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.
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.
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%.
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.
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.
Right now I feel like an idiot, but some of you might get a chuckle out of it:
Until I got the MEST MK2 I thought that source doesn’t matter a lot and that stage is more of a meme, as there is no huge difference between IEMs (at least to my ears)
Then I got the MEST MK2 and wasn’t too impressed when I connected it to my smartphone at first, but when I connected it to my dac/amp connected to my PC it was a whole different story. Not just was the resolution on a whole other level, but the stage was insane. I frequently had the thought, that the stage is soo impressive, that it sounds like the MEST has some inbuilt DSP. So I was rather happy with my MEST purchase, but went insane over how much I was missing with the smartphone and was looking at couple hundred dollars DACs, AMPs and DAPs.
Couple of days later I just got a new IEM today and did some testing… I compared that new IEM with CRA and by chance switched the CRA from smartphone to desk setup, which I did many times before, but this time the CRA sounded completely different. I was shocked and thought “wtf… did something in my brain click? I did this test dozens of times and never could tell the difference, but suddenly it is very clear”… but that can’t be or can it?
It can’t… my fucking dac/amp driver turned off the direct mode and turned on some SBX special DSP effect stack -_- no clue how long it was turned on, but probably at least since I got the MEST… I feel so dumb right now
EDIT: Everything I said about the MEST is a lie now, I guess
That is funny, I was experimenting a couple plugins on APO, and apparently left “Stereo Touch” on, also while listening to a pair of CRA as well ( bought them on the same order as Olina ). It does some DSP magic to synthetically make it wider. The following morning put Olina in and started listening, and was just like that is just too freakin wide. I spotted it pretty quick, but I could see missing it depending on the IEM switch.
What threw me off was the fact that the MEST MK2 - I would still say - is pretty source dependent. It is not as extreme as I stated earlier in the thread and probably not as extreme as other IEMs (like the Volume or Andromeda), but there is a very clear difference. Some of the graphs posted earlier give the idea: some sources lower the treble energy, raising bass and making the bass bleed more into the mids… all resulting in a loss of detail/clarity and tilting the tonality away from my preference. I tried 6 different sources so far with the best being the Apple dongle. Hopefully soon I will be able to test drive one of the new Topping devices.
After doing more listening and A/B testing without the DSP, my feeling towards the MEST is now somewhat ambivalent:
for me the perfect IEM has to be convenient. The MEST isn’t that because I can enjoy it’s full potential only on certain sources which sours the experience with others. EQ helps, but is inconvenient in itself.
with some of the worse sources I tried (even ones specified with <1 Ohm Output Impedance) the MEST doesn’t hit my tonality preference. Sometimes I feel like there is a lack of treble extension/energy and a lack of clarity. Comparing it with the CRA, the CRA can be more fun tonality wise. The timeless maybe overshoots my preference, but I still like that side of the spectrum better.
on the other hand: a cheap source like the Apple dongle is enough to solve most of those issues… to bad my phone has no USB-C
going from the MEST to any other of my IEMs, they all sound somewhat broken. It’s a little bit like going from HD to DVD Quality. DVD Quality looks great, if you never saw an HD movie. When going from MEST to CRA/Timeless I start hearing all the things they do worse (e.g. how they replay voices more unnaturally). The MEST comes across simply more refined on a technical level (shocker, I know…).
Overall I guess the MEST is still the best IEM I have listened to and I wouldn’t know from reading reviews/impressions which IEM would top that. I still think there is a slight chance that I would like the Variations better, but can’t justify spending even more money on IEMs right now.
Someone talk me out of selling my mest OG and buying a Ej07 HBB Kinda lava
Most likely can sell the OG and get the KL for the same price . Love the mest OG! good fit , impresses me everytime i put them on with the very wide genre range i listen to but still very intrigued by the hbb KL
And how it fits BGGA library as we share the same exact list .
(Can only afford 1 iem at a time
Have only Been able to hear 3 iem in my short audiophile journey thieaudio L4, clairvoyance, mest OG)
If you would be selling your MEST OG for the price of lava (619$) let me know, I would hit you up immediately
But honestly I would consider keeping it up as it is quite unique set and discontinued, so the value should not drop anytime soon
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.
