ThieAudio - Monarch MKIV

For me it’s a mix of the feel of the build quality along with generally higher resolution and better separation of instruments as you go up in price (to a point). Other than that tuning is largely the difference and you could easily prefer a $300 IEM with your tuning style to a $1000 one with a different signature. I just got the s12 ultra used for $120 and compared it to my $1000 monarch mk4 and honestly it’s tough to justify keeping the monarch. The resolution and separation on the s12 are pretty impressive, the bass hits more to my liking as well… then I compared to my old apple ear buds and there is a clear difference in resolution even though to me the apple buds still sound pretty dang good. Other ppl will have better explanations I’m sure and it’s debatable what resolution means to people in this hobby. Either way In today’s market, $50-300 can get you some incredible sounding IEMs

The bar is dropping lower and lower so it’s hard to say, the new $120 (on sale) 7hz crinicle diablo is getting more ear time than my monarch mk4 ($950). It’s wild what you can get now for under $200

I do love planar with bass boost :-) , the metal shell helps make diablo feel more premium too as well as sounding great….monarchs are stellar too though just definitely past the the spending point to sound ratio for me OP is asking about

can't judge about others. got the monarch mkiv only as 2025 release and enjoying them quite a bit. my only comparison is the dunus sa6mk2.

Never tried the mk3 but own the 4 and agree with most of your impressions. Particularly that they are much more unforgiving on poor recordings than my Dunus SA6MK2. I can’t listen to some Bob Marley tracks unless they are remastered with them, even though all my files are flac. Also agree that the bass is a tad heavy, and so is the high trebles to my ears. Am going to spend some time eqing them to my taste over the weekend

Purchased the Monarch mk4 last week, looking for a warm upgrade from my Dunu SA6mk2 for easy and musical listening with a bass boost compared to the Dunus. After burning them in for a few hours and paired to my iBasso Dx180 I feel like it's a miss. Pros: - the extra bass rumble is there, particularly in the sub bass department - very revealing - large soundstage - goes higher in the trebles - Nice for bass heavy music like afrobeat or hip hop Cons (to my needs and taste): - the soundstage is larger but more forward. so not a laid back listening - the voice timbres can get fatiguing. overall i prefer the male voices on the Dunus. - i find them overall less musical (and more revealing) in their presentation than the Dunus - they are more unforgiving on old tracks with poor recording in example some Bob Marley tracks sound horrible with it - they tend to get fatiguing soundwise to my sensitive ears So yes it has its qualities and I can see a crowd for it. But it's quite a big miss for me, i get an energetic, in your face, revealing iem while i was looking for something musical, laid back, but with extra sub-bass vs the Dunus. I'll give them another try when my new dap (onix xm5) arrives but have little hopes, will probably end up flipping them (in Europe if someone interested). Based on this experience, what would you recommend i go for to reach my aim: laid back, warm and musical listening with just enough extra details to make it worth vs bluetooth earbuds, and good enough bass rumble - not necessarily basshead as I listen to lots of jazz also-? Price not the top consideration, anything from 200 to 1500 usd is fine. Just looking for the one and only second iem that will complement my Dunus and rest my game.

yes these will probably end up in my rotation sometime as I'm reading such good about them. my concern for now is that they don't seem to have the added sub-bass I'm looking for vs the sa6. for the story was hesitant between the Volume S and the SA6 when i made my first iem purchase. went with the Dunus.

Probably one of the Thieaudio Monarchs. Either the MK2 or the MK4 while in standard mode.

I've eq'd to them back to back They're absolutely brilliant. Not too "compressed" like a harman, bass is on the lighter side but it hits just right and the treble reveals details whilst not being too harsh (i think it has the least treble you can find in a planar beside maybe the letshuoer s08)

Tips are extremely different on IEMs. I have Monarch Mk4 right now, one tip even with the bass tuning switch can make it far more open, lower end more detailed than more boom, then I swap to another, stage shrinks a bit, but its a bass head set suddenly. Part of beauty of IEMs is tip rolling. Not just comfort but the entire sound can change. You can to some extend do this with headphones, but not on the same scale.

If you can afford the MKIV, it is truly amazing, metal shell, tuning switches that make it a very close MKII tuning or a MK3-LTD. If not that I would say the tea pro or odyssey 2 for less bass, I personally regret and truly hated the top pro, I loved the vocals but there was in fact some weird warm. And the 3D shell IMHO was a downgrade from resin builds, felt like I could crush it. Could be a pro for you if you really hate the weight of IEMs. The RSV MKII looks nice and graphs amazing but for a 5BA set, 700$ seems a little much tbh. Dawn X looks great, but the only thing to consider is if you care about bass it definitely is more balanced or reference tuning, so is the MKIV but has 2 options if you ever want to tone it up or down. PLUS, it doesn’t have a lip on the nozzle so tips could get stuck in your ear every now and then. I'll end by saying that the MKIV is basically a better top pro, with rumble off it graphs almost identical, and has ESTs. Top pro has a very noticable mid bass scoop and thats what most reviewers dislike when they say it doesnt have enough bass. If you want something more affordable than the MKIV while being like the top pro I would look at the NiceHCK Rockies, for the same 500$ you get more for your money (BUT doesn't have a lot of bass, tea pro would be the better alternative).

So that’s the thing. You CAN have great quality bass by using good drivers, while minimizing quantity. But with modern woofer improvements, manufacturers naturally went with MORE bass. Easy way to test this: take a good quality bass iem (i’m testing with Monarch MKIV) and just EQ the bass down by 5dB. You still get really nice bass texture, but cleaner tone

Thanks! I did do write-ups of both on Head-fi. Odyssey is my main IEM and it’s close to being a perfect IEM for me. It isn’t the most detailed or anything but it’s great if you’re treble sensitive, and it handles basically every genre amazingly. It’s warm and bassy but not overly bassy, subbass is really restrained and bass lingers which I really like. It never gets muddy though. MK4 is more of a refined V-shaped tuning with insanely good detail retrieval, though that’s sort of expected for $1k haha. However, I find its presentation of treble and micro details a little unnatural sounding. However the rumble mode is really fun. Increases midbass a bit and it’s pretty great for rock music. I just don’t think MK4 is worth its price tag IMO. Sets like Moondrop variations for example present detail way more naturally for a much lower price. Its ability to do rumble mode kind of is what saves MK4 and makes it more “worth” its price tbh.

Started with the Moondrop Blessing 2 Dusk as a blind buy, found it a bit sharp in the trebles at first. Took my ears months to actually get used to the sound and really hear the details coming from the vocals and some instrumental separations. At first, I didn't really enjoy it, tbh. I was craving for more bass so I bought the Moondrop Variations, and that was what I was looking for but at that time I found the sub bass a bit lacking. Why? Cause I came from the Sony XM3 headphones, that's why. It also took me months to years to actually appreciate the sounds coming from both the Dusk and Variations. To my ears, the Variations sounded like a subwoofer whereas the Dusk sounded like someone was singing right in front of me where the instruments are slightly further away. My ears actually started to ring after the listening sessions so I went and got myself a portable DAC(Qudelix 5k), and the listening sessions were more pleasurable with the right volumes. The Qudelix 5k does make them trebles a bit zingly as well. Overall, it took me months to years for my ears to actually discern the details and appreciate what sounds l actually find fun or analytical to listen. I found out that I did not like the Harman tuning as much as the others when it was well known and loved few years back. I ended up with the Thieaudio Monarch Mk4s now after taking a break at the Variations and the Timeless few years back.

As someone who has tried a lot of things, the monarch mk4 takes it. It's relatively cheaper compared to a lot of other iems in the same league.