Finally...got my Merlin today!
Pics:
FR curve. (It takes forever to get this one on focus...guess I'll have to replace my sub $100 camera someday)
The vent. I can pretty much see the BA drivers and wires inside.
The dynamic driver.
The crossover circuit. Looks like capacitor bandpass filter design.
Since I've just had been listening to these for merely 6 hours, guess I could only give some general ideas...ehh, *initial impressions* in other words. So here it goes.
My setup: iPod touch 4G 320k mp3/apple lossless/256k m4a files ->TWag LOD -> pico slim -> TWag'd Merlin
Build Quality -- As many people have said here, excellent is the word to describe it. My only concern is the vent, as you can see in the pics, what long term effects could there be when the wires are always exposed to outside air? Only time will tell...anyway UM's got me covered with the 2year warranty.
Isolation -- Originally I planned the test this in probably the most noisy environment you can find -- the last few rows of a DC-9 jet. If you have ever been sitting (unluckily) there, you know what I'm talking about.Since the shipping is delayed, I ended up with a last minute seat change. And today, I took a short ride in NYC subway. The average isolation of the Merlin seems to be nearly as good as my ES3, definitely better than tf10s. I could barely hear the train coming, nor could I hear anyone talking. I used the word 'average' because there is one exception, that is, when there's wind blowing, you ARE going to hear that. For example, when the train comes, I couldn't hear its wheels colliding the track, which is the main source of the noise, but I could hear the wind when it passes me.
Soundstage -- I was expecting a lot of bass emphasis when I first listen to the Merlin. But the first and most obvious WOW factor I hear was the expanded soundstage. This is pretty obvious with normal tracks. And what's more, I happen to have the STAX dummy head recording album (
wiki), which I've tried it with every headphones I've owned (I wish I could find it on u2b or something...unfortunately no). The track is basically you, as the dummy head, sitting in the middle of a room, and the other 2 guys walking around the room while telling you where they are. Merlin is the best performing iem I've heard on this so far. The room feels larger, and when the guys tell you they are two meters in front of you, the sound comes from exactly the same place. Most headphones could handle left and right side pretty well, but the Merlin is one of the few which could present front and back pretty accurately.
Lows: This is totally just feelings here because I do believe the dynamic driver would need some burn-in time to reach its optimum performance. Right now the bass is heavy hitting -- thunderous in fact. But in some tracks the drums are overwhelming and can mask the sub mids a little. The extension is exceptional for most of the time, however the decay and speed is not as good, sometimes it gives me a 'muddy' feeling in the sound. This shouldn't be a problem, as most dynamic headphones I've heard had the same problem at first and had improved over time. In addition, the dynamic feeling is great. I can certainly feel the air 'moving' in my ears, and this is by far the most impressive part on the low end.
Mids -- This is the part where the Merlin is just doing its job. I found nothing surprising here by now. The details are very nice, I could not only hear the singers singing, but also how they sing -- every breath is audible as long as it's present in the recording. But I do find the vocals from my dated ES3 more rich and lively, especially when sometimes the heavy bass from Merlin masked some vocal. Well this probably just means the two have different sounds and I'm just biased to the familiar one.
Highs -- This is where the UM sound signature comes in. When I was reading reviews, I was wondering what exactly this 'sound signature' everyone talked about was. Just some minutes into listening some guitar and piano solos I understood it all. It's very detailed, yet a little laid back, not distracting at all. I don't want to retype what people have said here, yet I think you have to hear it by yourself to totally get how it sounds.
Back in April when I was looking for a new pair of iems, i wanted something that is 'different'. On this prospective, the Merlin reaches all my expectations. It's not as neutral as some reference iems, such as my ES3, but it gives me a lot of fun to listen to.
Alright, this is the first 'review' stuff from a lurker natured person here. Hope this could do some help.
