EDIT: I want to add that the “knocking” in track two is the drumstick hitting the snare rim, and that it is an even bigger timbre stranger than the cymbals. If I could redo my commentary in the video, it would be to emphasize that snare rim knock, and off-timbre vocal balance playing alongside it that altogether define the issue I’m trying to describe in the tonal balance of the upper end. It just comes off as too thin and splashy and distractingly unwelcome. Please don't take it personally anyone. Any reviewer, any person who enjoys these while I don't. I don't mean to criticize anyone's take, as we all have different ears and libraries, etc. If your favorite reviewer or community group likes these, I'm happy for you and happy that people can find joy in these. Please consider too that I’m just one guy with one set of ears and tastes here. I also have had more treble sensitivity somehow lately, it seems. I do not mean in any way to criticize anyone’s tastes. I only mean to be critical of what sounds “good” or “bad” in my own ears. Sorry if I could have said more with regards to specific frequencies or areas other than cymbals. I do repeat myself a bit here just saying “funky.” But the timbre or balance is just not for me, however exactly it came to be. Was it the bass not being enough? Was it the lack of male vocal depth there? Was it a lack of full harmonic definition I was seeking with the female vocals? Was it an odd dip in the upper mids or treble? Whatever it is, I hear what I hear. Something sounds scooped out too much. Something is dipping too much relative to another area in the upper mids and/or treble. But I just didn't feel enough motivation to continue analyzing since the actual feel of the set just didn't land for me. It was, as I said a "nonstarter." It isn't JUST the cymbals, it's just the tone of anything that plays up in that area. Something isn't even enough or in the right proportion tonally. The end result is a "bright" affect, despite the low end being present. Maybe a graph shows it as warm looking, but the treble and upper mids somehow, somehow... make the actual impression feel "bright" to my ear. And in a way that sounds off, or too thin, or lacking fuller qualities that are needed to sound more natural to my ear. LETSHUOER S12 Pro www.linsoul.com/products/letshuoer-s12-pro?_pos=1&_psq=s12&_ss=e&_v=1.0&sca_ref=1723281.uURKdX74u0 HIDIZS MP145 www.linsoul.com/products/hidizs-mp145 Kiwi Ears Melody www.linsoul.com/products/kiwi-ears-melody?_pos=6&_sid=5c07394c3&_ss=r&sca_ref=1723281.uURKdX74u0 EDIT:: Apologies for the editing error at 1:18. The text card was cut by accident and it faded out only to fade a new one back in right after. It's the same file still playing, the same IEM (MP145), but the card was a mistake. There is also a problem with one of the cards that came in at 1:10 that didn't animate properly. There have been bugs in my program. EDIT:: In hindsight, I wish I lowered the S12 Pro volume by one dB in the Dreams track, during the demo. Seems a tad louder compared to the other gear on some devices. 😢 The timbre differences are clear anyway, but I I don’t want the loudness difference in certain ranges of frequencies to give unfair advantage toward our overall buying decisions 🙇🏻♂️
Honestly I appreciate your firmness to your views for audio, even if it may seem like people would point out how different these are to other reviewers for example. The fact of the matter is that people's ear canal sizes and shapes, preferences for audio, tolerance for treble affected by pinna compensation/gain etc. off the top of my head can and will influence widely how IEMs will be perceived by a person beyond what frequency graphs can ever cover, well enough that an IEM can be accepted or dismissed by people with both their experiences being in a way undeniable. Like it's more helpful to realize how different people deal with IEMs to gain an understanding of what people prefer in terms of sound signature and whether that works for you or not. I have not checked IEMs that much lately, like I've stuck with the Hana 2021 as my personal favorite IEM for a while now (the last I bought was the Moondrop SSR, yes long after it has existed already for a while), but interestingly while it's honestly positively reviewed by many (including you -- I'm interested to see how you perceive the Hana 2021 now though with higher treble sensitivity) and I can understand what is found good with 'em, I actually relate to the negative review of Szymon (prev. Casual Audiophile) of them the most, with understanding the flaws the Hana has (particularly that the lower mids where most male vocals sit is imo just serviceable), with just the difference that I do rotate across more eartips to deal with good combinations of toning down that overwhelming bass, and having slightly cleaner mids and enhancing treble presence while still keeping it well controlled (depending on what I'd listen or game to, I'd either stick with 07-based series eartips like Acoustune AET07 or the Azla SednaEarfit Short, or if I really want things to get brighter the Moondrop Springs), and I appreciate the Hana the most with them, whilst acknowledging why someone would equally not want them at all regardless of whatever eartips etc. is chosen.
@@autotropicplaybench1819Exactly. And by the way, I don’t have the Hana anymore. I sold it back in the days I needed to sell gear to cover my next review purchase. Or I returned it to Amazon if it was an Amazon purchase, I can’t recall. These days I try to hold onto everything for future review/reflection/reference. I had to do what I did back then, but I wish I had all my old sold items back. So I wish I could say how my opinion might be changed now, but I can’t 😔
Additional commentary, as stated summarily in my rankings: Just too funky of an upper end. The timbre is off. The cymbals, the snare, the drum stick on the snare's rim, the toms, almost everything. I can't. There may be upsides to this, like an open sound or clear and airy and separated kind of sound with a blob of warmth added...but is it worth it? No. The warmth seems at odds with the timbre of the upper end. There's too many spots dug out from the upper mids perhaps, or the treble, in such a way that the interplay of the two ranges results in an beaten up wonky sound. As I listen to these on more tracks, I can still feel the joy of my music, but its coming through a filter of off kilter, splashy yet warm blobbed, mess of an experience. It isn't cohesive as much, for my ear and tastes, as I want to perceive my music. It's all personal perhaps, but I wonder how many people will hear or not what I'm trying to say.
A diplomatic review is good for new comers who only want to know about one specific model of headphones and nothing else while not being too interested in consuming all the reviews they can find on internet. However for people who watch contents from multiple reviewers frequently, the cumulated opinions and preferences is multiple reviewers become a very useful guideline that does a very good job at describing what a headphone sounds like.
The MP145 sounds more full bodied compared to the Melody and the highs on the S12 pro shine more definitely , might be cause of the size of the driver being used
Hi Dan, I basically agreed with your sound impressions and difference you found, but to me Melody doesn't sound bad at all! To my ears every S12 or z12 iteration - for example - sounds a lot more weird than Melody. Having said that, I appreciate your honest and clear approach on presenting us your opinion and thoughts. Thank you for your awesome work!
True about the weird tuning on the s12. Not good or bad. The great thing about those IEMs is that they react well to EQ. I've got them EQ'd for bassy to an EQ for airiness.
I got them both. At medium volumes the 145 is just perfect. At high volumes above 80 dB thr 145 was too much treble ans upper nids. The kiwi was terrible at medium volumes but at high volumes the kiwi was better by far compared to 145.peredr tuning now I have the 145 for jaz and mellow music and kiwi for rock or hip hop loud tracks
Certainly, MP145 and Timeless AE are top devices for less than 300 dollars. And below that, the cheaper middle-range Planar seem to compete with the S12 Pro, MELODY, and KLANAR. I think the competition between Kefine KLANAR and Kiwiears MELODY will be interesting.
