I find that heās generally pretty good about distinguishing between āthis unit doesnāt sound very goodā vs āthis unit isnāt to my tasteā. This reviewer had a similar take, which matches my own impressions too. The Timeless is both really impressive for its price, and not my cup of tea. I feel similarly about my Moondrop Starfield, which is a really solid performer for its price and doesnāt really do much wrong, but I never find myself reaching for it.
Exactly. The Mele succeeds because it is really, really amazing with some stuff like Rock, but without being so wonky that I canāt use it for other things too. Items like the Timeless and Starfield fail for me because theyāre not really amazing at anything. Yes, they are great all-rounders, but as such they just turn into nothing but tools for transmitting sound. If Iām just interested in hearing stuff rather than having a special experience, Iāve got Aftershokz Aeropex, my factory car stereo or for that matter the various Google Nest Minis scattered about the house which are all perfectly capable of conveying sound.
For whatever reason, while I find that I enjoy neutral speakers, I donāt love completely neutral earphones and headphones. While neutral speakers have the ability to produce great timbre, dynamics and soundstage all at once, neutral headphones tend to get the timbre right but then lack either dynamics or soundstage. Itās almost like with headphones, you need to make compromises with the tonality to selectively excel at some of these things, but you canāt have it all, so you have to choose what matters most to you.
EDIT - I should clarify that I donāt really consider the Timeless or the Starfield to be textbook āneutralā because they have relatively elevated bass, but especially in the midrange, both of them have a style of tuning that I think is aimed at sounding decent with everything, something which they achieve but at the cost of not really sounding great with anything (in my opinion).
Yes, I owned a pair, and sold it shortly after buying the Moondrop Aria. That was my primary for a few months, but the Mele really pushed it from 70% to 15% of my listening time in short order. I am guessing that Timeless might be doing some time splitting with the Mele, and pushing the Aria into the drawer completely.
I admittedly like that elevated bass sound ( within reason ), but hate when it is simulated by pulling back the mids ( which is how most cheap headphones did it for years ). Bass response is where most of the discrepancy of preference really is for headphones, so it shouldnāt be surprising when reviewers also vary the most on it too.
Strange to admit here, but with all the moves since 2018 ( I have lived in FL, NE, and CA ) the only speakers I have owned since, are a pair of original ( pre Logitech ) UE Wonder Boom speakers that we used for our pool and patio, at the house we sold ( I miss that place ). I have been an apartment dweller since ( We moved for access to better / acceptable / not shitty doctors for my wife, long story ).
anyone know offhand what bluetooth adapters fit (angle iām guessing is all that matters) best on the mele? obviously sound is important but if the fit is janky iād rather not waste time with it.
the KZ one fits my MELEās(and feels good on the ears) but if its not as secure as i would like it, i have to check that the pins are fully inserted every time iām going to use them
My mele has some background noise like electric leaks when plugged in my computer. When I touch my computer it gone and appears again if I donāt touch it anymore. Would changing the cable help or any other solution?
Iāve always found computer motherboard sound to be too noisy for sensitive IEMās, youāll have to use an external dac/amp to get rid of the electrical noise imo.
Use a usb dac. If you have any dongle you should be fine. Apple dongle is amazing and costs 8 bucks. Same goes for the Phone, unless you have an amazing phone like lg V series.
I have background hiss on my ifi zen DAC but none through my Qudelix. Using upgraded SPC cable, SE. I also get weird static noises on 2 of my 3 USB C dongles. Havenāt figured out the cause of these issuesā¦
I really hate these. Iād like to protect my hearing and the Mele make me turn the volume up far too high with the right music (e.g. Amyl and the Sniffers āComfort To Meā). So much bassy funā¦
I wasnāt shocked by that at all. I canāt count the number of times I have recommended them to people.
I am still waiting on my blue pair, but when it arrives ( I think tomorrow ), it will be the only IEM I have purchased two pairs of. Also I have this totally dope looking cable for it.
