[OhmsClaw]

Do you guys think thieaudio will eventually make Prestige 2 ?

It's not "if", but when.

 

[Alkamei]

Well, for the next Prestige production I hope they give us a optional creme/white body and keep the swirly starry galaxy design on the plate with gold colored characters rather than the silver

 

[JAnonymous5150]

So as of this writing I own or have owned the Excalibur, Oracle 1 and 2, Monarch 1,2, and 3, Prestige OG and LTD, and the Clairvoyance. Of all those ThieAudio Tribrids the Excalibur, Clairvoyance, Monarch MK2, and Prestige LTD are the best. Some of the others are very good and some were total misses for me.

Both versions of the Oracle sound like they can't decide whether they want to be neutral and analytical or musical yet revealing so come off being neither. They both have theyr good qualities, but they could be so much better.

I may be one of the few people in the world who likes the OG Prestige but let's face it, the IEM is only good for some very specific music and makes most everything else sound like overly emphasized garbage. The LTD on the other hand is the best of the TA Tribrids by a good margin to my ears.

The OG Monarchs are an IEM I like some days, but hate many more days than I like and it just can make up for that midbass/lowermids hole when it comes to replaying a lot of tracks. The MRK2 absolutely nailed that tuning style without changing the character making it a great subbass boosted, clear, clean, and accurate IEM. The MRK3 sold out to those calling the MRK2 boring and made an IEM that doesn't deserve to have the Monarch name.

The Excalibur was the redheaded stepchild of the original midfi twins and I personally dug the fact that it had that unashamed v shaped, boosted treble and mid bass, screw your mids, and I'm gonna rock you all day long with it. It wasn't the most versatile, but it could kill on some RATM, Transplants, Polyphia, etc. Not the most versatile IEM, but it was great at exactly was they tuned it to be and got looked over by the audiophile set as unworthy.

The Clairvoyance were over shadowed by the immediate Monarch cult that formed, leaving most people to never even pick a pair up. When you do, they're in my ears now, you get a well balanced, but smoothly, musical set. All the detail of the Monarch but without it being thrown in your face. A low end with pop and and agility that reaches deep and has the midbass filled out. The mids sit ever so slightly back, but are clear, detailed, dynamic, and timbrally accurate and they flow into a well extended but never offensive treble that keeps on giving to a song note by note without ever taking or making a false step.

Just figured I share my take on my experience with all these IEMs thus far. This isn't meant to start a war or anything. This is just one guy putting down his thoughts because he felt like they were underrepresented around here and felt like some others might be thinking some similar things and appreciate reading that they aren't alone.

Happy Listening!

 

[gentzen]

This may not be a very popular post, but I'm really exasperated and angry at the terribly poor quality of the stock cable that came in with the Prestige LTD. As much as I love the sound of these iems, stock cable is on the other end of the quality scale. Up till now I only had regular problems with the 4-pin connectors to the exchangable termination plugs: the cable easily pops out and you lose connection to the music while the DAP keeps playing, or wobbles and for example you lose connection to one side, etc. As if this is not bad enough (for an iem costing £1200), the 2-pin connector to the iem itself also easily pops out (like when you have the cable in your jacket pocket). It happened to me twice, but fortunately I was able to retrieve the missing iem. Third time unlucky though: I was yesterday at the airport and put my DAP and cable/iems into my jacket pocket for a moment while speaking to somebody and handling luggage. When I later on pulled the DAP off my pocket the 2-pin connector had come out of the socket and the iem was nowhere to be found. I checked everywhere of course, but that's it, gone and with it £1200 down the drain . Lesson to me: use a case at all times, better yet, buy an upgrade cable (which I did). But seriously, ThieAudio, this is poor, poor, unacceptable quality for such a lovely pair of iems (and for the asking price).

P.S. Never had any sort of problems with my DUNU iems which sported MMCX connectors. A really solid option, if only more iems could have theser.

 

[RIGATIO]

This may not be a very popular post, but I'm really exasperated and angry at the terribly poor quality of the stock cable that came in with the Prestige LTD. As much as I love the sound of these iems, stock cable is on the other end of the quality scale. Up till now I only had regular problems with the 4-pin connectors to the exchangable termination plugs: the cable easily pops out and you lose connection to the music while the DAP keeps playing, or wobbles and for example you lose connection to one side, etc. As if this is not bad enough (for an iem costing £1200), the 2-pin connector to the iem itself also easily pops out (like when you have the cable in your jacket pocket). It happened to me twice, but fortunately I was able to retrieve the missing iem. Third time unlucky though: I was yesterday at the airport and put my DAP and cable/iems into my jacket pocket for a moment while speaking to somebody and handling luggage. When I later on pulled the DAP off my pocket the 2-pin connector had come out of the socket and the iem was nowhere to be found. I checked everywhere of course, but that's it, gone and with it £1200 down the drain . Lesson to me: use a case at all times, better yet, buy an upgrade cable (which I did). But seriously, ThieAudio, this is poor, poor, unacceptable quality for such a lovely pair of iems (and for the asking price).

P.S. Never had any sort of problems with my DUNU iems which sported MMCX connectors. A really solid option, if only more iems could have theser.

Damn man feeling sorry for you. Having the Monarch 2 i have also had a problem with them but of a different nature. Their brittle housings have cracked in the place where the housing connects to the nozzles. It was some time ago and Linsoul replaced them but i needed to pay all the shippment costs. Among all iems ive had/have, the Monarchs require the most attention as they seem the most fragile. Im also scared about their 2 pin connectors as they seem very prone to damage.