Interesting, I don't own the mp145 but what I'm hearing sounds pretty close to my melody and the mp145 sounds very off to me. A lot of missing air, some boom in the vocals and congested treble in some/many of the cases. Maybe I got lucky with my pair and I'm also using the perfect iem now for this review but the mp145 sounds inferior in many ways and tuned very differently. Idk, I thought the demo was pretty accurate and I enjoyed the melody the most. This was very interesting. Thanks for the review.
What is your take on source differences ? I hear no difference between my $10 apple dongle and my $150 ifi hip2, between se and bal output i think i hear more bass on balanced but cannot be sure as i dint have a hardware switch to toggle instantly between se and balanced ( which i have between 2 se sources)
I agree with the cymbals sounding wonky. I also thought the bass was lacking and the presentation was congested. The cymbals sounded great on the s12, but the vocal on the s12 was weird to me. The Mp145 is the clear winner based on this comparison.
This demo is bet was recorded at 60db. Like most do. Hbb listens at 77 dB. Big difference here buddy. The 145 would be too bright for me at this volume and the kiwi will be perfect at 77db
Whatever the volume is during recording, the volume is pumped up on my editing timeline a bit. And you can also raise the volume on your speakers until you are hearing the volume at whatever dB your system can provide.
@dansaudioreviews if we hearing from an iem. Then you right according to the recording . But in the same time the phones only gives 25mw per channel foe anyone to have a good hearing on this. And I was mentioning about your hearing. For us. You make sense 100%
The demo comparison is very revealing. Not only the instrumental timbre is inconsistent. The vocals are muffled too. They try to put emphasis on the mid bass. But its not consistent. Treble is not consistently clear. It's wonky. Thank goodness for this channel. Please keep going with your honest takes. There are not enough reviewers who are brave enough to keep it real all the time anymore. With financial incentive keeping most of them in check.
I can’t speak to other reviewers in terms of financial biases, I dare not presume personally of any of that - especially since I don’t watch their videos much at all, and what I’ve seen I thought was honest ✌🏻 But I do very much love and appreciate your seeing value in my brand of honesty and my tastes. Thank you 🙇🏻♂️
*First off just a little disclaimer, i was listening to this through my Legato and no i don't consider myself an audiophile, just your average dude who enjoys good music(relatively speaking of course)* From what i heard, the cymbal strikes were more vibrant and more natural from beginning to the very tip of the end of the splash on the Hidzs MP145. While on the Kiwi Ears Melody, the cymbal strikes/splash seem to suddenly get cut off before it could reach the tip or the end of the splash. By the way, i actually listened to the sound demo with my eyes closed, and i can actually hear when the music is playing through the Melody or the MP145, just by paying attention to the cymbal strikes; and also, the Melody sound rather tight and congested, whereas the MP145 sounds relaxed and more spacious. Yeah, didn't notice in the others reviews i've seen; and to think i was already considering the Kiwi Ears Melody for my first planar set. Good one Dan! Much thanks for this! 🔥🔥🔥
Thanks Dan. It's great that you are sharing your honest opinions. Kiwi Ears could use the feedback to improve its future Planar product. No doubt MP145 won the battle in this round.
hey Dan, appreciate your videos. I'm in the market for a planar IEM and it's not easy deciding which one to get with so many choices! I had my eye on the Melody, but after listening to this I've decided that getting the MP145 would be the way to go! MP145 ordered; can't wait to get them!
Love the structure of your review and comments. Subscribed! I listened to the review connects and settled back to listen to the samples. I have no experience with either brand and no expectations or preferences. I preferred the Melody! Just seemed more engaging. The MP145 sounded boring. There's listening preferences and also the device I'm listening on.
Danny Boy! You made my day with this video. I love it when a reviewer is objective and explains why. I hope one day you'll get a collab too but hope that it doesn't affect your objectivity. I see too many big reviewers have collabs and start to show biases...or avoid reviewing the direct competition because they don't want to admit their's is not as good. I definitely hear these Melody's having more recessed mids/ male vocals, where the extra low end veils the mids....like listening to it behind a sheet of Saran (plastic) wrap.
Nice review, Dan! Could you tell us a bit about your chain? I got an iFi Zen Dac v2 recently and I've been running out of the 4.4 balanced port, but the noise floor is noticable for sensitive IEMs. Wondering what you're using to drive the equipment in your sound demos and get them to sound clean and truthful to the source while not having any hiss.
I used to plug into my MacBook Pro. Now I plug into my Mac Studio’s 3.5mm port. But the sound was the same off my iPhone with a dongle when doing personal listening.
The only thing to lower the hiss would be to reduce gain of preamp section or headphone amp section, depending which one is the perpetrator. Maybe quieter power supply would help. 🤔 Hard to say without schematics. Also did you try to run USB signal from smartphone, just in case to eliminate USB as possible source of the noise or interference.
Kiwi has no treble. Interesting that first planar IEMs (S12 and Timeless) leaned towards treble tuning. These cheaper planar are more bassy. Cheaper planar drivers or just different tuning?
Interesting how for some this is not only the sub 100$ King, but some 200$ - which is super competitive. Maybe differences of ears and minds plays a bigger role than we care to recognize.
Well 1st of all i should make my background clear: Im currently Listening with Moondrop Chu 2 with 3.5mm Standard with No dac. And ita My 1st IEM and I have no expertise in feild of Audiofiles. So ye My Review to the Sound test of Kiwi ears melody: It Sounds like micro Needles are Pocking My ears. That's what My ears experienced which i don't like and is the key difference between other IEM in the video. (note: I like Slightly warmer Tone with Bass described as "Punchy" and Natural Treble (not shoughty). So ye I can hear that Shoughtyness (Micro needles) in the Kiwi ears Melody.
Well, i'm gonna get mine in days going to try with wide bore tips. Some mentioned (PW) that this IEM is harder to drive than usual, and I will see if extra power can make a difference.
When I first got into audio, I wish I knew how varied our hearing can be. The shape of our ears, ear canals, age of our eardrums, and perception greatly vary. I don't think sets are inherently bad if I or a reviewer doesn't like the way it sounds. It's just that we aren't compatible with it. Maybe our ear structure is boosting a certain frequency on top of what a particular tuning has increased, creating an unnatural sounding set. Some of the reviewers I watch are older and rarely did I hear anything about age affecting their ability to hear higher frequencies. Headphones, iems that sounded good to them were intolerable to someone like me who is younger and treble sensitive.
Would be great if you've compared other music genres as well, like Hip-Hop and EDM. I bet Kiwi gonna have advantage there. But here I think kiwi sounded better than s12 which is twice as more expensive. Edit: I've listened to other genres demos as well and MP145 sounds better in every aspect.
I like how things are reviewed over one song, because there are simply too many new stuff coming out. The new objective is to be the first to find a flaw. And here I am still thinking Klipsch makes the best iem.
