[RTodd]

I've found eBay pretty safe. That's because there is a buyer guarantee. If a seller advertises a 30-day return policy, I've found it works every time. I've even had 2 products that a bulk seller got wrong in his ad mostly likely since he bought out a hifi store that went out of business and didn't know what he had. I had lots of leverage where I could have gotten my money back, but opted to negotiate a better deal both times. I find eBay to be a good marketplace if you know what you are buying. If you don't know what you are buying, you can easily get the wrong product.

The business I work with sells millions a year on eBay and buys an equal amount. eBay is around 14% of our sales and our purchases each year. I have seen it all, the stories I could tell. Anyway if it is too good to be true it usually is, so just approach with caution. We experience on average about a 30% non conformity rate on products coming in from eBay. What happened to you would classify as non conformity, same for us many times we can work it out, that cost extra labor though.

We are not buying consumer products.

Hard not to caution based on what I have lived.

 

[Newobbowen]

Yes, the W60's peak at 8k is unnoticeably by me. For my sensitivities:

5.75 - 7k is bad, with 6k being the worst.
7.5 - 8.6k is great.
8.8k is bad.
9k is ok.

/facepalm

The W60 tuning is darker, but only slightly IMO... but that little bit of darkness eventually got on my nerves especially compared to sets like the Anole VX and I think the Andromeda.

I demoed a pre-2020 Andromeda and I thought it was good... but I had also demoed a UM Mentor V3 beforehand and I enjoyed the Mentor V3 much more - I still can't get it out of my mind. Unfortunately I can't get over the Mentor V3's big shells and proprietary cable. Plus no one seems to have a good FR graph of it.

The M7 sounded crisp but lacked the body that I was looking for.

---

I'm curious if you could do some quick listens of these two songs on the MEST II:

Blonde Maze, Half an Orange - Places I'll Go: On the MEST MKII is it fatiguing and sibilant? The bells ringing in the beginning can be too sharp and vocals can be too sibilant on bright sets - "places", "except", "thoughts", etc.

San Holo - Still Looking (CESQEAUX Remix) - right at the beginning of the song at 0:02 there are like these xylophone knocks. On the UM Mentor V3 they make my brain kind of hallucinate while I don't get any such thing on the Andromeda or Anole VX, haha.

I have both OG Andromeda and MEST MKII. If you are ok with the treble on pre-2020 Andromeda, I think you should be ok with MEST MkII. At least to my ear MEST MKII is not particularly more fatiguing or sibilant than pre-2020 Andromeda.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

Hmmm... on the MEST Mk 2 I noticed that the cable sockets are 0.78mm two-pin types, but it's completely flush with the body. There is no channel for a sleeve or a raised bit for a sleeved cable to go over, unlike the original MEST.

This means that all mechanical stresses are placed on just those two metal pins. There is no supporting structure.

I sleep with my IEMs. In fact, it's one of the things that helps put me to sleep.

I have a feeling that I'm surely going to bend the metal pins if I roll my head on the IEM and place weight on the straight part of the cable.

Anyone sleep in these and had a problem?

 

[ian91]

Hmmm... on the MEST Mk 2 I noticed that the cable sockets are 0.78mm two-pin types, but it's completely flush with the body. There is no channel for a sleeve or a raised bit for a sleeved cable to go over, unlike the original MEST.

This means that all mechanical stresses are placed on just those two metal pins. There is no supporting structure.

I sleep with my IEMs. In fact, it's one of the things that helps put me to sleep.

I have a feeling that I'm surely going to bend the metal pins if I roll my head on the IEM and place weight on the straight part of the cable.

Anyone sleep in these and had a problem?

I don't sleep with mine personally, but having played with the stability of the connection point I wouldn't want to risk it. A sufficient force applied medially, (e.g. A finger bridging across the point while sleeping with the weight of the head atop) could bend the 2pin connection.

 

[ImMcLovin]

Hmmm... on the MEST Mk 2 I noticed that the cable sockets are 0.78mm two-pin types, but it's completely flush with the body. There is no channel for a sleeve or a raised bit for a sleeved cable to go over, unlike the original MEST.

This means that all mechanical stresses are placed on just those two metal pins. There is no supporting structure.

I sleep with my IEMs. In fact, it's one of the things that helps put me to sleep.

I have a feeling that I'm surely going to bend the metal pins if I roll my head on the IEM and place weight on the straight part of the cable.

Anyone sleep in these and had a problem?

