Yes, yes, or course I don’t believe in free energy or perpetuum mobiles, so I know that Power out < Power In 
Just meant that most likely it would not be the power supply giving too little current to the dongle.
Yes, but long story short - as you said practice over theory it only matters how it sounds
MEST MKII need some time to burn in. They are so bad when new.
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U12t are - to my ears - really very good, but compared to Mest2 they lack a bit in the bass punch and slam, are not so “snappy” (in lack of a precise word, I’m not native english, hope is clear), with certain songs the highs can be a little bit fatiguing for me, the stage is not at the same level (but still very good).
but - again - these are only little differencies, U12t are a really great IEM, and is a very safe choice if they do match your taste better than Mest2
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Oh no…
So after a while of listening exclusively to the Oracle on balanced high gain from a Sony ZX300A I decided to give my faithful Aladdin on 3.5 and low gain a go, just to show myself what a real step up I’d been experiencing… well after some volume matching, timbre aside, the Aladdin are almost all the way there for how much I enjoy my music, and in some areas handle it in a way I prefer. This is for an awful lot less, especially if you consider that from moving from one to the other it’s the amount I can sell the Aladdin for, which is pretty dismal based on trends.
So why is this in this thread?
The Aladdin aren’t on too many graph databases (more’s the pity) but Precog has them. I thought I’d compare them with a few other sets, and from memory remembered the Mest was pretty shallow in its bass to treble rise too.
Lo and behold, the only true technical (and perhaps tuning) upgrade that is like the Aladdin seems to be the Mest series. And I know I can’t afford those.
All the more reason that I’m surprised the Aladdin doesn’t get more attention (compared to other good sets like the Teas for example) it clearly follows some pretty masterful and beloved tuning principles.
Mest intrigue has piqued. I hope they’ll continue to become cheaper secondhand over the next two years or so instead of freezing at a “rare and wonderful” place not much lower than they can be found at now.
EDIT: Notice a good match-up with Dunu SA6 with “Atmospheric” switch on
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Thanks for this. I am with you, the Yanyin Aladdin is very under the radar. I haven’t even heard of the brand until you brought this one up in Nov. I think you and @ttorbic are the only people here that I have seen talk about it.
I am with you the MEST is out of my range, but the Aladdin really isn’t ( I did buy the Timeless ).
This is the only YouTube review I have seen.
He says the vocals pop for him. I am more about the guitars, and more of classic rock and prog rock guy ( MEST was supposed to be great for prog rock ). I am curious to hear from some reviewers that I have a sense about, or people that I understand what they listen too.
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Sending a reply by PM until the Aladdin have their own thread
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I did own both, but it has been a few months since I did. MEST Mk2 and U12t imo have two opposite personalities.
MEST Mk2 requires you to pay attention to it and that can result in the song being more engaging. There is more of a “wow” factor to the MEST. The detail is more forward/in your face on the MEST so it sounds more highly detailed than the U12t, but I’d argue they are pretty similar in detail retrieval. I personally enjoyed the MEST most with movies or live tracks. I think MEST’s staging was a bit larger than the U12t, but it is still an IEM and all IEMs have limited staging. My main issue with the MEST Mk2 is it does become fatiguing over longer listening sessions unless you have it with a source that has a nice smooth sound like the Shanling M8. It had some coherency issues between the drivers to me and I thought the bass quantity was lacking, but that’s my opinion. Also very tip dependent so play around with tips if you try the MEST.
U12t is great for when you want an easy and more relaxing listen with a highly technical and coherent IEM. “Boring” in the best way possible. U12t would be the IEM I’d choose if I want to do work and listen to music. U12t is also more versatile across genres where I feel like MEST excels really well with certain genres like Rock. I actually prefer the sound of U12t’s bass over MEST Mk2 for my library and U12t does have the best BA bass that I’ve heard. Reason why I didn’t keep the U12t is it was a bit too relaxing for what I was looking for and preferred other IEMs even within 64 audio’s line-up like the Tia Trio or N8 Universal.
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Still pretty new to the IEM game and I just got the mest OG , I previously only owned two other iem thieaudio L4 and clairvoyance. I tried the kz tips, azla elastic sticky tips and the UM blue heart and the Blue heart sounded the best ! I hear the instrument separation left right up down and clear details you guys speak of and LOVE IT but , I never heard or understood the 3D psychedelic effect or instruments moving around your head effect you guys speak off and dont hear it with the mest OG . All three tips mention above give me a tight seal and go very deep in as well but maybe its just in my head that its actually going sound all trippy and stuff and the instruments are actually going to noticeably move around because i never heard a iem above the clairvoyance so dont understand what it’s actually supposed to sound like. But the OG do sound DAMN good!!!
