[aravaioli]

Glad to see that there is actually FOMO about Advar. I thought no one knows about this IEM .

You are likely right about this. I actually tried it by accident while waiting in line at the Meze stand for auditioning the Elite and Lyric....
First I didn't know it, second I thought nothing could beat the IE600 without going to the 1000£+ range which is territory where I won't go. Well, that is what reviewers kept on writing, save Andrew Park, but I suspected that for acoustic music they could have been beaten....

 

[o0genesis0o]

You are likely right about this. I actually tried it by accident while waiting in line at the Meze stand for auditioning the Elite and Lyric....
First I didn't know it, second I thought nothing could beat the IE600 without going to the 1000£+ range which is territory where I won't go. Well, that is what reviewers kept on writing, save Andrew Park, but I suspected that for acoustic music they could have been beaten....

IMHO, they sound absolutely beautiful with classical, especially Goldberg Variations version by Lang Lang. Rarely have I heard a better rendition.

For pop and rock, I have a bit reservation due to mid treble peak. For example, some Bon Jovi and Ed Sheeran songs can be painful due to sibilance. But if you go the IE600 or Variations round, you have to deal with Harman shrill. So, trade-offs.

 

[Andykong]

I have to agree. This is the first Meze Audio IEM that really showcases their signature house sound and look. They really hit it out of the park with this one and I see them coming up with something in the $1200 range next and it won’t sound or look anything like the Penta.

Thanks, and while I tried really hard to like the Rai Penta for it was good; to me it stepped away from the sound Meze was known for: bold, slightly different and made the competitors scramble (Empyrean). I think the Advar adheres to those guidelines once again, and consider it a top-tier choice at the price.

Cheers.

The Rai Penta sound signature might be a bit distant from the Empyrean but I can associate the Elite and Rai Penta alright.

But yes, the Advar feels comfortable when I switch among Meze headphones, and we are flattered by your recognition.

 

[Andykong]

IE600 owner here. I had the luck to audition these yesterday at Canjam London and reached my wallet after just 5 min of listening. Best Hi-Fi IEM I have ever tried, period. IE600 and 900 not nearly as warm and finely tuned on my opinion. Mids are just perfection, but in truth all the rest is great, even their look of which I do not really care. If you listen acoustic music and vocals in particular you must audition these.
IE600 going back to Sennheiser tomorrow and no regrets. I thought they were great, btw, not much to complain, however not as special as I thought a 600£ IEM would be. But the Advar showed me what I was missing. So for once my FOMO was justified (and wasn't so often in the past...).


Full report here https://www.head-fi.org/threads/canjam-london-2022-impressions-thread.964309/page-9#post-17074726

This is truly unexpected. While I must behave professionally and remain calm when we read impressive like this, I must confess, I put up a big smile on my face.

However, I am not sure if I should tell our sales team that one of our customers decided to take the Advar, be content with it and don't feel the need to pursue Emphyrean/Elite, a very interesting thought indeed.

 

[Forever8895]

Here is my take on the Advar: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/meze-audio-advar.25835/reviews#review-28983
I must say, this is one of the best IEMs I have ever heard! Really tempted to buy one. It was a pleasure to review the Advar.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Here is my take on the Advar: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/meze-audio-advar.25835/reviews#review-28983
I must say, this is one of the best IEMs I have ever heard! Really tempted to buy one. It was a pleasure to review the Advar.

It’s funny how our impressions are almost identical. I guess this IEM really shines when it comes to orchestral and classical music. Great photos, btw. The first unboxing photo is quite clever.

About the treble, I think the micropore tape mod might be able to fix the problem.

 

[Forever8895]

It’s funny how our impressions are almost identical. I guess this IEM really shines when it comes to orchestral and classical music. Great photos, btw. The first unboxing photo is quite clever.

About the treble, I think the micropore tape mod might be able to fix the problem.

