[KaworuIIDX]

I have to say, my OOB impressions of these were pretty negative, great tuning of the bass and mids but really compressed soundstage (no height, width OR depth) and dynamics, barely better than mh755 and about on par with VK4 (with worse dynamics), and definitely no BL03.

Luckily they take to modding even better than the Blons, so for anyone who's worried they got stuck with a lemon and has the tinker gene, (self) help is at hand

Problem: the screw*** damper, as usual. It's like a brick wall with some holes drilled in it - take off the Mele's and you'll find about 12db+ of extra mids and a big chunk of treble waiting for you, way more than any one could possibly want, but it's clean and uncongested, clear, expansive etc, and whatever's going on with the DDs built in acoustic chambers is definitely working - my drivers seem perfectly matched, imaging is great (separation not so much, but it's a minor point).

Getting back to the original tuning (or a more mid centric one for people who prefer that without crippling the technicalities again). Take 2 of these low density tuning cotton cylinders (or 1 - 1.5 if you want boosted upper mids) here
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPFyjrH and insert them into each nozzle, being careful to keep them correctly oriented, then find your narrowest bore tips (Sony style worked for me) and enjoy the results. The cylinders will stay in place through friction.

Now they're a Blon upgrade!

PS build quality and fit are fantastic, if they hadn't been I would have just chucked them in a drawer with all the other dead memes and moved on.

PPS it's worth picking up all 3 types of the tuning cotton, I used white low density, the black low density ones are new, I can't tell if they're any different but you may get even better results using those. The theory behind using foam over fabric is that it minimises reflections back into the shell.

OMG you are absolutely right, it really does free the congestion and helps clearing the mid and upper ranges, idk why the congestion is not talked about as it is the first flaw I noticed, maybe it's an intentional tuning?

Anyway your mod 10/10 would rip that dust filter again

 

[GodEmperor]

I have to say, my OOB impressions of these were pretty negative, great tuning of the bass and mids but really compressed soundstage (no height, width OR depth) and dynamics, barely better than mh755 and about on par with VK4 (with worse dynamics), and definitely no BL03.

Luckily they take to modding even better than the Blons, so for anyone who's worried they got stuck with a lemon and has the tinker gene, (self) help is at hand

Problem: the screw*** damper, as usual. It's like a brick wall with some holes drilled in it - take off the Mele's and you'll find about 12db+ of extra mids and a big chunk of treble waiting for you, way more than any one could possibly want, but it's clean and uncongested, clear, expansive etc, and whatever's going on with the DDs built in acoustic chambers is definitely working - my drivers seem perfectly matched, imaging is great (separation not so much, but it's a minor point).

Getting back to the original tuning (or a more mid centric one for people who prefer that without crippling the technicalities again). Take 2 of these low density tuning cotton cylinders (or 1 - 1.5 if you want boosted upper mids) here
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPFyjrH and insert them into each nozzle, being careful to keep them correctly oriented, then find your narrowest bore tips (Sony style worked for me) and enjoy the results. The cylinders will stay in place through friction.

Now they're a Blon upgrade!

PS build quality and fit are fantastic, if they hadn't been I would have just chucked them in a drawer with all the other dead memes and moved on.

PPS it's worth picking up all 3 types of the tuning cotton, I used white low density, the black low density ones are new, I can't tell if they're any different but you may get even better results using those. The theory behind using foam over fabric is that it minimises reflections back into the shell.

how do you remove the damper?

 

[illumidata]

OMG you are absolutely right, it really does free the congestion and helps clearing the mid and upper ranges, idk why the congestion is not talked about as it is the first flaw I noticed, maybe it's an intentional tuning?

Anyway your mod 10/10 would rip that dust filter again

Glad it's working out for you, but I can't take any credit for the concept, folks have complained about stuffy tunings on other sets and it was often the dampers causing it (Bl03 & ISN H40 were the ones I picked up on), seems as though if they get past a certain thickness it starts having a negative effect (e.g. Oxygens use the same tuning system but sound fine because it's such a light filter).

Also I ended up using a bit more damping to get it as close to the original bass vision as possible, have edited the post.

how do you remove the damper?

Just take a safety pin and very gently slide it under the edge of the damper, lift the edge and slide the pin further round the edge and lever the damper up - you can use a fingertip to hold it against the pin. You'll be able to lift it off very easily, then store it on baking parchment to preserve the glue if you want to go back to stock later.

 

[eridenti]

Just take a safety pin and very gently slide it under the edge of the damper, lift the edge and slide the pin further round the edge and lever the damper up - you can use a fingertip to hold it against the pin. You'll be able to lift it off very easily, then store it on baking parchment to preserve the glue if you want to go back to stock later.

Is it like the mesh mod for the BL03? Did you have to replace the filter?

 

[illumidata]

Is it like the mesh mod for the BL03? Did you have to replace the filter?

Kind of, the Meles don't come with a dust guard (like Oxygens), so it's just the tuning damper that needs removing, and I just replaced that with a high density tuning cotton cylinder from Ali (link below). If you used the alcohol swab method to retune them then you'd need to add a dust guard.