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Don’t know the seller but that’s a good price…
There’s one for $750 atm too!
Edit: that may have been on AVExchange.
I think i got the GOAT deal for the mest OG at $650 from a reliable head fi member .
Im still very new to all this and have a stupid question
Can you use any 0.78mm 2 pin or qdc cable with the international MEST OG ?
And what do you guys prefer of the two ?
Bout to go cAble shopping and wanted to know before i bought it because of the very first Day the extra 2 pin cable i got was so tight that the two pin bent .
Also of the cables below which do prefer for the best OG
Tripowin Altea
Kinera Ace
Tripowin Noire
Tripowin Nucool
Linsoul LSC08
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Yes, both can do.
Although I’d recommend going with QDC because of fit. MEST is already a large set, and most 2-pin cables tend to extend too much upwards over ear. Depends on ear shape though, YMMV, play around!
You could already get a taste of the QDC fitment with the stock cable so see if that fits you for long duration.
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Now I know what was happening. I think MEST Mk2 needs to be properly burned in. They are very bad when new. Only after 200hrs or so they start to show how GOOD they are.
Today MEST are my favorite headphones ever. I like them more than Utopia and VC.
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Finally found a few tips that work well with my mest OG.
Azla short light MS : fits deep and sounds the best but hurts like hell after 30 minutes. Need a size smaller.
Spiral dot ++ M . Most comfortable of all the tips and go with them for hours of listening sessions , 2nd /3rd best sounding as well, can hear all the details and separation but not as clear as the alza Short light.
Kz starline inverted S : sounds good but the two above are bit better .
Blue heart S , xelastec M, new bees foam , tin hifi blue foam are a bit shouty .
Mest OG is magical with rock music and the separation of the electric guitar, drums and bass guitar over vocals.
I got my end game for a VERY decent price of $650 , bought a new cable and found some decent tips to go along with the OG.
I can officially retire happily till i can afford the next level of $1.5k + IEM . Which is probably never😭
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Better late than never.
I just picked it up, and I won’t have time to play with it until tomorrow. I guess it’s a good problem to have.
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Yeah! Mine showing up today… So excited to play with them!
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Well, I’ve had more than enough time to realize that the UM MEST MKii is the best set I’ve owned or heard. Absolutley love it! Dang!
Bought the unit with balanced cable using my Hiby R6Pro. I listen to a wide range of music including HI-Rez flac files (HDTracks.com) and flac from cd rips. Primary listening is jazz/pop, vocal, classic/hard/metal rock, classical, and occassionaly digging into my collection of old punk rock (ahh, memories). As you might imagine, the recording quality of a flac from cd of Dead Kennedys vs HI-Rez download of Tool, Pink Floyd, or Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana varies quite a bit. The Mest MKii handles all recordings well without needing to play with EQ. As I spend much of my iem listening time walking/hiking/playing disc golf, using my beloved Fearless S8Fs was at times painful if my music choices fell to poor recordings. There were times I’d switch over to my Thieaudio Legacy 9s but was never quite happy with their slight low to mid bloat/muddy sound and less detail although they handled poor recordings better. In short, I’d always wanted a set that provided the wonderful detail of the S8F while also providing realistic/accurate and “full” bass. Well, the MEST MKii provides those things and more.
Iem qaulity is incredible with good fit and a cable that is not too heavy making securing it to clothes while active good. I have large but symetrical ear canals and use Dekoni foam tips appreciating their great seal and ability to keep the units in my ears while being very active (trail running).
Plan to sell my other units soon to fund a DAP upgrade. Hate to see my Fearless go but the MEST is so much better in all regards… So happy!
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I’m not selling my S8F nor my Monarch. Now with Mest MKII I think I have reached my end game in these 3 iems.
Honestly I don’t think you need to upgrade the player R6pro should be more than capable to drive these. They don’t require lot of power unless you are after different flavor. I have M11+, A55 and V50 for sources, MKII sounds good with them all.
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Cool, will think harder before upgrading DAP. Thanks for your thoughts!