As an audio commentator, I have access to more audio equipment than the average gamer, and the headphones are the most productive. Headphones are the way to deliver sound and are the key to replaying**. For the evaluation of this type of product, I always deliberately avoid the interference of subjective impressions including brand, configuration, and audiophile evaluations to accurately judge the real sound level of the product. The technical application, design investment, and hardware configuration of the product are not the most important considerations for me to determine whether a product is worth buying. For the value of audio equipment, I always believe that it should be based on sound, which lies in whether it can lead the listener to touch the depths of ** and bring enough deep satisfaction and comfort. Yes, I think it's worth it; If not, no matter how sophisticated its design, how high-level it is, and how loudly the story is told, it is still not worth it in my heart.
Based on the above beliefs, I stick to the basic principles of my own evaluation, and try to find my own position in the actual performance of each headphone and audio product I come into contact with. Then, introduce it to audiophiles, in the hope that every audiophile can harvest the most suitable path to a good sound, that bridge. And the headphones I'm going to talk about today are like this, it may not be a well-known brand, and it doesn't have a lively market, but his voice has a touching beauty, and I would like to introduce him to all the philharmonics. Admittedly, he is more suitable for those who have a persistent pursuit of sound performance, and hope that the final playback sound is real, natural and touching enough, and at the same time, the budget in hand is not enough to support their choice of first-line top brand flagships. This earbud is called: Lammtoal Merlot.
lammtoal is not a new brand that has joined the red sea of earbuds. Jiudan had reviewed his Magic Cube "Rubik's Cube" desktop decoding headphone amplifier system many years ago, and the design of any plugging and unplugging combination was refreshing at the time, and more importantly, his actual sound performance is a height that is difficult to achieve even today with many competitors at the same price. But after that, Lammtoal was "silent" for a long time, until the release of Merlot's flagship headphones at the end of '23. This new product called Merlot seems to reveal the familiar "lammtoal taste", and the exquisite design reveals a delicate sound.
The hardware configuration of Lammtoal Merlot is very "restrained", with a second-order three-way structure, four Sonion electrostatic tweeters responsible for the very high frequency, two Sonion medium and high frequency moving iron units responsible for the middle and high frequencies, and an LCP diaphragm 10mm moving coil unit responsible for the low frequency and very low frequency. In the face of many hybrid flagships with more than a dozen units on the market today, Lammtoal Merlot does not seem to have a "small number of units", but he has many "latecomer" considerations, and these designs are the key to its sound differentiation from its peers. The most prominent thing is that this earphone is equipped with a low-noise interference independent air pressure equalization tube, we have seen a similar design on 64Audio's TIA flagship series, Lammtoal's designers have designed a separate pressure relief tube to connect to the outer side panel, effectively increasing the flow of gas inside and outside the ear canal, and at the same time better isolating the interference of external sound waves. Correspondingly, in order to improve the acoustic resistance performance of the entire earphone, the cavity of the Lammtoal Merlot is coated with CSACO carbon-based low acoustic resistance. From the hardware design, it can be seen that the designer's high standards of sound distortion and accuracy are demanded.
In terms of actual sound calibration, Lammtoal's designers also pursue "precision", which can also be confirmed by the high consistency of the official production headphones with the design target frequency response comparison curve. The Lammtoal Merlot has a very low and flat delay across all bands, with a nonlinear distortion of less than 05% @94db, which makes this earphone more accurate and natural when restoring the initial sound signal. At the same time, with the addition of a large-size LCP diaphragm moving coil unit, the volume and speed response of the low frequency and very low frequency of Lammtoal Merlot have reached a good balance, giving high-quality low frequency density and volume at the same time as speed and dive. It's important to note that the bands of the three hybrid drivers on this headset are surprisingly smooth, and if you don't tell you the unit structure in advance, you'll even think of the lammtoal merlot as a full-moving iron or a single-motion coil piece.
I would like to use the words "real and natural" to briefly summarize the sound of lammtoal merlot. The frequency response of this headphone is balanced, the sound floor is full, the timbre is transparent, and the full-range high density, do you think it is a monitor plug? Actually, it is not, because the lammtoal merlot has a definite gloss under close listening, which is undoubtedly a "tinting" that pleases the ear, and although this sound is calibrated on the frequency response curve, it is clear in terms of hearing.
