[vikinguy]

It’s all relative. The vast majority of humans would faint if they knew how many of us dropped a grand on a damn ear monitor.

 

[DJ Core]

To summarise:

- Improved "unique house sound that offers an impressive soundstage and lifelike timbres through bone conduction technology"
- New "revolutionary BC-Turbo Micro Voltage Booster [that] heralds a new era of sonic possibilities"
- New FreqShift BCD
- New First Time Shielding Pro

And all this for the modest price of 8500 USD. If I had bought Amber Pearl, which was released only a few months ago for the equally modest price of 8000 USD as a minor upgrade compared to Mentor (4500 USD, note: 3500 USD price difference for a minor upgrade), I would be extremely pissed off right now. UM is obviously deliberately holding back new, apparently groundbreaking technologies so that it can release another, even better and more expensive IEM shortly afterwards. And I bet (!!) that the new version of Mentor will be released next month for the price of 6999 or 7499 USD. And between Mason FS and Mentor, we all know which one has had more success in the past (spoiler: Mentor). So the question here is whether it wouldn't be worth waiting. Apart from that, I personally can no longer justify UM's marketing strategy. These price jumps are for me no longer rational and I am no longer willing to support UM. As much as I love my Mentor - it's still my favorite of the current TOTL - I've now resolved to stop buying UM's products as long as UM pursues such a mocking strategy. It is quite clear that UM wants to push it until it finally breaks. The moment has now come for me. I will boycott it and sell my Mentor in protest (I know, no one surely cares).

My principles are worth more to me than any IEMs. UM may produce such great IEMs (of course this is debatable), but there are plenty of alternatives on the market that are equivalent or better. I would also invite others to stop buying UM's products. This trend must be stopped, it is in the interest of all of us.

@UniqueMelody

Buying the next thing is always optional.

R&D takes years and tons of money. What do you want the company to do? innovate once and be done? Not recoup on their investment? or sit around and wait for years while others surpass them?

Maybe you're upset you over stretched your budget for an end game IEM, then the new end game comes out? (FYI, a new "end game" will always come out every year or so)

Personally, I keep my ear to the ground concerning new tech. I was just going to pull the trigger on MEST MKIII but seeing this news. I'll wait for this tech to make it downstream into MEST MK IV. Buy it and be happy with it for the next 5 years.

Tech advancement is like change or fate. It's coming weather you like it or not. Sometimes you catch the wave, other times you buy the old thing right before the News about the new thing drops. you're not going to win on this one. The rate of innovation is just speeding up.

You can protest which is your right, but my advice is just buy something you can enjoy for 4-5 years, wait for a few good upgrades in between, then jump back in.
I'm still on my iPhone 12 Pro max, Sony ZX-507, Sony MDR-1AM2, OG Mest, OG Monarch and some other IEMs because they do everything the way I want them too.

Just buy something you like and enjoy the music.

 

[UniqueMelody]

First of all, I would like to apologize for not explaining the development history and design philosophy of UM's dual flagships to everyone. Here is a recently compiled list of the updates to Mason and Mentor over the years, which I hope will better illustrate how UM's dual flagship products have evolved over the years. Because AP was a product developed by UM in cooperation with Cayin and sold exclusively by Cayin, it was not included in the UM product yearbook.

The Mason series has always been UM's Statement product, and the design and development process is to spare no expense, to concentrate the best resources we can call on. For each generation of Mason, we equip him with the latest technology, introduce the best cables we can mix and match, use the most advanced shell processing technology, and cooperate with newly designed top accessories. Therefore, the original intention of Mason's development is not to find market demand and develop products accordingly, but to challenge the ceiling of IEMs performance, technology, and creativity. Mason is not a simple IEM, but a reference-grade listening solution in our current understanding.

The Mentor series was originally positioned as a secondary flagship with reduced techs from Mason, and we have continued for 4 generations. But with the fifth generation MM, we changed our thinking. The development of MM was first guided by the market. We extracted the listening preferences of audiophiles from global media and forums and conducted quantitative summaries. Based on the listening preferences of the general public, combined with the framework structure of the flagship series with BA driver as the main body, MM was developed. This is also why the first four generations of Mason and Mentor were released simultaneously, while the fifth generation Mentor was released nearly two years later than Mason.

Compared with Mason, we did not give Mentor the top cable, we controlled the price and also gave audiophiles more space to match the cables by themselves. It has been proven that even though the MM and FS look similar, the sound is completely different. One thing is certain: the draft of the next generation of Mentor has not been drawn yet, and it will not be a simple Mason-reduced work. I am also looking forward to the new Mentor, but let me first recover from the stunning experience brought to me by Mason NE/ST.

The sound performance of the new Mason is still worth a try. I was shocked beyond words when I listened to the prototype when I visited the UM headquarters in December. I understand that not every audiophile is willing to pay a high price to own it, but I think it would be a pity if an audiophile missed the opportunity to listen to the new Mason. It is very special. Canjam NYC is coming soon, and I will be waiting for everyone there with the new Mason.

P.S. Now UM's technical department director Sam is by my side. I accompanied him to the Shot Show with UM's hearing protection sister company. He is one of the creators of BC-Turbo. If you have any questions, I can answer them on the spot.

 

[aaf evo]

First of all, I would like to apologize for not explaining the development history and design philosophy of UM's dual flagships to everyone. Here is a recently compiled list of the updates to Mason and Mentor over the years, which I hope will better illustrate how UM's dual flagship products have evolved over the years. Because AP was a product developed by UM in cooperation with Cayin and sold exclusively by Cayin, it was not included in the UM product yearbook.



