Forte Ears Macbeth

And the Crown goes to…

PROS: balanced sound signature with a clear detailed tonality, enhanced (deeper rumble) bass, natural detailed mids, crystal-clear treble, big open sound with holographic imaging, beautiful faceplate design, brand name Eletech copper cable, and premium packaging.

CONS: sound dependency (in treble) on source pair-up, sound leakage (almost like a semi-open design).

The product was provided to me free of charge for review purposes in exchange for my honest opinion.

Manufacturer website: Forte Ears. Available for sale from authorized retailers like Musicteck.

Intro.

Teased at Eletech’s table as the “Romeo” prototype during the CanJam NYC and SGP shows early this year, even before the final brand and model name were revealed, it was already clear these IEMs were heading in the right tuning direction. But I don’t think anybody expected the final product to be finalized and available with this level of refinement in such a short period before the CanJam SoCal. It always surprises me when I discover a new brand with its first product at the level of maturity typical of an established company. But it shouldn’t be a surprise here since the main driving force behind the Forte Ears is Riccardo Yeh, with years of experience working as a Sales Director at Eletech and before that at Hifiman, putting his passion for music and knowledge of the industry into his new project.

I already shared a brief analysis of Forte Ears Macbeth (MB) in my CanJam SoCal report as part of the coverage of products I received from Musicteck featured at the show. But these IEMs deserve a full detailed review which I put together after more time with extensive testing, comparisons, and pair-ups. Here is what I found after spending almost a month with Macbeth IEMs, a debut release from Forte Ears.

Unboxing and Accessories.

MB has a beautiful Theatrical unboxing experience. For those familiar with Eletech cables, you know how I always praise their unboxing and consider each package to be worthy of a bookshelf display. The beautiful artwork of the MB exterior sleeve is no different, something you would want to proudly showcase on a bookshelf at home for everybody to see. Under the sleeve cover, once you remove it, the box has 3 “doors” leading you to more goodies.

Under a larger door flap, you will find Macbeth’s (by Verdi) “Theater of Sound” themed 3D plexiglass insert, including individual product numbering. Under the plexiglass are a premium custom leather case, Macbeth-themed cleaning cloth, and a full set of premium Baroque silicone eartips (S/M/L/XL). The leather case is 4”x6”, quite roomy to store IEMs, eartips, and maybe a USB-DAC dongle or an extra cable. The eartips were inside a small plexiglass insert with Macbeth-themed artwork. The other two smaller door flaps lead you to a cable and IEMs in secure foam cutouts.

Cable.

As probably expected, Macbeth comes with a stock Eletech premium OCC Copper Litz cable. According to Forte Ears, this cable has 4 wires pure stranded design, each conductor with a 26 AWG gauge wire. Eletech wires are usually cryogenically treated and use individually enameled strands. It also uses a signature FlexiMax insulation with a transparent soft jacket to put the copper in a clear view. Also, there is a clear ear hook heat shrink mold adjacent to the IEM connectors. The cable is very soft, lightweight, and flexible, and exhibits no microphonics. It also features customized Eletech-branded metal hardware with a matching design of the 4.4mm plug housing and Y-split, plus compact 2pin connectors, though there is no chin-slider.

Design.

The MB tribrid design uses 11 drivers with 5-way crossover (as part of Forte Circuit Relay), including 5 Balanced Armature (BAs covering lows, mids, and highs), 2 Bone Conduction (BCDs focusing specifically on mids and upper mids), and 4 Electrostatic (ESTs covering super-highs) drivers. All are probably Sonion drivers. The IEM features an exclusive “Diablo” customized bass driver (from Sonion), and also a shell design with a custom Acoustic Resonance Chamber (ARC) to enhance all drivers’ sonic characteristics. What I find interesting is that the tuning of Macbeth was done to create a planar headphone-like performance but without using the planar drivers. The IEM has an average impedance (7.3 ohms) and sensitivity (104.2dB), making it easy to drive with a hiss-free performance.

The 3D-printed black resin shells have great ergonomics with a very comfortable fit I enjoyed during extended listening sessions. The rhodium-plated copper faceplate also looks beautiful with the unique Macbeth-crown artwork. The shell features flush-mounted 2-pin connectors with one metal-plated vent next to the socket and another plain vent toward the back of the shell. According to Forte Ears, both vents play an important role in the soundstage expansion and clarity of the mids, creating its signature open sound. But as a trade-off, it also creates a sound leakage due to this semi-open full-size headphone experience. Certainly, these are not open-back headphones, but people sitting close to you would hear some sound. The inner part of the shell has a custom-like profile fitting perfectly my ears. The nozzle, with a metal mesh cover, is not too long or too short, an average length with a comfortable angle, again, fitting perfectly in my ear canal without any pressure or discomfort.