I demoed Volur fully expecting it to be an "endgame upgrade" vs MMK3 but was surprised that it wasn't. I think it's still really damn good, but in the end I felt like among the three frequency regions there wasn't anything that was a straight upgrade from MMK3. Most of my listening was focused on bass because I think it's the most improvable aspect of MMK3. I only had around 20mins to test so this isn't exhaustive. I forgot to take a pic but Volur's shell is an eyecatcher, I still love my aurora mix MMK3 though.
Bass is almost a full upgrade, Volur hits hard and has excellent texture and transients. It's honestly super enjoyable - except it just bled to the mids. For reference I did only try it with M20 and perhaps M12 or something would alleviate this, but MMK3's bass shelf just ends at a better spot. Just looking at graphs, M12 seems like it would diminish too much of the bass (which is Volur's best trait) as well.
I know some people (basslets) already think MMK3's midbass overwhelms the mids (to me it's near-perfect) but this is much more evident on Volur. I think the quality of bass is (much) better on Volur, but it's definitely not a full replacement as MMK3's bass is better-tuned. I'd probably pay a good amount of money for MMK3 with Volur's bass drivers but MMK3 tuning.
For mids, male vocals on MMK3 can be a bit lean whereas they are pretty full on Volur. I think this part is a toss-up, though I wouldn't mind a bit more body than what MMK3 has. Female vocals on Volur are just not very good for me, I suspect it's the "64 Audio dip" that's just making vocals (and other instruments) sound off. MMK3 is outright superior for upper mids, it's not even close.
I wouldn't say Volur is too warm or anything, and I don't mind warmth, but the point from the bass section still stands - mids can get swallowed up by the bass.
Treble-wise, 5-6K is a weak point for my hearing (I'm particularly sensitive to this region) and is quite accentuated in MMK3. Thankfully MMK3 still manages to not be sibilant most of the time, but it can be tuned a tiny bit lower imo. It does add to perceived clarity though.
On Volur, this is a fair bit more restrained, but I do wonder if it could be boosted a tiny bit to compensate for the bass, so for lower treble I think both can be improved, but MMK3 can be unlistenable to people who are super sensitive to lower treble so I'd count this as a win for Volur.
Mid and upper treble I'd give to MMK3, I think Volur's treble tuning was just very uneven - I don't mind boosted upper treble generally, but ~10k on Volur is muted vs MMK3 and the contrast between said ~10k and the higher treble regions on Volur is pretty insane. It's weirdly imbalanced and stuff like cymbals don't sound quite right.
MMK3 does also have elevated upper treble, which can be bothersome to a lot of people (again, not me) but it doesn't have the trough-peak interaction. My preferences and tolerances lean towards "bright" signatures and I really think MMK3 just does treble better than Volur, though I'd say I'm ok with a bit less upper treble.
For non-audio aspects Volur handily wins though - 64 Audio's fit and comfort is just unmatched. All in all I'd say I still liked Volur, but I don't think I'll take it over MMK3 as an all-rounder, especially at that price. Maybe $1.8-2k retail would be more appropriate as you do still get a lot of positives beyond pure sound quality. I think I'd pay like $800-$1k for a secondhand Volur in a heartbeat.
Tri Clarion and stock foam so far the best..Spinfit W on its way and I am thinking about Comply Foam tips? but what tips exactly? thanks
