scott1
100+ Head-Fier
Hello All-
I was lucky enough to win the ME.1’s from the recent Musicteck giveaway. Besides thanking Musicteck for the arranging the giveaway itself, I also wanted to thank everyone involved this online community. Without everyone’s interest, participation, and support of the Sponsors and Manufacturers, amazing giveaways like this wouldn’t happen so I wanted to thank everyone on head-fi as well!
By now, I would think that almost everyone who frequents this site (from North America, at least) probably already knows about Musicteck and how wonderful their selection and customer service is. I purchased a DAP from Musicteck last year and it was it was an absolute pleasure to deal with them. I only mention this to illustrate that I do have prior personal experience with them and am not just saying it because I won their giveway. Anyone looking to buy new gear or purchase the ME.1 should check out their site here, Andrew’s customer service is 2nd to none and I would trust them over other online retailers that may not be so well regarded by the head-fi community:
www.musicteck.com
I’m definitely not a reviewer so please forgive me when that this is not up to the normal head-fi review standards. I just wanted to post some thoughts here because I am so grateful and psyched about winning these and love them so f‘ing much!
Now on to the ME.1’s…Normally when reading reviews, I immediately skip past the unboxing because I normally find that type of thing boring and inconsequential to deciding on a purchase but I have to say, the wooden box these things come in is so nice that I plan on keeping it on my living room shelves as décor. And the UFO case that allows you to wrap the cord around when storing them is so cool and functional at the same time, I would think this is a design that other IEM manufacturers would (and should) copy unless UM has a patent on it or something. Great job UM, my mind is forever changed about unboxing and packaging!
Build quality is quite substantial. I can’t see how these wouldn’t hold up for years and years of use with just a little bit of care. I have tried unplugging the recessed, 2-pin cable and it is rock solid with no play or movement in the connection whatsoever. The cord is braided copper/silver (I think) and has zero microphonics and look great, almost jewelry-like. The IEMs themselves just have a high-end look to them as well that make me think these are what $750-ish IEMs should look like.
I was initially slightly concerned about the fit and comfort after a review that mentioned it may be hit or miss due to the large size of these things. However, I think my ears are pretty averaged size though and had no issues getting a good, comfortable fit. I’m usually partial to foam tips and was happy with the medium foams provided in the box.
Most importantly is sound of course and I could not be happier. I just received them yesterday so I haven’t had more than a few hours of listening time last night (no burn-in time at all) but they are certainly impressive to my ears. I am using these through a Cayin N3 DAP running through a Cayin C5 amp for my source and I mainly listen to various forms of metal and some electronica. To my surprise, I found the sound to be substantially better (much cleaner) with the N3 itself and stopped using the C5 altogether as it really wasn’t adding much in terms of extra power, only taking away from the clean sound. These are easily the most expensive IEMs I have ever had the pleasure to listen to so I cannot offer much in the way of comparisons to other similarly-priced IEMs unfortunately but I have owned a few low to mid-range Grados and if I had to make any comparison, I feel like these have the fun, forward sound of Grados but combined with a depth and 3 dimensional feel that any Grado I have heard cannot manage. They're not super sparkly nor sibilant in any way up top and definitely not basshead levels down low just overall amazingly smooth, detailed, and enjoyable.
I have been trying to listen to a wide range of my favorites to get a sense of what these do well or not and I can't quite come up with anything I can say would be their specialty. From The Rolling Stones to Black Label Society to Massive Attack, all sound wonderful and insanely detailed while still being fun. I should mention that they definitely don’t sound anything as close to as good as they sound from my Cayin if I plug them into a phone, they definitely need power so potential buyers should be aware of that.
If anyone out there is considering these, I would definitely recommend them and there is anything else you would like to know, I'm happy to help out.
Take care,
-Scott
I was lucky enough to win the ME.1’s from the recent Musicteck giveaway. Besides thanking Musicteck for the arranging the giveaway itself, I also wanted to thank everyone involved this online community. Without everyone’s interest, participation, and support of the Sponsors and Manufacturers, amazing giveaways like this wouldn’t happen so I wanted to thank everyone on head-fi as well!
By now, I would think that almost everyone who frequents this site (from North America, at least) probably already knows about Musicteck and how wonderful their selection and customer service is. I purchased a DAP from Musicteck last year and it was it was an absolute pleasure to deal with them. I only mention this to illustrate that I do have prior personal experience with them and am not just saying it because I won their giveway. Anyone looking to buy new gear or purchase the ME.1 should check out their site here, Andrew’s customer service is 2nd to none and I would trust them over other online retailers that may not be so well regarded by the head-fi community:
www.musicteck.com
I’m definitely not a reviewer so please forgive me when that this is not up to the normal head-fi review standards. I just wanted to post some thoughts here because I am so grateful and psyched about winning these and love them so f‘ing much!
Now on to the ME.1’s…Normally when reading reviews, I immediately skip past the unboxing because I normally find that type of thing boring and inconsequential to deciding on a purchase but I have to say, the wooden box these things come in is so nice that I plan on keeping it on my living room shelves as décor. And the UFO case that allows you to wrap the cord around when storing them is so cool and functional at the same time, I would think this is a design that other IEM manufacturers would (and should) copy unless UM has a patent on it or something. Great job UM, my mind is forever changed about unboxing and packaging!
Build quality is quite substantial. I can’t see how these wouldn’t hold up for years and years of use with just a little bit of care. I have tried unplugging the recessed, 2-pin cable and it is rock solid with no play or movement in the connection whatsoever. The cord is braided copper/silver (I think) and has zero microphonics and look great, almost jewelry-like. The IEMs themselves just have a high-end look to them as well that make me think these are what $750-ish IEMs should look like.
I was initially slightly concerned about the fit and comfort after a review that mentioned it may be hit or miss due to the large size of these things. However, I think my ears are pretty averaged size though and had no issues getting a good, comfortable fit. I’m usually partial to foam tips and was happy with the medium foams provided in the box.
Most importantly is sound of course and I could not be happier. I just received them yesterday so I haven’t had more than a few hours of listening time last night (no burn-in time at all) but they are certainly impressive to my ears. I am using these through a Cayin N3 DAP running through a Cayin C5 amp for my source and I mainly listen to various forms of metal and some electronica. To my surprise, I found the sound to be substantially better (much cleaner) with the N3 itself and stopped using the C5 altogether as it really wasn’t adding much in terms of extra power, only taking away from the clean sound. These are easily the most expensive IEMs I have ever had the pleasure to listen to so I cannot offer much in the way of comparisons to other similarly-priced IEMs unfortunately but I have owned a few low to mid-range Grados and if I had to make any comparison, I feel like these have the fun, forward sound of Grados but combined with a depth and 3 dimensional feel that any Grado I have heard cannot manage. They're not super sparkly nor sibilant in any way up top and definitely not basshead levels down low just overall amazingly smooth, detailed, and enjoyable.
I have been trying to listen to a wide range of my favorites to get a sense of what these do well or not and I can't quite come up with anything I can say would be their specialty. From The Rolling Stones to Black Label Society to Massive Attack, all sound wonderful and insanely detailed while still being fun. I should mention that they definitely don’t sound anything as close to as good as they sound from my Cayin if I plug them into a phone, they definitely need power so potential buyers should be aware of that.
If anyone out there is considering these, I would definitely recommend them and there is anything else you would like to know, I'm happy to help out.
Take care,
-Scott