Thanks! Yes, you’re right, I didn’t notice that we had a lot of points in common. Guess one day I need to try the Final E5000, it got a pretty high rating from you that IEM is something that I always wanted to try but hesitated due to the massive bass

 

[o0genesis0o]

Thanks! Yes, you’re right, I didn’t notice that we had a lot of points in common. Guess one day I need to try the Final E5000, it got a pretty high rating from you that IEM is something that I always wanted to try but hesitated due to the massive bass

I'm in the middle of readjusting all the rating, so E5000 is going to lost a couple of points (no way its resolution is 4.5 (better than Blessing 2, matching Advar). What was I thinking ).But it's true that its bass is very unique in the sense that it feels large and rumbly. Not unlike Advar's bass, but way louder. Bass end game for me until now. Of course, I have not heard empire ears LX and Z1R so my view might change.

 

[Ace Bee]

This is an impression post about Meze Audio Advar, lent to me quite generously by @aakashk .

First of all, it really was surprising how heavy it was despite its quite small size! The shell I believe was made with some kind of ceramic, with a higher density than SS - surmised from the fact that it was heavier than my LOAK-T(CL), which has a bigger shell made of SS, but much lighter in weight. The fit was quite snug inside the ear and very comfortable. Using narrow and long bore tips made the fit quite comfortable and it simply disappeared inside the ears.

Advar did not come with a balanced cable, hence I paired a XINHS Alloy Copper balanced cable with it. For source I chose the Shanling M7, balanced out, mid gain. The tips were BGVP E01 M size.

Advar is without doubt a quite refined sounding iem with slight peaks in the upper mids. The Low end, however, was not as strong as I expected from some reviews. Rather, it was slightly reserved. Although it slammed well and rumbled well, the body of the notes felt slightly smaller than my expectation, but in all certainties they were very much full bodied.

Lower mid surprised me, to say the least! Male vocals sound so incredibly full and emotional and weighty that it was quite orgasmic! Leonard Cohen’s voice was superbly full and deep and organic…honestly I don’t think I have heard such beautiful male vocals in this price range..yes, it felt better than IE600 even. The notes felt quite well defined and had perceptible depth. String instruments sounded similarly organic and yet detailed.

Upper mid is slightly different. Female vocals sound slightly subdued than my preference. It feels as if the female vocals are reigned back and not being allowed to express the complete vibrancy they have. There is a distinct warmth in them, which isn’t detrimental by any means. However, there also are some peaks which introduced a slight bit of sibilance here. Nothing too uncomfortable, but hard to miss also.

Treble is nice. Lower treble has plenty of energy, while the upper treble rolls off a bit earlier. The treble in general has the sparkle and vibrance to satisfy my requirement. It certainly isn’t ear piercing, yet produces plenty of details. The upper treble shimmers are not so energetic and hence does not provide enough satisfaction.

The notes, except male vocals, feel slightly on the leaner side, but very slightly, and the DD timbre anyway helps the overall presentation to remain organic enough. There is noticeable air between the notes, not as much as IE600, but that’s $100 costlier, and Advar still sounds airy enough. The stage depth was quite nice and imaging was quite well done. There is a pretty nice balance between the width, depth, and height hence the presentation is quite well-rounded.

I compared it with my 634EARS LOAK-T(CL). LOAK-T(CL) had a slightly stronger low end with slightly fuller notes in comparison, but not a lot. It took me a lot back and forth listening to finally pinpoint the difference. Apart from the Bass, the rest of the presentation of LOAK-T(CL) leans noticeably more to the brighter side compared to Advar, tonality is slightly on the neutral side as well. The midrange of LOAK-T(CL) is more forward and slightly more attacking in comparison. Male vocals sound a bit leaner on LOAK-T(CL), but female vocals sound much more vibrant and emotional that took my breath away. Lower treble has a similar energy while upper treble has noticeably more energy on LOAK-T(CL). Most importantly, and I don’t know whether I am just speaking nonsense or this is a real thing, the individual notes feel slightly wider in dimension on LOAK-T(CL) compared to Advar, whereas on Advar the notes feel to have slightly more depth. Due to the forwardness of the presentation, the depth of stage is perceptibly less on LOAK-T(CL) than Advar, while height of the stage was slightly more on LOAK-T(CL). Width of stage was more or less similar, but may be Advar edged out by a slim margin here. Despite the forward presentation, layering is superbly done on LOAK-T(CL), while it’s obviously better on Advar. Air between the notes is more on Advar than LOAK-T(CL), and hence imaging is a tad bit better also. But LOAK-T(CL) does by no means have poor imaging at all.

