Xenns Top vs UM Mest mk2
Apr 4, 2023 at 4:23 AM Post #4 of 12
h1a8 said:
Can someone compare the technical performance between the two?
Details, soundstage size, imaging, and long term comfort?
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I did only have a few days with Top and a few minutes with Mest MKII but the few minutes impressed me more than the few days with Top.
I didn't find Top to be special when it comes to technical performance, stage seemed kind of small and I would have expected more at that price tag.
Shozy Magma which I demoed before was ways more impressive technically and also cheaper. The tonality was also much more pleasing. Top to me was fatiguing at around 5kHz.
Overall it's a good IEM but I would not recommend it for technical Performance.
You could also look into Letshouer EJ07m which comes close to MEST MKII technically, for much less money :)
 
Apr 4, 2023 at 9:13 AM Post #5 of 12
I had the Top for a brief period as well. It's great overall with very good separation. Its sound stage depends a lot on a track's bass presence: sounds wide when there's a lot and not very otherwise. Its shell is pretty small, probably same size as many 4ba sets with nozzles at 6.1mm, which is more likely a problem for some.

I was also interested in the Shozy Magma as well, but was disappointed when I couldn't find a single user generated graph on the whole internet.
 
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Apr 4, 2023 at 1:34 PM Post #6 of 12
The Top is by all means is a good, or even great IEM. Definitely fun, but comparatively to the MEST MK2, it doesn't wow you as much as the MEST. Obviously a big price difference between the two as well, even for a used MEST. The mest has a special kind of sound because of the crazy soundstage and imaging you get. I bought the Top, and if I had known how it sounded beforehand, I would have saved up for the MEST instead, as my clear and more balanced set.


I was also interested in the Shozy Magma after rinderkappajoe mentioned it, but having little to go by other than his recommendation, I opted for the "safer" pick, which turned out to maybe be the less ideal option.
 
Apr 4, 2023 at 4:47 PM Post #7 of 12
Yes its always quite hard to trust in someone else's opinion as we all hear differently.
The lack of graphs also does not help.
I only had Magma as a loaner for a week and found it to be pretty much on par with EJ07m and when I saw it was on sale for 360€ a few weeks ago I was even tempted to buy it because it was such a bargain but I just don't need it next to Kinda Lava.
Shozy is a underdog company but they deserve way more recognition.
I just recently talked to an owner of a hifi store with numerous kilobuck IEMs in stock and he also rated Magma one of the best up to 1000€ which is quite impressive.

If I could mix and match I would add Top's subbass rumble to Magma because that was the only nitpick I had with it
 
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Apr 10, 2023 at 8:55 AM Post #10 of 12
rinderkappajoe said:
Yes its always quite hard to trust in someone else's opinion as we all hear differently.
The lack of graphs also does not help.
I only had Magma as a loaner for a week and found it to be pretty much on par with EJ07m and when I saw it was on sale for 360€ a few weeks ago I was even tempted to buy it because it was such a bargain but I just don't need it next to Kinda Lava.
Shozy is a underdog company but they deserve way more recognition.
I just recently talked to an owner of a hifi store with numerous kilobuck IEMs in stock and he also rated Magma one of the best up to 1000€ which is quite impressive.

If I could mix and match I would add Top's subbass rumble to Magma because that was the only nitpick I had with it
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So would you say the Magma is on par with the kinda lava? Can you quickly compare the two technical performances?
 
Apr 10, 2023 at 11:51 AM Post #11 of 12
h1a8 said:
So would you say the Magma is on par with the kinda lava? Can you quickly compare the two technical performances?
Click to expand...
I am having a hard time comparing technicalities and adequately explaining what exactly is different, and out of memory it is even harder, but stage might be a little bigger on KL with better separation and imaging but not much. When I heard Magma first I was really impressed and did not miss any of KL technicalities.
But when I got my Kinda Lava back from the exchange I was a little more impressed.
If I had to put it in numbers I would say Magma is 90% of KL and KL is 85-90% of MEST MKII technically.
@n00kie can also share his findings as he is the person I exchanged my KL for Magma :p
 
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