Tl:Dr; for the normal person, Audiophiles don't like anything that isn't 4khz masking/boosting over the rest of the frequency response and piercing your ear, brain cells, and soul. If it has warmth and body, it's automatically bad. That's like, buying monitors and saying ones bad because it doesn't have blasted blue light because the photos you look at dont have enough blue value in them. "Oh no the notes arent as sharp muh boi". but to be fair I really like the subjective playing music back through, might consider patreoning if I ever have money someday. It gives you some relative point to understanding how the iem sounds'. The relaxed ups in the Melody make me want it for gaming. Also the price difference has me goin melodee
Something to add, too many details, can be hard on the long season of listening. Love my original s12, but I can't listen for a long time, Haven't heard mp145 (too expensive for blind buy 😅).
If they can't take a little constructive critizism then they shouldn't be in business. The only way to improve is understand what's not working and fix/improve it. Anyway the cymbals and the vocals sounded clear but almost muted on the last song. It was a little strange.
Now I don’t want to assume they will take it badly in any public or personal way. I think they would probably at least just be cautious, reasonably so, to share products with someone who isn’t typically resonating with the sound profile they’re going for. Their house sounds might just go into directions I don’t jive with much of the time and so, consequently, I wouldn’t blame that at all for being wary of collaborating with me. What if what they have to work with isn’t something that would even work well with where I would want a sound to go? I mean I would love to offer ideas and see what their engineers can actually achieve with those ideas in practice….but often enough the engineers might not be able to achieve what a person wants. The changes wouldn’t be possible physically. There are constraints within the nature of what they can tweak with an existing IEM design (apparently, it seems, as I’ve encountered). And if someone working their did take hurt or offense to their work being perceived by someone in a way they just don’t hear, then they are reasonable to be feeling bummed by it. I only hope that I am able to communicate well enough that what I am doing is merely sharing my personal taste and reaction authentically. But of course, that’s just MY personal reaction. I kind of feel like I walked into a museum, seeing a work that I just feel pushes things outside where I think I feel I like, and yet many people might go by and love it. So here I am criticizing someone’s work that they loved or thought sounded worthwhile to share, and I can’t blame them for not exactly wanting to contact me or work with me.
I had a pair of kiwi ears and they were so terrible had to return them. The cheapest ones, think it was the cadenza. Could not enjoy anything about them at all. Then I watched aaaaaaalll the reviewers say they were bang for buck winners etc. I thought, maybe these guys need to clean their ears out. Anyway, you’re not alone in not liking the sound of their products. However, having said all that, to my ears, on your demo tracks, the highs and cymbals actually sounded better on the Melody, because the MP145 are dark sounding. The bass is a different story, it sounded waaaaay better and more textured and punchy and deep on the MP145, and was weak on the kiwi. So again, this is just to my ears, but the kiwi strength to me sounded like the better choice for treble, but terrible for everything else, and if you don’t mind a dark sounding IEM, the MP145 are better sounding by quite a margin. Still not a fan of the S12 Pro for enjoyment.
Now although I don’t find all their gear terrible, I do hear a funky take on much of the gear. Just a tad off in some area or another that makes me scratch my head and wonder what I’m missing. The cadenza was one that I dislike the most though. I just never got into it. Sounded off to me.
@@dansaudioreviews so how is it possible that you are the only reviewer to be heard saying it? Actually thought there was something wrong with the set because I wouldn’t hear anything similar to what anyone was describing. That’s where my eyebrow starts to raise regarding paid reviews not being disclosed on some channels. And I am going to tell you another one that I hated that every reviewer and their dog recommends and loves, that I sent back because it sounded crap. The moondrop aria. Everything just sounds far away and completely un-engaging. Those are probably the two worst IEM’s that I have heard so far in real life. I am skeptical to trust anyone on this platform to be honest, but so far, you are earning my trust because of videos like this one. And this is how it should be, just honesty, not caring about the manufacturers ‘feelings’. A corporate company doesn’t have feelings. Its a team effort. So the whole team should feel bad when somethings crap, but them’s the breaks. Then again, you think they are going to pay attention to or remember the one reviewer who gave them a bad review or are that entire team more likely to be going about telling friends and families ‘our new IEM that I worked on got 19 great reviews!’ So there has to be a balance, and nobody thinks you are trying to hurt or discount anyone’s feelings, but to be blunt, your first responsibility is to us, the consumers who are looking to you for guidance, and all we want is honesty. That’s it. And see even when you don’t like something, we are still going to look at other reviews and convince ourselves to buy something if we want it, so you’re doing no harm is how I see it. This is how you build a following. This is all said with encouragement, and to remind you to follow your instinct and do things your way, not copy other people and go ‘oh is this how they do videos on a channel?’ And instead of that, just do what it is that you are doing and go, ‘this is how I think it should be done’. That was a really long reply sorry about that. I have found your channel helpful in avoiding making mistakes. That’s worth something. And not just to me, to everyone. No theme reviews is also quite good at being blunt and honest, although I don’t always find myself agreeing with his ears and opinions, I feel he is pretty trustworthy. And he is also kind of an outsider because of that, he doesn’t really get included in the camaraderie of a lot of the usual suspects, and that’s the price you pay for having integrity. But it is the right way to go about it I reckon.
I've had plenty of joy and ample listening levels (for my ears anyway) for the MP145. The S12 is fairly easy to power too. All dongle. I don't mess with portables - or yet anyway. I plug right into an Apple dongle into the iPhone. I would expect a portable amp to be more needed for things like the Maestro SE.
the excitation is within a too narrow band, along with the pulled mids it goes outta wack too easily. but tbf the s12 and mp sucked in their own ways, i hear s12 spiky a bit lower down and the mp has kind of an "internal" bluntedness if i could call it so
You nailed it with respect to the differences. The Melodys sound a bit thinner in comparison. Without that comparison, I wonder how they sound. Since I actually ordered a set before I saw/heard your review and have the MP145s on order as an early backer, I'll be doing just that. BTW, I also own the Letshouers, Timeless and several other planars and I find they all have their individual personalities with none of them sounding particularly 'bad' per se, just different, yet musical. It will be interesting to compare the Melodys with them. Lastly, I think your reviews are very lucid, easy to understand and port well to the audio tracks. Well done, indeed.
Guys. Stop comparing the sound here. All depends of the volume you play . Once you encrease the volume by 10 dB. The upper mids and treble goes up by 3 dB for each 10 dB of volume. I bet this was recorded at 60db.hbb listen at 77db. Big difference
What you are hearing is me trying to closely match the levels of the IEMs as the levels appear on my editing timeline and meter display. I look at the yellows and reds of the peaks on the timeline and generally try to match the overall appearance of them between IEMs. I also play the track and look at the meter display. For example, when a drum hits multiple times in a row (like a snare), I’ll look at how high the meter hits on one IEM and then make sure the other IEM also hits that height or so. And to some degree too I try to listen to the edit by ear off my headphone and speakers to match. All files though, even before I import into my timeline, were volume matched for their recording - per meters in my recording software.
