[Edric Li]

I think the Maestro getting the treble right deserves more praise:

Traillii is my personal neutral reference. A warm midrange like Erlkonig/Atlas/Xelento (boosted lower-mids compared to Traillii) effectively simulates the proximity effect. A correct simulation of the proximity effect should also boost treble smoothly (imagine someone talking with her lips right against a microphone; you'd hear boosted chesty-ness and sibilance), like what is done on the Erlkonig. A common pitfall are the likes of Atlas and Xelento: a smoothly boosted treble is replaced by a single or multiple treble peaks. Depending on the exact position and magnitude of the peaks, the sound can be very fatiguing.

The Maestro's midrange does not simulate the proximity effect. Instead, it smoothly and evenly lifts the uppermids and treble by ~4db over the Traillii, to balance out the bass. The result is a smooth uppermids to treble transition, almost exactly mimics the Trailli. It is basically a V-shaped Traillii done right.

 

[mashuto]

people in usa who ordered the mini, how long are they taking to reach you?

Well mine just arrived today, I ordered on September 21st. The shipping itself only took 3 days. So just under 2 weeks before they shipped it out.

 

[mashuto]

Had a few days with my minis so far, so I figured I would drop in some impressions.

First things first, these are absolutely absolutely not going to please everyone. As has been said many times, bass is definitely a defining feature here and it can be very noticeable. If you don't like bass, look elsewhere. Also, I have been doing listening with a mojo 2 (via spotify on my phone, which resamples), a linum superbax cable, and spinfit w1 tips.

So, anyways. This may be an early honeymoon period talking, but I absolutely love these. To the point that I popped in my oriolus szalayi, and my jh jolene and both sounded almost dull and lifeless. Almost. Dont get me wrong, I very much enjoy both of those, but I think theres something about the way the mini is tuned that really just does it for me.

Starting with the bass. Its big. And my very first listen it was almost overwhelming. And there are definitely some tracks that have a very specific subbass focus where it can almost seem like too much. Since the boost is so low down there are actually plenty of songs that dont necessarily already have a lot of bass that can sound really quite balanced. But of course, if you like bass and hit the right songs with it, wow. Its big, its physical, and it really doesnt bleed into the mids. Its absolutely going to be too much for some.

I dont really have a ton to say about the mids. They arent thin, nor are they the most full. They feel fairly neutral as far as I can tell with maybe a little boost in the upper mids/lower treble. Pretty happy with how they are presented. And as I said, even with all that bass, mids are not drowned out.

The treble is also really nice to my ears. I generally prefer a smoother treble, and brighter IEMs really dont do it for me. I find the treble here nice and smooth, and I think that 8k bump on the graphs actually gives it a nice bit of air/bite. I think those who are looking for detail monsters should look elsewhere. But I am actually a little surprised how much I am enjoying the treble presentation on these.

Soundstage as a concept is one I find kind of nebulous and hard to put into words, but there is some good left to right separation, though I am not sure I could say much beyond that.

Basically, I find these extremely engaging and can pretty easily see them getting a lot of my ear time, even over my 3 other main IEMs currently in rotation which all range from 2x-4x the price.

Some other non sound related thoughts:
The stock cable is not my favorite. Its thin, doesnt feel the greatest, and it has memory wire. It was also really stuck in there and kind of difficult to remove. I currently have it swapped out for a linum superbax cable.

Fit so far is surprisingly good. I often have trouble with comfort and IEMs. These are super lightweight and seem to fit well, but I have yet to test over longer listening sessions (like a full workday with them in and out of my ears). Likely may still develop some discomfort over time.

That fully open stem with one of the BA drivers right there at the end... Yea I dont know about that. No issues so far, but it does really seem a recipe for failure at some point. Not sure if adding some kind of screen or something screwed with the sound too much or if it was just left out of this one to keep the price down (though its not exactly "cheap"), but I think for anyone who doesnt baby their gear, these are probably not the best choice.

I find myself now wondering a little about the others in the maestro line. Though I really dont have much desire to spend large amounts more on IEMs, especially if the main differences are really going to be smaller tuning changes as I already find the mini quite engaging and hitting my preferences pretty well. And the concept of "better" just because they use more drivers or different driver types doesnt really mean much to me as long as the tuning works.

 

[WAON303]

I don't think anyone who bought a Maestro Mini is expecting Moondrop S8 levels of resolution or something in the lines of that.

You buy the MM if you are a basshead or just want a novelty in your IEM collection.

Otherwise, there is little reason to get a MM given it's not really competitive at $430.

 

[ljnew]

I don't think anyone who bought a Maestro Mini is expecting Moondrop S8 levels of resolution or something in the lines of that.

You buy the MM if you are a basshead or just want a novelty in your IEM collection.

