🔶 Tripowin X BGGAR Mele

[pwjazz]

Okay, I just listened to some GoGo Penguin, which is basically jazz electronica fusion. They’ve got chest collapsing sub-bass and airy ethereal piano. On Mele, this sounds perfectly nice and all the information is there, the piano is natural and clear and the upright bass is punchy and full, but Mele is missing a bit of the extension on either end that lets this kind of music totally shine. So yeah, for primarily electronic libraries Mele maybe isn’t the be all and end all.

The upside here is that it’s not fatiguing the way that a live GoGo Penguin show can be, or the playback on something sub-bass focused like the QKZ VK4.

[AudiophileResistance]

FYI it was tuned with spinfit cp100

[pwjazz]

Okay, I tried those as well as some ePro horn shaped tips. The problem is that with these tips, my oval rear canals can get either deep insertion or good deal, but not both. With shallow insertion, the treblr gets a little tizzy. The CP100 tips do give more sub-bass, but as often happens with those tips or sounds rubbery to me.

So far I’m happy with the Xelastecs.

[hawaiibadboy]

@Erokh and @pwjazz

Epic reviews. @Erokh that isbetter than many “Reviewers” would ever be able to do.
Even though you surmised you would not buy again you described it how I tuned and intended it to be.
Was not going for safe aside from dropping treb energy enough to be long listen friendly but maintain authentic vocal and cymbals.
Thank you both for taking the time to explain.
@pwjazz S.R.V "Couldn’t Stand the weather was a part of the tuning library.

[Zack_Mason]

@Kalnet Can you test how does LALISA and MONEY sound with Mele?
Thanks in advance

[darkgod5]

@nymz

diminishing returns are alive and kicking

Bingo. Aside from classical and metal (and some prog stuff), honestly the only thing you’re missing going from something like a $300 IEM to a $2,500 IEM is going to be texture.

And then, of course, if you’re only listening to songs recorded before the 90’s you’re probably gaining absolutely nothing going past a $300 IEM and that’s where even a $50 IEM will be the best bang for your buck.

Oh man, speaking of older songs, I had the pleasure of bringing along my fancy IEMs and headphones and amps to a family member with a nice vinyl player and let me tell you. For those older songs like Led Zeppelin? Vinyl is absolutely better. From my research they did something fucky when mastering to digital that crushed the dynamics (which also happens to crush some texture). Like, I was expecting the digital versions to hold their own but when A/B’ing the results were jarring. If I were mostly into older stuff I would invest my money into vinyl.

[Kalnet]

Sure! I’ll give it a listen and will probably post my 2nd impressions tomorrow night!

[Erokh]

You’re welcome
I think with the time and effort you put in your reviews and in the Mele’s tuning, you deserve a bit of my time and effort too.

Testing with timestamps is a pain in the butt, as it takes so long to do, especially when I compared it back to back with the Aria (it took me 2 evenings to test and an evening to write things down in an organised way). But it was fun too: picking details in the track that are specific to it and that enlight some of the iem features is rewarding and will be of good use for future sets.

And by the way, I tested Mele with cp100 with Aria equipped with cp145.

I tried tip rolling too with the few tips I have. The xelastec I have were way too big for my ears (and stick way to much for my taste) because I bought the wrong size.
The 145 shelved the treble up to a level of uncomfort for me.
I didn’t notice a big change with E type tips. I must admit I was more focused on the fit and seal by that time, though.

[nymz]

@darkgod5

Bingo. Aside from classical and metal (and some prog stuff), honestly the only thing you’re missing going from something like a $300 IEM to a $2,500 IEM is going to be texture.

Touché.

@darkgod5

And then, of course, if you’re only listening to songs recorded before the 90’s you’re probably gaining absolutely nothing going past a $300 IEM and that’s where even a $50 IEM will be the best bang for your buck.

Yes, for sure. That’s my point. I’m not saying others sets aren’t better, just want people to realize you don’t need kilobuck to enjoy your jams.

@darkgod5

Oh man, speaking of older songs, I had the pleasure of bringing along my fancy IEMs and headphones and amps to a family member with a nice vinyl player and let me tell you. For those older songs like Led Zeppelin? Vinyl is absolutely better. From my research they did something fucky when mastering to digital that crushed the dynamics (which also happens to crush some texture). Like, I was expecting the digital versions to hold their own but when A/B’ing the results were jarring. If I were mostly into older stuff I would invest my money into vinyl.

This is my end game! But i know the moment I get into vinyl, my wallet is done.

[hawaiibadboy]

Dude…thank you

[nymz]

Just saying the truth. You’re the one to thank for. Look how many people your set connected. You made something great, and I’m not talking just tuning wise.

[hawaiibadboy]

From FB
Discord

[Grolik]

@darkgod5

For those older songs like Led Zeppelin? Vinyl is absolutely better. From my research they did something fucky when mastering to digital that crushed the dynamics (which also happens to crush some texture)

Dynamic range is clipped on most post-1990 metal too. Some communities provide high DR download, coming either from vinyl rips, SACD or some particular CD press… Medium has nothing to do with it, everything is digitally mastered today. But for some commercial reason, usually CD - streaming - most legal download come with loud / clipped mastering and some vinyl - limited editions CD or SACD come with high DR / audiophile mastering.
This has nothing to do with “hi-res” or 16/44.1either (edit : although rare hi-res editions come with higher DR. But usually they are just over-sampled from the same loud / clipped master)

We need 1980’s sound engineers to produce modern metal.

