I believe this was touted as tia forte on steroids. I hope this is closer to pre-production tia forte than the current in production tia forte sound. Thoughts?
You should check out the reviews on Headfi. I had the chance to try one out and gave it 4 stars / 5.
LMAO Fir M4 is better than M5.
M5>M4 but only slightly.
The M4 has a more realistic timbre when it comes to cymbals in part due to the BAs. I liked the way the midrange was portrayed on the M4 but only on certain songs.
The M5 had a more lush/warm/thicker sounding apperance. Snare cracks with the M4 sounded awful on some recordings and moreso at higher listening volumes.
Both had really nice space between notes. As a drum lover wherever a snare hits and kick drum was played notes were distinct and well separated. I wish the Anole VX had this type of mid-range.
The M5 has that sludgy or lethargic sense for treble that a lot of EST tunings seem to exhibit. I think the best implementations ive heard from EST to date (and they aren't many) are the Shozy Pola 39 and UM Mest. Moving on: The M5 eeked out better macro details in treble vs the M4 probably due to the EST. I also enjoyed the timbre of the M5.