That’s a difficult call to make. If you want a taste of the Clairvoyance tuning, the Mele is a great choice at only $50.
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I already got the Mele’s and I really do love those sets. If it’s similar to the Clair’s, would it be a good idea to get the XENN UP? The Teas and the Mele’s are my go-to ATM.
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Yes, as long as you want what Up does. It is unique.
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Right on!! Mahalo. And Aloha!! 
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Do you want an all rounder or something that does something special? Resolution is being polite, and I understand, but think a bit first. Its a lot of money
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I’m trying to guide and not dictate. Just answer the question and don’t do too much hand holding.
Clair/Oracle/Mele/Tea/B2/Oxygen
Up/Variations/Monarch
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I actually do want an all a rounder. From the reviews, it sounds if the UP is fun with good bass, but I don’t want it to bleed into the mids. Not sure if the UP bleeds into the mids.
This is a tough to pick and expensive hobby. Lol.
Back to square one: the Up or the Clairvoyance. Decisions. Decisions.
Then you don’t want the Up. The Up pushes vocals back, brings up the surrounding band and is so warmly tuned it feels like you’re swimming in warm goo. But because of the beryllium DD, transients cut through the warmth. Treble is extremely relaxed and smooooth.
It’s very enjoyable and fun but not what I would ever call a desert island set that works with most everything.
If you want my favorite picks for all rounders, the list would go a lil somthin like this, hit it!
MEST MKII > Clair/Oracle > Tea > Oxygen > Blessing 2 > Mele
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Then you don’t want the Up. X2
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Thanks to the both of you. Very helpful information. Now, between the Clairvoyance and Oracle. Heard the Oracle is quite analytical. And according to Chris, in of of his videos, he claims the Clairvoyance has a bit of everything. Would you folks agree?
I wouldn’t call the Oracle particularly analytical. EST drives tend to do a bit too much smoothing for me to classify it like that. But it is very well tuned.
@Resolution had them both (Clair and Oracle) before I yoinked his Oracle.
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Again, if you have Mele, IMO you won’t be gaining much if anything going to the Clair. It’s shell is huge, it’s very uncomfortable and Mele has arguably better timbre and coherency than the Clair. You can’t deny the FR graph… For being a hybrid, I personally have never found Clair to be very resolving. The Clairvoyance is a masterfully tuned IEM and it appears whoever tuned Mele liked the Clair enough to rip it off big time! 
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this is a useless post, you are advised, but I just wanted to share how I feel with my MEST after changing the tips to Azla SednaFit light.
jeez man, it’s unbelievable, cannot put them out of my ears… pure bliss, really. THANK you Chris for letting me discover these jems 
just to be sure I was not dreaming, I have rolled through my other IEMs and… well, couldn’t wait to get again the MEST in my ears… only drawback of these IEMs is that now I have no interest in other IEMs 
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Same. I even got depressed for a while thinking that any IEM I buy from here on out would just be throwing money away. I have to purposely put them away and come back to them from time to time to be reminded of their greatness. The overall hobby is more important to my happiness. Hands down though, if I could only have one IEM it would be the MEST MKII.
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Congrats to finding your endgame. Might have to hold out and hold the horses. Perhaps, look into the MEST myself. Cheers!!
Actually, their no endgame in this hobby. Always bigger and better fish to fry.
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If we go by the charts the Oracle has less bass then the Mele/Clair does… unfortunately my Mele still is shipping somewhere with a delay so how it effects the overall sound I will have to wait to hear.
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Now that sounds like a plan! In the meantime, enjoy Mele and just picture a Clair stuck in your ears to get you through. It’ll be less painful, that’s for sure.
Yep, you’ll find them to be pretty similar though still because both the bass and treble are reduced in general so it’s really just the contrast vs the mids that is decreased. The Teas are the same thing to the Monarch = less contrast.
Personally, I found Oracle to be slightly more resolving than my Clair, but I’ve heard other owners say the opposite. I have always wondered if my Clair if faulty.
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I tend to find terms like resolving and analytical to be quite variable depending on what someone understands the term to mean. I went with I seem to understand the term to generally be going for which is a much sharper sound then the Oracle does… but personally all I care about is if I can pick out ever part of the music if I listen for it and in that respect the Oracle does great.
Easy… resolving = MEST MKII
I’ll add that resolution won’t mean anything if you’re not listening to highly resolving recordings from highly resolving sources. This is what HIFI should be about.
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Still not getting that one, I want more time to play around with all sorts of tunings and driver config before I get an IEM that might kill the fun of exploration.
Thou shall not tempt me.
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