Alrighty, after a few months off from the forums and hobby of audio as a whole, of course, my boys in my tour group come through with the reinforcements. A very special thanks to @MMag05 @Sonofholhorse @VIVIDICI_111 @rattlingblanketwoman @cal_lando @JAnonymous5150 and of course, the dad of this thread, @GooberBM. He asked me to share my thoughts on here as I go through the tour box so I said I would happily oblige. I’ve only been able to listen to less than half of the sets for not a very long time but I’d like to just share what I have so far. I’ll copy and paste my thoughts from the other day when the listening sesh was still fresh in mind;
For your consideration, I’m using my desktop gear, the Topping D10s, and Topping L30 playing out of Tidal Hi-Res. I typically use the mid-gain setting on the L30 (+/- 0 dB); most sets have plenty of headroom.
This is my playlist If anyone is interested;
Summary
•Goon - fruiting body
•Mega Mango - OMG!
•Chastity Belt - different now
•Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile
•Courtney Barnett - small poppies
•Courtney Barnett - Avant Gardener
•Big Thief - Simulation Swarm
•No Vacation - Days
•Men I Trust - Tailwhip
•Men I Trust - Sugar
•High noon - not the one
•Paramore - Decode
•Paramore - figure 8
•Just Mustard - In Shade
•Ludwig Goransson - Can You Hear The Music
•Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song
•Pearl Jam - Alive
•Everything yes - My Turn
•Varsity - alone in my principals
•Varsity - cowboy killer
Daft punk - infinity repeating
Daft punk - horizon
Daft punk - give life back to music
Daft punk - voyager
First up was the Butastur.I was pretty excited and very interested in hearing this IEM, probably more so than any of the others in the box so I really really wanted to give this IEM as fair of a shake as possible, so I spent about an hour with it. I did not bother changing the switch configuration because, quite frankly, I personally cannot stand fiddling with switches. I may do it on a different day when I have more time but my little guy just woke up and I’m on daddy duty today (This was sunday morning). The Butastur is a fine IEM. They are obviously tuned very well. The first thing I’m looking for is timbre, I found that timbre is probably the most important thing to me when it comes to IEMs, or at least, the thing that stands out to me the most when it is incorrect. The Butastur has great natural timbre - Full stop. Regardless of the config, the timbre is great so because it’s an all BA set, I’m impressed. You’ll notice that my playlist is fairly specific, these are not the best mastered tracks out there, besides maybe daft punk towards the bottom there. I chose these songs because they’re some of my favorites and I can remember each of these songs provoking some kind of emotional reaction out of me at some point. After these sets pass the timbre test, they have the pass the feeeeels test. I’m not going to sit here and try to dissect the FR and individual elements of each IEM, Goober and Nymz are far better at that so I’ll just say this; While the Butastur is a fantastic IEM, very natural, near flawless tuning, great Timbre - It didn’t make me feel anything. Never got chills or goosebumps with this pair so unfortunately, regarding this morning at least, they are not for me. Something is missing in the lower-mid treble for me, and not to mention the Sub-bass roll-off is just too much for me. It lacks the clean rumble I’ve grown so accustomed to in sets like the Monarch MKII and my Modded OH10. It may just come down to the lack of DD being inside these things but, the sub-bass was not up to my standard. There are few songs I listen to that have that substantial sub-bass but when it is there, I’d like for it to hit. If I had to grade based on my initial impressions -
Objectively (Not really, but just not letting my bias get in the way) = B+/A-
Subjectively (With all the Bias) = B-/MAYBE a C+ (as the boys have pointed out, this might be a little harsh but I haven’t put a second thought to it.
Next up is the Glamdring by Sir Michael Bruce and it did NOT take long for me to understand what’s good with these things. Immediately I felt that I would take these over the Butastur. 100%. These are incredibly fun, have awesome bass, great treble energy, and detail, and while these are not blowing my mind in terms of staging, yes, these have above-average stage performance. I only listened to a few songs with these because I knew they were great and it did not take me long to realize that so I moved on, I’ll listen to them more during the coming week for sure.
“Objectively” (Refer to the definition above lol) - B
Subjectively - B+
Next up, well, I couldn’t resist. The Monarch MKIII. I have them in my ears as we speak and I really do enjoy these immensely. I know I’m only 3 IEMs in but I can tell these are my favorites so far. Thie really kicked up the Mid-bass on these compared to the Mon 2. They must have taken the criticisms personally lol. There’s an immediate upgrade in terms of midbass energy, texture, and overall presence on these compared to the 2s and while it’s as fun as can be for me, I still think for the special sauce of the mid-range, I’ll take the MK 2 OVERALL. However, I think that one could own both and not be plagued with guilt. They are different sets and they play music very differently.
“Objectively” - A-/A
Subjectively - A
From today (10.16.23) I decided to take the Hype 2s for a spin. Anytime Thie releases a new IEM, I’m there and they have my full attention. I had about 45 minutes with them and while I could not get an A/B in there with the Monarch MKII, I think I can immediately hear the very similar tuning between them. There are a few notable differences between them, 1 being the mid-bass energy seems to be increased on the Hype 2. The H2 has a distinctive thickness to the note weight that is rather enjoyable, I don’t think anyone will find these thin in any sense. The mid-bass has plenty of texture as well, it isn’t just this boomy or overly rounded presence, it is a meaty and well-done lower region, well done Thie. Moving on to the rest of the FR, I’ll say that the Monarchs are still at the top of the mountain when it comes to vocal performance for my tastes, but that doesn’t mean the H2 is bad in any way, as a matter of fact, for someone who wants a thicker male and female vocal presentation with a great treble performance to back it up, these are a winner. These really do sound like a properly good all-around set, with fantastic bass performance and surprisingly above-average stage and layering performance. Each instrument is clearly defined and at no point have I felt claustrophobic while listening to them. I suppose where they fall short comes down to the treble for me personally. While it’s smooth and does not really lack anything, I’d like maybe a little more sparkle and a slight splash to liven things up a bit. But that’s just me personally. These are a great set and may appeal to more people over the Monarch 2s just due to that bass performance. It is more enjoyable than the Monarchs. Absolutely.
“Objective” Rating - B/B+
Subjective Rating - B+
I can’t wait to spend more time with the Monarch 3s and the rest of the tour box. These are just some quick impressions and I fully am motivated to do complete write-ups on most of the big boy sets I have here with accompanying pics as well.
Have a good day, boys and thanks for reading 