Unique Melody MEST Review

8. Driveability & Sources

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I as good as always have used the MEST straight from a DAP. I have never felt the need to amp this monitor even further and the 118dB sensitivity and 14 Ω impedance numbers also prove that. For this chapter I have used the SP2000, the WM1Z, the PAW6000, the Chord Mojo and my OnePlus 6 smartphone.

With the Sony WM1Z (2.5mm to 4.4mm adapter) in balanced mode the MEST sounds smooth and very musical. It doesn’t sound as wide and spacious as with the SP2000 but you get those gorgeous warmer mids everyone loves the Sony for. Voices, both male and female sound very realistic and just nice. I do feel the WM1Z limits the liveliness and energy the MEST has, and you don’t get he same clarity as you do with the SP2000, especially the in the higher mids and treble section. To me the WM1Z softens out the MEST a bit too much, but many for sure will exactly like that.

Something I also miss here is the depth and layering from top to bottom. It to me is one of the strongest points of the MEST, but the Sony seems to hold that back. In exchange you get the typical mid warmth and musicality, mixed with excellent balance and stereo imaging. It’s a nice combo but the MEST to me can sound much better, especially when technicalities are your thing.

This kind of got me worried on how the MEST would sound with the full bodied and warmer Lotoo PAW 6000, but their actually was no need to worry. The synergy between both units is actually quite good and you here get much more clarity, a better extension and way more energy.

The PAW 6000 & MEST combination also has more clarity and better speed and that’s really more what the MEST is about. The voices here are like with the SP2000: more energetic and slightly forward. Bass goes deep but it doesn’t have the fine detail and sub presence it has with the SP2000 however. The treble section here is much more clear and expressed as with the Sony, which made the MEST sound overly dark and even a bit dull to me. The amount of mid warmth here never really bothered me. I would still like to have more precision and extension with this combo, but the PAW 6000 of course isn’t playing at the same level as the SP2000.

I was very positively surprised when hearing the MEST straight from my OnePlus phone (using a 2.5mm to 3.5mm adapter). I didn’t expect it to sound this precise and energetic. The voices are more forward but very clear and they have just the right amount of smoothness. Of course my hone can’t extract the detail, depth and layering as well as a dedicated DAP can, and as such this will be less present in this combo. That being said, I still like it: it’s precise and clean and comes delivered with good speed and clarity. I in fact prefer this source over the WM1Z, so that means a lot.

Chord Electronic’s Mojo is known for it’s clear, detailed and more digital sound and I had a feeling these would match well. Again, there’s no real need to use any special amplification but as many will be using this DAC/AMP, let’s see how it performs.  The combination turns out to be excellent, with good precision, great clarity, detail retrieval and an energetic delivery. Vocals sound how they should, bass goes deep and treble is lively. Compared the SP2000 the precision, micro detail, layering and depth aren’t as pronounced but you get good bass, smooth mids and clear, exciting treble.

So all-in-all it’s safe to say the Unique Melody MEST doesn’t really need amplification. My advise is to use a higher end source with top level precision and clarity as they will really get the best out of the MEST. At the same time the MEST really surprised me in a good way straight from my phone. I however wouldn’t use an overly warm, smooth and slow source in combination with this IEM.

Unique Melody MEST

Conclusion

What a great monitor Unique Melody has built with the MEST. If you like a musical sound with good speed, clarity, precision and detail, you will love the Unique Melody MEST.

MEST delivers great bass, lovely mid timbre and energetic treble and it mixes that up with a wide and deep sound stage. The bone conduction driver gives the MEST something extra which we haven’t experienced before and I am sure many other brands will follow UM’s example.

For me the MEST, in custom form, is an almost perfect all-round monitor which punches way above its price point. We don’t give scores here on HFN but if I would this monitor would get an easy 9 out of 10. That means that the MEST wins our recommended buy award, and it will now be featured on our Best CIEM List, where it is in very good company.