Unique Melody Mason V3+ Review

Today we review the Unique Melody Mason V3+, which is selling for around $3,199 USD.

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Disclaimer: The Unique Melody Mason V3+ custom monitor was sent to us free of charge in exchange for this review. UM is not related to Headfonia in any way.

Unique Melody

According to Unique Melody, they are one of the first and longest-established manufacturer of custom in-ear monitors in China. Since 2007, with over 10 years of research and experience in the industry, they’ve developed a wide range of products from multi-BA, hybrid dynamic and BA, to more recent units containing Bluetooth, planar magnetic, piezoelectric, and bone conducting technologies that also contain various patents.

Fast forward to 2020 and Unique Melody is everywhere, they are more structured, have a clear product line up, better communication, semi up-to-date website and Facebook Page and especially: good representation. MusicTeck in the US really have made it easy for everyone to get familiar with the brand and I want to praise them for the work they’ve done.

It’s not always easy finding the right Unique Melody website via Google so here it is: https://www.uniquemelody.co/. If you use Facebook’s search module you’ll also find several FB Pages about Unique Melody, but the correct and official page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/UniqueMelodyIEM/.

It’s also not the first time we’ve reviewed Unique Melody monitors and we have full articles about the Maverick, Martian, Maestro, ME.1, Mason V3 and now we’re looking at the successor of the latter, the Mason V3+ Monitor.

The Mason V3+

The original web page of the Mason V3+ can be found here: https://www.uniquemelody.co/productinfo/1358196.html . It’s easier though to visit MusicTeck’s page right here: https://shop.musicteck.com/collections/um-unique-melody/

In 2016, Unique Melody introduced the Mason V2 which we unfortunately missed for review. We did review the original Maestro (now called Mason) and it actually up to today still is one of my favourite custom IEMS. The Mason V3 was launched late 2017 and this new updated V3+ version saw the light in late 2019.

Unique Melody Mason V3+

For this latest version, Unique Melody took advise from the community, refined their tuning approach and added more advanced technologies.

Key Features of V3+ Series:

Upgrade the tuning valve (better damping, higher accuracy). Titanium-gold sound tube (won’t turn color, corrosion resistant). Optimized driver placement (better consistency of each headset). Silver alloy conductors connecting all drivers (high conductivity, low internal resistance)

1. Brand new carbon fiber shells.

2. The Dreamweaver tech now features carbon fiber shells, which provide lower weight and a smaller shell for better fit. The new shell design allows the Mason V3+ to sound more coherent and full-bodied than previous V3 series.

3. More mature tuning.

Improved the balances between each frequency. There is increased bass quantity and UM improved the bass quality to let bass reach deeper than in the original V3. Overall, Mason V3+ will provide a smoother and fuller sound than V3, in theory making it even more comfortable for long-time listening.

3. Switch the sound.

This is one of the most interesting new features in V3+ series. The special designed connectors (available in both stock cables and official upgrade cable “Phanes”) of the V3+ series allow you to switch the cable left and right. When you switch the sides of cables, the V3+ will deliver a different sound signature (not simply inverse sound stage and image).

Unique Melody Mason V3+

Setup

The 16-driver Mason V3+ is a 4-way, 5-bore design with 4 sound tubes and 1 bore designed for tuning module. The Module provides acoustic dampening, pressure attenuation, and real-time low frequency adjustment. The Mason V3+’s driver configuration is as follows: 4 low + 4 lower mid + 4 upper range + 4 high. In this regard there’s no difference with the original V3 model.

Technical specifications

Frequency response range：20Hz-25KHz

Sensitivity：@1KHz 107dB

Impedance：19.6Ω

Driver Count：16BA

Crossover：4-way crossover system

Driver Configuration：4 low+4 mid low+4mid high+4 high

Technology 

This in general is the same as the original V3, but let’s quickly recap:

Dreamweaver design. Basically it is a layer by layer design which makes the acrylic shells even stronger and more comfortable than before. Typical of the Dreamweaver “technology” is how you can see the typical threads inside the shell, like fiber strengthening the enclosure.

Unique Melody Mason V3+

DB-GO bass enhancement module. Basically this is a little knob on the face plate which you can turn clock-wise and counter clock-wise. The module provides acoustic dampening, pressure attenuation and real-time low frequency adjustment. Opening/closing the module results in a 4dB gain bass enhancement between 20 and 100Hz. The difference in bass and sound is nicely audible though it does depend on the type and quality of music you’re listening to. With bass light music the effect is limited but with bass heavier music, the difference is clearly there. Personally I have the DG-GO module always fully activated as you get a more engaging sound. More on sound later in this article though.

Dual-Tone cable technology. UM is combining two different conductor type cables in one single enclosure (cable). You get both a copper and a silver cable in one and by switching the cable from the left to the right monitor, you change the cable and the sound. More on that later.

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