I can’t guarantee it’s always perfectly matched for every instrument, since every IEM pumps up different volume in different places compared to each other. Some people apparently match vocals or try to, and let everything else sound as quiet or loud as they need to. It is definitely possible that you may hear one IEM as sounding quieter than another.
@dansaudioreviews I agree. But what volume was that. I hear all my music around 85 to 95 dB. Metal guy I am. So I bet the wiki would be perfect and the 145 would be too sharp for me. I notice that for every iem there is a perfect tuning according to the levels.
I am still waiting to see whats wrong with the melody, for the price I personally its a decent proposition, I think this is just a promo for the MP145, until I see a real review without the kickstarter price and marketing I can't believe what are you telling me anymore
Also I want you to know I get zero cash from any of the Kickstarter linking. The only thing that happens is that they, HIDIZS, can see how many people click the link from my video. There is no affiliate/commission system set up with them or that Kickstarter. I do not get any compensation. They have never sponsored me and never sent me anything except gear samples. I’m talking to them about what a retuning could be like, but I only initiated talking to them in that way after I discovered how much I enjoy their product. And I don’t even think it’s working out so far… And yet I continue to refer people to try the MP145 when it has zero compensation. Meanwhile, with all my linsoul links, those ARE affiliated. So why question me now? Because you might not have been aware of my LACK of compensation for the HIDIZS praise. I’ve heard there might be some suspicion by people that HIDIZS did something suspicious. I don’t have any idea about any of that and all I know is that they sent me a bunch of products, I tried them (actually didn’t like most of them to be very blunt), but really found joy in the MP145 - hence here we are. Doubt if you like. Skepticism is fine. But falsify me if possible. Support that skepticism with your own personal experience or other knowledge that could inform that caution against me, that could offer insight into how exactly I’m misleading or corrupted by pay. Again, no pay. I’ll keep it going though. 😜 I don’t care
Kiwi Ears - great at marketing & making things look pretty - sub par at audio. I have been sorely disappointed by both the Orchestra Lite & the Quintet. On face value, the Quintet was OK - but SO much better can be had for the same kind of price. I thought even less of the Orchestra Lite. It's the prettiest IEM I've ever seen - but like a brainless bimbo, there's nothing impressive inside. Dull as dishwater & not even the reasonably good imaging can save them from being so BORING. Worst pair of IEMs I've ever bought. Never going near KE again.
😂Hot take man way to compare across an 80 dollar price gap....ope my bad made sure to shill for the s12 again too lol... oh wait that's another 40. What planar does better under 90?
If I'm only to compare against things at that exact price max requirement...then it's hard to say. PR2 (but results may vary, it seems). But for not too much more, like $100, you have the Tinhifi P1 Max. Some people love the Dioko. I used to, but at some point my taste or sound perception might've changed.
At this time, I also believe that it may be best to compare planars within a wider margin than just $90 exactly or less. I feel it is perfectly fine for many people in the community to compare it to things at higher costs, but near enough for their wallets to still consider within the same breath. Maybe a $135 IEM (current S12 Pro price) or $170 (S12 Pro’s original retail price), is still worth being aware of for many people against this $90 IEM. Though, even if something is cheaper with a driver in it, doesn't mean I enjoy the music any more. It isn't a race to get a planar in our ears at a cost. It should be a race to get a great sound at that cost. That upper end timbre, to my taste, just isn't worth spending money on.
i say it's only fair given the overall narrative that the market has reached a point of offering amazeballs sounding stuff even at the lowest price tier, that you should point it out if it ain't so
@@dansaudioreviews slick edit champ. Much like the price of the s12 has sunk for sales, so does the melody. You can easily find it around 65. They didn't target the planar sound that you're looking for .. cool! To call it a poor sound however, simply because it doesn't aim for the sound you want.... That's really pushing a narrative (well let's be fair, shilling). It would be better to say "hey guys here's a dynamic sounding planar at a good price I don't like it ymmv" instead of "this iem is bad and shouldn't exist" Many people, myself included, enjoy it. Guess what? I think the s12/pro sound like absolute sibilant dog water... I have still suggested it to a few friends that enjoy a treble forward presentation because.... That's how the hobby should work. By all means keep encouraging cookie cutter opinions instead of experimentation though lol. Seems to work just fine for you!
EDIT: I want to add that the “knocking” in track two is the drumstick hitting the snare rim, and that it is an even bigger timbre stranger than the cymbals. If I could redo my commentary in the video, it would be to emphasize that snare rim knock, and off-timbre vocal balance playing alongside it that altogether define the issue I’m trying to describe in the tonal balance of the upper end. It just comes off as too thin and splashy and distractingly unwelcome.
Please don't take it personally anyone. Any reviewer, any person who enjoys these while I don't. I don't mean to criticize anyone's take, as we all have different ears and libraries, etc. If your favorite reviewer or community group likes these, I'm happy for you and happy that people can find joy in these.
Please consider too that I’m just one guy with one set of ears and tastes here. I also have had more treble sensitivity somehow lately, it seems. I do not mean in any way to criticize anyone’s tastes. I only mean to be critical of what sounds “good” or “bad” in my own ears. Sorry if I could have said more with regards to specific frequencies or areas other than cymbals. I do repeat myself a bit here just saying “funky.” But the timbre or balance is just not for me, however exactly it came to be. Was it the bass not being enough? Was it the lack of male vocal depth there? Was it a lack of full harmonic definition I was seeking with the female vocals? Was it an odd dip in the upper mids or treble? Whatever it is, I hear what I hear. Something sounds scooped out too much. Something is dipping too much relative to another area in the upper mids and/or treble.
But I just didn't feel enough motivation to continue analyzing since the actual feel of the set just didn't land for me. It was, as I said a "nonstarter." It isn't JUST the cymbals, it's just the tone of anything that plays up in that area. Something isn't even enough or in the right proportion tonally. The end result is a "bright" affect, despite the low end being present. Maybe a graph shows it as warm looking, but the treble and upper mids somehow, somehow... make the actual impression feel "bright" to my ear. And in a way that sounds off, or too thin, or lacking fuller qualities that are needed to sound more natural to my ear.
LETSHUOER S12 Pro
www.linsoul.com/products/letshuoer-s12-pro?_pos=1&_psq=s12&_ss=e&_v=1.0&sca_ref=1723281.uURKdX74u0
HIDIZS MP145
www.linsoul.com/products/hidizs-mp145
Kiwi Ears Melody
www.linsoul.com/products/kiwi-ears-melody?_pos=6&_sid=5c07394c3&_ss=r&sca_ref=1723281.uURKdX74u0
EDIT:: Apologies for the editing error at 1:18. The text card was cut by accident and it faded out only to fade a new one back in right after. It's the same file still playing, the same IEM (MP145), but the card was a mistake. There is also a problem with one of the cards that came in at 1:10 that didn't animate properly. There have been bugs in my program.