I don't sleep with mine personally, but having played with the stability of the connection point I wouldn't want to risk it. A sufficient force applied medially, (e.g. A finger bridging across the point while sleeping with the weight of the head atop) could bend the 2pin connection.

I agree with this. Also Mk2 for me sticks out of my ears a bit because of its longer nozzle so I imagine that could cause some issues while sleeping

 

[ian91]

Just felt I needed to reinforce the need to experiment with tips. I've finally landed on Symbio F, the isolation is incredible and the bass and mids are well accentuated. Paired with the C9 I am in audio bliss. Looking back, Xelastecs really made the sound signature thin and timbre slightly unnatural, but accentuated the staging capability.

Don't settle until you've rolled plenty and found something that suits your tastes!

 

[soundblast75]

Just been listening to Mest2 vs Oracle for like 10 min, but in Massive Attack Man next door, has so much sub bass in the beginning and you really hear the BC working in Mest, such rumble Oracle can't match

 

[Scubadevils]

Just felt I needed to reinforce the need to experiment with tips. I've finally landed on Symbio F, the isolation is incredible and the bass and mids are well accentuated. Paired with the C9 I am in audio bliss. Looking back, Xelastecs really made the sound signature thin and timbre slightly unnatural, but accentuated the staging capability.

Don't settle until you've rolled plenty and found something that suits your tastes!

I've stuck with Xelastec for the last few weeks, seems like I need to try others again as definitely lacking the bass I'd like and I do find the sound at times frustratingly unnatural. I'll order the Symbio F next!

 

[ian91]

I've stuck with Xelastec for the last few weeks, seems like I need to try others again as definitely lacking the bass I'd like and I do find the sound at times frustratingly unnatural. I'll order the Symbio F next!

I hope they suit your ears / preferences - let us know how you get on! They've given body to the lower frequencies without loss of the treble detail which improves tonality to a great degree. Imaging capability is retained. There is some loss of stage depth, for which Symbio W are my go to for a happy medium, but F are nicely indulgent. See how you get on and keep on experimenting .

 

[FooFighter]

The business I work with sells millions a year on eBay and buys an equal amount. eBay is around 14% of our sales and our purchases each year. I have seen it all, the stories I could tell. Anyway if it is too good to be true it usually is, so just approach with caution. We experience on average about a 30% non conformity rate on products coming in from eBay. What happened to you would classify as non conformity, same for us many times we can work it out, that cost extra labor though.

We are not buying consumer products.

Hard not to caution based on what I have lived.

Non conformity reminds me of the known case of fake Xelentos being sold which you could hardly recognize from outer appearance but luckily through some different serial number style

 

[Silverlinings]

It just goes to show how everyone’s ears are different..I’ve tried 2 different foams with my mk2 and I felt they significantly affected the airiness and treble to the point I immediately took them off. I felt it muted the treble too much.

 

[Scblacksunshine]

It just goes to show how everyone’s ears are different..I’ve tried 2 different foams with my mk2 and I felt they significantly affected the airiness and treble to the point I immediately took them off. I felt it muted the treble too much.

Yup, listening is so subjective. I tried couple of tips on my MEST MkII, going from stock silicon, Spinfit and Symbio W, Comply foam then Xelastec. Out of all those foam was the worst, cut our that airyness of the MEST. Symbio W was kind of uncomfortable and just not as sharp sounding as Xelastec. Overall Xelastec is the winner for me.

 

[ian91]

It just goes to show how everyone’s ears are different..I’ve tried 2 different foams with my mk2 and I felt they significantly affected the airiness and treble to the point I immediately took them off. I felt it muted the treble too much.

I did find Comply foams absolutely obliterated treble, shrunk stage and made bass boomy but i'm loving the symbio F. Not appreciating too much loss of air and only slight loss of stage as previously mentioned. This is an acceptable trade off for me as it also improves bass quality and brings mids forward slightly.

The symbio foam can compact down to an incredible degree and the plastic/silicone bore has alot height to it. All this seems to ensure the bore is unobstructed to my ear canal and seal is perfect. YMMV.


One thing is for sure, theres a tip out there for nearly all preferences and the mest will shape its sound to it.

 

[Scblacksunshine]

Gotta say loving my MEST mkii that I just got recently. Just saw the IE 900 released, wonder if anyone can do a comparison between the two?

