Havenāt tried those yet but thanks for the tip, maybe those will work.
Thanks for the thoughts! It means especially much to me when these words are coming from the guy who tunes these himself.
For me Mele sounds better than everything except MEST in demos.
I bought 2 cables for Mele but still waiting for blue/gold to order one.
Same.
10 char
Another song that really shows off the Mele bass response. The bass line right from the start is impressive, but it is Steve Harris after all.
@nymz haha you should definitely not watch this video if you want to keep your money Mest is very very goodā¦
Super long post incoming:
Got the Meles on 9/16, bought them with a balanced Tripowin Jelly cable ($20 seemed like a good price for a decent cable-very nice cables, I love how floppy they are). Had some issues with fit with the included tips, so Iāve been using Spinfit CP100+. I started off with CP100s but they would get kinda itchy on me after a couple of hours, and I read somewhere that CP100+ helps mitigate that I listen to them using a Qudelix 5k via USB to desktop or via bluetooth to my phone. I listen to classical music on iTunes at 360kbps and non-classical on Spotify.
Fit and comfort - superb. I listen to these things at least 6 hours per day, and wear them to sleep with no problems, Iām a side sleeper and I donāt have any comfort issues - including sleep time, weāre talking 12 hours plus Iāve got them in my ears a day.
Below are random notes I took as I did my normal listening, and noticed anything that stood out to me. Iāll start with positive notes with non-classical, then with classical, then anything that stood out as negative (a pretty short list). No particular order otherwise.
Pink Floyd, Dogs - In the final verse of the song, every line is the same type of question, āwho was born in a house full of pain? who was trained not to spit in the fan? who was told what to do by the man?ā etc. With the Meles, I really hear the drummer start wailing away on the toms around midway through, starting around 15:55, which has the effect of increasing the intensity throughout the verse. With my HD6xxās on, I can hear the toms but they have no impact and I donāt hear any of that raising of intensity.
Steely Dan, Razor Boy - Meles might be perfect for all Steely Dan, actually, but it really stands out on Razor Boy, a song built around a very interesting instrumental mix of a jazz acoustic double bass, steel string guitar, and a grab bag of percussion textures: vibraphone, triangle, bongos, rattles. Songs like this make me wonder what people are talking about when they say Meles donāt sparkle, thereās tons of sparkle with these vibes and triangles.
Sigur Ros, Andvari - excellent treatment of the electronic bleeps and bloops in the left channel at the start of the song, and as with Razor Boy, no lack of sparkly magic with what sounds like a celesta, which is buried pretty low in the mix. In general excellent playback of Sigur Ros, music that requires a good balance of low end and lots of trebly sparkliness.
Daft Punk, Harder Better Faster Stronger - more music that relies on a good clean powerful punch but benefits by a lot of detail on the little bloops and bleeps lower in the mix that Mele handles fantastically
Rosalia, Malamente & Yo x Ti, Ti x Mi - As intended, Rosalia sounds like sheās whispering in your ears, appropriately intimate. Love the steel drums-sounding things on Yo x Ti, Ti x Mi
Doja Cat, Rules - great on the vocals, beat has ample impact. This type of hip-hop inflected pop is really good on the Meles, nicely balanced thwack on the beat, and plenty of vocal presence.
Stormzy, Vossi Bop - I find this song tricky, the washboard-sounding sounds starting at 50 seconds in are very sharp and fatiguing in most playback devices. Love the song, but I canāt listen to it much since I find the sound pretty painful. The Meles donāt solve it but itās pretty decent. Great thwack with those 808s.
Migos, Straightenin, Walk it Talk it, Versace etc. - Again, good thwack with these heavy beats built around 808s. Raps are very clear, very easy to accurately make out the verses. Most modern and old school hip hop is good to great on Meles, with some exceptions Iāll mention below.