EDIT:: In hindsight, I wish I lowered the S12 Pro volume by one dB in the Dreams track, during the demo. Seems a tad louder compared to the other gear on some devices. 😢 The timbre differences are clear anyway, but I I don’t want the loudness difference in certain ranges of frequencies to give unfair advantage toward our overall buying decisions 🙇🏻♂️
Thanks for your honesty!
Honestly I appreciate your firmness to your views for audio, even if it may seem like people would point out how different these are to other reviewers for example. The fact of the matter is that people's ear canal sizes and shapes, preferences for audio, tolerance for treble affected by pinna compensation/gain etc. off the top of my head can and will influence widely how IEMs will be perceived by a person beyond what frequency graphs can ever cover, well enough that an IEM can be accepted or dismissed by people with both their experiences being in a way undeniable. Like it's more helpful to realize how different people deal with IEMs to gain an understanding of what people prefer in terms of sound signature and whether that works for you or not.
I have not checked IEMs that much lately, like I've stuck with the Hana 2021 as my personal favorite IEM for a while now (the last I bought was the Moondrop SSR, yes long after it has existed already for a while), but interestingly while it's honestly positively reviewed by many (including you -- I'm interested to see how you perceive the Hana 2021 now though with higher treble sensitivity) and I can understand what is found good with 'em, I actually relate to the negative review of Szymon (prev. Casual Audiophile) of them the most, with understanding the flaws the Hana has (particularly that the lower mids where most male vocals sit is imo just serviceable), with just the difference that I do rotate across more eartips to deal with good combinations of toning down that overwhelming bass, and having slightly cleaner mids and enhancing treble presence while still keeping it well controlled (depending on what I'd listen or game to, I'd either stick with 07-based series eartips like Acoustune AET07 or the Azla SednaEarfit Short, or if I really want things to get brighter the Moondrop Springs), and I appreciate the Hana the most with them, whilst acknowledging why someone would equally not want them at all regardless of whatever eartips etc. is chosen.
@@autotropicplaybench1819Exactly.
And by the way, I don’t have the Hana anymore. I sold it back in the days I needed to sell gear to cover my next review purchase. Or I returned it to Amazon if it was an Amazon purchase, I can’t recall.
These days I try to hold onto everything for future review/reflection/reference. I had to do what I did back then, but I wish I had all my old sold items back.
So I wish I could say how my opinion might be changed now, but I can’t 😔
Additional commentary, as stated summarily in my rankings:
Just too funky of an upper end. The timbre is off. The cymbals, the snare, the drum stick on the snare's rim, the toms, almost everything. I can't. There may be upsides to this, like an open sound or clear and airy and separated kind of sound with a blob of warmth added...but is it worth it? No.
The warmth seems at odds with the timbre of the upper end. There's too many spots dug out from the upper mids perhaps, or the treble, in such a way that the interplay of the two ranges results in an beaten up wonky sound.
As I listen to these on more tracks, I can still feel the joy of my music, but its coming through a filter of off kilter, splashy yet warm blobbed, mess of an experience. It isn't cohesive as much, for my ear and tastes, as I want to perceive my music.
It's all personal perhaps, but I wonder how many people will hear or not what I'm trying to say.
Love the honest, no bs takes. It was pretty clear in the demos that the melody doesn't compete
A diplomatic review is good for new comers who only want to know about one specific model of headphones and nothing else while not being too interested in consuming all the reviews they can find on internet. However for people who watch contents from multiple reviewers frequently, the cumulated opinions and preferences is multiple reviewers become a very useful guideline that does a very good job at describing what a headphone sounds like.
The MP145 sounds more full bodied compared to the Melody and the highs on the S12 pro shine more definitely , might be cause of the size of the driver being used
Hi Dan, I basically agreed with your sound impressions and difference you found, but to me Melody doesn't sound bad at all!
To my ears every S12 or z12 iteration - for example - sounds a lot more weird than Melody.
Having said that, I appreciate your honest and clear approach on presenting us your opinion and thoughts.
Thank you for your awesome work!
True about the weird tuning on the s12. Not good or bad.
The great thing about those IEMs is that they react well to EQ. I've got them EQ'd for bassy to an EQ for airiness.
Don't be sorry Dan, we need criticism, too many Yes Men in this hobby, especially among those who do early reviews.
I appreciate your appreciation 🙇🏻♂️
I got them both. At medium volumes the 145 is just perfect. At high volumes above 80 dB thr 145 was too much treble ans upper nids. The kiwi was terrible at medium volumes but at high volumes the kiwi was better by far compared to 145.peredr tuning now I have the 145 for jaz and mellow music and kiwi for rock or hip hop loud tracks
No meat and bones, and top end vailed comparing to the MP 145 and S12 PRO. Hmmm... Well maybe another Kiwi will be better.
Certainly, MP145 and Timeless AE are top devices for less than 300 dollars. And below that, the cheaper middle-range Planar seem to compete with the S12 Pro, MELODY, and KLANAR. I think the competition between Kefine KLANAR and Kiwiears MELODY will be interesting.
15:10 the snare 🥁 drum sound on MP145 is really amazing superb 👍
Interesting, I don't own the mp145 but what I'm hearing sounds pretty close to my melody and the mp145 sounds very off to me. A lot of missing air, some boom in the vocals and congested treble in some/many of the cases. Maybe I got lucky with my pair and I'm also using the perfect iem now for this review but the mp145 sounds inferior in many ways and tuned very differently. Idk, I thought the demo was pretty accurate and I enjoyed the melody the most. This was very interesting. Thanks for the review.
Thank you, you are one the very few iem reviewers that do negative reviews, which helps us a lot when choosing what to buy
I don’t know about everyone else. But I appreciate your appreciation of me speaking to things the way I do.
What is your take on source differences ? I hear no difference between my $10 apple dongle and my $150 ifi hip2, between se and bal output i think i hear more bass on balanced but cannot be sure as i dint have a hardware switch to toggle instantly between se and balanced ( which i have between 2 se sources)
Which is better?qkz HBB or kz castor bass edition?
Interesting question yes.
but how about replacing the Melody with the Quintet for head-to-head with the MP145 !
I know it's not apple-to-apple but it just why not 🤗.
I agree with the cymbals sounding wonky. I also thought the bass was lacking and the presentation was congested. The cymbals sounded great on the s12, but the vocal on the s12 was weird to me. The Mp145 is the clear winner based on this comparison.
This is probably their first dud. Kiwi Ears have fantastic gamma.
I think the S12 pro sounds the most natural and the best. I'm about to buy it, but maybe I'll wait for the Binary X Gizaudio Chopin reviews.
You know the sound of S12 Pro before you buy it? How?
@@wemustgo I have been listening to a pair owned by a friend of mine.
@@jari121 Oh great
Surprising because Chris/HBB rated it highly as someone who loves warm signature. Anyway, It's good to know that reviewers have different tastes.
Read my comments here
This demo is bet was recorded at 60db. Like most do. Hbb listens at 77 dB. Big difference here buddy. The 145 would be too bright for me at this volume and the kiwi will be perfect at 77db
Whatever the volume is during recording, the volume is pumped up on my editing timeline a bit. And you can also raise the volume on your speakers until you are hearing the volume at whatever dB your system can provide.
