So I've been listening to the Mele as much as I can and decided to A/B them with other DD IEMs in a similar ballpark and one other IEM with a DD and a BA. So I listened to the Mele, the Blon 03, the iBasso it00, the Moondrop Starfield and the hybrid DD, 1 x BA, Shozy Form 1.1. They are all IEM's that I really like. One thing that stands out is the Shozy Form does not have the timbre of the rest, but on orchestral classical music the Soundstage, Imaging, separation and spaciousness and sometimes note weight is way better on the Shozy than all others (Sibelius Violin Concerto, Philarmonia Orchestra, Violin Adrian Justus). The Mele has a firmer mid-bass than the Blon 03 and the timbre is really good on both. Tonally I prefer the Mele, it is certainly a well improved Blon 03. The iBasso has a good bass hit, but it's overall sound is comparatively darker, and duller compared to the Mele. Although the Mele cannot be called bright it has a more musical tone that the it00. There are some similarities to the Starfield. The highs on the Starfield though are a little more extended, but the bass on the Mele is much more realistic and the timbre of the Mele more true to life. The Starfield does not handle complex pieces well. The Mele is not the most detailed but it's musicality, timbre and tone give it, to me, the edge over the others. What all of have not got, compared even to the Shozy Form 1.1 is soundstage, spaciousness and air. The most airy of the DD group is the Mele, but to really get some holographic staging, hybrids of many kinds will be much more likely to expand the stage. So it becomes beautiful timbre and tone vs spaciousness, air and staging. If spacious, separation and air are what you want you will have to look elsewhere. For my general library the Mele is excellent, very musical, lovely tone, and a pleasure to listen to.
