Massdrop Plus IEM

@shotgunshane thanks for taking the time to do this, even when you've not been well. I really appreciate it.

 

I was fairly certain that I’d be ordering these, but the low impedance now has me concerned. I’d planned to use these with my phone (iPhone 6S+) until I purchase a DAP (likely a Sony, based on what I’ve read so far). I wasn’t aware that the OI of the iPhone was ~5ohms, and the Sony DAPs seem to be ~2.5-5ohms. So, neither should work particularly well with these IEMs. Are there other DAP recommendations for use with these, or would I best be served by looking for different IEMs? Reading that these are among the best under $1k is great, but they’d need to work well with the source.

 

Are you sure it’s 11ohm? I think he said 1ohm.

 

Not even 1ohm.

 

No, it was:
~ 0 ohm impedance (Magni 3): Etymotic SR + ton of bass
~ 1 ohm impedance: assumed sweetspot for Marvey
~ 2 ohm impedance (ZX2): UERM mids with HD650 treble
~ 4< or 5< ohm impedance: probably Audezes

See:

 

Edit: scooped by Luge

 

I'm sorry if I missed it...would these play well with something like a Vali 2 on low gain or would it be disastrous?

 

Glad I wasn't the only one who felt the same. I found the Plus to have quite a muddy midrange compared to HD650s, a good frequency response except for an 8khz peak (not really noticeable outside of sweeps) but the moment I started cranking it a little bit or played a song with low dynamic range, I started to get really fatigued. The best things about them were the ergonomics and isolation. Also it did feel like guitar and violin string decays were pretty well resolved, possibly even better than 650s (always suspected mobo SPDIF into Modi Multibit was blurrier sounding than USB using HD650s, Plus made it extremely obvious), but was lacking the clarity and timbre to make it sound real.

 

Anyone know what size Comply tips these use? Or can name another IEM with a similar tip size?

 

^Campfire Audio has similar nozzle size. Many do...

 

Brief loaner impressions:

I was very impressed with the Plus. Tonality is spot on. Excellent clarity through the mids and treble with a very tasteful sub bass boost. These paired very well with the Fiio X5iii. Just a slight added hint of lushness in the mids and really presented the treble with a smoothness not unlike the hd650. Plugging these into my DX90 and the treble got a bit of hardness to it that became a bit fatiguing after a half hour or so.

Comfort was really good. My ears generally hate iems so this was rather surprising. They stay almost flush and I had no soreness after wearing them for over a couple hours. They don't protrude much at all from the ears either, which is nice as I sometimes like to lay down with my iems in.

I'm not a big IEM user, mainly since my ears hate most of them. The highest end pair I've owned is my Noble X. The only thing better than this that I've heard is when I had the Andro on loan for a couple weeks. Even while the Andro could out-resolve the smaller nuances of the music than the Plus, I am still drawn to the later due to the comfort (Andro is a little too big for me).

My one complaint would be the cables. I'm pretty sure the regular cable was a prototype but the balanced cable seemed like a final version. Both left a little to be desired. Rather flimsy and just didn't seem well made. Hopefully something that is corrected in the final version.

I plan on buying one immediately when they drop again.

 

The first drop should be shipping within a week or so. The next drop might be pretty soon.

 

They are shipping now!