Otherwise, there is little reason to get a MM given it's not really competitive at $430.

What do you mean not competitive at $430?

 

[mashuto]

I don't think anyone who bought a Maestro Mini is expecting Moondrop S8 levels of resolution or something in the lines of that.

You buy the MM if you are a basshead or just want a novelty in your IEM collection.

Otherwise, there is little reason to get a MM given it's not really competitive at $430.

I mean, I honestly find a lot of the discussion surrounding resolution and detail to often come down more to tuning than what most of us here refer to as true technical ability. And in this case I think of course its not going to present as ultra detailed as something that is tuned more towards treble.

I do not agree about these not being competitive at the price. I think they absolutely are. But as with everything in this hobby, theres a big caveat. And thats the tuning. If the tuning is not one you or anyone else would enjoy then of course these arent competitive. If you are looking for some harman tuned or with a more "normal" tuning then of course, these are a bad choice. But for those looking for what these offer, then I dont think theres any real major sacrifices to be had with them, even for the price. So as with everything, theres often no compelling reasons to get any IEM or headphone if its not tuned to your preferences.

I get the sense in this hobby that there is sort of an "ideal" for what everything should be tuned to, and anything that deviates is labeled as less technical or worse or whatever.

Anyways, thats also just my jaded opinion as someone who has spent thousands on IEMs including a handful up to and around the $2k mark, and have just found that in my experience "better" is often less about how "good" something is and more about how they are tuned and the specific persons personal preferences. So spending $430 dollars on an IEM with a unique tuning that hits my preferences really well is better than something that costs thousands that doesnt, even if it might be able to extract a marginal amount of extra detail.

 

[ljnew]

I mean, I honestly find a lot of the discussion surrounding resolution and detail to often come down more to tuning than what most of us here refer to as true technical ability. And in this case I think of course its not going to present as ultra detailed as something that is tuned more towards treble.

I do not agree about these not being competitive at the price. I think they absolutely are. But as with everything in this hobby, theres a big caveat. And thats the tuning. If the tuning is not one you or anyone else would enjoy then of course these arent competitive. If you are looking for some harman tuned or with a more "normal" tuning then of course, these are a bad choice. But for those looking for what these offer, then I dont think theres any real major sacrifices to be had with them, even for the price. So as with everything, theres often no compelling reasons to get any IEM or headphone if its not tuned to your preferences.

I get the sense in this hobby that there is sort of an "ideal" for what everything should be tuned to, and anything that deviates is labeled as less technical or worse or whatever.

Anyways, thats also just my jaded opinion as someone who has spent thousands on IEMs including a handful up to and around the $2k mark, and have just found that in my experience "better" is often less about how "good" something is and more about how they are tuned and the specific persons personal preferences. So spending $430 dollars on an IEM with a unique tuning that hits my preferences really well is better than something that costs thousands that doesnt, even if it might be able to extract a marginal amount of extra detail.

You made so very good points.

I hate the technicalities argument some people try to make. Technicalities often means suck out the bass, especially mid bass and increase treble. Also means different things to different people.

Often times people equate technicalities to price meaning higher price == higher technicalities.

Also technicalities is related to hype. Every time something new comes out it's "wow the technicalities are insane! Hearing stuff i never heard before" i mean there's only so many instruments and sounds in a song right? Technicalities would leave one to believe there's an infinite amount of sounds and instruments for every song.

On a contrary i just purchased the softears Twilight. The technicalities are insane! Hearing stuff i never heard before . No but it's really awesome likely a good compliment to the Fatfreq.

How does fatfreq compare to legend x is the million dollar question?

 

[WAON303]

I mean, I honestly find a lot of the discussion surrounding resolution and detail to often come down more to tuning than what most of us here refer to as true technical ability. And in this case I think of course its not going to present as ultra detailed as something that is tuned more towards treble.

I do not agree about these not being competitive at the price. I think they absolutely are. But as with everything in this hobby, theres a big caveat. And thats the tuning. If the tuning is not one you or anyone else would enjoy then of course these arent competitive. If you are looking for some harman tuned or with a more "normal" tuning then of course, these are a bad choice. But for those looking for what these offer, then I dont think theres any real major sacrifices to be had with them, even for the price. So as with everything, theres often no compelling reasons to get any IEM or headphone if its not tuned to your preferences.

I get the sense in this hobby that there is sort of an "ideal" for what everything should be tuned to, and anything that deviates is labeled as less technical or worse or whatever.

Anyways, thats also just my jaded opinion as someone who has spent thousands on IEMs including a handful up to and around the $2k mark, and have just found that in my experience "better" is often less about how "good" something is and more about how they are tuned and the specific persons personal preferences. So spending $430 dollars on an IEM with a unique tuning that hits my preferences really well is better than something that costs thousands that doesnt, even if it might be able to extract a marginal amount of extra detail.