 

[gentzen]

Damn man feeling sorry for you. Having the Monarch 2 i have also had a problem with them but of a different nature. Their brittle housings have cracked in the place where the housing connects to the nozzles. It was some time ago and Linsoul replaced them but i needed to pay all the shippment costs. Among all iems ive had/have, the Monarchs require the most attention as they seem the most fragile. Im also scared about their 2 pin connectors as they seem very prone to damage.

Thanks, I do appreciate the empathy. I was apoplectic when I realized what had happened, but needed to gather myself round, as I was on a business trip and had a meeting scheduled with my line manager right after I got off the plane . 2-pin connectors aren't very great in the best of circumstances, but the ones on Prestige felt thin and prone to bending right out of the box. An upgrade cable seems a must, as well as storing the iems in a case the moment they are out of your ears. Some lessons are costly.

 

[OhmsClaw]

Thanks, I do appreciate the empathy. I was apoplectic when I realized what had happened, but needed to gather myself round, as I was on a business trip and had a meeting scheduled with my line manager right after I got off the plane . 2-pin connectors aren't very great in the best of circumstances, but the ones on Prestige felt thin and prone to bending right out of the box. An upgrade cable seems a must, as well as storing the iems in a case the moment they are out of your ears. Some lessons are costly.

That's wild. No proper 2 pins should be so loosey goosey gravity or slight tension pops them out of the sockets. Even worse the 4 pin connections are so poor. What did you end up doing? Re-ordering with an "upgrade" cable?

 

[gentzen]

That's wild. No proper 2 pins should be so loosey goosey gravity or slight tension pops them out of the sockets. Even worse the 4 pin connections are so poor. What did you end up doing? Re-ordering with an "upgrade" cable?

Correct. I'm gutted to be saying so, but the sound is really good, clearly punches above its price tag (which is by no means cheap, still...). Yet, the accessories are really not on a par. Aside from the cable, the case is also a cheap plastic thing. As for the 4-pin connector, it's a cheap plasticky thing and by no means provides secure connection. I hope an upgrade cable (Eros 1 Anniversary ed.) will make up for such deficiencies.

 

[Alkamei]

Correct. I'm gutted to be saying so, but the sound is really good, clearly punches above its price tag (which is by no means cheap, still...). Yet, the accessories are really not on a par. Aside from the cable, the case is also a cheap plastic thing. As for the 4-pin connector, it's a cheap plasticky thing and by no means provides secure connection. I hope an upgrade cable (Eros 1 Anniversary ed.) will make up for such deficiencies.

The same cable and the plugs are in the monarch mkII and mkIII packaging too. Am wondering if this has been or could be a problem for those models as well.

Which cable would you recommend?
I just recently ordered the Prestige LTD.

 

[gentzen]

Depends on how much you want to spend (and whether you are a believer in cables being able to alter sound noticeably, a rather controversial topic on this forum ). I am not sure I believe this. On the other hand, I wanted a well-constructed cable with properties reported by reviewers as fitting with my tastes in sound (just in case...). So I went for the Effect Audio Eros 1 (1st Anniversary edition). It retails in the US at around $300-$350 (and looks really swell too, part of the reason why I chose it over the regular edition). You can read a review here. Effect Audio is a well-known cable manufacturer. You could, however, find cables with similar composition, diameter and number of cores in custom cable makers at a significant discount, if you know such a trader that you can trust in your part of the world (e.g. if others can recommend).

Re. the ThieAudio stock cable, tbh, I've never had a 2-pin cable before to compare with. I would have thought that coming off from the iem on the 2-pin side is rather atypical and I am curious to hear if others with models that sport this cable have had the same issue. On the other hand, the 4-pin clip felt dicey almost from day 1. It looks and feels cheap.

 

[OhmsClaw]

The same cable and the plugs are in the monarch mkII and mkIII packaging too. Am wondering if this has been or could be a problem for those models as well.

Which cable would you recommend?
I just recently ordered the Prestige LTD.

Do you need modular? The less connections the better. Sounds like anything is an improvement it's hard to make cable recommendations in earnest because there's so much snake oil and inflationary pricing. Buy what your comfortable with spending as an "upgrade".

Or drop 8.5k on a PW Orpheus

 

[Alkamei]

Omg I'm getting my Prestige LTDs by the end of the week, I can't wait ! ! !

 

[ext23]

Omg I'm getting my Prestige LTDs by the end of the week, I can't wait ! ! !

I feel like us LTD owners are in a little secret club that most people don't know about. Of course the fact that it costs more than the Monarchs probably has something to do with that. FWIW the difference for me in Japan when choosing between the Monarch Mk3 and the LTD was less than USD$100 so it quite honestly just came down to which I preferred more. But yeah I feel like the LTD doesn't get talked about enough. I wish you many months and years of blissful listening!

 

[zootx]

Finally got around to writing up my thoughts about the Prestige LTD. It's been my daily driver for the past 3 months. Great IEM!
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/thieaudio-prestige-ltd.27018/reviews

 

[gentzen]

Finally got around to writing up my thoughts about the Prestige LTD. It's been my daily driver for the past 3 months. Great IEM!
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/thieaudio-prestige-ltd.27018/reviews

That's a really good (and, I feel, fair) review. One slight divergence of opinions is bass, for some metal genres (e.g, metalcore, where I feel the Prestige's fast but articulated slam and impact, but without too much sub-bass rumble makes it more enjoyable to my ears and does not steel the limelight from melodic mids which are often a standard song section). But otherwise I couldn't agree more. Combining topnotch technicalities with musicality across the audible frequency spectrum would probably mean a 1k-1.5k top-up.