Van Morrison, Cypress Avenue, Madame George - songs off of Astral Weeks can come off a little wispy and ethereal, but the recording sessions were essentially led by the outstanding jazz bassist Richard Davis, who used to play with Eric Dolphyās band. In other words, you need to hear a nice satisfying thwack on the double bass to provide structure and verve to these songs and not sound too much like new age, which the Meles does in spades.
Charles Mingus, Track b: Duet Solo Dancers - speaking of jazz, hereās another standout on Meles, with satisfying blasts from some mean tubas starting around 2 minutes. Some very interesting low horns on this recordātubas, contrabass trombones, baritone sax. I only really listen to jazz from the 1950s and 60s but so far, I havenāt heard any jazz that wasnāt basically flawless from the Meles. Another exceptional moment is the very start of Coltraneās Love Supreme, with awesome tam tam crash to start the album and cymbals.
Black Uhuru, Sponji Reggae - well balanced instruments and vocals, vibraphones adding sparkle without being overdone. Great handling of the classic rhythms from Sly & Robbie.
Talking Heads, Slippery People (Stop Making Sense version) - love how the Meles handle the 2:20-2:40āish break with bass drum and bongos
Swans, Children of God - This is the Swans at their peak for me, when they balanced the grim and heavy music of their early music with Jarboeās ethereal and pretty singing. Meles provide that perfect balance.
M83, Midnight City - super fun instrumental break starting at 1:50. Meles handle this type of synth-pop so well, again with the thick meaty bass, but retaining all the clarity through the midrange and sparkly tops that I want.
Ok, classical:
Prokofievās Piano Concerto 2, second movement: Yuja Wang with Paavo Jarvi conducting (linking youtube since this particular performance isnāt available in good quality other than on Berlin Philharmonicās very expensive website). Not as detailed as HD6xx but with much more impact and oomph. I bet Prokofiev would care much more about the latter than the former. I often think this when I hear that classical fans are supposed to ignore bass and care more about transparency and clarity than impact and force, I think composers would care more that you get that visceral thrill when the orchestra is going all out than whether you notice that theyāre cleverly doubling the flutes with the bassoons or whatever. And I feel like I get enough of that with the Meles anyway.
Pucciniās Turandot, Mehta conducting. I noted the Meleās performance on a lot of tracks here since this opera is such a sonic treat. Non piangere Liu - mix of solo/duet/choral scenes, big climactic moment with dozens of singers and the full orchestra in full flight, no problem for the Meles, super exciting and beautiful. In questa reggia, one of the really challenging high soprano songs in the repertoire, the Meles handles Sutherlandās exceptional high notes flawlessly.
Wagnerās Parsifal, Karajan conducting. Nun achte wohl und lass mich sein - church bells from the start of the track to 0:40 sound wonderful, you can hear all the overtones, and more church bells again at 1:11 to 1:30, this time mixed with strings and percussion for a unique blended sound.
Bizetās Carmen, Solti conducting. Solti was a conductor who was maybe a little overenthusiastic with percussion and horns, and the bass drum hit to start the prelude sounds tragic and terrible with the Blon BL03s. On the Meles, itās still a little hot but it makes the right sound, and the little tinkling triangle provides a dainty counterpoint.
Flaws:
Most of them involve a tricky peak in the treble:
Wu Tang Clan, Visionz - the high hat is a little insistent
Van Morrison, Wild Children - ditto
Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer - at 4:20, the tambs are too hot
Latto, In n Out - starting at 0:50, overly intense high hats again
Now is the problem the Meles or the tracks? Listening to these with other gear, I think both - the tracks arenāt mixed great, but the Meles put an unflattering light on them that makes these hot high hats/tambs more noticeable than with other gear. Iāve thought about equalizing but I wonder if that peak is what accounts for the paradoxical way the Meles arenāt too sharp or fatiguing but still have a lot of air and sparkliness, and thatās a very special quality for me for like 98% of the tracks Iāve listened to in the past few weeks.