Luckily they take to modding even better than the Blons, so for anyone who's worried they got stuck with a lemon and has the tinker gene, (self) help is at hand

Problem: the effing damper, as usual. It's like a brick wall with some holes drilled in it - take off the Mele's and you'll find about 12db+ of extra mids and a big chunk of treble waiting for you, way more than any one could possibly want, but it's clean and uncongested, clear, expansive etc, and whatever's going on with the DDs built in acoustic chambers is definitely working - my drivers seem perfectly matched, imaging is great (separation not so much, but it's a minor point).

Getting back to the original tuning (or a more mid centric one for people who prefer that) without crippling the technicalities again. EDIT (I needed more bass): Take 1 of these high density tuning cotton cylinders (or 1 - 1.5 - 2 low density filters if you want boosted upper mids) here
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mPFyjrH and insert them into each nozzle, being careful to keep them correctly oriented, then find your narrowest bore tips (Sony style worked for me) and enjoy the results. The cylinders will stay in place through friction.

Now they're a Blon upgrade!

PS build quality and fit are fantastic, if they hadn't been I would have just chucked them in a drawer with all the other dead memes and moved on.

PPS it's worth picking up all 3 types of the tuning cotton, I used white low density, the black low density ones are new, I can't tell if they're any different but you may get even better results using those. The theory behind using foam over fabric is that it minimises reflections back into the shell.

 

[TWidXugA]

So I got my Mele this week, after a month's worth of wait... and I love it all, from build quality to sound, especially the tuning.

Sound-wise it feels like a polished, mature sounding earphone that I can use for every genre, even classical, because timbre and tuning are spot on. Not the most technical in the price range, but it more than makes up for that with good timbre, naturalness, coherency and exquisitely polished tuning, that I am not used to see at $50. My sets around this price range (and I have too many) usually come with trade-offs in naturalness, weird peaks, bloatiness or thinness. There is nothing of that in the Mele. And then they are extremely comfortable and good-looking. Hell, even the stock cable is ok! These will be my top rec for budget friendly earphones from now on, and I think I will enjoy them thoroughly for a long time.

 

[jsmiller58]

I will just add my $0.02 regarding the Mele. Easy to drive, great build quality, comfortable fit, and most importantly while not possessing a reference tuning it has very pleasant tuning / timbre. Definitely elevated bass, but not overly so in most songs, though occasionally I think, wow, the bass is a bit bloated. Warm mids. Good treble without sibilance.

Out of curiosity I will spend some time comparing the Mele with some of my IEMs up to $300. But off the top of my head I can say I will be happy to use these as one of my daily drivers. As to all the noise around are these “better” than $200 or even $300 sets, I do think it is a kind of silly conversation. It is a very good set. What it is better than is relative to an individual’s taste in sound signature, an individual’s hearing health, and the music library.

In the end I think it is pretty amazing what $50 will buy.

 

[raymanh]

I'm stuck. Aria's or Mele? I'm a casual listener, not an audiophile. I will just be using my phone's 3.5mm output.

 

[nayt94]

I'm stuck. Aria's or Mele? I'm a casual listener, not an audiophile. I will just be using my phone's 3.5mm output.

I suppose you can't go wrong with either of these. Didn't heard the Aria, but accordingly to the FR graph it has a bit more extended treble.

Also it uses LCP diaphragm driver unit, and if it at least partially similar to the one used in LZ A7 it should also have more textured bass.

But I guees it's silly to expect night and day difference between them. Especially in ordinary usage with mobile phone. I believe the best advice you can get here - is to choose one that looks better to you and not torture yourself with the afterthoughts.

 

[jsmiller58]

I'm stuck. Aria's or Mele? I'm a casual listener, not an audiophile. I will just be using my phone's 3.5mm output.

Looking at this set of curves they are going to be pretty similar from a tuning perspective - Mele more sub-bass, both trading off in the treble. I agree with @nayt94 - pick either one and don’t worry too much….

 

[coaldust]

I'm stuck. Aria's or Mele? I'm a casual listener, not an audiophile. I will just be using my phone's 3.5mm output.

You might want to choose the one with lowest ohms and highest sensitivity if your just using a phone to drive them, The aria's are very good all-rounders, so if you listen to many different genres of music they are a solid choice.

 

[unifutomaki]

I'm stuck. Aria's or Mele? I'm a casual listener, not an audiophile. I will just be using my phone's 3.5mm output.

I love my Arias and they sound fantastic out of my $8 Apple dongle. Sweet timbre, textured bass, solid note weight, very easy to listen to and just fall into the music with.

 

[harry501501]

Just read this on a DROP comment, "Absolutely the iem under the $100 mark. And dare I say compare to many sets in the $300 to $400 range. Keep in mind the MELE were not designed as a $50 iem. They were designed as a $160-$200 set. There was some miscommunication on the part of Linsoul and Chris when the project was under way. So to keep the $50 price point the packaging was downgraded and a lower quality cable was included and less accessories were included".

looooooool.

 

[SoundJedi]

Received my Mele today. Beautiful build quality.

It benefits from a silver or silver plated cable IMO.

Too early for detailed sound impressions but overall tuning is very mature. They don't seem to do anything wrong.

 

[coaldust]

Any comments on this?

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mKQwqyK

They look familiar