[rebirthz]

got my merlins on tuesday. have been reading this forum obsessively for the last few months and have been thankful for all the knowledge that i have gained. Aron from stereo said i should do a first impressions post since my merlins were most likely one of the first few in the world so here goes. just to note my audiophile journey was very very short. after being enlightened that apple earbuds arh just MEH, i got a pair of audio tech cks70's and have been listening to them for around a year. after that went to audition various earphones such as the JH-16, UM2, UM3x, shures etc but found that those would be a step towards the end and not the end itself so decided what the heck just get a pair of customs and get it over and done with which resulted in the merlins.
 
source:itouch 4g with ALAC or 320 files
 
build quality: excellent build quality from UM as always only managed to find one bubble around 1/3mm in diameter on one of the IEMs.
 
lows: i expected the lows to have more presence as the merlins used a dd for those. however their presence was much more felt after i eq-ed it with the bass booster function on the touch. However i feel that this would improve over time due to the simple fact that the cks70 is just a insanely bassy earphone and going from those to merlins would definately make one feel that the bass is less impactful. even though i felt less impact, the lows in the merlins extended lower than those in the cks70. i could hear reverberations which werent there at first which was definately a nice surprise. lows were also very accurate and responsive, never feeling muddy even when things started pouring in.
 
mids: the mids are just great! i felt like the singer was finally brought forward as compared to last time when the lows overpowered. could hear much more details as previously i could only hear the singer breath, but now i could hear sounds just before the breath is taken. vocals sounded magical on the merlins, a significant step up from everything as i have heard previously. i say this as during some parts of old songs i have heard, i realised the presence of a background singer which i never knew was there!
 
highs: clear and not at all sibilant. took a long listen for around 3hours and the highs never felt fatiguing one bit. female singers such as yuna ito sounded great, letting me fully appreciate their voice as compared to what i have heard before.
 
overall. on the very very first listen, they did now wow me totally but i believe its because the complexity of the tracks did not allow the merlins to show their magic. after more listening i could hear details which were not present before, making me feel like i was re-learning the music. soundstage wise it is as though you are in front of the group playing perhaps in a small hall as i do not feel the airiness that people seem to associate with a large sound stage. basically this trumps everything else i have heard so far in the universal market, but i am in no position to compare it to other customs such as the jh16 as i only had a very short audition with them, however i auditioned the mage quite abit as i had initially planned to buy them and these definately are better in all departments. am very happy with my purchase and will not buy any new gear for some time to come. unfortunately i do not own a portable amp so i am unable to give feedback on how the merlins respond to amping. will write more after even more listening and after these have burned in, as coming from the cks70 it has taught me that DDs do burn in as the sound quality of those really changed as compared to the first day i bought them so i would expect that with the merlins too.
 
pardon me if i did not do a good job reviewing it as yea well its my first post and first review =)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[project86]

 
 
 
Beat Audio Cronus, in case anyone is interested in seeing that:

 
As you can see (or maybe you can't due to the low quality pics.....) they are typical UM: flawless build. The fit is good, I don't anticipate needing a refit done but we'll see. I've got all of 15 minutes on them from a Sansa Fuze but I can already tell they are very nice. Reminds me a lot of the Miracle. Bass is very clear and present, precise, accurate, "real" sounding. But surprisingly it isn't too big and it doesn't dominate the sound; they still seem fairly balanced.
 
Here's my FR chart:

 
 
Mine seems to have slightly less bass boost than the chart posted earlier, just by 1 or 2 dB, and also has less of a dip in the 500Hz through 1kHz range. Maybe that earlier chart was from a universal demo pair? Or maybe they just differ a tad based on the shape of the ears used for the mold. Either way, I'm looking forward to putting these through their paces. No immediate weakness stands out, so they are at least on the higher end the scae for customs, but it will take a while to determine just how high up they really are.
 
 
 
One last shot: The cable you see is the Beat Audio Supreme Rose, and the case is what the higher end Beat Audio Cronus cable shipped in. Very nice! The UM red leather storage case is nice too, but there are already pics of that around so I didn't take one.
 

