Build, well their beautiful for sure. Maybe the best looking IEM’ I ‘ve had except for the Tequila. But definitely close.

Fit, these are very big, especially for my small ears. But I did find the best fit using spiral dots “small”. The nozzle is large on these so I had to stretch the small a bit to get them to fit but once on there “stretched” size proved to be the best fit.

Still I would not be able to do much in the way of activities wearing these, just walking up and down the stairs in my house with a cup of coffee they the right one would start to fall out. I had to stay somewhat still while listening to these. Would that deter me from telling you these are the best sounding IEM’s I have heard to date? NO.

The package I loved. The case is excellent, it’s one of my favorite cases so far. The cable is fantastic, I bought one separately for anther set I have because I liked it so much. The even included a 4.4 and 3.5 adapter for the 2.5 end on the cable. No matter how many times I pulled it out it never tangled, it always just “unfolded” without issue.

These were incredible, from the moment I put them in. I did still leave them playing on my desk to “break-in” the drivers for about an hour. But that’s it and I didn’t hear any difference.

How do these compare to others?

Crazy detail that was very smooth and not grainy at all. Treble was the same, airiness to spare. Mid’s were very smooth and in the right place, not forward at all or spikey highs. The bas, man the bass was incredible. It seemed that it fell off in exactly the right place, that is it did not bleed at all but yet had very impactful and rumbly bass. I threw a lot of music at these trying to find a fault but couldn’t do it. Except maybe bad recordings, those were amplified a bit but yet still sounded good. There is something very “epic” about the tuning of these.

The sound stage was just as large as I have ever heard it from an IEM. It was just as large and in some cases larger than my Focal Clear’s.

If you get the chance to listen to these try an album by a band called “Bastille” the album is “Bad Blood”, listed to the first track on the Monarch’s. I honestly have listened to the album several time and never was really impressed with it but when I heard it on the Monarch’s it was like hearing it for the first time. I was blown away and have now relistened to it several time to be sure and each time I am impressed.

Timbre was fantastic, the best I have heard to date. I could imaging instruments and the people playing them without any difficulty or effort at all. Horns, drums, guitars just sounded 3D and incredibly realistic immediately. Almost to the point it was stunning.

Robin Trower “Bridge of Sighs” the bells being played at the beginning just kept circling my head, the guitar was so “perfect” then the bass, which is notoriously hard for IEM’s I have tried to get right was so impressive.  Then “About to begin” again bass and guitar was so good, then the symbols!! They melded with the drum hits so well I thought I was right there next to the drummer. Drums were so realistic, Snare hits, Symbol strikes, it’s as if I could hear the impact of the stick in with the sound made by the instrument being hit.  Another song on that album “Lady love” has a cow bell being hit as it opens up, holy shit! I was shocked for a minute by how realistic it was, I replayed a half dozen times just to experience it again.

Rodrigo y Gabriella “Tamacun remastered” was unbelievable. Gabriella is striking the body of the guitar with her thumb in that song constantly and you can hear it in such a way I felt like I was there watching her. Guitar picks were so 3D, I could hear the buzz of the string as they plucked them.

Dianna Krall, her voice was so clear and clean in “Live from Paris” I could easily hear her tongue smacking the roof of her mouth on almost every song. The crowd clapping was so real it was like being there.

One of the best aspects of these was I could turn these up, way up and I never had the experience of spikey knives in my ears with highs. They were so detailed and so smooth all the time.

I will say the detail or realism was a bit much sometimes and some albums I needed to take a break after a few songs so my brain didn’t melt 🙂 but I loved it..

Look if I am gushing about these it’s because it really is an experience I have not had yet with IEM’s.  I could even say, cause I was definitely thinking it, that these could be “end game” for me.

The problem is this, I want to recommend these highly and I do. But Thieaudio has had consistency problems. The Legacy 3, mine was ok but not great, many others say they were the best thing they have heard. Yet others had lots of different issues with them. The “Legacy 5” I received did not work at all.  So for $729.00 and a 1 month wait while they build yours, you should think seriously about it. If you have that money to spend easily then yes go for it, if you get the same build and tuning I did, well if I had heard these at a show and they said you can have them for $1500.00 I wouldn’t have taken a second thought I would have opened the wallet right there.

