ThieAudio - Monarch (First Generation)

I'm currently using monarch OG as my daily driver, but it's a little aged now. May I seek your recommendation, what is a good value upgrade from monarch OG?

The PR2 issue was interesting. First run had an additional filter between the driver housing and nozzle, which tamed the treble a bit and gave the tuning a more well-balanced and natural timbre. It was a $30 planar with an excellent tuning that was easy to recommend to new hobbyists. Blew up because HBB got behind it. Started selling like hotcakes. KZ decided to pull out the filter, wither to save costs, labor, or both. Totally changed the tuning. It was shrill, sibilant, and a tinny, metallic mess. They pulled the rug out to save a few bucks, and then reframed the change as a “retune.” It was a whole thing. Ironically, the PRX was an attempt to capture that original PR2 tuning, but I don’t think they quite captured the magic of that original set. Which I still own, because it was a genuine banger for the price. Sits in the same case as an EM6L as one of my gaming IEMs. Don’t get me started on FatFreq; big longtime supporter. Owned the original GM (before the fancy repackaging) and Maestro SE, was an early supporter of the Scarlett Mini, even had Antonio from Gladiator make a custom cable for it. Was hyped. Preordered day one, took nearly 6 months after the promised ship date to arrive. Similar thing happened with Deuce; decided to pass on their planar as a result. Still waiting on additional Noah modules for the GM, how many years later? Haven’t experienced any issues with Thieaudio or Mangird thankfully. Been happy with the Top Pro, coming from the original Top and Up. Been solid, but wasn’t happy with the included cable. Been happy with most of the Monarch lineup, except the MKIVs shitty cable. That cable is an outright crime. I curse anyone that’s given it praise in a review. I never got behind Penon’s entire guerrilla marketing/forum business model approach. Something about it was always underhanded to me, especially since it was mostly the same characters from the same forums getting their review units and heaping them with praise. I know they have some legendary sets, but I’ve mostly avoided them.

If discussing in context of diminishing returns: thieaudio monarch (2-4). Especially the mk4s, which are indistinguishable from 4-5K sets. Just tuning at that point. Anyone who says otherwise is just trying to justify their purchase. If discussing in terms of value: Xenns top pro. $500 gets you about 92-93% of monarchs.

It is hard to define pointless, because there are some amazing products at prices I can't afford nor justify, but someone else would. There are some great expensive underperformers, and some great cheap products, but you do find greatness among higher prices. I personally stopped myself around the 500 mark and rather invested in more expensive headphones and amplifiers. I did try some in-ears well beyond my maximum budget and I did appreciate them, but I find it stressful enough taking care of ~500 small devices on a daily basis. I'd say you can find some potentially endgame devices in the following tiers: ~50 ~150 ~350. It depends on what you expect and need from such small devices. Some characteristics like soundstage and strong fast dynamics tend to lack in the cheaper models. If you try something the Hype 4 those do indeed sound like a little budget Monarch, and paying more than double their price for an increase in every single technical aspect is only justifiable if you crave that level of quality retrieval on a daily basis. The Hype 4 are really good, and the tuning and timbre is pretty similar, it is just less revealing and detailed and wide and precise in the imaging. The Monarchs are better, but it all depends on your actual needs and the depth of your wallet. You can even be the guy that doesn't care about music or in-ears overall and save every single penny completely by spending your money elsewhere. Value is subjective, quality is undeniable.

Everything comes down to your preference in music and comfort. Check if you have any previous IEMs or headphones that you really liked, and see if there's a particular genre of music you listen to. Pinpoint exactly what you enjoy in that music. If you like bass, you buy stuff with a lot of bass. You like treble more? You buy something with lots of treble. If you're buying for gaming, just aim for something with a lot of sub-bass and bass. (And stage. Really important for shooters and sh). For comfort if the nozzle is too big for your ear canal, you’ll have a bad experience. Some IEMs can be bulky, and that can also affect comfort. And well, I think this won’t be too useful since you guys are already buying IEMs. Some people can’t appreciate all the sound frequencies (like me), and the effects of IEMs only really kick in after spending a bajillion on high-end ones. Had 1 iem out if each price category and got satisfied only after buying monarchs (spending so much felt like a gut punch). And like it's usually really nice to find someone who already has iems and ask for a listen (this advice literally never works but if you actually manage to find anyone willing it's amazing) Overall you have to choose yourself (what a helpful guide). Stick to the new once (zs and kefine) and then it comes to details.

I’d say the first break point is somewhere around $300ish, then the next break point is “entry” kilobucks around $1k. So for the first break point IEMs like Dusk, anything Xenns, Thieaudio, Softears, so on and so forth, and for the second break point you have a lot of solid options like Monarchs, Dunu Glacier, CFA Andromedas, 64 Audio U4S, etc. Edit: to clarify, those are the points where I think you get the biggest jumps in quality relative to price points around them. So I don’t think it’s as worth it to move beyond that $300-$400 price point unless you’re jumping up to $1k.

Monarchs are not V shaped, but not neutral either so you're 50% right.

I actually prefer braindance over monarch. Monarch is a safe choice, bd is something else, it doesn't need to be perfect.