[Rainlynd]

When will the blue shell version come, hopefully soon so I can grab it on 11.11

I will break my bank that day and buy multiple stuffs.

[nymz]

@Rainlynd

so I can grab it on 11.11

Question is… Who can wait 2 months on this hobby?? Damn, I wish I could.

[Rainlynd]

I’m a whore at buying stuffs at sale days so…

[ttorbic]

Interesting you find that the Mele handles Adele and Jessie J without any problems. I use my Hifiman Sundara as my baseline (I know I know, it’s a headphone etc but to me, this is the perfect sound). I still find the treble is a bit veiled. To be fair, Moondrop Starfield isn’t handling these artists well either. I agree with an earlier comment that the Mele is really enjoyable for EDM/pop/jazz. Mele is also good for bass guitar, electric guitar (or any guitar for that matter), male voices, cello/double bass, horns.

But after hearing what folks are saying about the Teas…I think I will like them haha. Sounds like it will have more air and better detail. I’m searching for a temporary end-game IEM to stop feeding my addiction , so something like a Sundara-equivalent but an IEM. At this point, it’ll be Tea or maybe 7Hz Timeless. Once I find this IEM, I will sell the Starfield but keep the Mele.

[nymz]

@ttorbic

Interesting you find that the Mele handles Adele and Jessie J without any problems.

I said it in a budget perspective. You can also see what I said here:

@nymz

You can try to adjust, but that’s a problem, to me, with most IEMs. That’s one part of my library I enjoy the most. Mele wasn’t tuned with all of othat in mind. In fact, most IEMs aren’t.

I’ve talked openly about this somewhere around this thread. I don’t even love how an IEM like Variations does it. To me, the best replay for that, so far, are Teas, unless you go kilobuck (from those I’ve tried). Lokahi did this very well too, but since Teas did it better, I sold it.

I’ll talk about one track, just for the shake of time: Adele - Chasing Pavements.

Her voice sounds slight thinner. When her voice cracks up, specially on the chorus, it’ll sound even thinner. Higher frequencies will sound capped. You get all the bones tho, just lacking some meat, IN MY OPINION.

This type of library, to be perfect replayed, you’re looking to invest a lot of bucks, IMO. At least Mangird Tea. It’s been a struggle for me. It’s very specific. I still think Mele does a good job on it, great for the price bracket.

I think it handles if fine because the background music will also help into it, plus it has some very good timbre. I think it does a good-job for the price, there’s probably other better options for it around 100$, but I don’t know much around this bracket.

My point was, if you don’t like how it replays popish females, don’t even look into more solo stuff like Agnes Obel or Hana Reid, for instance. This set is just not meant for it.

@ttorbic

At this point, it’ll be Tea or maybe 7Hz Timeless.

Teas will have a better presentation for female vocals due to it’s elevation on mid frequencies, that’s one of the reasons I love them, but they will lack detail compared to Timeless. Timeless will probably sound more clinical and are meant to be detail monsters. Keep in mind Teas are cold on their treble due to their balanced signature.

Graph for good measure:

To me they are complements and not substitutes. There’s room for both.

My plan is a single DD (Mele into Oxygen), an hibrid (Teas), a planar (7hz), Tribids (“fun” sets + Mest maybe)

[Rainlynd]

@nymz

Mest maybe

Why maybe…

[nymz]

That’s a whole other topic that is hard to explain. I’ve tried it already, but there’s a whole other stuff I didn’t, yet. You never know when your endgame set hits you in the face and you just leave out the door smiling.

I’ll say it over and over again: You don’t need to spend a whole kilobuck to get to your sweet spot. I’ve talked to like 20 people that think Mest is worse than some 600$ IEMs. Are they wrong? Nah, it’s preferences. Just like I know why HBB loves it. That’s clearly food for his OCD brain. It’s also tiring, and to me it’s not a stand-alone set.

This is more important than most people realize. I wish people could do blind tests. It’s something really hard to explain for those who never had a chance yet, but makes you put things into another perspective, when talking money-wise.

Most folks on the internet, when scrambled with a bag of, let’s say, Aria, Starfield, Mele, Blon-03 (mesh moded), Hana 2021, KXXS, etc, without know what they were hearing, they will pick random stuff because of the feels. Because they liked how a set was replaying their library. No smokes, no mirrors.

And if, after that you said to them “they are all alike right? cheapest one is 30$ so how much do you the more expensive one is?” results would be shocking. Of course experienced people would pick it out prolly right.

This is why sets like Mele exist and are important. Let’s you get 70-80% of a picture if you like its replay of your library. Let’s you smell and enjoy a good tuning and a good timbre for 50 bucks. That’s why I rec it. Even being the cheapest set of my collection, I learned with this set. This can be anyone’s end-game on a budget.

Mest does the same, but in the other pole of things. After I tried it, @Resolution asked me "Your Teas and Variations sound better now, don’t they? " and it’s true. If it’s better? Of course. But how much better? How far are you willing to go with your wallet for a 5-15% increase? That’s the million dollar question that no one can answer but you, and I don’t know my answer yet. Also there’s expectation to manage. I’ve already heard it, but most people didn’t. Their expectations are over the roof and that needs to warned about.

And I just rumbled off-topic… Great.