Both of them have their own strengths and weaknesses, and serve different tastes quite well. The Advar really is quite a competent iem for those looking for a balanced and slightly laid back tuning, while also having enough tolerance for slight upper mid peaks.

Testing tracks:

• Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
• Evanescence - Imaginary
• Battlestar Galactica Season 2 OST: Prelude To War
• Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
• Whitney Houston - I Belong To You

 

[yaps66]

This is an impression post about Meze Audio Advar, lent to me quite generously by @aakashk .

First of all, it really was surprising how heavy it was despite its quite small size! The shell I believe was made with some kind of ceramic, with a higher density than SS - surmised from the fact that it was heavier than my LOAK-T(CL), which has a bigger shell made of SS, but much lighter in weight. The fit was quite snug inside the ear and very comfortable. Using narrow and long bore tips made the fit quite comfortable and it simply disappeared inside the ears.

Advar did not come with a balanced cable, hence I paired a XINHS Alloy Copper balanced cable with it. For source I chose the Shanling M7, balanced out, mid gain. The tips were BGVP E01 M size.

Advar is without doubt a quite refined sounding iem with slight peaks in the upper mids. The Low end, however, was not as strong as I expected from some reviews. Rather, it was slightly reserved. Although it slammed well and rumbled well, the body of the notes felt slightly smaller than my expectation, but in all certainties they were very much full bodied.

Lower mid surprised me, to say the least! Male vocals sound so incredibly full and emotional and weighty that it was quite orgasmic! Leonard Cohen’s voice was superbly full and deep and organic…honestly I don’t think I have heard such beautiful male vocals in this price range..yes, it felt better than IE600 even. The notes felt quite well defined and had perceptible depth. String instruments sounded similarly organic and yet detailed.

Upper mid is slightly different. Female vocals sound slightly subdued than my preference. It feels as if the female vocals are reigned back and not being allowed to express the complete vibrancy they have. There is a distinct warmth in them, which isn’t detrimental by any means. However, there also are some peaks which introduced a slight bit of sibilance here. Nothing too uncomfortable, but hard to miss also.

Treble is nice. Lower treble has plenty of energy, while the upper treble rolls off a bit earlier. The treble in general has the sparkle and vibrance to satisfy my requirement. It certainly isn’t ear piercing, yet produces plenty of details. The upper treble shimmers are not so energetic and hence does not provide enough satisfaction.

The notes, except male vocals, feel slightly on the leaner side, but very slightly, and the DD timbre anyway helps the overall presentation to remain organic enough. There is noticeable air between the notes, not as much as IE600, but that’s $100 costlier, and Advar still sounds airy enough. The stage depth was quite nice and imaging was quite well done. There is a pretty nice balance between the width, depth, and height hence the presentation is quite well-rounded.

I compared it with my 634EARS LOAK-T(CL). LOAK-T(CL) had a slightly stronger low end with slightly fuller notes in comparison, but not a lot. It took me a lot back and forth listening to finally pinpoint the difference. Apart from the Bass, the rest of the presentation of LOAK-T(CL) leans noticeably more to the brighter side compared to Advar, tonality is slightly on the neutral side as well. The midrange of LOAK-T(CL) is more forward and slightly more attacking in comparison. Male vocals sound a bit leaner on LOAK-T(CL), but female vocals sound much more vibrant and emotional that took my breath away. Lower treble has a similar energy while upper treble has noticeably more energy on LOAK-T(CL). Most importantly, and I don’t know whether I am just speaking nonsense or this is a real thing, the individual notes feel slightly wider in dimension on LOAK-T(CL) compared to Advar, whereas on Advar the notes feel to have slightly more depth. Due to the forwardness of the presentation, the depth of stage is perceptibly less on LOAK-T(CL) than Advar, while height of the stage was slightly more on LOAK-T(CL). Width of stage was more or less similar, but may be Advar edged out by a slim margin here. Despite the forward presentation, layering is superbly done on LOAK-T(CL), while it’s obviously better on Advar. Air between the notes is more on Advar than LOAK-T(CL), and hence imaging is a tad bit better also. But LOAK-T(CL) does by no means have poor imaging at all.

