[snip]
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.
[snip]
But I think the choice of reaching out the Mefisto or Macbeth's going to depend on genre and personal preferences.
Anymore thoughts on El Mefisto
So the Mefisto has had about 141 hrs burn in, just shy of 2x of the recommended 72 hrs.
I still wouldn't call one better than the other. Most of what I said above still very much stands. Doing an immediate swap from the Mefisto to the Macbeth, mainly because of the tonal difference in the upper bass/lower mids still gives the
perception that the Mefisto sounds wider in stage but the Macbeth somewhat more depth in imaging. Whilst I"m very sure this isn't solely FR differences that's causing this effect and there's a lot more other factors contributing to this.
One update I do have is that I think I'm hearing that upper dip difference that Twister6 showed in his FR curve (~3->6.5kHz, esp in the 5.5kHz part). I didn't hear it so much when I was listening to the more live vocals of Hideaki Tokunaga's Concert Tour 2023 All Best 2 album, I'm hearing it more of that difference between the Mefisto & the Macbeth in 80s pop & rock like the Top Gun album, and maybe less emphasised (but still noticeable) for Southern All Stars' Tsunami.
Especially in the Top Gun album (which I've been listening to a little more in the past hr), I think the Mefisto's slight dip upper area brings a slight (but not as much) reminiscence to the Sony MDR-Z1R closedback - granted this is based on memory as I owned that Sony probably like 7-8 yrs ago.
I won't get into the technicalities employed 'cos frankly that is not my forté (no pun intended!) and would leave it up to the real experts, but touch a little on the surface on that topic, I have to say that as a personal preference, I am a DD kinda guy. My other IEM that I like is the Rubys but I won't get into that here. The Mefisto fills that preference I seek in the Macbeth, and that's the Dynamic Driver sound. I find both the Mefisto & Macbeth to have that visceral but each to their own way. Both also have lots of room to breath in the upper end with ethereal qualities
For me, in terms of my personal preference of genre, if I'm going to listen to Pop, etc. I think I'd have a tendency to pick the Mefisto. As an overall, I think it's a more easier signature to like especially for the first 2-3 mins of listening, thereafter just drowning yourself in music whilst doing other activities (like typing this post!), or
searching for things to do in Shanghai during next month's CanJam (see what I did there
)?
However if I were to listen to Jazz Vocals, lovey-dovey mushy soapie, music with strong vocal emphasis, or on the opposite end, simple 3-4x instrument acoustic instrumentals, and I want to do more involved or more invested listening, then I'd pick out the Macbeth.
P.S. I've not tried swapping tips, nor cables yet.
!