 
 
PS I just realized that these were taken after pulling the Merlin straight out of my ears, so some of the shots show little imperfections as such: that's all from dust/fingerprints/smudges, not from the Merlins themselves.

 

[kingice10]

Wow! these iems are great. Cannot wait to hear the demo version.
 
Anyone compare them to other custom iems like JH13/16, ES5, T1, 1964-Q etc..?

 

[project86]

Wow! these iems are great. Cannot wait to hear the demo version.
 
Anyone compare them to other custom iems like JH13/16, ES5, T1, 1964-Q etc..?

l will compare them to the jh13, es3x, 1964T, and some others. It will take me a while to get there though.

 

[kingice10]

Thanks man, your the best! I'm considering to buy another pair of custom iem, then someone told me about this UM product...was considering also the ES5 as another but because of it's price and another BA iem, I might take a pass on them. This maybe better than some universal dynamic-driver iems, (FX700/MD/IE8/EX1000), I don't know yet, but the dynamic driver on the bass interests me because I like the bass and timbre from those iems more than BAs now.
 
Quote:

Quote:

Wow! these iems are great. Cannot wait to hear the demo version.
 
Anyone compare them to other custom iems like JH13/16, ES5, T1, 1964-Q etc..?

l will compare them to the jh13, es3x, 1964T, and some others. It will take me a while to get there though.

 

 

[Saintkeat]

hmmmmmm....... that first review from rebirthz doesn't sound at all promising. but then again, hes coming from universals.
 
Project86 its all on you now =D
 
btw the dynamic driver sits on the opposite end of the vent?

 

[UniqueMelodyAus]

To add another spanner to the works.

The Majority of the Merlin's floating around now are Prototype V1.2's and are not in their final configuration. If you already own a Merlin (there might be 2 of you) and a few demo's/protos flying around, you can have it retuned if it doesn't suit your liking.

All Merlin's being produced from here onwards will adopt the FR curve found as posted in the original post in this thread. The key difference being the area under the curve from 200Hz and below.

Notice Project86's reads about 112db@ 20hz. This in final revision will sit closer to 116-118db.

So please take the following reviews with a grain of salt.

Project86 - not sure whom you have arranged your demo through but no doubt they'll contact you to ensure you are listening to the final revision.

 

[dweaver]

OK I'll be watching this thread and hoping I win that pair up for grabs as I won't be able to afford to buy them

 

 

[Saintkeat]

ok... so now we're probably going to get conflicting reviews lol. those from the final revision will be experiencing that nice bass hump while those from the earlier version have less of a hump.
 
I think I'll cool my jets and check back here in a month lol.

 

[rebirthz]

erm please dont take my review as saying it isnt good. like i said the universals i used before this were the cks70 those are damn damn bassy hence their presence is definately greater than those in the merlins(the cks70 has a 13mm dynamic driver whereas the merlin uses an 8mm dd). overall basically i must unlearn being a bass head and this iem is quite literally letting relearn all my music
 

 

[Somnambulist]

I was also under the impression that dynamic drivers, unlike balanced armature ones, need some hours to burn in properly, and that the sound will change a little over time, for the better. The bass of your Merlins may change a bit still.
 

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Quote:

I was also under the impression that dynamic drivers, unlike balanced armature ones, need some hours to burn in properly, and that the sound will change a little over time, for the better. The bass of your Merlins may change a bit still.
 

 
Most IEMs that have dynamic drivers usually develop less bass but an overall smoother and better sound when burning in. Some get more bass, though. I would weight and see what happens, but if I had the version 1, I would definitely exchange it for v1.2.
 
 

 

[Somnambulist]

I'm sure Project86's review will take this into account, and his reviews are nice and thorough, so slight variance aside, we should have a good idea of how good the Merlin's are, especially compared with the Miracles.

 

[Saintkeat]

I'm only looking forward to project86's review at this point. He knows his stuff.

And I hope he gets his retuned to the final revision. Little point in a review based off the old specs when it isn't the final product.

I'll be happy to wait longer for a review that's up to date and comprehensive =)

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

I'm only looking forward to project86's review at this point. He knows his stuff.

While this is true I think you might be pleasantly surprised who will be offering reviews of the Merlin.