Bobby Shmurda, Hot N*gga or Lil Wayne, A Milli - Hereās a type of tune that the Meles handle OK, but the Blon BL03s handle betterāthe songs that use 808s not just on the beat (like on the Migos songs I mentioned before) but sustains their rumble throughout. That rumble is the point of these songs, and the Meles have good rumble but not quite enough. That slightly looser sloppier bass on the BL03s are just right here.
Overall - ridiculously great. And I watched that Danās Audio Reviews comparison that was posted earlier and I kinda feel like the Meles slaughters the rest of the comparisons he posted, other than the Mest. I listen to pretty wide range of music, and itās remarkable how well Meles handle so much of what I listen to.
Iāve demoed Mest and Mest Mk2 bro
Ah, well, only one thing left to say - I feel for your wallet but my gosh, Mest sounds amazing
Nah, skipped. But they are totl ocd details
Has anyone seen a graph of Melee with Tanchjim or Moondrop replacement filters? Alternatively, are there any plans to offer Mele replacement filters? The reports of channel imbalance here and on the other forum make it seem very likely that Meleās filters suffer from the same moisture issue I and plenty of others encountered on Blon BL03, Moondrop Kanas, Etymotic ER2XR, and other metal shelled earphones with nozzle filters. Iāve been planning to get a blue Mele once theyāre available, but Iām worried I wonāt be able to use it with the intended tuning for long if there isnāt a source of replacement filters.
if youāre not already doing it, try fitting metal iems with a deeper fit so the metal is against your ear (to warm it up and reduce condensation from the temperature difference)
that has helped a lot in the past with my metal sets
iāve been looking into tanchjim and moondrop filters for a while and have so far seen these, maybe it can help with cross-referencing the effects:
(filter mod was said to be moondrop filters)
This song i good anytime. One of my favorite straight Guru tracks
I havent due to the fact that those dampening filters will tame parts of the treble that i donāt want tamed on mele. So far as been seen to tame frequencies right after pinna gain and to my ears, those are tuned perfectly by HBB.
In my opinion, if there was a mod worth doing, would be the opposite. Removing instead of adding layers, so youād get more extension that is, imo, the only lacking factor of Mele. But so far, thereās nothing like that shown on the internet and this upper treble doesnt even bother me a single bit, so I run stock.
Keep in mind I like darker trebles more and I think Mele is TOTL tuning, but as always, YMMV.
Iām experiencing the same thing no matter what tips I use, also during the days when thereās no moist around. Not a big deal but yes, the smaller the bore the less moisture build-up. I think itās a material issue with the aluminum shell.
Something worth considering if @hawaiibadboy wants to tune another set! Maybe having steel or resin nozzles would improve this issue.
The Tanchjim Tanya eartips attached to My Mele in this photo with the 4 mm bore size. After I compared these tips with the CP100. I honestly say that Tanya Stock tips is the best sound for me.
The CP100 makes the sound feels more hollow and uncomfortable for me. I used jelly cable, the combination with Tanya eartips, there is a big improvement in all sectors than the stock cables. More bodied tones, more dynamic, and better treble extension.
Iāve tried all the wide bore stock tips from some iem collection in my library. Yes, they can provide a wider stage, but it gets a boring for me because every instrument is a little bit away from my hearing. The sense of impact and punch is reduced. With Tanya stock tips, every instrument and vocal feels more explicit and closer, but the separation is still well separated, even the cymbals and ambience sound in the background are clearer than the other eartips. Vocals are very natural, wide and intimate, as well as more punchy drumset strokes and realistic tones. The bass is full and very deep to the chest, but still smooth and unobtrusive to the mid. All of this makes my head canāt stop shaking. I like being in a music studio with 5 in 1 channel speakers. Mid area on my TFZ no. 3 can be made natural with Tanya eartips because it can reduce the peak in the lower treble area.
Yap, I love those tips. Are mid/vocal centric. They are elecoms it seems.
Tanya with 4 mm bore tips, mid bass is very bloated to the mid and feels muddy. The wide bore tips is slightly better separation, but still there is too much mid bass and treble too smooth.