@@paulosilva8200 that totally makes sense. Thank you for this brother
@dansaudioreviews if we hearing from an iem. Then you right according to the recording . But in the same time the phones only gives 25mw per channel foe anyone to have a good hearing on this. And I was mentioning about your hearing. For us. You make sense 100%
The demo comparison is very revealing. Not only the instrumental timbre is inconsistent. The vocals are muffled too. They try to put emphasis on the mid bass. But its not consistent. Treble is not consistently clear. It's wonky.
Thank goodness for this channel. Please keep going with your honest takes. There are not enough reviewers who are brave enough to keep it real all the time anymore. With financial incentive keeping most of them in check.
I can’t speak to other reviewers in terms of financial biases, I dare not presume personally of any of that - especially since I don’t watch their videos much at all, and what I’ve seen I thought was honest ✌🏻
But I do very much love and appreciate your seeing value in my brand of honesty and my tastes.
Thank you 🙇🏻♂️
Please try the juzear clear and let us know if you like it i think its a very interesting iem
*First off just a little disclaimer, i was listening to this through my Legato and no i don't consider myself an audiophile, just your average dude who enjoys good music(relatively speaking of course)*
From what i heard, the cymbal strikes were more vibrant and more natural from beginning to the very tip of the end of the splash on the Hidzs MP145. While on the Kiwi Ears Melody, the cymbal strikes/splash seem to suddenly get cut off before it could reach the tip or the end of the splash. By the way, i actually listened to the sound demo with my eyes closed, and i can actually hear when the music is playing through the Melody or the MP145, just by paying attention to the cymbal strikes; and also, the Melody sound rather tight and congested, whereas the MP145 sounds relaxed and more spacious.
Yeah, didn't notice in the others reviews i've seen; and to think i was already considering the Kiwi Ears Melody for my first planar set.
Good one Dan! Much thanks for this!
🔥🔥🔥
🙇🏻♂️
omg these both iems sounding so boomy 🫨🫨🫨🫨
Thanks Dan. It's great that you are sharing your honest opinions. Kiwi Ears could use the feedback to improve its future Planar product. No doubt MP145 won the battle in this round.
S12 Pro tied for me but for a different flavor.
hey Dan, appreciate your videos. I'm in the market for a planar IEM and it's not easy deciding which one to get with so many choices! I had my eye on the Melody, but after listening to this I've decided that getting the MP145 would be the way to go! MP145 ordered; can't wait to get them!
Love the structure of your review and comments. Subscribed!
I listened to the review connects and settled back to listen to the samples.
I have no experience with either brand and no expectations or preferences.
I preferred the Melody! Just seemed more engaging. The MP145 sounded boring.
There's listening preferences and also the device I'm listening on.
Honesty is the best policy and let the masses make their own decision as the end result. Job done.
Wow HDR video... it's very well done
spend responsibly! and no need to fomo, that's why we have you Dan! you matter and mean a lot to this community.
Thank you very kindly for that ❤️🙇🏻♂️
Danny Boy! You made my day with this video. I love it when a reviewer is objective and explains why. I hope one day you'll get a collab too but hope that it doesn't affect your objectivity. I see too many big reviewers have collabs and start to show biases...or avoid reviewing the direct competition because they don't want to admit their's is not as good. I definitely hear these Melody's having more recessed mids/ male vocals, where the extra low end veils the mids....like listening to it behind a sheet of Saran (plastic) wrap.
I appreciate you 🙇🏻♂️
Bravo, Dan! Thank you for your objective and unbiased evaluation. It is greatly appreciated!
🙇🏻♂️
Nice review, Dan! Could you tell us a bit about your chain? I got an iFi Zen Dac v2 recently and I've been running out of the 4.4 balanced port, but the noise floor is noticable for sensitive IEMs. Wondering what you're using to drive the equipment in your sound demos and get them to sound clean and truthful to the source while not having any hiss.
I used to plug into my MacBook Pro. Now I plug into my Mac Studio’s 3.5mm port.
But the sound was the same off my iPhone with a dongle when doing personal listening.
The only thing to lower the hiss would be to reduce gain of preamp section or headphone amp section, depending which one is the perpetrator. Maybe quieter power supply would help.
🤔 Hard to say without schematics. Also did you try to run USB signal from smartphone, just in case to eliminate USB as possible source of the noise or interference.
The best reviews in the game!
Kiwi has no treble. Interesting that first planar IEMs (S12 and Timeless) leaned towards treble tuning. These cheaper planar are more bassy. Cheaper planar drivers or just different tuning?
Thanks for the demo! just cancelled my pre-order. Think I'll go with the S12pro or MP145 😊 sadly i really liked the design of the kiwi 😅
I mean hey. I could be crazy. HBB likes it apparently. I’m just one guy 🙇🏻♂️
But yea….if you hear what I hear, then ya..
Interesting how for some this is not only the sub 100$ King, but some 200$ - which is super competitive. Maybe differences of ears and minds plays a bigger role than we care to recognize.
Well 1st of all i should make my background clear: Im currently Listening with Moondrop Chu 2 with 3.5mm Standard with No dac. And ita My 1st IEM and I have no expertise in feild of Audiofiles. So ye
My Review to the Sound test of Kiwi ears melody:
It Sounds like micro Needles are Pocking My ears. That's what My ears experienced which i don't like and is the key difference between other IEM in the video.
(note: I like Slightly warmer Tone with Bass described as "Punchy" and Natural Treble (not shoughty).
So ye I can hear that Shoughtyness (Micro needles) in the Kiwi ears Melody.
Don't try to hear on shitty headphones with 3.5mm.
Please try to get demos from 64 audio IEMs, like the Tia Trio, U12t and the new Volur !
They don’t send me anything unfortunately.
And I don’t have the money to buy.
You can compare with this 3. Because the different price. One $90, second $190 the other $180 kickstarter. So kiwi is ok/good but cheaper.
Maybe the dan here can do dample at 60 db and then at 80 db for us to know how it sounds in real environments
Well, i'm gonna get mine in days going to try with wide bore tips.
Some mentioned (PW) that this IEM is harder to drive than usual, and I will see if extra power can make a difference.
@@winnieid2727 if you like loud volumes . Perfect iem for that
Dan you need to try Sound rhyme sr5 for sure..or should I say I want to listen SR5 with your setup.... Please try to get it on your channel
Thanks for honest opinion
When I first got into audio, I wish I knew how varied our hearing can be. The shape of our ears, ear canals, age of our eardrums, and perception greatly vary. I don't think sets are inherently bad if I or a reviewer doesn't like the way it sounds. It's just that we aren't compatible with it. Maybe our ear structure is boosting a certain frequency on top of what a particular tuning has increased, creating an unnatural sounding set.
Some of the reviewers I watch are older and rarely did I hear anything about age affecting their ability to hear higher frequencies. Headphones, iems that sounded good to them were intolerable to someone like me who is younger and treble sensitive.