Very good points, I'm actually pretty darn biased towards technicalities and FRs, which I shouldn't be given that I'm well aware that FRs affect techs and FRs never tell you everything about how an IEM sounds.

It's like I always forget IEMs should be for enjoying music, not being fuzzy about micro details.

 

[Edric Li]

Off-topic, but one thing I like to do when reading reviews (the genuine ones) is to figure out first whether the reviewer is conscious about the difference between imaging, depth and soundstage and the *perception* of them caused by FR and impedance matching. It also absolutely helps if you are able to correlate perception of sound with FR through listening.

One thing I've learned over time is that the actual "technicalities", the portion that is not a product of FR, has more to do with open/closed-back, cabling, amp and dac than the IEM itself. This is less true in headphones and absolutely not true in speakers, as FR doesn't capture the time domain and the impact of air, and measurements are a lot less standardized than in IEM.

 

[MoonsOfJupiter]

That fully open stem with one of the BA drivers right there at the end... Yea I dont know about that. No issues so far, but it does really seem a recipe for failure at some point. Not sure if adding some kind of screen or something screwed with the sound too much or if it was just left out of this one to keep the price down (though its not exactly "cheap"), but I think for anyone who doesnt baby their gear, these are probably not the best choice.

Get the Azla SednaEarfit Max tips that have waxguard/filters to protect the opening and are made from medical silicone. Very good reviews and particularly paired with the MM.

 

[MoonsOfJupiter]

Maestro Mini - 2 BA 1 DD ~$430 USD
Maestro - ?
Maestro SE - 'Tribrid' $1800 USD
Grand Maestro - ?

It seems that the "Maestro - ?" has been answered. Gizaudio has a recent vid on some new iems coming out including a mention of the upcoming Maestro Mini V2.

My MM is arriving on Wednesday and I'm very curious about how much I'll like it and about this new V2 - I emailed asking what is the difference and haven't heard back yet. Cannot find any other info available as of now.

I hope it's not too similar..

 

[Bret Halford]

It seems that the "Maestro - ?" has been answered. Gizaudio has a recent vid on some new iems coming out including a mention of the upcoming Maestro Mini V2.

My MM is arriving on Wednesday and I'm very curious about how much I'll like it and about this new V2 - I emailed asking what is the difference and haven't heard back yet. Cannot find any other info available as of now.

I hope it's not too similar and more $ with EST drivers..

Good call, I'll update that post with pricing and info for the Maestro and Grand.

Congrats on your Maestro Mini, I'd certainly be interested to hear your impressions of them when they get in!

The MMv2 description from Ben sounds a bit more V shaped, they've boosted bass from 20 to 25 dB(!) and also added more treble. Crinacle just released his Canjam vid and there's a great discussion with Fatfreq that I am paraphrasing... no idea on pricing, driver config or release schedule.

Fatfreq is bookmarked around 20 minutes, 20 seconds in:

 

[MoonsOfJupiter]

Good call, I'll update that post with pricing and info for the Maestro and Grand.

Congrats on your Maestro Mini, I'd certainly be interested to hear your impressions of them when they get in!

The MMv2 description from Ben sounds a bit more V shaped, they've boosted bass from 20 to 25 dB(!) and also added more treble. Crinacle just released his Canjam vid and there's a great discussion with Fatfreq that I am paraphrasing... no idea on pricing, driver config or release schedule.

Fatfreq is bookmarked around 20 minutes, 20 seconds in:

Thank you! Wow, very good to know. I'll have to hear the OG MM's soon before I can truly know, but I think I'd prefer V1s as they seem pretty extreme as it is. More treble doesn't fit my preference.

I missed out on Clairvoyances, but they sound like they'd be perfect for me overall. Want to hear the Bravado mkIIs when I go into Manhattan in a few weeks.

I will definitely be adding my thoughts. Does the MM need burn in time like the Penon/ISN iems?

 

[TooPoorForHiFi]

Any Amount of Driver Flex when inserting into your Ear?

 

[rodel808]

Any Amount of Driver Flex when inserting into your Ear?

No driver flex on my pair. Only issue I have with it are the smooth ridge less nozzles and the eartips being stuck in my ears as I remove the iem. I'm still eartip rolling so once I find one I like I'll probably use some double sided tape on the nozzles to help it stay on.

I must say that the tuning on these are really fun and addictive especially for reggae, dance hall and hip hop. Bass really rivals my Legend X custom. However, in terms of bass I still think the ASG 2.0 and Sony ex800 tape mod reigns supreme. I wish they offered the MM as ciem. These would probably be part of my iem rotation for a long time.