[Voyager14]

Thanks for reaching out. For me it's very much the nozzle and not at all the shell. The problem is very much that the nozzle (plus any tip I've tried) is too wide/thick to enable a comfortable DEEP insertion. I'm using foam tips mainly (as per your recommendation months ago on this site) as you can roll these tips into a small shape and then push them in deeply before they expand once deep within the ear canal. However, even these have a few issues... 1) even with a small size tip these are still too large (once expanded) and you can feel a build up of pressure after just 30 minutes; 2) The (foam) tips always seem to slide out after a while (from the 'deep' insertion position, to a more normal (shallower) insertion position) leading to the shell no longer touching much of my skin and therefore negating much of the benefit of the BCD, this then leads to me having to constantly try and push back in (which starts to hurt after a few times as consistently rubbing the ear canal or whatever); 3) I sometimes need to remove and re-insert the IEMs on a regular basis (when I need to stop listening to do something else and then come back to listen a while later) and I find that more I insert deeply the more I'm aggravating the areas/skin deep in the ear canal, to the point that I can feel a bruising/raw pain like my ears are bleeding (that don't actually bleed). I wonder if there are much softer foams that can help with this last point?? I'm using comply currently.

Whilst I appreciate that other IEMs might not need a deep insertion as they won't have BCD technology, I can't get away from how comfortable my final A8000s are. These do not need a deep insertion, I simply put a large comply foam tip on them and insert them with shallow insertion and they stay effortlessly in place for 10 hours with no discomfort whatsoever! Come to think of it, I'm sure the small size of the A8000 shell makes more contact with my skin than the universal MEST shell does due to it tucking in tighter in the ear!

I did try the Xelastic tips but I found that these keep coming off the IEM and getting stuck deep in my ear canal. I can't recommend anybody else do this given my experience (although I know others don't have the same problem).

I really appreciate your comments about the difficulties faced making the custom MEST and I do applaud the efforts that UM have made to bring something like that to the market. I think, ultimately, people like me buy the universal version as they want to try the MEST sound without the additional expense of going custom but don't realise that they are getting a truly inferior experience (my opinion but based on your comments of better sound quality and obvious comfort issues I've encountered).

I would seriously try to see if you could make a mod of some sort to allow the Xelastec to fit, maybe take some black tape and made the nozzle wider. Or even try to see if Xelastec sells more than one nozzle size.

All of these issues that you're having would literally be fixed with Xelastec. Seriously I can get my Voyager 14 so deep in my ear and it STAYS there for 20 hours if I wanted. My v14 universal get as deep as customs if I do the ear pull open mouth insertion.

I use medium size Xelastec, they are a MIRACLE. My Dekoni and comly also irritate my ears idk how it's even possible, after 2 hours it feels like a plastic is rubbing on my ear, but it's a soft foam? It makes zero sense. For me I own 35+ sets of tips, like Unique Melody said I stopped my entire tip search when I found Xelastec, they are absolutely mindblowingly comfortable and perfect.

They're so good I'd take a 20% hit on sound quality just not to deal with other tips ever again.

I've also learned from previous mistakes I've made in shopping that you should always always always buy the top of the line in everything you buy, I have regretted not buying TOTL every single time, I can't think of once where I was like "I should of bought the lower end model" sure now that doesn't mean buy Utopias, Bugatti or Oriollus Trailli iems, but I have learned my lesson in audio as well. Instead of working my way up from 20 bucks to 3000 for iems I should of just went with custom mest from the beginning, lot of lost money and time trying to save money and time, sometimes its better just to spend an extra dime and you'll get limes instead of lemons.

 

[rev92]

Just got the MEST yesterday....damn, to say im amazed would be an understatement.

