[jwbrent]

Mk1 CIEM vs Mk2 Universal,

As somewhat who thinks about our environment, I really like the box the MKII comes in, just big enough to fit everything nicely. On the other side of this, I have boxes whose size were completely wasteful, my qdc VX-S comes to mind being way bigger than necessary. Just my two cents ...

 

[antdroid]

my first impressions is it has warmer, and slightly punchier sound than the MK1 univ/ciem. Seems like it does appeal to more rock genres and male vocals. The upper mids are tad thin, though I'll need to listen a little more since I was also using a new source stack (topping a30 pro/d30 pro) which I also got in today. I'm going to listen to it more on my typical Lotoo DAP for IEMs.

My initial off and on 1 hr reaction is... these are nicely balanced for the most part and is another flavor that should be well-liked.

EST - From Gargarin's Point of View record -- sounds pretty nice. Definitely has a warmer tone to it and more focus switched to the bass guitar.
Alison Krauss & Union Station music -- slightly thin vocals from Krauss (its already thin, though, but does sound a little thinner). Nice instrument separation. Warmer sound.
Phoenix - Too Young - really like this IEM with this song. It's a indie/pop rock song from 2001 with a bit of an 80s retro vibe to it. It sound fun, rich and full but doesnt sacrifice on details and air.

 

[antdroid]

My measurements are shown. There's some slight channel mismatch in treble, but its not horrible since treble isnt very accurate on my rig anyway.


Here's the averages of L/R of MK2 (Pink) MK1 (black) and MK1-CIEM (purple)



My graph is pretty much in-line with UM's measurements posted except the treble. If you take the channel that had lower treble peak then it's pretty much aligned with UM's graphs, but the average of the two makes them a little off, if that makes sense.

So essentially, UM's graphs and mine are pretty well aligned. No funny business

 

[Ojisan]

My measurements are shown. There's some slight channel mismatch in treble, but its not horrible since treble isnt very accurate on my rig anyway.


Here's the averages of L/R of MK2 (Pink) MK1 (black) and MK1-CIEM (purple)



My graph is pretty much in-line with UM's measurements posted except the treble. If you take the channel that had lower treble peak then it's pretty much aligned with UM's graphs, but the average of the two makes them a little off, if that makes sense.

So essentially, UM's graphs and mine are pretty well aligned. No funny business

This looks great! Thanks for your efforts and sharing!

Your graph does show more difference in upper bass to 1kHz range which I would correlate to warmer sound. This wasn't clear from UM's plot. With all else being equal (which unfortunately is not...), I would expect this to add some note weight and warmth. But it has to be done tastefully not to make it honky. Sounds like UM made a winner tuning!

 

[IEMusic]

My measurements are shown. There's some slight channel mismatch in treble, but its not horrible since treble isnt very accurate on my rig anyway.


Here's the averages of L/R of MK2 (Pink) MK1 (black) and MK1-CIEM (purple)



My graph is pretty much in-line with UM's measurements posted except the treble. If you take the channel that had lower treble peak then it's pretty much aligned with UM's graphs, but the average of the two makes them a little off, if that makes sense.

So essentially, UM's graphs and mine are pretty well aligned. No funny business

Thank you! The graph comparison is very informative, and seems to match a lot of listening impressions thus far.

 

[HiFiHawaii808]

my first impressions is it has warmer, and slightly punchier sound than the MK1 univ/ciem. Seems like it does appeal to more rock genres and male vocals. The upper mids are tad thin, though I'll need to listen a little more since I was also using a new source stack (topping a30 pro/d30 pro) which I also got in today. I'm going to listen to it more on my typical Lotoo DAP for IEMs.

My initial off and on 1 hr reaction is... these are nicely balanced for the most part and is another flavor that should be well-liked.

