I went straight to the MKii 
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I’ve been back reading this thread since I just recently got the Mest MKII and I have to comment on this
This is probably most aqurate description of both iems I have read, it’s exactly how I hear it as well.
@Resolution bro you have not just a good eye for photography but a good ear for music too.
Rocking Mest MKII with Xinhs 8 core you recommend 
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Yep. I haven’t listened to them, but it seems that Mont MK2 is more musical and enjoyable than listening to music. Maybe for more fun listening most people will prefer UM MEXT. UM Mest MK2 for now seems more like a technical and a bit boring kit. I would definitely choose Mon MK2 or MEXT 
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Mest MKII is anything but boring. Unless you want even more bass which imo MKII have plenty of.
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All right. I wondered who would be more fun. You helped me choose!
ouch. MEST MKII boring? double ouch. if I were to look for a MEST MKII quick description, “boring” is the last thing I would think of. better said: “boring” would never cross my mind.
one thing though: MEST MKII are extremeley, and I say really extremely sensitive to tips. before using the Azla Sedna Light Short, my rank of these IEM was A, after was S+ (and still is, even after having listened to some more TOTL IEMs)
of course the above is just IMHO and as usual YMMV
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how many hrs did you put on them? They’re probably not burned in yet. Also don’t use foam tips.
Probably less than 100 h. I’m using cp145, I still need to tip roll, I’m waiting for delivery of cp100, cp1025, Kbear 07 some recommended ones.
I have no issues with Mest MKII other than high mids slight lack of energy and occasional sibilance and harsh symbals. But that is easily remedied by EQ.
I recently got a MEST MKII and noticed something, no review really seems to talk about. I really don’t care about sources or cables as long as they are “good enough”. Opposed to many others, I always said that the 7hz Timeless works just as well from your smartphone’s headphone out as it does from your big dac/amp. But with Mest MKII:
- it sound pretty good on my desk dac/amp
- it sounds audible worse on my smartphone (again: I can’t tell the difference with any other IEM)
- when I connected the MEST to my bluetooth receiver I got a shock, because I thought my MEST just broke
So from what I understand, headphones/IEMs have an impedance curve, which ideally is flat. If it isn’t flat, the sound will significantly differ depending on the source. I didn’t find the MEST’s impedance curve graph, but I found this:
Isn’t this troublesome? Isn’t this what everyone complained about with the Softears Volume?
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So basically one would want to slap on a 75 ohm of resistance?
More V-Shaped but also more appropriate gain relative to mids + more extended highs.
more resitance = more bass and less treble…
But again: isn’t that a flaw? Why is no one pointing it out? Or am I missing something?
Look at where the bass curve ends… the bass reaches into 800hz instead of 300hz and lowering the treble 4db?
I don’t have anything to measure my stuff, but it is bad enough that I thought my MEST broke after switching the source 
Part of that may be that my bluetooth receiver may not be the best/have a bad design, but I never had a problem like this with any other of my IEMs.
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non-flat curve + low impedance, technically.
But this isnt THAT bad though…
Unlike something like this:
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I just looked at the specs for the MEST and it has 12.3Ohm specified. I know there is the rule, that output impedance of source should be <= 1/8 * impedance of headphone, which would be hard to conform to with this.
The Andromeda response looks bonkers.
Where would you put the MEST vs the Softears Volume (since you measured and reviewed the latter). The 0.5 vs 2.7 comparison you posted doesn’t look so bad and looks to me like I wouldn’t notice it in the first place, so I am not sure that that’s the whole story behind the problem, I am experiencing. My desk dac/amp was measured with 2.1 Ohm by ASR, which isn’t super low and I guess my smartphone’s impedance wouldn’t be something much higher.
with the 1/8 rule, that puts it at 1,5 ohm, most sources nowadays are actually lower than that. so its not a problem, especially considering that the people with something like the mest most likely also have a decent source.
dont have the MEST lol.
Smartphones rarely have 3.5mm and if they do like LG, those are actually quite low with their OI.
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Guess I am the exception then 
I just tried the apple usb c adapter (<1ohm) on my mainboard and again the sound change is very audible (this time however it got brighter/leaner).
I was hoping you could make a guess based on the graphs you and I posted from audiodiscourse. I don’t have the Volumes, but from 4 sources I have tried, they all sound very different with the MEST.
In that case my phone would be another exception I guess. However on this point I would disagree. Even among the recent Android phone, roughly half still have the audio jack. If you just look at recent Android phones <400$ it’s more like 75%.
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The Volume does have lower impedance so by that it should be more sensitive to this and there is an impedance curve on it.
Its not too bad though.
But the volume seems more unpredictable than the Mest to me.
ok, true. I was thinking more about the mid-tier/flagship area. (I dont have one in my OnePlus 8T for example…)
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From everything written, I did not understand which MEST MK2 source works well. Does it work well with LG V models? 
Wow 5 Ohm impedance has to be the lowest I have ever seen for an IEM. I missed that about the Volume. Thanks for your thoughts!
@SoundEater
I guess the LG V should be fine, but the problem I see is, that you can’t simply say it works good on source X or the lower the output impedance the better… I guess it depends on personal preference.
I have 4 sources: Apple Dongle (0.6 Ohms), Sound BlasterX G6 (2.6 ohm), Xiaomi Smartphone (X > 2.6 Ohm) and Xiaomie Bluetooth Receiver (Y>X Ohm).
Apple Dongle: Sounds thin compared to G6 with less bass, but still detailed and preserves treble
G6: Sounds best to me
Xiaomi Smartphone: A bit more bass/boominess and less treble (slight loss of perceived Detail) than G6
Xiaomi Bluetooth Receiver: Even more treble and Detail lost. Thought the MEST was broken, when Kanye West’s Voice sounded significantly more muffled than on G6 (which was within the first 10 seconds of trying the Receiver)
I really like the sound of the G6+MEST MKII+Xelastics, but the sound seems to very heavily depend on source and tips, which makes me wonder how people review it in the first place. I can’t recall if it was @Rikudou_Goku , @nymz or Michael Bruce, but one of them stated something along the lines of “How do you even review this IEM if it can sound so different?” about the Volume. This is the same thing I think about the MEST MKII. In the DMS review for the MEST he said, that he didn’t like the MEST until he tried the comply tips, which changed everything for him in a major way.
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It was me, but that’s not the same problem as Mest. It’s about the BC and that’s why you got a shock. I saw some post on hf saying that, if I’m not mistaken.
OI shouldnt be the problem, as riku stated. I would feed mest more power than a phone, but again, I go overboard just to not care about that as a variable. I stocked myself with 1w sources just to make sure anything I plug is runing 100% and don’t have any botteleck.
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Thanks, that sounds like it could be it. I will look deeper into it
(also as a side note: I believe the BC wouldn’t even show on all the graphs, right?)