LMAOOO BRO 
this dude just said this - I absolutely love it
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DUDE, YOUāRE DRUNK. GO HOME!!! Omg, youāre out of control
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All right Iāll see myself out. Thanks for laughs. Have a great night gents.
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Goodnight, brother! Enjoy the music
I love everything about this exchange
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David vs. Goliath. and the audiophile journey I would like to call, The Event Horizon
Look. When I began this comparison, I opened up my notes app on my phone and began piecing apart each set, you know, typical audiophile stuff. Sub Bass this, upper mids that, treble extension this ā¦.
My test playlist is roughly 1.5 hours long, it ranges from indie rock, to electronic, to classic rock, to jazz and I made it through the entire playlist with the Serratus. I wanted to get to know them, I wanted to see if I could A/B my beloved Monarch MKII to them. A $1000, End-game worthy beast that I spent many months and hours with.
My test tracks if you care to know:
Summary
daft punk - Voyager
John Coltrane - Blue Train
Mahavishnu Orchestra - You Know, You Know
Lunar Vacation - Daytime
Maggie Rodgers - Together
Japanese Breakfast - Slide Tackle
Parcels - Tieduprightnow
daft punk - Give Life Back to Music
Chris Jones - Long After Youāre Gone (obligatory)
Steven Wilson - Drive Home
Adele - One and Only
Crumb - Vinta
Yellow Days - A Little While
Whiplash soundtrack - Caravan
Courtney Barnett - Kimās Caravan
Paramore - Decode
Led Zeppelin - The Wanton Song
Led Zeppelin - Fool in the Rain
During my note taking, about 40 minutes in with the Serratus in my ears I felt this urge to just, put my phone down and listen. The last few weeks have been a trip and Iāve been indulging on so many different IEMs thanks to so many of you beautiful people, you know who you are, and I noticed something tonight.
I am focusing too much on the gear. I am losing a rat race of driver types, frequency response targets, and technical terms. I am losing the magic that pulled me into the hobby in the first place. Music.
Simply put, both of these are amazing, and thatās really the end of it. Floating through the ether, being transported by emotions and just allowing the music to guide me, I can come to the conclusion that I enjoy both the Monarch and the Serratus equally for their own strengths and I have no urge to purchase the Serratus at this point of my life but I will just go ahead and say it - The Serratus is better than the Monarch MKII for me personally.
While not by miles or even a kilometer, more like 5% to 10% - It is better at separation, layering, resolution, stage width, height, depth, tone balancing, vocal texture, mid bass texture & resolution, cymbal extension ā¦ I can continue on but the fact is, the Serratus is effortless in its approach, more so than the monarchās effortless approach, respectively. But this isnāt why the Serratus is superior. It is superior because I found my self absolutely lost in the music for multiple tracks in ways I canāt explain. Unable to skip. Quite literally, frozen in awe by the pure emotions I felt listening to the same songs Iāve heard so many times before. The FatFreq MM have has had the same effect on me earlier today and this got me thinkingā¦ I could purchase both the Serratus and the Maestro Mini brand new, and still have $300 left over rather than dropping the Kilobuck on the Monarch and really not be missing much of anything. Does this make me regret buying the Monarch? Make me sad in some way? Nah. Not a chance. The Monarch is special to me in a different way. I still love them and enjoy them to pieces. But now that Iāve had a taste of something different, unfortunately I look at them differently.
You can sleep now, sweet princeā¦
I will say the only elements I prefer the Monarch for is overall, Iād say, engagement(?) in the bass department. Due to the natural way IEMs sit in our ears, the seal allows for the bass to come across slightly more physically. The Sub Bass has more rumble that I can perceive, as well as the mid bass. More physicality, but less texture and detail overall. But thatās ā¦ aboutā¦. It. Everything else goes to the Serratus. Full stop. Congratulations, Jim. Youāve created a wonderful piece of art that supersedes the typical audiophile notion of spending more, get more, in a very commanding way.
The Serratus has broken the market and myself, In the best way possible.