Why kiwi melody is sounding so boomy ?? 🙄 I love my hexa 😘
Excellent review and comparisons. I’m glad I held off on the KiwiEars Melody.
omg very bass heavy 🫨😓
pls dan we need another budget round up video the market gonna go blind with these sea of budget flooding and we haven't seen an Noah to built a boat
Going to review the brands next. One at a time.
Then yes, I do wonder if it’ll be a good time after that to do a roundup of some kind.
Would be great if you've compared other music genres as well, like Hip-Hop and EDM. I bet Kiwi gonna have advantage there. But here I think kiwi sounded better than s12 which is twice as more expensive. Edit: I've listened to other genres demos as well and MP145 sounds better in every aspect.
The price of 'mp145' is about twice that of 'melody'. The comparison is not appropriate
I like how things are reviewed over one song, because there are simply too many new stuff coming out. The new objective is to be the first to find a flaw. And here I am still thinking Klipsch makes the best iem.
Tl:Dr; for the normal person,
Audiophiles don't like anything that isn't 4khz masking/boosting over the rest of the frequency response and piercing your ear, brain cells, and soul.
If it has warmth and body, it's automatically bad.
That's like, buying monitors and saying ones bad because it doesn't have blasted blue light because the photos you look at dont have enough blue value in them. "Oh no the notes arent as sharp muh boi".
but to be fair I really like the subjective playing music back through, might consider patreoning if I ever have money someday. It gives you some relative point to understanding how the iem sounds'. The relaxed ups in the Melody make me want it for gaming.
Also the price difference has me goin melodee
Something to add, too many details, can be hard on the long season of listening.
Love my original s12, but I can't listen for a long time,
Haven't heard mp145 (too expensive for blind buy 😅).
Nice one. Just shoot it and keep them coming.
without competition the melody sound passable but once you pit them against anything else they fall off harsh.
If they can't take a little constructive critizism then they shouldn't be in business. The only way to improve is understand what's not working and fix/improve it. Anyway the cymbals and the vocals sounded clear but almost muted on the last song. It was a little strange.
Now I don’t want to assume they will take it badly in any public or personal way. I think they would probably at least just be cautious, reasonably so, to share products with someone who isn’t typically resonating with the sound profile they’re going for.
Their house sounds might just go into directions I don’t jive with much of the time and so, consequently, I wouldn’t blame that at all for being wary of collaborating with me. What if what they have to work with isn’t something that would even work well with where I would want a sound to go? I mean I would love to offer ideas and see what their engineers can actually achieve with those ideas in practice….but often enough the engineers might not be able to achieve what a person wants. The changes wouldn’t be possible physically. There are constraints within the nature of what they can tweak with an existing IEM design (apparently, it seems, as I’ve encountered).
And if someone working their did take hurt or offense to their work being perceived by someone in a way they just don’t hear, then they are reasonable to be feeling bummed by it. I only hope that I am able to communicate well enough that what I am doing is merely sharing my personal taste and reaction authentically. But of course, that’s just MY personal reaction.
I kind of feel like I walked into a museum, seeing a work that I just feel pushes things outside where I think I feel I like, and yet many people might go by and love it. So here I am criticizing someone’s work that they loved or thought sounded worthwhile to share, and I can’t blame them for not exactly wanting to contact me or work with me.
Hey DAN, 7hz has a new Timeless V2.
Yea. I’d love to get it. They haven’t sent me it.
In my opinion, the eartips and cable of 'Melody' are not good. To hear better sound from 'Melody', you will need to change the cable and eartips.
Nothing At All wrong with being honest. Ever
I had a pair of kiwi ears and they were so terrible had to return them. The cheapest ones, think it was the cadenza. Could not enjoy anything about them at all. Then I watched aaaaaaalll the reviewers say they were bang for buck winners etc. I thought, maybe these guys need to clean their ears out. Anyway, you’re not alone in not liking the sound of their products. However, having said all that, to my ears, on your demo tracks, the highs and cymbals actually sounded better on the Melody, because the MP145 are dark sounding. The bass is a different story, it sounded waaaaay better and more textured and punchy and deep on the MP145, and was weak on the kiwi. So again, this is just to my ears, but the kiwi strength to me sounded like the better choice for treble, but terrible for everything else, and if you don’t mind a dark sounding IEM, the MP145 are better sounding by quite a margin. Still not a fan of the S12 Pro for enjoyment.
Now although I don’t find all their gear terrible, I do hear a funky take on much of the gear. Just a tad off in some area or another that makes me scratch my head and wonder what I’m missing.
The cadenza was one that I dislike the most though. I just never got into it. Sounded off to me.
@@dansaudioreviews so how is it possible that you are the only reviewer to be heard saying it? Actually thought there was something wrong with the set because I wouldn’t hear anything similar to what anyone was describing. That’s where my eyebrow starts to raise regarding paid reviews not being disclosed on some channels. And I am going to tell you another one that I hated that every reviewer and their dog recommends and loves, that I sent back because it sounded crap. The moondrop aria. Everything just sounds far away and completely un-engaging. Those are probably the two worst IEM’s that I have heard so far in real life. I am skeptical to trust anyone on this platform to be honest, but so far, you are earning my trust because of videos like this one. And this is how it should be, just honesty, not caring about the manufacturers ‘feelings’. A corporate company doesn’t have feelings. Its a team effort. So the whole team should feel bad when somethings crap, but them’s the breaks. Then again, you think they are going to pay attention to or remember the one reviewer who gave them a bad review or are that entire team more likely to be going about telling friends and families ‘our new IEM that I worked on got 19 great reviews!’ So there has to be a balance, and nobody thinks you are trying to hurt or discount anyone’s feelings, but to be blunt, your first responsibility is to us, the consumers who are looking to you for guidance, and all we want is honesty. That’s it. And see even when you don’t like something, we are still going to look at other reviews and convince ourselves to buy something if we want it, so you’re doing no harm is how I see it. This is how you build a following. This is all said with encouragement, and to remind you to follow your instinct and do things your way, not copy other people and go ‘oh is this how they do videos on a channel?’ And instead of that, just do what it is that you are doing and go, ‘this is how I think it should be done’. That was a really long reply sorry about that. I have found your channel helpful in avoiding making mistakes. That’s worth something. And not just to me, to everyone. No theme reviews is also quite good at being blunt and honest, although I don’t always find myself agreeing with his ears and opinions, I feel he is pretty trustworthy. And he is also kind of an outsider because of that, he doesn’t really get included in the camaraderie of a lot of the usual suspects, and that’s the price you pay for having integrity. But it is the right way to go about it I reckon.
@@RocketLauncherwithInfiniteAmmo❤🙇🏻♂️
I sent back Quartet. Something plasticky and compressed about them.
It's got bloat!
145 rules way more natural and open but the fit????I have small ears I'm speptical
thanks for being honest .
Yeah, sounds wonky. Thanks for the honest review!