The Mason series has always been UM's Statement product, and the design and development process is to spare no expense, to concentrate the best resources we can call on. For each generation of Mason, we equip him with the latest technology, introduce the best cables we can mix and match, use the most advanced shell processing technology, and cooperate with newly designed top accessories. Therefore, the original intention of Mason's development is not to find market demand and develop products accordingly, but to challenge the ceiling of IEMs performance, technology, and creativity. Mason is not a simple IEM, but a reference-grade listening solution in our current understanding.

The Mentor series was originally positioned as a secondary flagship with reduced techs from Mason, and we have continued for 4 generations. But with the fifth generation MM, we changed our thinking. The development of MM was first guided by the market. We extracted the listening preferences of audiophiles from global media and forums and conducted quantitative summaries. Based on the listening preferences of the general public, combined with the framework structure of the flagship series with BA driver as the main body, MM was developed. This is also why the first four generations of Mason and Mentor were released simultaneously, while the fifth generation Mentor was released nearly two years later than Mason.

Compared with Mason, we did not give Mentor the top cable, we controlled the price and also gave audiophiles more space to match the cables by themselves. It has been proven that even though the MM and FS look similar, the sound is completely different. One thing is certain: the draft of the next generation of Mentor has not been drawn yet, and it will not be a simple Mason-reduced work. I am also looking forward to the new Mentor, but let me first recover from the stunning experience brought to me by Mason NE/ST.

The sound performance of the new Mason is still worth a try. I was shocked beyond words when I listened to the prototype when I visited the UM headquarters in December. I understand that not every audiophile is willing to pay a high price to own it, but I think it would be a pity if an audiophile missed the opportunity to listen to the new Mason. It is very special. Canjam NYC is coming soon, and I will be waiting for everyone there with the new Mason.

P.S. Now UM's technical department director Sam is by my side. I accompanied him to the Shot Show with UM's hearing protection sister company. He is one of the creators of BC-Turbo. If you have any questions, I can answer them on the spot.

Thanks for the info.

1) is there any plans to offer this is a CIEM?

2) how does this differ from the Le Jardin from a tuning perspective or can we expect the same frequency response but with a different bcd implementation?

 

[vikinguy]

 

[BlueA]

Round of applause for UM practices...

 

[phiemon]

Round of applause for UM practices...

I wouldn't really applaud because UM messed up this time. What a disappointment.

 

[boodi]

Mason is not a simple IEM, but a reference-grade listening solution in our current understanding.

Our current understanding fails largely to justify 8500$ price for an iem - as exotic as you wish , it is ridicolous and a little bit insulting : insulting any rationale for sure ;

given the hi frqs of turnaround that some recent totl iems brands are riding on head-fi hype and hyping users , it definitely feels like some brands - particularly the ones that duplicated easily and in a matter of #opportunity#, or even triplicated or mulitplied price for a next follow up and reiterations of a totl iem in its line - they are speculating largely on the current status quo of hyping waves : we consider it degenerate and degenerative , as much as these recent pricings ( like yours ) are hyper inflated and speculative , something that no one can even remotely dubt about....

 

[BlueA]

@phiemon Please read again my comment about the 'glorious' UM practices...

 

[boodi]

Music is something..love for music is something ..and a desire to listen the best way possible is something that we all understand

This kind of speculation and hype wave riding by some brands is something quite different. And I ( as others ) will not support it .

 

[Sound Eq]

unique melody lost me as a customer as well, will not support a company that every 3 months have a new flagship with insane prices and leave a bitter taste, multiverse mentor was my last um iem. I feel when you describe your R&D as if you created something that will change the status of the world. The cost of materials are barley 300 usd on ur side, Keep up the Great R&D, what a joke

 

[phiemon]

As announced, I'm out for good. I plan to never buy UM's products again.

I would just like to say that the very love I had for UM, Mentor (see my avatar) and other products has now made me all the more disappointed with this company.

 

[UniqueMelody]

Thanks for the info.

1) is there any plans to offer this is a CIEM?

2) how does this differ from the Le Jardin from a tuning perspective or can we expect the same frequency response but with a different bcd implementation?

1) Yes, and we are open to CIEMs orders.
2) Straight to my ears the sound is more open with a lot more air than Le Jardin
There is also more and deeper bass. They are very different to my ears, different enough to call them the next generation not just in terms of technology.
On the tech side, explanations from Sam: the BC-Turbo boost the voltage to the BCD 20x more than the traditional approach. So the vibration will be enhanced 3x on average. For example, the new BC-booster can effectively boost 6k solely from BCD, it will effectively improve the clarity and openness but control the sharpness and distortion to minimal. It is almost impossible to be done by acoustic drivers, considering Mason already equipped with the best of the best BAs. It is doable on Le Jardin(and other UM BCDs), but you have to find a DAP has very high voltage output (with low distortion) which is rare in high end DAPs. The same philosophy applies to other frequencies.

 

[bigbeans]

@UniqueMelody Is there plans to offer a Fusang version of this new Mason generation? I am interested.

 

[aaf evo]

1) Yes, and we are open to CIEMs orders.
2) Straight to my ears the sound is more open with a lot more air than Le Jardin
There is also more and deeper bass. They are very different to my ears, different enough to call them the next generation not just in terms of technology.
On the tech side, explanations from Sam: the BC-Turbo boost the voltage to the BCD 20x more than the traditional approach. So the vibration will be enhanced 3x on average. For example, the new BC-booster can effectively boost 6k solely from BCD, it will effectively improve the clarity and openness but control the sharpness and distortion to minimal. It is almost impossible to be done by acoustic drivers, considering Mason already equipped with the best of the best BAs. It is doable on Le Jardin(and other UM BCDs), but you have to find a DAP has very high voltage output (with low distortion) which is rare in high end DAPs. The same philosophy applies to other frequencies.

Thanks, can’t wait to demo it.