[vikinguy]

Can you buy a pack of larges in the clarion? I'm only seeing sml or medium on amazon.

 

[vikinguy]

Nevermind I'm a idiot.

 

[toaster]

The ones that usually fit my ear the best - cp155.

my favorite tips as well.

fatty demo is arriving in just a few hours...

 

[vikinguy]

I picked up a pack of the Clarion tips. Be here tomorrow. I've got some jvc dots as well I'll give a shot.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Well. This is the most incredible set I've heard. An achievement I can't really believe.

I feel the same, they are amazing iem's

I’m beyond addicted to mine. Seriously I love these things. They present music unlike any other set I have heard, they’re also very revealing to different aspects of your chain (cables/sources) if you’re into that sort of thing.

Thank you guys! We really appreciate it.

I have tip rolled extensively on my MSE, there's a lot of great tips (pun fully intended) in the Fatfreq general thread. While the Mini benefits from being more flexibly positioned due to its small size, it has similar preference for tip fit and a lot of the posters there have given me excellent suggestions for the MSE.

I'll share here the notes I took of the various tips I've tested on my MSE. My Grand Maestro is custom, so having the flexibility to tip roll on my universal MSE and experiment with this tribrid configuration is quite fun in contrast. Because of the difference in ear canal shape, perhaps even more so than usual, YMMV!

Generally the MSE benefits from a deep insertion depth, but its tuning is also relatively sensitive to harshness induced by the tip bore tube resonance (particularly in longer tube, deep inserts!). There's a fundamental trade off there, and also some substantial core strength requirements to keep the bore tube from collapsing in the depths of the canal. My usual 'go to' tips I use on other IEMs didn't far very well fitwise here, the MSE is a bit challenging this way.

Azlasedna Crystal: My usual go to, I love the wide bore, and I find the tip material is a nice compromise between comfort and grip. Didn't work well at all for me on the MSE. there wasn't enough core strength in the tips and they bend in a bit, partially to fully blocking one of the sound bores on the MSE's nozzle (very frequent issue for me across tips).

Azlasedna Xelastic: Not as comfortable as the Crystals but in theory do a better job of sculpting to the canal with heatup. I found this just locked in the blockage issues I encountered with the Crystal's. Fit was maybe slightly better overall, bit more rumble down below delivered vs. Crystal.

Spinfit W1: My usual go to for tricky fits. Very comfortable with the MSE, but suffered even more severely from the partial blockage issue above. Soundwise, the spinfits aren't quite wide enough bore for my taste and I feel I can hear the tip tube. Bass is a bit subdued and they can bring out a harsher quality int he MSE.

Spinfit CP240: Double Flange,medieval torture device. Recommend going a size down from usual. Absolutely top level bass of all tips tested. Tube coloration unfortunately even more severe than for the W1. Deep insert is ideal, wish these were more comfortable and had a wider bore.

Moondrop Springtips: Very nice flexible core helps ensure deep fit, very similar to spinfits but without the narrow bore sound. Unfortunately the tip firmness relaxes a lot as it heats up in use, and it suffered from bore occlusion after moderate usage time. Soundwise nicely balanced.

JVC Spiraldots: love the diffraction strategy to mitigate tube sound, very nice tip material and good core strength. Offered an ideal compromise between core strength and insertion, very nice delivery from the MSE results. Initial fit was a little stubborn, wish they were a bit deeper.

Acoustune AET07 / AEX07: AET is a wonderful cheap tip that has a simple strong bore design and nice tip material. They sound great with the MSE, very nice neutral delivery of the MSE like the Spiraldots but with maybe just a bit of dry dullness. The AEX07 is the next gen version and is slightly more comfortable but not worth the much higher price vs. the AET even if it shores up some of the slight sonic deficiencies. Some occlusion after prolonged use heat up ala the Springtips but less severe.

Acoustune AEX70: Very nice material, beautiful elasticity in the bass response, maybe the cleanest bass of all tested. Doesn't grip the MSE bore enough and slipped off in my canal, just can't recommend them for the MSE as a result.

Symbio W hybrid eartips: Several posters speak very highly of these on the MSE and I was very excited for the hybrid foam and silicon tip design. Unfortunately I found getting even an initial fit quite uncomfortable an ineffective. Sound wasn't delivered correctly due to bad seal so I won't comment on sonic effects, other than it just didn't work for me.

TRI Clarion: Alternate tips that ship with the MSE. I really like the tapered nozzle end on them, and they have a nice wide bore width. Very accurate and balanced delivery, tames the bass maybe a tad too much. When upgrading to 'large' size it has the best fit both initial and overtime of all the tips I've tested on the MSE.

TLDR: Best fit TRI Clarion, Best Sound JVC Spiraldot, Best Bass Spinfit CP240

I still need to test out Final Audio E type tips and Azlasedna max tips I have sitting around if anyone is interested in either particularly.

Thank you Brett! I wish there was a way we could pin posts of Head-Fi threads. This would be pinned to the top!

