent sound separation, it will be the orchestral and instrumental scores that will shine with the Sands presentation. Vocals are at a fine line of being emphasized but not exactly shouty at the same time. Again it will come down to how well the vocal track was recorded. Overly saturated material will come through and make something like EDM sound slightly harsh at times. So the Sands are not perfect for every genre. It straddles a fine line of detail and brightness but the trade off is so well worth it when you get the right synergy with the right matching parts to its sound chain.
Bass
Standing tall, right with the technical aspects you get a bass end to match. Bass is proper on the Sands. Here is where a bit of that Lands dynamic bass character comes through on the Sands. One of the biggest surprises for me was when Tansio announced they were making a tribrid with a new 10mm dynamic on the Lands. The Sands dynamic is very much identical to the Lands bass in both performance and emphasis. Having roughly 8dbs of enhanced bass from flat neutral, it is the goldilocks of bass emphasis with excellent presence in both mid to lower sub bass with zero roll off. I was not given any information about the dynamic being used on the Sands but if I was a guessing man just based on its performance the dynamic here sounds identical to the Lands bass end and that is certainly not a bad thing.
Bass is what you would expect from a specialized bass dynamic. It is moderate in emphasis, a full on punchy bass end digging in deep for bass. Its attack and speed is just ever so slightly slower and not as chiseled as the rest of the sound signature but that is due to using two completely different types of drivers being used. While the speed is not exactly perfectly aligned with the mids and treble BA it does a fine job keeping up with the rest of the sound and sounds great doing it. Bass emphasis is enhanced a bit with the 1 switch on. The benefit there is that bass genres sound proper with the switch in the on position. This doesn’t add a big boost or anything like that but it does enough for the bass end to hold their own against a highly detailed IEM sound presentation.
Bass has solid definition, is tight and punchy with a rangy tonal quality that clearly shows it is capable. Hence you get a very good tonally and timbrally accurate bass end to the Sands overall sound quality that caps off an amazing sound experience. A euphoric analytical sound signature with very good bass? Yes it can be done, I know it is not common to read about anything analytical with good bass. I mean how can they coexist? Your traditional analytical sound signature means the bass is neutral right? Nope the Sands bass end has some of the best quality capable bass I have heard on anything close to its price range.
In the end
Tansio Mirai seems to have several different reputations. On one hand there is no question of their solid build and quality using premium drivers to achieve their sound. Tansio Mirai sound signatures have now become what Audio Technica once was in the early 2010s. A bright analytical signature? The Sands ability to pick off details and their highly detailed signature is lovely to hear with the right matching source cables and the right type of music but on the other hand I know due to their treble emphasis it will make some folks that are sensitive to highly detailed treble presentations hesitate to take a leap into getting a set. And this is the point where I will make a suggestion to Tansio Mirai.
There is nothing wrong with highly detailed monitors in what we all perceive as a higher end sound tuning however, I want to challenge Tansio Mirai to really look into their treble tunings of earphones past and present. If a person has to make sure they have the right source, cable and tips for optimal sound. To be fair this is what I do with every earphone I listen to anyhow but for the Sands to have a semblance of versatility and influence the final sound to have more musicality this is an absolute requirement.
What is that saying about the earphone design? For folks that look at these reviews to get a good idea of how they sound should know exactly what they are in for before purchasing but at the same time. I have other highly detailed earphones that show more versatility, out of the box. There is a fine line of too much detail and technical to the point where only well recorded stuff sounds great. I do realize that there are enthusiasts that are looking for just this. I would have liked to see the Sands with a bit less in the treble department especially at around the 8Khz region. As they are, the Sands might be too much for some and very good for others.
Not once have I ever had the need to turn on the treble switch on a single TSMR or Tansio made earphone. They all have pronounced treble presence to begin with. It would have been nice to see an actual change from a smooth easy to listen to treble to a more pronounced treble presence when turning on the switch. Just my opinion but it would have been great to have the current treble presence on the Sands actually be what it is with the switch on and with the switch off have it be 3dbs lower for the treble shelf.