Both of them have their own strengths and weaknesses, and serve different tastes quite well. The Advar really is quite a competent iem for those looking for a balanced and slightly laid back tuning, while also having enough tolerance for slight upper mid peaks.

Testing tracks:

• Leonard Cohen - Hallelujah
• Evanescence - Imaginary
• Battlestar Galactica Season 2 OST: Prelude To War
• Fleetwood Mac - Dreams
• Whitney Houston - I Belong To You

Great review. Agree with you on the upper mid peaks. Piano notes sound a liitle aggresive to me but overall a very nice iem which I am glad to add to me single dd collection!

 

[yaps66]

Apologies for the multiple quotes but I only just now realised that there was a dedicated thread (thanks to @Ace Bee posting in Watercooler). I finally caught up all 18 pages!

Don't have toes? Something on you will tap.

This is hilarious. Your reviews are always EPIC as usual!

I like the full out rumble-plate cave approach of the Dorado better.

+1

I loooooove the even more extreme cocaine fever dream that is the XE6 in that signature.

+10

I prefer Zen Pro's see-saw dynamics.

DDs are so underrated of late! Zen Pro is such an example of what is possible!

this still comes up to an appealing IEM I'll be hanging on to

Me too!

Received my Advars and tried them out. I can’t get one of the IEMs to have a reliable connection. These are my first IEMs and I’m not sure if I’m connecting them correctly. Troubleshooting, it’s definitely one of the IEMs — it’s not the cable or DAC (Dragonfly Cobalt) or iPhone or iPad connector.

What gets them to work is to spin the IEM around once on the connector, then it will play.

They sound great in stereo! Not great in mono

Is there something I should be doing to avoid this issue or is it possible it’s an issue with the IEM and I should exchange it?

UPDATE: these sound really good! But still struggling with solid connections. Now each IEM has had connection issues, but mostly it’s one of them. Just touching them on my ears can cause them to connect or disconnect. Is this normal IEM behavior? Still also working on the right fit; not quite dialed in yet.

I havent had any issues but my Advar's definitely do not have the tightest of mmcx connections that I have had. With mine, it's the iem as I've done a bit of cable rolling and they all seat very easily. At any rate, you should here a click/snap when you connect the cable to the connector on the iem. If the iem is spinning around the connector, you probably have them seated properly otherwise the iems would fall off the cable. If you only have the stock cable, you can't be 100% sure whether it's the cable or the connector on the iem. There is a way to tighten up the connector on the cable and you can search for that if you are so inclined. But you shouldn't have to, especially with $700 iem's. If you are sure that you have the cable connectors seated properly, I would consider an exchange if possible. If that's a hassle, you can always try a different cable.

@Andrewteee and @Tomm11: I had the same issue (I think). I solved it by ensuring that the cable was pushed in all the way into the Advar. You have to use quite a bit of force to ensure that it sits in properly. Once I did that, the issues were resolved.

 

[Tomm11]

@Andrewteee and @Tomm11: I had the same issue (I think). I solved it by ensuring that the cable was pushed in all the way into the Advar. You have to use quite a bit of force to ensure that it sits in properly. Once I did that, the issues were resolved.

I no longer have the Advars but I never had any connection issues. There was no need for me to solve anything. My cable connectors were seated properly.

 

[yaps66]

I no longer have the Advars but I never had any connection issues. There was no need for me to solve anything. My cable connectors were seated properly.

Apologies. I completely misread your post. My bad!

 

[Tomm11]

Apologies. I completely misread your post. My bad!

No problem. Just wanted be clear that my Advars were fine while I had them.

 

[tombrisbane]

Advar’s arrived here today for their last stop on the South Africa / Australia tour. Packaging is wonderful, up there with my Sony IER-Z1R in terms of presentation.

Have them plugged in to an Apple dongle at the moment (will be through the Mojo2 and others in the week) and initial impressions are very positive! Really lovely warm sound, slight v shape, anything with an acoustic guitar sounds amazing - have been running through some of my favourite tracks this evening and really enjoying them. Fit is also great, as comfy as the IE600 for me.