 

[vikinguy]

I'm really amazed at how this thing sounds. The Mids and the treble are also fantastic.

 

[vikinguy]

I have tip rolled extensively on my MSE, there's a lot of great tips (pun fully intended) in the Fatfreq general thread. While the Mini benefits from being more flexibly positioned due to its small size, it has similar preference for tip fit and a lot of the posters there have given me excellent suggestions for the MSE.

I'll share here the notes I took of the various tips I've tested on my MSE. My Grand Maestro is custom, so having the flexibility to tip roll on my universal MSE and experiment with this tribrid configuration is quite fun in contrast. Because of the difference in ear canal shape, perhaps even more so than usual, YMMV!

Generally the MSE benefits from a deep insertion depth, but its tuning is also relatively sensitive to harshness induced by the tip bore tube resonance (particularly in longer tube, deep inserts!). There's a fundamental trade off there, and also some substantial core strength requirements to keep the bore tube from collapsing in the depths of the canal. My usual 'go to' tips I use on other IEMs didn't far very well fitwise here, the MSE is a bit challenging this way.

Azlasedna Crystal: My usual go to, I love the wide bore, and I find the tip material is a nice compromise between comfort and grip. Didn't work well at all for me on the MSE. there wasn't enough core strength in the tips and they bend in a bit, partially to fully blocking one of the sound bores on the MSE's nozzle (very frequent issue for me across tips).

Azlasedna Xelastic: Not as comfortable as the Crystals but in theory do a better job of sculpting to the canal with heatup. I found this just locked in the blockage issues I encountered with the Crystal's. Fit was maybe slightly better overall, bit more rumble down below delivered vs. Crystal.

Spinfit W1: My usual go to for tricky fits. Very comfortable with the MSE, but suffered even more severely from the partial blockage issue above. Soundwise, the spinfits aren't quite wide enough bore for my taste and I feel I can hear the tip tube. Bass is a bit subdued and they can bring out a harsher quality int he MSE.

Spinfit CP240: Double Flange,medieval torture device. Recommend going a size down from usual. Absolutely top level bass of all tips tested. Tube coloration unfortunately even more severe than for the W1. Deep insert is ideal, wish these were more comfortable and had a wider bore.

Moondrop Springtips: Very nice flexible core helps ensure deep fit, very similar to spinfits but without the narrow bore sound. Unfortunately the tip firmness relaxes a lot as it heats up in use, and it suffered from bore occlusion after moderate usage time. Soundwise nicely balanced.

JVC Spiraldots: love the diffraction strategy to mitigate tube sound, very nice tip material and good core strength. Offered an ideal compromise between core strength and insertion, very nice delivery from the MSE results. Initial fit was a little stubborn, wish they were a bit deeper.

Acoustune AET07 / AEX07: AET is a wonderful cheap tip that has a simple strong bore design and nice tip material. They sound great with the MSE, very nice neutral delivery of the MSE like the Spiraldots but with maybe just a bit of dry dullness. The AEX07 is the next gen version and is slightly more comfortable but not worth the much higher price vs. the AET even if it shores up some of the slight sonic deficiencies. Some occlusion after prolonged use heat up ala the Springtips but less severe.

Acoustune AEX70: Very nice material, beautiful elasticity in the bass response, maybe the cleanest bass of all tested. Doesn't grip the MSE bore enough and slipped off in my canal, just can't recommend them for the MSE as a result.

Symbio W hybrid eartips: Several posters speak very highly of these on the MSE and I was very excited for the hybrid foam and silicon tip design. Unfortunately I found getting even an initial fit quite uncomfortable an ineffective. Sound wasn't delivered correctly due to bad seal so I won't comment on sonic effects, other than it just didn't work for me.

TRI Clarion: Alternate tips that ship with the MSE. I really like the tapered nozzle end on them, and they have a nice wide bore width. Very accurate and balanced delivery, tames the bass maybe a tad too much. When upgrading to 'large' size it has the best fit both initial and overtime of all the tips I've tested on the MSE.

TLDR: Best fit TRI Clarion, Best Sound JVC Spiraldot, Best Bass Spinfit CP240

I still need to test out Final Audio E type tips and Azlasedna max tips I have sitting around if anyone is interested in either particularly.

Just got the clarions. On and in!

Fingers crossed

 

[ljnew]

User error huh? I must admit your responses often favor the seller vs the hard working people paying real hard earned cash. Some of us don't get products for free.....

I already had the left ear go bad. They replaced the left ear without replacing the right ear. Right after receiving the iem back from repair, the right ear went bad. In my decades of purchasing iems I never had this issue.

Every time something goes wrong, I have to take a trip to DHL which is extremely challenging for people like me. That's why people in my position research beforehand hoping we won't have to do a return.

Also, that's at least 2 weeks it takes to send them in for repair. I've purchased this iem back in December of last year, received in January and had issues every since.

Also, I've been very patient. I didn't say anything until my messages start being ignored.

More importantly, if the qa was done correctly in the first place, or at least the first time i sent it in for repair, this wouldn't be an issue.