The build is fantastic, everything I expect from a Sony flagship product.

Every detail is well thought out, I would like to see a standard USB cable, but, I wasn’t in the engineering meetings discussing how to build this. I have heard some say it’s a way to make more money for Sony because you have to buy from them. This is not true, I have in my searching found third party cable sellers that make or have these to sell and they are not Sony branded.

I think the design has more to do with function than anything else.

This device feels great in the hand, the body is cut from a single block of aluminum. The buttons are large and crisp. All over the case ports are clearly labeled. The balanced 4.4 port on top says “Balanced” right next to it in clear white letters. The bottom is no different and all ports are named in white lettering.

The back has a “leather like” material that protects it which I really prefer over the glass backs on most devices in this range nowadays. It feels better in the hand and protects it when placed on a surface. It does not come with a case and the Sony version sucks from what I hear. But there are several very nice cases that are well regarded that you can purchase for under $40.

The interface is what I loved most on this device. No it is not a large AMOLED screen, but it is perfect for what it is. The interface, and I don’t know if it’s a modified version of android in the background or a Sony custom OS (more likely), is so well thought out that I didn’t need to go to any manuals to understand it or figure out how to use it. Everything is clearly noted and there are help menus and notes throughout when you start using it. There is even a built in guide for how to produce great sound!  I found the interface to be rock solid and had no issues with it. So how does it sound? Well this is where the review process gets hard. It sounds great, I really loved it right away with the “direct” sound setting and no EQ or other Sony sound mods.

But is it better than other device in the same category not especially in the same price range. This is an important distinction to be made. Now a days price does not always reflect quality, even though some manufacturers want us to think so. I tested against several DAP’s but really it came down to the FiiO M11 Pro and this DAP.

So after some initial comparing I settled in for some serious sound comparison testing. I loaded a song (which I will cover in detail shortly) on both devices. I plugged in a head set (I used several) and listen for about 30 seconds. Then paused the song unplugged from the Sony and plugged into the FiiO then started the song. I kept doing this through the whole song and even going back several times on some sections of a song because I really wanted to understand the differences.

What I can say is that the 2 devices were scary close. In some songs I could not hear a difference. In other the difference was clear and yet on others some differences but hard to really define them.

For the Sony I paid $1,198.00 on Amazon with Prime. And the FiiO M11 Pro is going right now on Amazon with Prime for $649.99 so that’s a $548.01 difference. Is it worth it? No and Yes, I really like the Sony, it’s build, its function and its sound. If I had paid for it sometime ago and had not heard the FiiO or just had purchased it first I wouldn’t even question it. It is worth the price at which it is selling now. But the FiiO M11 Pro is so close that it may not make sense to upgrade if that’s what you’re thinking about. If it’s your first DAP purchase and you’re not sure what the difference will be from your phone or iPod (if you even have one of those) then go for the FiiO. Also you could purchase using Prime on Amazon and if you are not satisfied then you can return it. I have a made a little chart below showing my impressions for each dimension of both products.

Rating from 1-10 10 being best

SONG TEST LIST –

Ah-Ha  MTV Unplugged Session – “Take on me”,  Sony was a better reproduction but just barley

Alexis Cole – “Alone together”, Sony had the edge, beginning symbol and snare drum was fuller and more realistic. Felt like more info was being retrieved from the FLAC file/song.

Amanda Martinez – “Amor”, no real difference – Sony sounded a bit more “full and open” only a bit though.

Bastille – “Bad Blood”,  bass was better on the Sony, felt more realistic, more detailed

Beyonce Lemonade – “Pray you catch me”, bass was better on the Sony, FiiO vocal was a little more forward. But vocals on the Sony were better separated

Boston “Foreplay”, liked guitar better in opening on the Sony, but after that I could not hear a difference.

Dido – “Give you up”, vocals were more open and better “reverb” on the Sony but everything else the same.

