Unique Melody MEST Impressions
I was finally able to get my hands on these for demo thanks to Tyler from Headphones.com! "MEST is BEST” - or so I've been told by a number of individuals who've raved about this IEM to no end. And to that I say the following: The MEST is wonky. Oh yes, wonky, but the type of wonky that somehow works.
The overall tonality of the MEST follows something of a W-shape. The MEST has good - not great - bass. Bass texturing is adequate; however, slam and density seem more middling, and this becomes evident A/B-ing with the tia Trio I have on hand. Hardly a fair comparison, I know! My biggest issue, then, is the way MEST transitions from the lower-midrange into the upper-midrange and treble. The latter is more emphasized, and there is a 6kHz peak which can lend itself to an overly aggressive, forward treble response. It's good treble otherwise, sporting some decent extension, and it's nice to see we're finally getting some proper electret drivers implementations. As for the bone conduction driver, though, honestly I can't tell what it's doing.
Intangibly, the MEST is a strong performer. Its macrodynamic ability, that is the way it scales decibel gradations, is quite good. While it doesn't run alongside the lowest of delineations as closely as the U12t, the way it catches dynamic swings on the “up” surpasses the U12t which I've long crowned king for this characteristic. You might have also heard about MEST's imaging. And I have to agree - it's pretty sweet. It plays with positioning; stuff pops unexpectedly even on tracks I've heard hundreds of times. It certainly seems out-of-head at times; I'd qualify it as holographic, or very close, in this regard. Outside of this, the MEST resolves like an IEM of its caliber should. Macro-detail is quite good in the midrange, unfortunately exhibiting something of an upwards compression; however, largely in the absence of BA timbre otherwise.
The MEST is unmistakably a good IEM. However, I’ve gone back and forth on it several times because I can’t knock the feeling that it’s notably disjoint. It’s not a clash of note textures thing, though, so much as it is “holes” in the frequency spectrum; this was quite noticeable on first listen. Maybe it’s the way it images, maybe it’s the no less than five crossovers at hand, maybe it's the compressed transients in the midrange, who knows? I'll need more ear time. And in this regard, there is a lack of refinement to the MEST that plagues it, and that in my opinion, keeps it from truly playing at the top like its stellar technical ability would otherwise suggest. My preference score will reflect this. Still, I think it's safe to say the MEST has its niche. And as for whether "MEST is best", well, let’s just say it’s the best *wonky* IEM I’ve heard, and it’s not hard to see why it’s won the hearts of many listeners.

I was finally able to get my hands on these for demo thanks to Tyler from Headphones.com! "MEST is BEST” - or so I've been told by a number of individuals who've raved about this IEM to no end. And to that I say the following: The MEST is wonky. Oh yes, wonky, but the type of wonky that somehow works.
The overall tonality of the MEST follows something of a W-shape. The MEST has good - not great - bass. Bass texturing is adequate; however, slam and density seem more middling, and this becomes evident A/B-ing with the tia Trio I have on hand. Hardly a fair comparison, I know! My biggest issue, then, is the way MEST transitions from the lower-midrange into the upper-midrange and treble. The latter is more emphasized, and there is a 6kHz peak which can lend itself to an overly aggressive, forward treble response. It's good treble otherwise, sporting some decent extension, and it's nice to see we're finally getting some proper electret drivers implementations. As for the bone conduction driver, though, honestly I can't tell what it's doing.
Intangibly, the MEST is a strong performer. Its macrodynamic ability, that is the way it scales decibel gradations, is quite good. While it doesn't run alongside the lowest of delineations as closely as the U12t, the way it catches dynamic swings on the “up” surpasses the U12t which I've long crowned king for this characteristic. You might have also heard about MEST's imaging. And I have to agree - it's pretty sweet. It plays with positioning; stuff pops unexpectedly even on tracks I've heard hundreds of times. It certainly seems out-of-head at times; I'd qualify it as holographic, or very close, in this regard. Outside of this, the MEST resolves like an IEM of its caliber should. Macro-detail is quite good in the midrange, unfortunately exhibiting something of an upwards compression; however, largely in the absence of BA timbre otherwise.
The MEST is unmistakably a good IEM. However, I’ve gone back and forth on it several times because I can’t knock the feeling that it’s notably disjoint. It’s not a clash of note textures thing, though, so much as it is “holes” in the frequency spectrum; this was quite noticeable on first listen. Maybe it’s the way it images, maybe it’s the no less than five crossovers at hand, maybe it's the compressed transients in the midrange, who knows? I'll need more ear time. And in this regard, there is a lack of refinement to the MEST that plagues it, and that in my opinion, keeps it from truly playing at the top like its stellar technical ability would otherwise suggest. My preference score will reflect this. Still, I think it's safe to say the MEST has its niche. And as for whether "MEST is best", well, let’s just say it’s the best *wonky* IEM I’ve heard, and it’s not hard to see why it’s won the hearts of many listeners.
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