Not sure if MEST uses same driver as MEST MKII, but MEST MKII’s dynamic driver is a class or two superior to Monarch OG’s.
Thieaudio mentioned they updated the dynamic driver for Prestige, if Monarch MKII uses same latest gen DD, like the one you can find in Allure/Elixir, maybe it will get close. But still MEST MKII’s dynamic driver’s bass is the best dynamic bass DD I’ve ever tried, a full bodied and natural bass well defined.
Thanks for chime in automatically since I was actually asking you as well but forgot to tag
I think the DD is the same, thats why the DD in Mest is qualified and I give quite high 8.5 / 10 mark (Bass only mark out of 10 : Hana 2021 5.5, fiio fd5 5.5 , Moondrop S8 6.5, IER M9 7.5, Kato 7, Z1R 9.5 for reference) it dig deep, great texture and slam and tuned with great clean shelf, not bleeding at all on 100-300hz and agile.
I got pretty good offer of Monarch MK2 so many times, was thinking to swap my Mest since a lot people said MMK2 is better than Mest mk I or even II but some people I know said bass quality is different, and that can be deal breaker for me, and the pinna gain. I hear unnaturalness in Mest, too sparkly on high notes edges, but can't away from the layering and precise imaging of Mest, their chop layering is the one of the best (9.5/10 in my mark, slight hair above M9, and yes above the 9/10 Z1R) combined with the soundstage depth made 3D staging very amusing, again even not natural.
For Overall presentation as a package Z1R is still better, lucky I can get great better fit now with spinfit W1.
I have never heard Mest, unfortunately. You can search for an Aussie store chain called Addicted to Audio. That’s my local hifi store and I have listened to most of their stuffs. If an item is not there, I unlikely to have heard it.
To my ears, monarch II is very straightforward IEM without any tricks or deception. It’s flat, it’s straight forward, it has reasonable level of mid-bass and nice subbass. I was not too fond of the bass quality. At the same time, it’s engaging, more than its more expensive V16 sibling, IMHO. I’m still considering whether I should get the monarch as a constant reminder of a “reference” IEM, the benchmark upon which others are compared. My Andromeda loses that position more and more as I listen to more IEMs and grow more nitpicky.
Yes MMK2 definitely 1 of the best IEM you can get currently, and the price also considered very value.
You should try Mest for its layering and imaging.
Btw I didn't buy lot of IEM last year since I feel like I reach my Endgame state and stuck there, pursuing shadow of truly perfect IEM will never end, when we touch TOTL, its just matter of preference, which one is closer to your taste, like example, we cant have the Z1R bass with MMK2 mids, with mest layering, but with coherences of single DD, with fit of M9 etc.
But the budget segment is always interesting war field, was on the fence of Hexa of course, but seeing the graph of Hakugei Sea-Elf made me want to jump in again, great tuning for below 100 bucks, wonder if the graph is reliable. The cable thrown can be easily best cable you can get for budget segment, remember the faaeal hibiscus that people get for the sake of the cable?
Is it double stacked LCP driver on Sea-Elf? cant find detailed information aside from DD is LCP, 10mm?