Amazing customer service. Amazing sounding in ear monitor. Worth the wait.
When I first got my MEST, I was really excited. Then I noticed the 2.5 mm plug didn't fit anything I had, including adapters. I ordered a 2.5 to 4.4 adapter as suggested but the 4.4 didn't fit anything, either. So I finally ordered a 2.5 to 3.5 and that worked. This is partially my error, of course, because I did not know there were so many size options for the plug. But this could have been made clear by the website and it wasn't.
The first time I tried the MEST, I was unimpressed. They were OK, but not great. But the longer I wore them, the more my hearing adapted and like a light going on, they became incredible. The sounds were rich and clear and I had little trouble understanding language (I wear hearing aids because of failing hearing). I became very impressed. So my advice is to give them a couple of days and you will notice how good the sound is!
The ear molds are large and totally fill the ear. I cannot hear anything outside of the MEST when they are inserted. This is good because no distracting ambient sounds can take away from the full experience. MUCH better than "over the ear" headphones!
Having worn hearing aids for more than 15 years, I was very disappointed to see that the MEST does not have cleaning options like my hearing aids. Wax build up in the ears can plug the holes and there is no easy way to clean them. I would suggest that this would be a major improvement for future development for two reasons: 1) wax build up can block and affect the sound received and 2) without cleaning, moisture build up can destroy inside components. Inside the ear moisture is salty and detrimental to electronics - I know from hearing aid experience.
One of the wires becomes detached from the ear mold frequently. It has a 2-prong plug and I can easily reconnect it, but this is not something that should happen. The prongs can go in either direction and it took a while to determine exactly how the mold should be oriented.
I do not like that these are made in China. I would much prefer to not buy anything from China but that is my personal preference.
It took 8 weeks from my order until the MEST arrived. That is a long time and part of that is because they were made in China and shipping was slow.
Overall, I can't rate these really high even though the sound is remarkable. Sound is a 5 star but all the other factors listed above is why I dropped it to a 3. There is much room for improvement in the design and buying experience.
I've had my Mentors now for 2 years and still ABSOLUTELY ADORE THEM and have no compulsion whatsoever to try and top them. The level of detail, timbre, resolution, staging, imaging, fat yet controlled bass, sparkle, refinement and every other term , I could go on and on... I Love these these IEMs. The only thing I dont like about them is the relatively shallow / flat socket placement. The sockets have gotten loose and the cables now pul loose when putting them on or taking them off. On the upside, UM is doing the maintenance for me complimentary, I just need to take care of round trip shipping and they'll be out of my possession for approximately 3 months. But that's Okay and speaks volumes of UMs after sales service.
It's really a sensational set of IEMS.
This is perhaps the best sounding bit of amplification I’ve personally heard or owned. It’s as if you’re hearing a new, higher resolution. Everything, note weight, instrument layering, imaging, clarity, bass, it makes my IEMs sound like new and more resolving sets. It even runs Joal to this outlandishly timbre centric our sonic Utopia. I cannot get over it or enough of it. I’m descending on a plane as I type and it still sounds like a different beast entirely.
I’m going to see what fireworks pop off tonight when I run it like out into Sigma Pro.
It ain’t just another dongle ladies and gentlemen. Just buy it.
Make the 10th anniversary version of PAW Gold more valuable.
I lucked in to a Reference Silver OFC! Anyway, the cable is amazing and the concept was just a lot of fun. I would only have done it via Musicteck though, since their great customer service gave me confidence that there was no other hidden gimmick.
TWO BOXES with two Mars, how lucky I am. Now they are paired with um jet black and maven2. Great sound and great quality.