Thanks for reading, gents - Iāll go cry my self to sleep nowā¦
Loveā¦
Itās kinda like, you knowā¦
When you see a fog in the morning, when you wake up
Before the sun comes out
Itās just for a little while, and then it burns awayā¦
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Nope, this epic response doesnāt get to stay here. You have to come home
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Nothing but love, brother 
thank you for your compliment and the time you took to read my word vomit 
Yup, seems about right. Emotionality, and pure musical transcendence is what the Serratus is. Once you go Serratus you can never go back. Excellent write-up 
, but, I was surprised that it has better tech than the MMK2. What sources are you using?
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Well am I weird then? (Rhetorical question. Yes I am)
But am I weird because I hard Serratus, was hella impressed, but pretty instantly knew āI have to hear Tantalus/Ripplesā only to be advised āskip
Tantalusā so I got Ripples? Lol
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Good morning everyone! The good news is the Pandas made it out of my ears. Starting the day with SA6U and a giant glass of water. Apologies to everyone if I went a bit overboard last night on my post.
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Itās all love, brother!
Iām glad to point you to a set that could bring such joy 
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Iām blaming all those Long Islands on the Panda. Simply because it whispered so gently in my ear all night. Sheāll be locked up today though because I need to get things done around the house. But Iāll hear subtle whimpers to come out all day. The Meteor and SA6U will guide my journey through today.
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You got that right, Jay. Itās so easy to get lost in hype and dollars spent, at the end of the day, itās all about enjoyment. Before, I was reluctant to admit I enjoyed something so much cheaper, it made me feel buyers remorse and I just thought that If i delayed the admission to this simple fact, it would somehow justify my purchase. This just isnāt the case. It felt okay to admit this to my self last night and now, I can say I am at peace.
To my ears, details do come across more clearly with an effortlessness that is unmatched on the Serratus. My source game is severely lacking but I plan on correcting that this year, I ran both of them off of the BTR7 at high gain, with the āBoost Balanceā setting turned on. I understand that this little dongle/DAC isnāt the best source, but if the Serratus was clearly an improvement over the Monarch with the BTR7, I can only imagine how they sing with a proper Desktop stack.
Thank you for reading, brother!
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It was genuinely a beautiful experience, seeing you enjoy something so much to the point where it was above everything else, man. I enjoyed seeing the play-by-play last night, the Long Islands just enhanced the experience!
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All these words are making me so hyped to get my serratus. Since Iām doing a custom cable I gotta wait a few more weeks still 
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They are, without a shadow of a doubt, worth the wait. I know youāll enjoy them thoroughly as I have. Luckily, with @GooberBM getting the Ripples shortly, Iāll have a TGX bud close by if I ever get the itch (thanks Brandon 
) after Iāve sent these beauties back to @rattlingblanketwoman 
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Iām happy for ya! You are now FREE from the rabbit holeā¦ kinda And yup, highly agree, many high price sets have been a pass from me (even though theyāre objectively very good). Itās what fulfills that empty audiophile hole inside that matters LOL.
I was maxing out volume wise on my M2ā¦ so I guess itās time for a source upgrade for me! At high volume I can literally feel the driver rumble my ears - like at a point the bass shakes so much the buds slowly starts to fall out hahaha. An ethereal experience 
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This is exactly the feeling I have at the moment - Brandon put it perfectly. Itās a moment of Zen for me
The Maestros Mini have put this all into perspective for me if Iām honest. They are far from a Kilobuck set, half the price when bought brand new, compared to the Monarchs. Iāve always known that a higher price doesnāt get you necessarily higher performance all the time but what I failed to realize or put too much thought into is also, higher price doesnāt get you more enjoyment and thatās more important to me now.
So with the BTR7, at high gain with balanced boost mode on, I was hovering around 50% volume with the Serratus, and about 35% volume for the monarchs so there is plenty of room for both sets. With things like the OH10, Iām under 25% for normal listening volumes at low gain, without the balanced boost setting on. I really love this little thing - I just wish the phone app worked.
What to hear something ironic?
I bought the BTR7 for the sole purpose of wanting to be prepared for the inevitable - owning the Serratus. Iāve heard them. Iāve been smitten by them. But I donāt see my self ever buying them this hobby sure is funny.
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