I am a 21 year old student living in a small town in India. I would like to call myself a music enthusiast, rather than an audiophile. I was inspired by music since childhood, and as the time passed, the passion of music grew in me, and that subsequently led me to join Head-Fi. Eventually, I found the pleasure of listening to music mainly by the HD600 and recently, by the seductive LCD2 headphones, and realized the true components of recorded music. I usually like to listen to Indian Classical Music along with Bollywood songs. My main listening genres include classical, vocal, instrumental, jazz and sometimes pop.
Intro: Master & Dynamic is a new US brand specializing in the area of headphones and IEM’s. They are based in New York. M&D rolled out their first product in July, last year. Their products are all designed & developed in New York, but made in China by high standards. ME03 is the In-ear closed-back earphone offering from M&D.
Master & Dynamic have a specific vision in making their products: The products should last long [very long] and should have a natural sound reproduction for pure music enjoyment. Currently all of their headphone and IEM lines are closed back, solidly built by metal & leather components, and all of them have a very natural and musical listening experience with them. Mr. Jonathan Levine is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of M&D.
Specifications of ME03:
Drivers: 8mm Neodymium
Rated Impedance: 16 Ω
Weight: 25 grams
Plug: 3.5mm Gold Plated 4 pole
Cable: Flat type Oxygen Free Copper
Let us see what the ME03 has got for us,
Packaging and Accessories: The ME03’s arrive packed inside a strong black cardboard box with a removable outer sheet, on which features and other information have been mentioned upon. Once the box is slid open, The ME03 is seen resting. Cables are wound behind the foam sheet in the center of the box. This layer of foam can be lifted off to reveal another storage compartment, in which pouch and user manual are present. M &D has done some good packaging as usual. Each and every part has a premium quality and feel to it. The attention and perfection implemented here is one of the best I have ever seen, and is really more of a lavish style. Even the small paper clip or a velcro is made up of excellent quality material.
List of accessories in the box, which include the following:
Leather cable case: This is a genuine leather case, and supplied to protect and store the IEM’s.
Canvas Pouch: This pouch has a high grade jeans-finish to it, and functions as a storage pouch for the ME03.
Ear Tips:
Four pairs of different sized single flanged silicon eartips in white color.
User Manual: Contains instructions to operate the ME03 and other warranty information.
Design and Build: The ME03 has a very good overall build quality. It employs a practical design for day-today listening.
The entire housing shell is made up of high quality forged aluminium. It isn’t painted, but is anodized, which is again a step forward in engineering. The housings are pretty small, and appear to be large in pictures. These are light in weight. The mesh on rear side of the housing shell potrays as open back, but these are closed IEM’s. Left and Right markings are particularly hard to see, Infact, I could not find them anywhere.
Cable is flat, and prone to microphonics. Cable particularly is not well built, along with strain reliefs. It seems to be stiff and has plastic-y feel to it. A Mic [and its control button] is present, which are again made up of aluminium. Rubberized volume control buttons are also present on opposite side of the mic. Cable slider is absent, and Plug is 90 degreed and 4 pole gold plated.
Comfort: ME03’s are decently comfortable to wear in general, but I feel ME03 may not be very comfortable to wear for longer durations, owing to its stiffer cable, which will dislodge the IEM’s eventually. Since ME03’s are closed back earphones, these will isolate the listener from outside noise. This level of isolation is good enough for a traveller. Going by weight factor, these feel fairly light [25 grams], and are definitely feasible.
Sound: The ME03 has a neutral, slightly warm, easy going, yet airy sonic character. ME03’s sound relatively most clear/neutral when compared to the whole bunch from Mater & Dynamic product line. Sonic presentation is pleasing and non fatiguing. Presentation is in such a way that, mids are little more intimate, with lows & highs sound tad more relaxed and laid back. We have to keep in mind that, with In-ear earphones, sonic presentation may feel different with different fit/tips used. Therefore fit/angle is the deciding factor for sound being perceived by ears.
Burn in: These improve with time. Let’s say a playback of 50 hours provides audible improvements. Bass prior to break-in was not very accurate, and eventually it becomes more accurate and nice bodied, Mids will sound more open, airy and natural. highs become slightly more smooth, soundstage opens up by a margin.
Lows: are accurate, tight and refined; have a moderate impact. Depth is good.
Mids: sound very clean, neutral, and have slight warmth.
Highs: Very clear yet non fatiguing treble without sparks.
Soundstage: The ME03’s soundstage is slightly more airy than rest of the Thinking Caps. Instrument separation is decent. According to my observation, these cans sounded good in all genres I tried, and hence I conclude ME03's are also more forgiving to poor recordings. Comfort and fit plays a vital role in sound being perceived to our ears. If eartips fit in a wrong way, they will leak sound leading to missing details.
Amplification: The ME03’s are rated at 16 ohms, and designed to be power efficient, and hence are very easy to drive, and can be driven by almost any sources, smartphones and DAP’s. Although setup like an O2/ODAC does indeed increases the soundstage and dynamics, and the difference in quality is clearly audible. Power is not very important aspect here, but a transparent setup indeed does help in increasing SQ;
Conclusion: I feel the ME03’s are a unique set of IEM’s. These are not like just any other IEM's. It is more like they are built out of passion. Build quality is very good, sonic presentation is easy going and will appealing to most, with fairly good soundstage. On the downside, cable can be annoying and sometimes get stiff and may dislodge ME03’s out of your ears.
But at this price point of 150$ there are many well acclaimed IEM competitors like Vsonic GR07, Brainwavz B2, Rockit R50 and many more, which sonically perform better and offer better value in a handsome price. So, ME03 will face a stiff competition here.
I will recommend ME03 for those, who would prefer a unique, easy-to-listen sonic presentation earphones which are compact, portable and have a great build, but one may have to slightly compromise the performance & value aspect offered by ME03’s Chinese counterparts.
Pros:
- Build Quality: The ME03 has a very good all-metal build. No compromise to be seen anywhere.
- Sound quality: Sound presentation here is very relaxed, neutral, and is very much like-able for casual music listening.
- Features: ME03’s offer a dedicated mic and volume keys, which are compatible with Apple smartphones. One can get a very nice with ME03’s with just a cmoy amp.
Cons:
- Cable: This is definitely a downside, as the flat cable here has slight microphonics, and is comparatively stiffer & relatively heavy due to presence of mic and volume controls, which are again made up of metal.
- Value: There are many IEM’s in this price range which offer a better value/performance aspect, but none of them can match the dedication with which the ME03’s are made.