Thieaudio Monarch MKIII Review

mmorpg.com:

The original Thieaudio Monarch was well regarded, but when the company launched its successor in the beginning of last year, it changed the game. The Monarch MKII was and still is regarded as one of the best IEMs you can buy under $1,000, evening earning the top spot on In-Ear Fidelity’s IEM ranking list — a coveted position reserved for the absolute best in-ear monitors. I was lucky enough to review it and adored it: from the sound to its magma-inspired appearance, it quickly became my favorite IEM of all time.

But all of that has changed. Today, we’re looking at the next Monarch, the bass-enhanced Monarch MKIII. Retailing for the same $999 price point, it retains nearly everything so adored about the original and adds a deeper, higher-performance low-end with a reworked driver system, a new selection of custom faceplates, an even better cable, and a refined tuning that’s all around more impactful. This is definite Golden Ears territory, but today, we’re looking at some of the very best regardless of price point. Thieaudio has done it again.

With the Monarch MKIII, Thieaudio knew they were following up on something truly special. I can imagine the internal meeting: how do you top something that virtually everyone agreed was class-leading? It’s a difficult proposition but the team managed to pull it off, and the Monarch MKIII can officially take the reigns as the best earphone you can find below $1,000 and in some cases well above. 

With that in mind, you’re not going to mistake the Monarch MKIII as being part of a whole separate family of IEMs. One of the mistakes some companies make when designing successors is changing them so much that they don’t resemble the earbuds their sequelizing. That’s definitely not the case