At this point in my life I just don’t have anymore logical arguments or reasons left about this hobby and all of its twist and turns. When you hear Audiophile people talk about Endgames, it’s not what you think. Our endgame doesn’t mean the greatest you can get or greatest out there. In fact there is no such thing. There is no IEM that is the greatest because this hobby is about adapting and subjectivity.
Nope, what we mean about Endgame is when we finally get tired and feed up with moving on to the next and spending wasteful money on minimal changes and finally stop with something we can just live with for while until it doesn’t work anymore.
These IEM’s are pretty amazing sounding! Let’s get that part out of the way right now. The 64 Audio U12T hype is real. I was very much hesitant to accept this reality coming from my Thieaudio Monarch Mk2 and the Oracle MK2 before that. I truly didn’t plan on buying anymore IEMs because I knew the only other IEM I would go with was this one but at $2000 I knew it wasn’t worth it and I still stand by that. But as fate would have it, I was presented with a chance to get these for $900 in like new condition. $2000 down to $900, who wouldn’t jump at that chance if you had the coin. So I did it but I truly wasn’t ready for it. I was still very much in love with my Monarch MK2.
So when I opened them up, it took me hours to decide to test them. For one, I was scared to be wrong about my Thieaudio Monarch MK2 being my stop. Two, I was not in a hurry to be disappointed about the hype of the U12T. But once I did and allowed my ears to adapt to them, I found another level. While not a huge in individual areas, it is collectively.
1. Resolution: Maybe the easiest and biggest difference. The treble details was just more with the 12 drivers. Everything took on an extension of sound.
2. Soundstage: wider and taller were everything that played in them.
3. Imaging : All sounds and instruments were more distinct and layered allowing you to hear more details and separation.
4. Venting: The Apex provides possibly the best Venting system ever on any earphone or IEM ever.
5. Bass: To my surprise the All BA system kicked bass harder than my Monarch in terms of quantity and quickness.
6. Vocals : voices were heavenly in its timbre and tonality and extension. Singers like Enya voices seem to travel through the sound spectrum more clearly and further out with even more detail.
7. Cable(the newer one): The cable micro-phonics were less than the ones heard on the Monarch MK2.
Now, sure at $1000 more, these things better be there and be better than the Monarch MK2, that’s expected. At the same time I have to be honest, I was still surprised by it because I considered my Monarch MK2 the endgame for me. Now I’m second guessing myself.
The Monarch still feels more attached to my feelings but I have no more consideration about it being better than the U12T. Now, it’s about me deciding to either keep both or sell the other and honestly I know for sure I won’t keep both eventually even if it’s not right away that I get rid of one. Problem is, which one. Most will say of course you keep the one that is the best. But part of me is wondering if I might have just reached my limit with this one. I was completely sold on the Monarch. I didn’t even feel a need to want anything more from an IEM.
And now that I have one that does give me more, I kinda feel like a person who already ate too much and got full even though there is still the option of desert. What I wanted was a go bag and eat it later when my food was digested a couple of years from now and I was hungry for more. But right now I’m not hungry and still full on my Monarch MK2 and someone is trying to tell me to eat anyway. Part of me wishes I have never seen this deal until about 2 years from now.
Tech-N-Things 