 

[rev92]

Guys, I am here to collecting some information about the fitting issue. For those who has fitting issue @Leviathant @rantng, which part do you think caused that problem? Nozzles, shells or both?
To me, I had problem with lots of IEMs in fitting, including or Mason and Mentor, but I haven't had any issue with MEST. If the uncomfortableness is caused by the the nozzles, I also recommend Xelastic tips. I had them last September, and stopped my rolling there. They gave me perfect seal and fit.
If that is a shell problem, the only suggestion I can give is custom... As you all know, it is more expensive than universal. We normally charge the same price for universal and custom, but for MEST, it is a completely different story. We not only have to make custom shells, but also a custom inner construction. The BCD doesn't connect to the tubes like most BA and DD, so it is ultrasensitive to the placement and inner construction. Basically for any custom we will need to adjust all drivers placement to let the BCD fit in and deliver the same sound to pass the quality check, if it doesn't pass, we will redo everything from the very beginning. We had more than 20 yrs experience in making custom IEMs, MEST is the most difficult one, and it is significantly more difficult than others. For users, the custom very reveals the full potential of the BDC drivers, it is not only a tuning adjustment but a sound quality improvement. We charged more simply because it is better in quality, and cost more in crafting.

No issues with the fit for me, using Comply T400 size M as usual.

 

[1TrickPony]

Just got the MEST yesterday....damn, to say im amazed would be an understatement.

You and I hear alike, same with foamies.
MEST is a great complement to the YB04. I must say, this is one technical beast!

 

[rev92]

You and I hear alike, same with foamies.
MEST is a great complement to the YB04. I must say, this is one technical beast!

Indeed!

 

[goatkidbaahcity]

Through the miracle of amazing customer service and modern logistics.....Ordered on Monday morning from Jaben HK, received just now in Southern California, barely 2 days later.

Before you ask, no unfortunately I havent heard the INT version to compare....sorry

Edit: Initial Impressions

Alright I've put a few hours on these now with the xelastic tips.
HK edition case is really nice with the little cutouts. Mine came with the 3.5 cable and its kinda whatever, reminds me mostly of what 64 ships with their IEMs.....more functional than nice. I really like the all black look of the special edition, pops to black with silver in the light but otherwise very subtle looking which is my personal preference.

As far as fit goes, I've had no issues, very comfy and get a great seal without issues. My ears tend to work pretty well with most IEMs though. My solaris never bothered me, thiccc nozzle on the blessing 2 is no problem, so far I've only been defeated by the monstrosity that is the Z1R.

These are easy to drive, I have no issues pushing them with my iphone and dongle, but I'll do the impressions from my ifi BL.

For sound, the first thing that jumped out at me was the sense of space, separation and quality of the imaging. Im sure its already been well described by others in here, but these things can really startle you sometimes by throwing a sound out from a spot that seems like it shouldnt be possible.

Cymbals have this really pleasing, tactile feel to them that I dont think i've ever experienced before from an IEM. Drums are very satisfying, nice impact on the kick from the clean and well textured bass tuning, and the snare never really gets up on you too much, so it doesnt get fatiguing.

Speaking of bass, the texturing and resolution here is very very nice, although I was expecting a bit more in quantity. I believe the HK/JP version rolls off a bit from the extra vent, I think I may have preferred the INT tuning for the bass region. But going through my ifi BL, I can tick on the xbass switch and these become proper cannons if desired, while retaining the texturing and most of the separation (will need to test more).

Vocals, are a touch further back and thinner than I'd prefer, but its not as bad as something like the Z1R, and it creates that space that makes these so cool. Personal preference there, although I find sets with thinner vocals always cause me to continually turn the volume up.

Treble seems to be about perfect for me. I am sibilance sensitive and have no problems with these, however overly smoothed/darker sets always drive me nuts as my brain tries to focus on the missing frequencies too much, and these sit right in that perfect spot of non-fatiguing but resolving all the detail you could ever hope for. Well done.

So far color me impressed. These are very clean and textured throughout the frequency range, highly resolving, and the separation, soundstage and imaging that these manage to accomplish is quite the party trick.

Now who has a cable rec for me that'll match the set?

