So far just shy of 30 hrs of burn in, the Mefisto is blossoming to quite a full signature. To my it has the feels as articulate as the Macbeth. This is just only a very brief preliminary comparison with the Macbeth (same matched volume), where I stated in my
Macbeth review that its has a slight warm tendency, the Mefisto seems more evenly balanced across the spectrum. Granted that when I reviewed t he Macbeth it was with the NW-WM1Z which is known to lean towards a warmer signature, and now I'm listening to the Mefisto off my DX340/AMP16, but I feel this difference between the Macbeth & Mefisto is there, rather solely DAP influenced.
Bass is also quite tight slamming and impactful with the 30 hrs burn-in. Percussions are crisp, with similar articulate airiness as with the Macbeth. And vocals crystal clear. Whilst I don't have any measurements, I feel that whilst there's probably similar bass and sub bass, it's the upper mid bass to the lower mids that it's a little different from the Macbeth's (which is where I may feel the Macbeths to be a little warmer than the Mefisto's). Because of this, personally I perceive the Mefisto to have a slightly more open and wider stage, whilst the Macbeth to have a deeper in backstage imaging.
Again, all this is just very preliminary. I'll give another update after it's hit 48 hrs and 72 hrs respectively. However midway through, I'm dropping my AK340 in for an RMA so I'm likely to switch DAPs later in the week.
However for now, I can't seem find any criticisms of the Mefisto but more like a different signature from the Macbeth. I'm listening to live vocals (primarily Hideaki Tokunaga's Concert Tour 2023 All Best 2 in 96/24). But I think the choice of reaching out the Mefisto or Macbeth's going to depend on genre and personal preferences.
