Alambic Ears Mentawai

This is my first review on any IEM. Its a hobby I've started back in April 23. Since then I have tried/owned many IEMs.

-Traillii
-Radon 6
-Phonix
-EXT
-Penon 10th
-Aur audio Aurora
-Andromeda

I'm honestly happy reading other professionals writing reviews and can't be bothered writing my own, but i just can't help the urge not to write something for the Mentawaii. I need people to read this to understand how much I personally enjoy the Mentawaii and hopefully try it yourselves one day.




The first thing I did was to change the original cable to the Rhapsodio Graphene Cable recommended by @DaveStarWalker. This is when the magic happened. Everything just felt into place. Every other IEMs I've tried had distinct advantages and disadvantages. Testing player is the N7. Below is my score and impression on the most epensive IEMs I have tried.

Traillii's female vocals was magical, however, everything else was nothing special. Tuning was very smooth and analogue but that was all. (bass: 7 Mid: 10 Treble: 9 sound stage: 9 )

Radon 6 had thumping thick bass, but sound stage was tiny.(bass: 10 Mid: 7 Treble: 8 sound stage: 5 )

Phonix had thick mids and nice sound stage, but bass was just OK. (bass: 6 Mid: 8 Treble: 8 sound stage: 9 )

Mentawaii on the other hand, had non of the disadvantages of the others. Yes vocals are not as magical compare to Traillii, bass not as thumping as Radon, but everything was excellent. The tuning magic here is just magical.
(bass: 9 Mid: 8.5 Treble: 9 sound stage: 9.5 )

....and now, I have sold all my other Iems after 6 month of searching for the ONE.

Thank you for reading and I hope this review has helped you.

Happy Listening!

Chow

Ok, so I’ve had a lot of IEM‘s. Like, I probably couldn’t come close to remembering every set I’ve had in the last 3 years. Recently, I’ve been on quite a tear though. Since July I’ve purchased or traded for the likes of:

Nostalgia Camelot
UM MEST MKiii
Elysian Diva 23
7th Acoustics Supernova
Noble Kublai Khan
64 Audio Trio
64 Audio Fourte
Noble Spartacus most recently


So, some really really excellent sets. Like, some truly wonderful monitors. The two that have really blown me away are the Spartacus and my all time personal favorite set ever….the Alambic Ears Mentawai.



I have to give the credit to fellow member cn11 for this review. He kept droning on and on about some set I’d never heard of by some one man show in France. I was like…What? Dude, YOU GOTTA HEAR THE CAMELOT!!!

Long story short cn11 sent me the Mentawai to have a listen…I think to prove to me that I’d been an idiot for a month thinking that Mentawai would amount to meh. Long story short, I begged him to let me buy it from him two days later and he was kind enough to take my money.

I won’t go much into the unboxing experience. It’s fine. Nice little box, the absolutely incredibly HOT Mentawai, a nice Open Heart cable terminated to 4.4 and a slick little leather puck type case. Cleaning tool and a few tips. Easy Peasy.


Let’s get on with it. Sound. My goodness.

Starting with the low end. This isn’t a bass head IEM but it’s an IEM with what to my ear is perfect bass. It’s grand and incredibly well textured with plenty of slam. Sub bass digs very deep and the mid bass brings a smile inducing sense of perfect satIsfaction. Make no mistake, Mentawai ain‘t shy about bringing the thunder. Throw on Candy Paint by Post Malone and you’ll get a great sense of what this set brings to the table in terms of low end. I don’t even care if you hate Post Malone. Just listen to on this set. At least once. It’s sick!

I’m tempted to say that the Mids are really what separates Mentawai from other sets in this price range. But that would be unfair to the bass and treble. And it would also be offensive to this price range as we’ve all seen….price matters less and less with every passing day. I’ve had 750 dollar sets that are superior to 2000 dollar sets several times in the last 6 months. What a time! I digress…..Mids on the Mentawai are impeccable. Male vocals are incredibly realistic and stand out perfectly against the rest of the range. Female vocals are so so sweet and natural. Nothing sounds artificial, cramped or the least bit congested. And most importantly for me, there is ZERO sizzle in the upper Mids. So many sets these days pump that 6k area up some which gives me wicked fatigue and a headache after about 30 minutes. It’s why I never bought Odin. And why i sold Gaea the night it was delivered. Yikes.

Treble….for me…it’s just outstanding. Very well extended without the first hint of sibilance. It’s really a very smooth treble experience but in no way am I saying there isn’t PLENTY of detail and air up top. Sparkle abounds with this IEM which is perhaps Mentawai’s most important attribute for me. This man has tuned this set with an immense amount of spatial sparkly and instrument layering. I’ve never heard anything like it in an IEM and rarely in an open back headphone. You know those sets that just blow your mind about 5-6 times a listening session….the ones that have you restarting tracks 2-3 times to make sure what you think you just heard it do actually did? This is the set. In spades.



I’ve read a few people say that Mentawai sounds like The Bird with a Dynamic Driver. I’ve never heard Traillii but I’ve heard a ton. Such a big powerful set. And there is so little information out there on the net about this masterpiece. This gentlemen deserves some credit for what i believe to be the best overall IEM I’ve ever heard. I’ve had it a while now and I still look forward to getting home to put it on and rock out for as long as my evening allows. The novelty is NOT wearing off.

Plus, it’s absolutely ridiculously sexy! I simply cannot rec it any harder or higher. Just get one.