It's hard to tell which type of playback Lammtoal Merlot's voice is better at, but his very delicate and natural sound style makes him a great player for listening to instrumental solos, chamber jazz, or complex orchestrations. But his mid-low frequency thickness is also abundant, coupled with the transparency brought by high-quality moving iron and electrostatic units to the mid-high frequencies, so that Lammtoal Merlot is not at all inferior when it comes to pop vocals, rap, and rock music. You can easily appreciate the high level of "real" presentation of this headphone in terms of style and details, the fine "carving" of sound details and the outstanding density and energy of the whole frequency band, which is a very advanced way to create sound emotion, you can hardly imagine that an earbud with such a real and natural timbre can provide such a rich infectiousness.
Take, for example, the 100% analog recording of 1959 Kind of Blue, which is a multi-track mono recording. Trying to play back such recordings, especially giving a clear explanation of the position of the trumpet and saxophone, can be a difficult task for a stereo speaker system or a good headphone system, and it can be a disastrous performance for earbuds that have difficulty in reshaping the sound field. Only flagship earbuds with low distortion across the entire range, excellent separation, and excellent soundstage creation can barely cope, and the Lammtoal Merlot is undoubtedly in this category. Although it is difficult to pursue absolutely natural three-dimensional environmental perception, which is undoubtedly the limit for earbuds with acoustic structural limitations, you can distinguish the left and right positions of the trumpet and the saxophone, and the relationship between bass, jazz drums and piano can also be reflected by lammtoal merlot, which is of course the ingenuity of modern digital recording engineers, but also the embodiment of the power of headphones.
Using Mahle to test earbuds? Somewhat "**, but Jiudan really wanted to explore the upper limit of Lammtoal Merlot's sound in this way. Listening to Bernstein conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in Mahler's Fifth Symphony, the brass of the first movement sounds, rushing to the face, the earbuds cannot be felt from far and near, but there is also a strong sense of impact energy. The cymbal strikes to bring out the roar of the orchestra, and the details of the lammtoal merlo under the large sound pressure are still arguable, stable and solid, and the special independent air flow channels inside and outside play a big role. Immediately after the second theme of the string ensemble, the Astell&Kern SP3000Copper-powered headphones show an ethereal sound that is not as beautiful as the human world, light and long. The pizzicato of the double bass suddenly joins, and a low and gray background appears, followed by the sound of stormy brass again. **'s liveliness, or rather emotion, is reproduced by Lammtoal Merlot with natural and delicate tones. Again, I would like to mention the bright color I talked about at the beginning, the delicate and slight tinting gives the finishing touch to this earphone, which is the most powerful stroke of the designer's subjective sound calibration, which is the source of the rich musicality of Lammtoal Merlot.
Finally, let's talk about lammtoal merlot's starting suggestions and shortcomings, there is no doubt that for enthusiasts who love to experience the emotion itself, lammtoal merlot does not pursue excessive extreme high quality, the display of detail revealing power, but focuses on the transmission of real emotions, and has a real ability to leapfrog in this regard. But it is precisely because of the pursuit of such sound performance that the acoustic structure of Lammtoal Merlot is relatively complex, resulting in the largest headphone cavity in its class. For the already large nine segments of the ear canal, it is difficult to completely plug the lammtoal merlot into the ear needs to be matched with a large silicone sleeve to wear it more stable, and for users with smaller ear canals, this may require a process of adjustment and adaptation, although the cavity of most earbuds on the market that come to the flagship positioning will not be too small.
Therefore, if you care about the brand, the number of units, the pursuit of extreme quality competition, or those who have a very thin ear canal, lammtoal merlot may not be your dish. On the contrary, if you care more about the sound of the headphones, especially the display of sex and appeal, considering that the price is much lower than that of other competitors in the same class, Lammtoal Merlot should be the highest "sound-to-price ratio" choice among similar flagship headphones on the market. **10,000 Fans Incentive Plan