[xaddictionx]

Seems like Unqiue Melody is embarking on a new flagship! Any news on this?

 

[davidcotton]

A hilariously translated post from Bing, courtesy of cymbacavums facebook page
 
"[The Maverick/New Hybrid 5 Driver IEM from Unique Melody: first exhibited in Theta research product is going first, from new models of the Unique Melody... name is Maverick, hybrid type 5 drivers IEM is.
That will be suffered 'Merlin' and content and this is the only contents are completely different.
Is a Maverick, but not yet confirmed sound itself right in the middle of the tuning, but will be exhibited in the portable audio workshop.

I come in-situ opinions would be greatly appreciated. As first announcement for the show which will hold July 19th in Tokyo Nakano, Unique Melody will announce new product "Maverick". The Maverick is Hybrid 5 Driver IEM, but not same as "Merlin", The Maverick has different sounds, different driver and different crossover. On the other hand, the sound of the Maverick is still not fix, it is doing tuning at this time yet, so please let us know your impression for the Maverick at the show. Thank you... (Translated by Bing) "

 

[xaddictionx]

It is a 5 driver hybrid? From the picture, it says a 12 driver BA haha.

 

[djcarpentier]

Your talking about 2 different iems in this thread.

 

[Mimouille]

https://www.facebook.com/uniquemelody.vn
 
"As second announcement for the show, Unique Melody will announce new product "Maestro". The Maestro is 12 Driver IEM, and driver system is 4WAY/12Driver, the driver system is Low x 4, Mid x 4, High x 2, SuperHigh x 2, so the sound design is so different from THE SIRENS SERIES - Roxanne. The sound of the Maestro is also not fix yet, it is doing tuning at this time yet, so please let us know your impression for the Maestro at the show. Thank you."

 

[Mimouille]

Really weird move from Unique Melody to put out a 12 driver  CIEM just after the Mentor...which IMO was a partial failure soundwise.

 

[shotgunshane]

What did you not like about the Mentor? I haven't heard it.

 

[urtv]

After the pleasant surprise with the Audeze Fazor Tech, I went on to find out more about the Unique Melody 12-driver Maestro (and 5-driver Maverick). So it turns out that the Maestro is actually Kenichi-san's "design". By this he used UM's custom tuning tools (see previous Fujiya May Festival for more info) and got a sound signature with parameters that he liked and asked Unique Melody to build it - the result being the Maestro. The sound isn't final yet and I think Kenichi-san said he'll pop by the UM Lab next month to further fine tune the Maestro - so for now there's little need to talk about a product who's signature's going to change.



As for the ruckus in the Mentor thread, the Maestro is a Japan-only Universal release since Japan won't be offering the Mentors. So for the folks overseas, don't worry about the Mentors going obsolete as UM will continue to offer them internationally. However officially at least, the Maestro will be available in Japan only (I'm not going to comment on grey market exports).

http://www.head-fi.org/t/727389/tokyo-fujiya-summer-potaken-festival-19th-july-2014

according to Anakchan

 

[Mimouille]

What did you not like about the Mentor? I haven't heard it.

I just listened for a few minutes but the tonality was artificial / off to my ears. Bass and soundstage were very good though.

 

[SilverEars]

  https://www.facebook.com/uniquemelody.vn
 
"As second announcement for the show, Unique Melody will announce new product "Maestro". The Maestro is 12 Driver IEM, and driver system is 4WAY/12Driver, the driver system is Low x 4, Mid x 4, High x 2, SuperHigh x 2, so the sound design is so different from THE SIRENS SERIES - Roxanne. The sound of the Maestro is also not fix yet, it is doing tuning at this time yet, so please let us know your impression for the Maestro at the show. Thank you."

Oh goody, Superhigh x 2. Hope this thing is extend like a mutha.  I wonder if this why some are 4 way, to extend the treble a bit more. I like to see treble extended graphs.

 Not that we hear much of that treble.  I will be eating my popcorn waiting for how this monster turns out.  

 Waiting for the Maestro vs Roxanne vs K10 thread to pop up.

 

[tranhieu]

  Oh goody, Superhigh x 2. Hope this thing is extend like a mutha.  I wonder if this why some are 4 way, to extend the treble a bit more. I like to see treble extended graphs.

 Not that we hear much of that treble.  I will be eating my popcorn waiting for how this monster turns out.  

 Waiting for the Maestro vs Roxanne vs K10 thread to pop up.

From the demo's photo these are still 3 way acoustically. Not that it matters though, as long the tweeters/super-tweeters have their own transmission path.
 
I doubt there would be many people reviewing these in English. They are exclusively for the Japanese market anyway.

 

[djcarpentier]

This all begs the question, why is the mentor not available in Japan and why is the maestro only available in Japan?

 

[Toolman]

^ Marketing...and market positioning?

 

[menmen12]

Maybe they are testing it in japan first. 

 

[Mython]

This all begs the question, why is the mentor not available in Japan and why is the maestro only available in Japan?

 
 
Never underestimate the marketing power of making something 'rare' / 'hard-to-obtain' 

 
Loads of international CIEM-buyers will be desperate to purchase this Japan-only model, out of fear that they might be missing out on something good.
 
 
 
As for the older Mentor, I haven't heard it, but I intuitively felt that it was 'rushed-out' just so UM could offer something to compete with the K10 and Roxanne, 9 months or so ago.
 
I don't feel that UM currently have a clear sense of direction, in developing their new CIEM models, even though I respect them as a CIEM maker (I liked my Miracles).