Elton John – “Captain Fantastic”, better on the Sony, Guitar at opening and background instruments more separated and detailed on the Sony.

Kandace Springs – “Don’t need the real thing”, sounded the same on both

Metallica – “Ride the lighting”, could hear more details in the beginning of the song. After main chorus kicks in mostly the same with the Sony being a slight bit more detailed.

I like FiiO products. They are a more polished or mature audio company than many of the IEM or DAP players new to the market. I really like the M11 Pro and it’s my go-to player for portable audio. I have not been overly impressed with their IEM’s though. Yes they sound good, yes they have one of the best unboxing experiences, yes they have great accessoires and Finally yes the IEM’s themselves are very refined looking. But I guess they always feel “safe” to me. They are not too bright or detailed. They are not to heavy in the bass. Their mids sound good. But I don’t feel excited listening to them. I don’t get that “I want to listen to all my music again’ feeling. To be fair that’s the experience with 90% of what’s out there. And their is something to be said to paying my hard earned money for a set of IEM’s that sound very good and have the great ownership experience that FiiO gives you. Much better than paying for something that does not. I like that they use MMCX connectors, for me, 2 pin connectors always get worn and the IEM’s start falling off the cables.

All that said, I really liked the FiiO FH3 right from the get-go. The ubox was great with that typical FiiO heart shape wire packaging. The great selection of ear tips, the really cool hard plastic case with with a smaller soft case inside that. I also really like the FiiO cables; they are very well made and high tech looking.

On to listening, here is where things get a little muddy, literally. I had also purchased the TFZ King edition at the same time so I was comparing them as they were within $10 of each other in price. I also was listening to the Thieaudio Monarch and Fearless Tequila. Not fair comparisons for sure but they were in the pool. I didn’t expect the FiiO to give me the experience of the higher end IEM’s but I wanted to see just how far away they were. With influx of Chinese manufactures into the IEM “game” quality vs price has been spun on its head and many times IEM’s that cost little are better than higher priced ones.

The FiiO FH3 had very good detail, I tried maybe 5 different tips including spiral dots to see what effect they had. I listened to many songs on these. I spent at least a week on and off listening and comparing. I have a couple of friends that have these and really like them so I wanted to give them a fair shake. I didn’t want a “first sound impressions” to jade my opinion and make my friends “mad” at me. Which probably is showing my hand at how this review is headed. After extensive listening and 4 hours of burn-in on my desk amp what I can say is “I liked them” but I didn’t love them. Back and forth with all the previously mentioned IEM’s I could hear a “veil” over the music. The detail was there I could hear it, the treble was there, the mids and the bass was good. But it felt like things just were not clear or sparkly.

Timbre was good, not great, but acceptable. Stage was about average. On songs like Diana Krall “A case of you” from her “Live in paris” album I could hear the detail but truly the detail was much better on the TFZ King and the Monarch and Tequila were far and away better. The treble area, symbols and higher octave vocals sounded good but not with the “clarity” I would like. The TFZ was better here but it had its issues also. I will say I did not get any spikey treble that hurt my ears like I did on the King. The mids/vocals sounded good. I listened to Brett Eldredge for male vocals and Diana Krall, Amanda Martinez and the like for female vocals. A good example of the difference in detail was when Diana Krall sings “A case of you” she is right on that mic and you can hear her tongue smacking the roof of her mouth on the TFZ but not as clearly on the FH3. These little details lend themselves to the “realism” of a recording as your listening.

I used some heavy metal and jazz for instrument listening. I didn’t get that feeling of realism that I like. Horn’s sounded good but veiled. Symbols were ok but the rolloff and decay was not “how I like it”, I write it, say it, that way because its a subjective area and some might love these.

I think I have covered enough about the sound and build. So, are these a good buy? Absolutely, they are completely worth their price. The build quality, accessories alone put them into this price range and way above. The fit and sound firmly plant them. I’m not hypeing these, there are things about the sound I didn’t like; as mentioned. But I believe for most these are a great buy. Keep in mind that price is not always a benchmark for sound quality. But if it is accepted as such, then increase in sound quality with the increase of price is very small. In other words as the price climbs steeply the quality of the sound produced only goes up slightly.

