Akoustyx S6 Review - Smallest Planar driver IEM in the market!

General Info/Build/Comfort/Packaging

Akoustyx is an American company which is based in San Jose, California and their products are all assembled in Nashville, which i personally think it's impressive as they handled everything from design, marketing, manufacturing all within the US itself without outsourcing it. The rationale behind this is to have a better control in terms of QC of the products I believe. Previously there wasn’t much discussion about Akoustyx within the audiophiles community (based on my observation), now the S6 is widely discussed as it is a planar driver, but mainly due to its size.

Build quality of the S6 is good, it consists of Titanium-Oxide coated lightweight aluminium-alloy and polycarbonate, thus making it durable and very light at the same time. It can be worn over the ear or straight down, personally i prefer it to be over the ear as it minimises the microphonic that the cable produced, the supplied ear fin keeps the S6 firmly on your ear, i have tried to move my head vigorously but the S6 remained in place in my ears, fit wise, it really is very good. No complaints about it.

Packaging is rather minimal and straight forward, it came with a sturdy storage case, various sizes of ear fins and ear tips, a high quality Titanium Kevlar mono crystalline OFC cable.

Gears used for this review

• Akoustyx S6 with stock cable and stock eartips with M sized Ear Fin

• Topping DX1 + Topping NX7

• Earmen Angel Dac Amp

• Sony Walkman ZX300 with MrWalkman’s Firmware

• iPod Touch 5th Gen

• Macbook Air M2’s 3.5mm port

Sound Impression

The S6's sound profile is more V shaped to my ears and there aren't any peaks or gains as far as my ears can tell. The tonality is slightly bright with sufficient texture so that it doesn’t sound thin. This set is not for basshead in my opinion and those whose preferred target is the harman curve. Technicalities of S6 are no slouch and the timbre is rather natural for a Planar, there is a slight tinge of planar timbre if you try really hard to look for it, else it is discernible. Let’s take a look at the breakdown below:

Bass

• As many would have expected from a Planar driver, the bass is speedy and good control, and it is impressive especially if you consider the size of the planar driver

• If you’re expecting S6 to rumble like there’s no tomorrow, you may wanna look at some other options. Sub bass rumble is there when the track calls for it, but nowhere near basshead level kind of rumble

• Mid bass is punchy and has enough speed to handle tracks like Metallica’s Lux Aerterna, Slipknot’s People = Shit!

• Doesn’t bleed into the mids for sure

Mids

• Mid range is slightly recessed as expected from a v shaped tuning, but not overly recessed to the point where it’s bad

• Vocal is slightly recessed but textures are good

• Male vocal is a little lacking in terms of texture, however, female vocal sounds sweet and lively

• Pinna gain/upper mids is rather standard and nowhere near shouty, it also contributes to female vocal giving it a little extra energy and vividness to my ears

Treble

• Treble is energetic but not offensive, it also has a good amount of details

• Good amount of air and busy track doesn’t sound congested at all

• Nothing much to write home about the treble as it is nicely done and never once i felt that it was sibilant

• Detail retrieval is good for the asking price

Soundstage/Imaging

• Soundstage is average, not too wide nor sounds big, good enough and it gets the job done. Average width, height and depth

• Imaging is good with the amount of air, the track doesn’t sound congested and instruments can be pinpointed easily, layering can be better though, just nitpicking

Driveability

• S6 is very easy to drive, it will get reasonably loud even with an Apple Dongle or straight out of 3.5mm from your phone

• However, it does scale with better source as well as more power

• Due to its slight emphasis on the high region, i personally find it to synergise well with slight warm source and also copper cable

Comparison (Dunu Talos - Planar only mode)

• Build quality of both are good and fit wise, S6 definitely pulls itself ahead

• In terms of sound profile, Talos is more on laidback listening, rather neutral, which S6 is more on fun sounding and slightly energetic listening experience

• In terms of technicalities, both are more or less on par, more than that its just nitpicking and self preference in my opinion

Final Thoughts

S6 is a very good IEM in my opinion and it definitely deserves some attention from the audiophile community, with the invasion of Chi-Fi planars, it is good to see an American branded planar driver IEM at an attractive price which has good sound and also good technicalities. The S6 has gained its traction within the audiophile community and it can be seen being discussed among various groups on Facebook. I can’t wait to see what Akoustyx has in store for the next release. I will not hesitate to recommend the S6 to anyone who’s looking for a set of fun sounding IEM.

*S6 is sent to me from Akoustyx in exchange for this review. I thank them for the opportunity given. 

If you’re interested in getting a pair, head over to Akoustyx’s store to get a pair now, at the time of writing, it is currently on a sale price of 175$

Akoustyx S6 - Non Affiliated Link