Oooh a Double edit:
Switched to sony silicon tips with narrow bores today, and its brought the bass and vocals up a little bit, much better. I think the xelastic wide bore + the slight bass decrease on the HK version was not a great match. Still no issues with fit, probably 3 hours yesterday and 2 today.

 

[mzura]

The vocals will definitely come closer during the "burn-in" process. At the beginning, the Mest midrange was dry and withdrawn, I didn't like it very much. The dynamics was also weak, anemic. During the following hours of listening, somewhere around 20, 30 hours, the medium tones filled up, warmed up and came closer. The dynamics jumped to a high level. You have to listen and wait.

I use a silver Lavricable (8 solid core wires) because the proprietary cable imho sharpens the treble badly. I also have Ibasso CB13 (a hybrid silver + copper), but the sound was too warm and "round" - with a slight loss of detail. That's why I would use silver cables. I also ordered a custom gold-plated silver cable, we'll see how it sounds.

 

[rev92]

The vocals will definitely come closer during the "burn-in" process. At the beginning, the Mest midrange was dry and withdrawn, I didn't like it very much. The dynamics was also weak, anemic. During the following hours of listening, somewhere around 20, 30 hours, the medium tones filled up, warmed up and came closer. The dynamics jumped to a high level. You have to listen and wait.

I use a silver Lavricable (8 solid core wires) because the proprietary cable imho sharpens the treble badly. I also have Ibasso CB13 (a hybrid silver + copper), but the sound was too warm and "round" - with a slight loss of detail. That's why I would use silver cables. I also ordered a custom gold-plated silver cable, we'll see how it sounds.

Couldnt agree more, while burning the Mest in i noticed that the vocals are coming more and more forward and their timbre changes to a more full and moist sounding.

 

[Sabre2]

The vocals will definitely come closer during the "burn-in" process. At the beginning, the Mest midrange was dry and withdrawn, I didn't like it very much. The dynamics was also weak, anemic. During the following hours of listening, somewhere around 20, 30 hours, the medium tones filled up, warmed up and came closer. The dynamics jumped to a high level. You have to listen and wait.

Could share if you are using the INT MEST or HK MEST? Thanks

 

[pedalhead]

Hi all. By page 54 of this thread I was losing the will to live, so I've skipped to the end to ask whether there's a UK or EU dealer for these yet? Cheers!

 

[rev92]

Hi all. By page 54 of this thread I was losing the will to live, so I've skipped to the end to ask whether there's a UK or EU dealer for these yet? Cheers!

As far as I know there's a possibility for EU dealer soon, so it might be good to wait a little.

 

[Leviathant]

Hi all. By page 54 of this thread I was losing the will to live, so I've skipped to the end to ask whether there's a UK or EU dealer for these yet? Cheers!

No, but I think most of us just bought from MusicTeck in US. They ship to UK quickly and inexpensively. They have great customer service and would be able to answer any questions you have. I’m in the UK and it was a doddle

 

[RTodd]

No, but I think most of us just bought from MusicTeck in US. They ship to UK quickly and inexpensively. They have great customer service and would be able to answer any questions you have. I’m in the UK and it was a doddle

Plus Andrew works constantly it seems, does not matter what time or day it is on the US East Coast he always seems to reply in a couple hours or less. All advice he has given me has been good. Local would be better so you could demo stuff but other than that I second the recommendation to buy from MusicTeck.

 

[psklrdk]

Plus Andrew works constantly it seems, does not matter what time or day it is on the US East Coast he always seems to reply in a couple hours or less. All advice he has given me has been good. Local would be better so you could demo stuff but other than that I second the recommendation to buy from MusicTeck.

I am in Europe and was shocked how fast Musicteck is. They delivered it as fast as Amazon Prime! Hands down to Andrew. Reply time mostly in minutes. Highly recommended.

 

[pedalhead]

Thanks chaps, that definitely puts my mind at ease for a purchase this big. Customs bill must hurt though.