The reMarkable 2 is one of those gadgets that for the gadget addict is a must have. At least it feels that way. The adds are very sexy and make you think your life will be “enhanced” by having one of these write with and read ebooks on. Now before the pandemic I spent a lot of time with customers (I’m an IT consultant by day) in meeting rooms I was always taking notes. I tried many methods and tools over the years, one of my favorites being the LiveScribe pen, which was ruined by taking out the voice recorder and forcing you to use a smartphone. The reMarkable pad seemed to ring all the bells for me, I co

nd out of the way, so to speak, not interfering with my meetings.

There are countless studies that show brining a laptop or even any smart devices (iPad) to a meeting can make you seem distracted and or not committed in a meeting. In a customer meeting that can be disastrous. In fact some well known enterprise organization have banned laptops from meetings and insist on only a pad of paper and a pen. So the reMarkable 2 seems like the perfect solution. No reminders popping up, no strange and or annoying beeps and sounds emanating from it. No bright screen.

But now since the pandemic it seems unlikely I will ever get to use it for that. It is relegated to drawing or sketching pictures (which it does very well BTW) and reading ebooks or PDF’s.

But is is it worth the $399 (plus accessories) price tag? Well the package I bought included the reMarkable 2, Marker Plus and Grey fabric weave folio and came in at $567.00. The marker plus is definitely a needed upgrade. It gives you easy “eraser access” without digging into menus. It also is heavier and feels better in the hand. The folio is also needed as it protects the tablet. The folio is actually the cheaper version, there is a book style folio also that is $99.00 for the polymer weave in grey and a leather folio available in black and brown for $149.00.

For me it’s not worth it. I love the sketching part, I used to study art and in my younger years I had dreams of being an artist. I still sketch from time to time but not enough to justify the cost of this device. It definitely has the capability to sketch as well as a paper and pencil. I tested this extensively and really liked it. I can see for a professional artist this could be a great tool for preliminary sketches. Or for a designer to scribble down design notes and then email to a team easily.

As far as an e-reader goes I don’t like it. Here is the problem and I hope they are listening to (reading) this. The number (according to US census) of people over 40 and working makes up about 32% of the working population. Many if not most are already feeling the effects of presbyopia. An eye condition where the muscles that control the eye start to stiffen and cannot control the lens to focus on smaller text. You know “reading glasses”. I started having to use reading glasses occasional at the age of 43. Now at 50 I use them all the time.

In order to use the reMarkable as an effective e-reader I had to zoom in. Zooming sucks on the reMarkable. Its jumpy and you have to move around the document in sections to see what you want in zoom mode. It reminded me of the movie “Blade Runner” when Harrison Ford is using the computer to review a photo and tells the computer “section 12 zoom in on that” and it makes a series of clicks and jump to get to that section, then makes more jumps and clicks to zoom in. Oh and you cannot pinch to zoom like an iPad, you have to choose zoom from the side menu, so if you have that hidden in “full screen” mode you have to jump through a menu to zoom. They need to improve this for sure. The other gripe I have is the device screen is grey not white. They say paper like and it feels that way for sure, but, paper is white in my experience not grey. I think having a “white” screen would help greatly in the presbyopia department and also in low light situations. In low light the grey screen was all but unreadable.

The battery life was excellent and start up from sleep is almost instant.

The device itself is crazy beautiful, seriously, if you don’t have the need or money to buy this don’t hold one in your hand. The feel in your hands will be too tempting to overcome. Whatever you say about it they really did a great job designing and constructing the hardware. I mean it probably is worth every penny of the $500+ you will have to spend as far as hardware goes. Is the price worth the functionality of the device? That’s up to you. If you take a lot of notes or are a professional designer or artist then I think yes. I will throw out that you can buy and iPad, Apple Pencil and get the “paper” screen cover that feels a lot like the reMarkble for a slightly lower price and have a lot more functionality. Well thats all I have to say about this, hope it helped you.