By Nick Smith, 11th April 2025
Is innovation merely a driver of economic growth, or a necessary ingredient in human fulfilment?
If you’ve ever found yourself traveling down the same old roads yearning for something new, you’ll know the feeling of having a new experience can wake up parts of yourself that felt dormant.
Similarly in the audio hobby, at we times look around to see clones of the same formulas everywhere and find ourselves craving something different.
So when I was recently offered a pair of the new TSMR SHOCKs with tuneable bass & treble dials in exchange for my thoughts I jumped at the chance.
I can’t even recall the last time I tried IEMs with tuning dials, rather than more common tuning switches.
So are those dials just a gimmick or are they genuinely useful? Read on to learn..
Packaging
The USD $599 TSMR SHOCK arrive in a small cardboard box, inside is a leather case, two sets of silicone eartips in 3 sizes, waifu card & manual, IEM cleaning tool & small screwdriver (for adjusting the tuning screws) along with the IEMs & stock cable.
The case is an improvement on past TSMR offerings & feels quite nice in the hand, its a bit chunky for a jeans pocket but will slide into most jacket pockets easily, though I believe it is faux leather.
The stock 2pin silver-plated OCC cable is available in your choice of 4.4 or 3.5mm termination & deserves special mention, sonically it performs superbly and is built to a satisfyingly premium standard – a major upgrade over past TSMR stock cables that’s really impressed me.
Ergonomics
There’s no getting around the SHOCKs’ vented resin shells being considerably large, so they’ll stick out quite far. Their shape itself however is gently curved, one I find very comfortable.
However perhaps owing to that shape I find they don’t seal quite as well as some of TSMR’s other models, but the difference is quite minor and noise isolation is still adequate.
They’re decently heavy but not unduly so, and ultimately I can leave them my ears for hours without complaint. Aesthetics I’ll leave to your judgement as purple is a love or hate choice for many.
Page 1 – Introduction, Packaging & Ergonomics
Page 2 – Sound Impressions, Technical Performance & Tuning Knobs
Page 3 – IEM Comparisons
Page 4 – Cable Comparisons
Page 5 – Conclusion
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