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Just saw this has been launched! Here's a shootout between the UM Mason and UM Mentor on erji.net:
http://www.erji.net/read.php?tid=1777546
http://www.erji.net/read.php?tid=1777546
I have auditioned the Mason, Mentor, Merlin and JH Roxanne, all universal fit. The Mason has a different tuning than Mentor/Merlin, the highs energy is reduced. The Mentor/Merlin are much brighter. I see HD800 vs LCD3 analogy here. The Mentor is a fun sounding iem, great in technicalities too. The Mason is more geared towards live reproduction of acoustic. I think they are both of about the same SQ, but very different tuning. When I first heard the Roxanne together with the 846, I thought wow, the Roxanne was much better, I thought this was almost fullsize headphone-like. But next to Mason or mentor, the Roxanne sounded muffled, no kidding, Roxanne, muffled! The clarity and air in these UM cans are absolutely unbelievable.
thats what I thought to when i first use my uni roxx,comming from 1plus2/uber.i thought i made a mistake on buying it,but then as my ears adjusted i start to appreciate the roxanne even its dark it doesnt lack detail.I have auditioned the Mason, Mentor, Merlin and JH Roxanne, all universal fit. The Mason has a different tuning than Mentor/Merlin, the highs energy is reduced. The Mentor/Merlin are much brighter. I see HD800 vs LCD3 analogy here. The Mentor is a fun sounding iem, great in technicalities too. The Mason is more geared towards live reproduction of acoustic. I think they are both of about the same SQ, but very different tuning. When I first heard the Roxanne together with the 846, I thought wow, the Roxanne was much better, I thought this was almost fullsize headphone-like. But next to Mason or mentor, the Roxanne sounded muffled, no kidding, Roxanne, muffled! The clarity and air in these UM cans are absolutely unbelievable.
No more auditions and comparisons?
No more auditions and comparisons?
If the Mason is a re-worked Mentor, does anyone know what the Maverick is? I was told it was designed by an engineer here in Japan, and tuned specifically for Japanese anime music, which in my personal opinion is not music at all, so I am surprised I like the sound of it so much !
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The maverick is a re-tuned Merlin. Here is the page:http://uniquemelody.co/lineup/merlin/
There have been many positive comments about the Merlin on the forum. I do think it is supposed to be a bit bass heavy but I haven't heard it. I think both the Mason and the Maverick are just re-tuned models specific to Japanese taste and their music. That doesn't mean they would not be great for our music as well I haven't heard them. The price of the Merlin is very reasonable compared to some of the TOTL iem's around.
But there`s a pretty significant difference between the Merlin and the Maverick. They are both dynamic + quadBA, however . . .
Merlin`s configuration is 2x high BA + 2x mid BA + 1x low dyanmic
Maverick`s configuration is 2x high BA + 1x mid BA + 2x low (1x BA + 1x Dynamic)
Balanced armature bass and dynamic bass. Which, I guess, is why I hear such a pleasant amount of bass detail. . . .
I`m struggling not to buy the Maverick tomorrow. . .
Unfortunately, there is another difference between the Maverick and Merlin: the former is a lot more expensive !