 

[wind016]

Z1R vs Mest MK2 (and with some MK1 and Monarch)
Source - Anedio D1 desktop DAC/amp (also tested with ifi Micro Black Label)
OK, my impressions about the Sonys are a bit strong so I met with another kind Head-fier in my area and we did some listening together with his mk1 as well. We have some differences in opinion which I'll mention, but it's not my place to say what he thought. However, I'll caution some of my impressions in that some people might disagree.

Treble
Z1R - Z1R treble is loud. Depending on how treble sensitive you are, I think some might characterize it as "extended," but I am a bit more on the treble sensitive side and to me it's loud. I found the treble unresolving and sibilant when compared to the Mest Mk2. It's like a blur of harsh treble that doesn't separate out the tones very well. Different cymbals played at the same time get mushed into a loud treble sound. I tried to tone down the treble with EQ which helped it a bit but it's still unresolving in that there's still no coherent separation. There is also sibilance. It took me awhile to find it and it's around 3-4k. The other Head-fier also found the Sonys treble to be harsher than the mk2, but he also found it to be more detailed than the mk2, so YMMV.

Monarchs - The Monarchs treble is also a bit loud for me. I had to tone down the upper-mids to treble region with EQ about 2 db.

Mk1 - The mk1 has sharper treble than the mk2 which makes it sound more expansive. However, when the mk1 and mk2 are EQ'd to my preferences, they sound almost identical.

The mk2 has toned down treble compared to the Monarchs and Z1R, but its more resolving and not sibilant. It's very airy and effortless. Cymbals and high tones are well separated.

Mids
Z1R - Mids are sunk and unresolving compared to the Mest mk2. The upper mids of the Mest mk2 is almost perfect for me in terms of volume. The Z1R mids just sound wrong. The sound signature is V shaped. Very commercial sound signature to me. The mids are not only sunk, but also blurred. Imaging/separation between tracks is inferior to the mk2. The bass also bleeds into the mids.

Monarchs - The Monarch's upper mids to me were too loud. The Monarchs upper mids are more forward than the mk2 which to me is great for the first 10 minutes or so, but after an hour, I find it unbearable. The mk2 is much better to me in this aspect.

Mk1 - The mk1 has a bit sunk mids, similar to what you hear from a Sennheiser HD800 from what I remember. Again, once I EQ'd the mk1, it sounds almost identical to the mk2.

Mk2 has very natural, accurate, and coherent midrange presentation while also being very resolving. Extremely good track separation in guitars and vocals.

Bass
Z1R - The bass is strongest attribute, but it is like you listened to a rock band live and it is the bass guitar that overwhelms the rest of the band. On the mk2, you still hear the bass guitar, but it's behind the guitars. To me, that's how a band actually sounds as I was in a rock band in college. I don't think it is accurate to have the bass guitar as the star of the show when they are normally in the back as rhythm. The subbass has great rumble and detail. However, it is not too different than if I bumped up the mk2's subbass with EQ about 3 DB.

Monarchs - The subbass is less detailed than the rest, but it had pretty great impact which made music fun to listen to. I don't remember the Monarchs enough to know if the impact is similar to the Z1Rs are not.

Mk1 - Has more emphasized subbass than the Mk2. I found mk2 and mk1 can sound very similar here with EQ as well.

Mk2 - Has great texture in the bass. Has a bit less impact than I would like. EQ remedies it somewhat with around a 3db boost.

Soundstage
Soundstage of the mk2 and z1r is pretty much identical. Both would be superior to the Monarch in this regard. Mk1 has wider soundstage, but the treble gets fatiguing. When you EQ the mk1's treble down, the soundstage is then similar to mk2. Maybe still a bit wider? I don't know. It would be nitpicking.

Imaging/Separation
In imaging/separation, the mk2 is superior to the z1r. The Z1r imaging is very good, but I'm not sure if anything could beat the mk2 here. I probably won't believe it's possible to beat the mk2 in imaging unless I personally hear something that does. The mk2 is just so resolving and tracks are so well separated without having a bass deficient tonality like an HD800. I don't know where the Monarch would stand in terms of imaging vs the Sony, but the mk2 is a bit better.

To me the Z1R is excellent for Hans Zimmer tracks. Basically music that is expansive and bassy. For everything else, pop, rock, acoustic, vocals, I prefer the mk2.

As for the mk1, I almost felt it was just a tuning difference, but I didn't get a long-term listen.

Conclusion - I really like the mk2 and I couldn't live with the tuning of the Z1R. The other Head-fier was nice enough to do a trade with me so I should have the pleasure of hearing the 64Audio U12t soon.