Should receive my replacement unit soon. Hopefully everything is good this time.

 

[MedicineMan05]

Hello, just out of curiosity how does Maestro SE sounds compare to Empire Ears EVO? Which one is better in your opinion?

 

[Bret Halford]

Hello, just out of curiosity how does Maestro SE sounds compare to Empire Ears EVO? Which one is better in your opinion?

I have both. MSE has a lot more sub bass whereas the Evo is more mid bassy. Evo has very forward mids, probably my favorite part of them but definitely not as linear as the MSE. Up top there's no comparison, the MSE's EST drivers are excellent technical performers, whereas the Evo just doesn't bother showing up.

They are both big IEMs, but I find seal is easier on the Evo. Nothing a little tio rolling doesn't fix. I get pretty atrocious driver flex on the Evo's and basically never on other IEMs. The upgraded MSE cable is fantastic, whereas the 'Genesis' PW cable included with Evo is atrocious and needs to get swapped out.

Having had both now for several months, I definitely prefer the MSE overall, but both are really nice in their own ways.

 

[MedicineMan05]

I have both. MSE has a lot more sub bass whereas the Evo is more mid bassy. Evo has very forward mids, probably my favorite part of them but definitely not as linear as the MSE. Up top there's no comparison, the MSE's EST drivers are excellent technical performers, whereas the Evo just doesn't bother showing up.

They are both big IEMs, but I find seal is easier on the Evo. Nothing a little tio rolling doesn't fix. I get pretty atrocious driver flex on the Evo's and basically never on other IEMs. The upgraded MSE cable is fantastic, whereas the 'Genesis' PW cable included with Evo is atrocious and needs to get swapped out.

Having had both now for several months, I definitely prefer the MSE overall, but both are really nice in their own ways.

I am an owner of A&K 180 +SEM4/ THIEAUDIO Monarch MKII I like everything about them except the sub bass. In my opinion AK180 just does not go too deep in general. previously I was an owner of Moon drop variation and here was the opposite I like only the gorgeous sub bass and hated everything else especially "music in my face cos my ears are very sensitive to mids ". I am a bass freak because mostly I listen to electronic music here and some times rock (80/20). So trying to find the balance between those to IEMs clear natural mids/highs in Monarch and sub bass from Variations. I prefer more slow bass rather that structured and punchy. Do you think Maestro could do a good job with all expectations that I wrote? In your opinion how clear the mids are comparing to MMK2? Thanks in advance for the answer!

 

[vikinguy]

No contest imo but I really don't care for the EVO at all. Treble was roughhh.

 

[Bret Halford]

I am an owner of A&K 180 +SEM4/ THIEAUDIO Monarch MKII I like everything about them except the sub bass. In my opinion AK180 just does not go too deep in general. previously I was an owner of Moon drop variation and here was the opposite I like only the gorgeous sub bass and hated everything else especially "music in my face cos my ears are very sensitive to mids ". I am a bass freak because mostly I listen to electronic music here and some times rock (80/20). So trying to find the balance between those to IEMs clear natural mids/highs in Monarch and sub bass from Variations. I prefer more slow bass rather that structured and punchy. Do you think Maestro could do a good job with all expectations that I wrote? In your opinion how clear the mids are comparing to MMK2? Thanks in advance for the answer!

I have a Monarch 2 as well and I agree it really does have quite nice mids (really the star of the show with bass in particular as you note a bit lacking).

The MSE tracks very well with the MMK2 in the mids, I would consider both quite accurate and linear here. The Evo in contrast has a relatively forward upper midrange that I find quite sweet sounding in many genres but definitely gets a little unnatural and differs from Monarch 2. It's a very unique V tuning (emphasizing upper mids rather than treble), but it's definitely not neutral mids with sub bass boost like the MSE is. You're going to get a bit more treble in the MSE as well although this is dependent on insertion depth and tip choice... you can see a spike at whatever resonance depth reviewers generally use for normalization that reflects this (ie 8 kHz).

 

[MedicineMan05]

I have a Monarch 2 as well and I agree it really does have quite nice mids (really the star of the show with bass in particular as you note a bit lacking).

The MSE tracks very well with the MMK2 in the mids, I would consider both quite accurate and linear here. The Evo in contrast has a relatively forward upper midrange that I find quite sweet sounding in many genres but definitely gets a little unnatural and differs from Monarch 2. It's a very unique V tuning (emphasizing upper mids rather than treble), but it's definitely not neutral mids with sub bass boost like the MSE is. You're going to get a bit more treble in the MSE as well although this is dependent on insertion depth and tip choice... you can see a spike at whatever resonance depth reviewers generally use for normalization that reflects this (ie 8 kHz).

Thank you for a full description. Today fall on to Maestro SE. In a week I should recive them. So really looking forward. +1 to Maestro familly member =)

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Thank you for a full description. Today fall on to Maestro SE. In a week I should recive them. So really looking forward. +1 to Maestro familly member =)

Yay! Look forward to your thoughts.