I have extensive experience with cubensis mushrooms and wanted to compare pure psilocin side by side. I took 12mg of synthetic 4-HO-DMT in a gelatin capsule on a mostly empty stomach.
The first thing I noticed was the onset speed. With mushrooms, I usually feel the first alerts at 30-40 minutes and peak around 90. With pure psilocin, I felt clear effects at 15 minutes and was solidly tripping by 30. The come-up was also noticeably cleaner — none of the stomach heaviness or nausea I sometimes get from mushroom material. It felt like I skipped the digestive step entirely, which makes pharmacological sense since psilocybin has to be dephosphorylated to psilocin in the gut anyway.
The peak was essentially indistinguishable from a good mushroom trip on roughly 2-2.5g of cubes. Rich visual patterning, emotional depth, a sense of profound meaning. The total duration was a bit shorter — I was basically back to baseline by hour 4 rather than hour 5-6 with mushrooms. For precision dosing and reduced body load, I now prefer pure psilocin, but the experiential core is identical.