EST - From Gargarin's Point of View record -- sounds pretty nice. Definitely has a warmer tone to it and more focus switched to the bass guitar.
Alison Krauss & Union Station music -- slightly thin vocals from Krauss (its already thin, though, but does sound a little thinner). Nice instrument separation. Warmer sound.
Phoenix - Too Young - really like this IEM with this song. It's a indie/pop rock song from 2001 with a bit of an 80s retro vibe to it. It sound fun, rich and full but doesnt sacrifice on details and air.

Awesome. When do you expect to do your full review?

 

[holsen]

No listening impressions yet. Been in meetings all morning!

Look forward to your sound impressions (after burn-in) but appreciate this visual tour in the mean time. They appear to be even smaller (narrower, less deep) than the 3DT. That looks promising for fit. I just sprung for the new IMR Elysium but looks like I need one of these to compliment the other's planar.

 

[Beebz85]

Has anyone reviewed the Custom Unique Melody MEST MKii?

 

[Inearwilly]

Can't wait to try the mest mkii!

 

[jwbrent]

I heard back from Andrew about the PWA cable included with the MKII, and he said it will sell for $560.

 

[drspeter]

I heard back from Andrew about the PWA cable included with the MKII, and he said it will sell for $560.

I would rather buy just IEM with no accessories at all at 800$. Now I am poor enough to hesitate buying 1.4k IEM but happen to have some idle cables and tips

 

[eclein]

I’ve been trying a bunch of tips and all on my OG Mest purchased from the buy/sell forum here on head-fi. I keep coming back to Azla Xelastics for seal and isolation everything else tip-wise to me don’t get the job done like Xelastic. These are the most expensive IEMs I’ve ever owned, even buying them second hand, but not one thought of price has entered my mind about spending so much. These have such a wonderful sound, and that special something that brings a smile to my face while listening- I’m guessing the BCD is the source of that something special. I’ll never sell these in fact I heard from the gent who sold me his pair that he repurchased the same again because of sellers remorse.
I could easily live with these forever but I know audiophiles and manufacturers will start bringing a parade of new IEMs with Bone Conduction drivers to market and that will be an amazing time for all of us. I personally can’t wait to hear what kind of new sound signatures are on the horizon!!!

 

[Dynamo5561]

Got mine today. I'm a headphone guy and wanted to see what the IEM world has to offer. I must say I am a little bit disappointed. They are definitely decent, but they did not blow me away or anything near to it. The highs are definitely fine, but the rest is "ok". I found the soundstage pretty narrow. And some things are sounding off, I am analyzing it at the moment (e.g. the snares in "the road" by Lydia Ainsworth, the background noises sound veiled in "Liberty" by Anette askvik (24 sec) and little Energy on "Your Song" from Rita Ora). I don't believe in burn-in, but can recheck after some hours. The seal works pretty good on these! Works from my smartphone as good as on a desktop amp.

 

[Billyak]

Got mine today. I'm a headphone guy and wanted to see what the IEM world has to offer. I must say I am a little bit disappointed. They are definitely decent, but they did not blow me away or anything near to it. The highs are definitely fine, but the rest is "ok". I found the soundstage pretty narrow. And some things are sounding off, I am analyzing it at the moment (e.g. the snares in "the road" by Lydia Ainsworth, the background noises sound veiled in "Liberty" by Anette askvik (24 sec) and little Energy on "Your Song" from Rita Ora). I don't believe in burn-in, but can recheck after some hours. The seal works pretty good on these! Works from my smartphone as good as on a desktop amp.

What headphones do you normally use?

 

[soundblast75]

To get a noteworthy experience with iem is a tricky business, i bet all my over 20 years of such experience that you haven't heard them right, mostly, play with tips more, then listen to the iems longer than you do with headphones, rather then get your earpholes used to big cans and then shove these things and expect miracles just coz you spent more than most of your cans cost.
Eventually, you'll get acoustically atuned and it'll hit you how much better they actually are to prob everything you owe, let's say minus one, if you bought the right headphones(valid question above)