Closer Examination

The stock cable for the PMG Audio Apx is called the Omega, and it sells separately for $870 by itself. It is basically a must-have for expensive IEMs to ship with equally expensive cables, often to the point of being overly flashy at times. As with everything else we have seen so far from PMG Audio, the Omega is aesthetically on the cleaner side of things. It is a modular cable that comes with a leather cable minder and uses a friction fit with a guide pin to help secure any of the three terminations provided—2.5/4.4 mm TRRS balanced or 3.5 mm TRS single-ended. The plugs felt secure enough in use, although I imagine many would have preferred to also see a locking thread for that extra assurance. The cable as a whole has a black and dark gold aesthetic, down to the metal plugs which are gold-plated for oxidation resistance, which looks amazing in person and feels great to use as well. This is a 4-strand cable with a ultra-high purity silver/copper alloy conductor that has a graphene core inside. As expected from a premium cable, the PMG Audio Omega is highly flexible, does not display any memory retention or kinking, and has no microphonics in use. The splitter is low profile too with no branding and the chin slider is functional in that it remains in place where you leave it. This leads to pre-formed ear hooks on the IEM side using clear sheathing that then lead to standard 0.78 mm 2-pin connectors on housings designed to fit recessed connectors in the shells. There are tiny blue and red dots on the side to help indicate the left and right channels, respectively. Hope you are not red/blue colorblind though—I urge PMG Audio to come up with a more universal identification system.


The shells make a strong statement the first time you see them, and then you realize there's more to note each time you observe them carefully. As with Custom Art, PMG Audio seems to prefer resin shells for its IEMs. This can be a divisive move as some almost expect flagship IEMs to use metal shells, and not just steel either. I personally don't care as long as the IEMs can be used regularly without having to worry about durability. I have been using these for multiple weeks now and never once thought I need to baby them around—no different from any other set I use. The shells seem to be the exact same style as what was used in the Custom Art FIBAE 5, which is good because it works well based on my experience. These are resin 3D-printed and seem to use black but with a lot of glitter in different colors evenly spread out. The end result is a black and gold aesthetic again to match the cable, or the other way round perhaps, and this is a fairly unique looking set even before we get to the faceplates. The shells are ergonomically shaped to better fit the human ear and are extensively polished to where perhaps a cleaning cloth in the carry case would not have been a bad idea either.


Each individual shell of the PMG Audio Apx gets a uniquely built and assembled amber faceplate. This is real fossil resin amber—looks like the traditional yellow/orange/brown Baltic amber—that is cut up and shaped to fit together onto the Apx shells. It results in every single faceplate being unique with different regions of colors/densities alike. I understand the retail units will have faceplates that are attempted to look similar enough to each other, although the unique nature of the material results in the Apx being easily the most recognizable IEMs in the crowd of any I have seen to date. The faceplates are glued to the shells and then have a resin pour to allow for a cohesive assembly to where I could not even tell you where the faceplates begin and end on the sides of the shells if it were not for the obviously different colors up top. The shells are striking in their own right thanks to the decorative powder, and we see branding on the side where retail units will also have the serial number listed. There is also a large slit-style vent on the top for the dynamic driver inside as well as to help prevent pressure build-up in the ears. The other side has the expected 2-pin connectors, albeit they are only lightly recessed, so the cable connectors are going to stick out more. We then see the shells themselves employ a squarish form factor with the nozzle section being quite angled and long. This bodes well for getting a comfortable fit, given the shells are not as thick as most tribrid sets and the longer nozzle can get in the ear canal for a secure fit too. The nozzle is also average in size at ~5.4 mm width at the widest point, and we get a retaining notch here to help keep ear tips in place. There is no filter on the end to help keep contaminants from entering the acoustic chamber, but we see parallel slits which help make up what PMG Audio calls the Geometrical Sound Outlet (GSO) that has multiple functions—as a support structure for the nozzle, to optimize the nozzle length and diameter, and as a horn construction to help with treble extension.


I encourage customers of the PMG Audio Apx to try out the different provided ear tips and see what size/type works best for them. Fitting the different ear tips will require you to slightly stretch the inner bore to fit over the nozzle before pushing them in and going around to ensure they are not at an angle. The retaining notch further helps prevent them from coming loose in the ears, and seen above is the included size M silicone and foam ear tips on the Apx. Feel free to tip roll and try out various different tips and sizes, and keep in mind that both ear canals don't need to have the best seal with the same size or set, either. Regardless of which tips you pick, the next step is to re-connect the cable by carefully identifying the matching channels and orienting the ear hooks around your ear when connecting the IEMs. Doing so is simple, as you just push the 2-pin connectors in place and they remain there via a friction fit. As mentioned before, the 2-pin connectors on the cable end up jutting out a small amount past the shells and take away slightly from the otherwise excellent aesthetics.