I remember hearing the InEar ProPhile 8 IEM with tuning switches in a similar manner to the Tansio Mirai earphones. But the difference there is that the switch for the treble region is clearly smooth and more neutral when not on and then accented with the switch on. There should actually be two levels there. To be honest I have no idea who will actually feel the need to turn on the switch even if it is just a minor enhancement because there is no need for it at all. In fact the idea of using a copper cable with a warmer source is to smooth out the treble presentation for a more balanced tonal character.
With that being said.
Here is the big caveat for folks that are willing to give the Sands a go. You have to truly take your time with them, try your best copper based cables and use a source that has some warmth to its tonality. ( Shanling, IBasso DAPs. IFI source) and you will be golden. It will clearly sound better than anything you have heard at their given price point. If you do all the added aspects for the Sands to get that musical synergy down, you will get that grin from ear to ear because you will have never heard anything sound so good at their price point.
Tuning such an earphone should have a detailed treble without treble glare and even on not so good recordings. The Sands trebles are like a high powered microscope for your music and to a different degree so are the Lands. Some may even say their higher end Sparks were like that. House sound trait? Maybe. And maybe it might be time to look at your “ house sound.” Balance in all things are key especially for sound in my humble opinion and if the tonal character shows brightness then there is too much accented in the regions that accentuate brightness. The Sands can and does sound absolutely spectacular but it comes with that huge caveat. One where you have to have the right source, cable and tips to match up. But are you willing to do all that? Heck I already know some of you reading this have nothing to do with cable rolling and don’t believe in it.
No matter what type of tuning a manufacturer achieves, it has to be one where universal versatility is the ideal. Not just for the eastern enthusiasts. After all, you're selling to the world not just for Asia. A universal sound should be the new reference in my opinion. The sound has to be versatile as much as possible and in doing so you're reaching out to enthusiasts of all corners of the globe. To me this is what a true reference sound should be about. Why eliminate a chunk of a possible enthusiast base with a tuning only suited for the OCD and the overly sophisticated?
Not everyone will understand the Sands tuning or give them their due time needed to really figure them out. Hence I hope to see a slight change of tuning philosophy from Tansio Mirai in their future products that are not just about sound tunings that are as detailed as possible. Think more universally with a huge broad range of music we are talking about here and focus on sound balancing and I think Tansio will see an emergence of a greater fan base than they can imagine. The Sands are a mind blowing experience but only for folks that are into their highly detailed technical sound tunings that have the right stuff to go along with it. If you ask me if this sound quality is worth doing all that I mentioned on this read? Absolutely, as they say you gotta,”tame the beast.” but for the non sophisticated or the casual listener. You have been warned. Thanks for taking the time to read. Happy listening always.
Bonus cable matchups.
Here is what I am using for the best synergy with the Sands.
First matchup is a nice copper based cable from Penon.
The PAC480. This cable was what I was using with the Taniso Mirai Lands. And here it has a very similar effect for what it does for the Land to the Sands. The Sands actually benefit greatly with this particular cable as it smoothes that treble shelf of the Sands treble while adding greater note weight to the mids. In balanced form throws out a wider stage than the stock cable to boot.
( As of writing this review. You can now order the PAC480 to go along with the Sands when purchasing. I highly suggest you get a set considering the PAC480 will be highly discounted as a package deal. Worth getting a set for certain.)
I actually tried numerous copper based cables and while most of them did a decent job with the Sands it came down to two cables that stood out to me as being what the Sands needed for proper synergy. Even with cables that cost 6X more than the PAC480. They didn’t do better than the PAC480 for how it meshes with the Sands. If your source is more neutral in signature you plan on using with the Sands. This is the cable I recommend over the ISN G4 which is the other cable I will recommend.
ISN G4.
This pairing is substantial. The PAC480 smooths the treble area better than the G4 here but the G4 makes up for it by not only retaining the technical aspects but actually enhancing some of it like precision and imaging all while adding a more natural tonal character to the Sands sonics. These also have an added effect of enhancing the stage, not to mention the cable color scheme actually matches the yellow, gold flake faceplate on the Sands. For folks that use more warmer tuned sources, this is the cable to get to match up with the Sands. It is a higher grade of cable vs the PAC480 and it shows in its resolving ability. The G4 smooths the treble region a touch but the precision and imaging you get from this cable in conjunction with that warmer source brings a nice higher level of sonics for the Sands. Absolutely mind blowing on my DX300Max.