MP145 is more for my ears, but I'll pass both coz of planars and dislike to add DAC amp on iphone in listening 🙏
I've had plenty of joy and ample listening levels (for my ears anyway) for the MP145. The S12 is fairly easy to power too. All dongle. I don't mess with portables - or yet anyway. I plug right into an Apple dongle into the iPhone.
I would expect a portable amp to be more needed for things like the Maestro SE.
the excitation is within a too narrow band, along with the pulled mids it goes outta wack too easily. but tbf the s12 and mp sucked in their own ways, i hear s12 spiky a bit lower down and the mp has kind of an "internal" bluntedness if i could call it so
None are perfect o gotta say. There’s something I would tweak in each.
10:10 throw these iems on dustbin 😂😂😂😂 omg i am out 🙏🏼
Kiwi Melody highs sound odd, unfortunately.
It sounds muffled to me.
mp145 is smoother and cleaner vs melody
Vote kiwi
You nailed it with respect to the differences. The Melodys sound a bit thinner in comparison. Without that comparison, I wonder how they sound. Since I actually ordered a set before I saw/heard your review and have the MP145s on order as an early backer, I'll be doing just that. BTW, I also own the Letshouers, Timeless and several other planars and I find they all have their individual personalities with none of them sounding particularly 'bad' per se, just different, yet musical. It will be interesting to compare the Melodys with them. Lastly, I think your reviews are very lucid, easy to understand and port well to the audio tracks. Well done, indeed.
Thank you! ❤️
Very much indeed thank you 🙇🏻♂️
Guys. Stop comparing the sound here. All depends of the volume you play . Once you encrease the volume by 10 dB. The upper mids and treble goes up by 3 dB for each 10 dB of volume. I bet this was recorded at 60db.hbb listen at 77db. Big difference
I am guessing he is matching volume with pink noise ( not by ear but looking at the amplitude of the recorded signal)
What you are hearing is me trying to closely match the levels of the IEMs as the levels appear on my editing timeline and meter display. I look at the yellows and reds of the peaks on the timeline and generally try to match the overall appearance of them between IEMs. I also play the track and look at the meter display. For example, when a drum hits multiple times in a row (like a snare), I’ll look at how high the meter hits on one IEM and then make sure the other IEM also hits that height or so. And to some degree too I try to listen to the edit by ear off my headphone and speakers to match.
All files though, even before I import into my timeline, were volume matched for their recording - per meters in my recording software.
I can’t guarantee it’s always perfectly matched for every instrument, since every IEM pumps up different volume in different places compared to each other. Some people apparently match vocals or try to, and let everything else sound as quiet or loud as they need to.
It is definitely possible that you may hear one IEM as sounding quieter than another.
@dansaudioreviews I agree. But what volume was that. I hear all my music around 85 to 95 dB. Metal guy I am. So I bet the wiki would be perfect and the 145 would be too sharp for me. I notice that for every iem there is a perfect tuning according to the levels.
@dansaudioreviews always brother
Melody sounds compressed and thin
Melody is too sharp for comfort.
yes, genre-restricting, bloated midbass and quick subbass roll off, which unfortunately masks everything including the highs
I am still waiting to see whats wrong with the melody, for the price I personally its a decent proposition, I think this is just a promo for the MP145, until I see a real review without the kickstarter price and marketing I can't believe what are you telling me anymore
That’s ok ✌🏻 try it out and see if your ears match the tastes I expressed. 🙇🏻♂️
Also I want you to know I get zero cash from any of the Kickstarter linking. The only thing that happens is that they, HIDIZS, can see how many people click the link from my video. There is no affiliate/commission system set up with them or that Kickstarter.
I do not get any compensation.
They have never sponsored me and never sent me anything except gear samples.
I’m talking to them about what a retuning could be like, but I only initiated talking to them in that way after I discovered how much I enjoy their product. And I don’t even think it’s working out so far…
And yet I continue to refer people to try the MP145 when it has zero compensation. Meanwhile, with all my linsoul links, those ARE affiliated. So why question me now? Because you might not have been aware of my LACK of compensation for the HIDIZS praise. I’ve heard there might be some suspicion by people that HIDIZS did something suspicious. I don’t have any idea about any of that and all I know is that they sent me a bunch of products, I tried them (actually didn’t like most of them to be very blunt), but really found joy in the MP145 - hence here we are.
Doubt if you like. Skepticism is fine. But falsify me if possible. Support that skepticism with your own personal experience or other knowledge that could inform that caution against me, that could offer insight into how exactly I’m misleading or corrupted by pay. Again, no pay.
I’ll keep it going though. 😜 I don’t care
First
Kiwi Ears - great at marketing & making things look pretty - sub par at audio.
I have been sorely disappointed by both the Orchestra Lite & the Quintet. On face value, the Quintet was OK - but SO much better can be had for the same kind of price.
I thought even less of the Orchestra Lite. It's the prettiest IEM I've ever seen - but like a brainless bimbo, there's nothing impressive inside. Dull as dishwater & not even the reasonably good imaging can save them from being so BORING.
Worst pair of IEMs I've ever bought. Never going near KE again.
Your taste is literally opposite of mine 😂
😂Hot take man way to compare across an 80 dollar price gap....ope my bad made sure to shill for the s12 again too lol... oh wait that's another 40. What planar does better under 90?
If I'm only to compare against things at that exact price max requirement...then it's hard to say. PR2 (but results may vary, it seems).
But for not too much more, like $100, you have the Tinhifi P1 Max.
Some people love the Dioko. I used to, but at some point my taste or sound perception might've changed.
At this time, I also believe that it may be best to compare planars within a wider margin than just $90 exactly or less. I feel it is perfectly fine for many people in the community to compare it to things at higher costs, but near enough for their wallets to still consider within the same breath.
Maybe a $135 IEM (current S12 Pro price) or $170 (S12 Pro’s original retail price), is still worth being aware of for many people against this $90 IEM.
Though, even if something is cheaper with a driver in it, doesn't mean I enjoy the music any more. It isn't a race to get a planar in our ears at a cost. It should be a race to get a great sound at that cost.
That upper end timbre, to my taste, just isn't worth spending money on.
i say it's only fair given the overall narrative that the market has reached a point of offering amazeballs sounding stuff even at the lowest price tier, that you should point it out if it ain't so
@@dansaudioreviews slick edit champ.
Much like the price of the s12 has sunk for sales, so does the melody. You can easily find it around 65.
They didn't target the planar sound that you're looking for .. cool!
To call it a poor sound however, simply because it doesn't aim for the sound you want.... That's really pushing a narrative (well let's be fair, shilling).
It would be better to say "hey guys here's a dynamic sounding planar at a good price I don't like it ymmv" instead of "this iem is bad and shouldn't exist"
Many people, myself included, enjoy it. Guess what? I think the s12/pro sound like absolute sibilant dog water... I have still suggested it to a few friends that enjoy a treble forward presentation because.... That's how the hobby should work.
By all means keep encouraging cookie cutter opinions instead of experimentation though lol. Seems to work just fine for you!