Introduction

ThieAudio launched in 2019 as a house brand for Linsoul—one of the biggest international audio distributors today—but don't dismiss its relatively recent beginnings as an indicator of inexperience. In fact, ThieAudio has been putting out competitive products at various price points in both the earphones and headphones space! My very first proper IEMs review was that of the ThieAudio Legacy 5 and I still rank the V16 Divinity as among my favorite sets. ThieAudio was also the first brand to make me emotional enough to shed a tear or two by allowing me to listen to my first set of premium IEMs in the form of the original Monarch—a tribrid driver set which continues to be sold today and offers a sub-bass focus with oodles of mids that hasn't been reproduced since. Perhaps that was for a reason though since the Monarch had its fair share of complaints from people who could not get behind the lack of mid-bass presence. ThieAudio aimed to rectify this with the Monarch MKII that launched alongside the V16 Divinity and quickly became a popular choice in the $1000 price range for its tonality. But once more there were complaints about wanting more bass, and better bass at that. It's now 2023 and the kilobuck market is ruthless with competition from brands large and small, old and new. Will the third time truly be the charm for ThieAudio?


Today we take a detailed look at the ThieAudio Monarch MKIII (mark 3) which immediately differentiates itself from its predecessor by offering several custom designs. In fact, only the thumbnail of this review shows the default aesthetics of the Monarch MKIII with its black shells and a face plate using black and smokey white trails with bits of shiny metallic particles that is lovely in its own right. But you can opt for—at an additional cost—different shells and face plates, which allows end users to get one of the better aspects of custom IEMs while still maintaining the universal fit. For example, the title photo above is of the Monarch MKIII in the "black bat" shell and "butterfly" face plate combination. There are 6 shells and 14 face plates to choose from outside of the default design which makes this a build-to-order set getting more hands-on attention too. All of them share the same internals including—for the first time from ThieAudio—a dual dynamic driver system handling the bass which feels purposely made to address all the complaints from before. The Monarch MKIII is a new tribrid driver set of IEMs that has become quite popular since it recently launched, so let's thank ThieAudio for providing a sample to TechPowerUp as we see whether the hype is justified in this review which begins with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

If you've seen any of my recent ThieAudio IEM reviews then this unboxing experience will seem familiar enough. The brand has a consistent formula which seems to work well for them so I can't complain too much. The product box is taller than average and has a decorative sleeve in a light camo green color. On the front is the ThieAudio logo and product name with a render of the default design and EST in the background so you know this set has the expensive EST drivers inside. The driver configuration is also listed below as well as on the back along with product specs where the rated sensitivity is slightly off from what's on the product page... regardless, a sticker on the side contains the serial number of the item which I originally thought was supposed to be code for the exact configuration inside. Keep in mind that at this stage I still didn't know what combination this review sample was going to be using. As such, I quickly slid off the (extremely tight) sleeve from the inner black cardboard box which has the logo again on the front and opens from the side to reveal the IEMs with cable attached in a thick foam compartment. The accessories are separately placed below and there is a foam lining on top for added protection.


ThieAudio uses the same accessories across most of its recent IEM lineup now, at least once past the more budget-friendly stage. This is the same large, flattish hard carry/storage case we saw before with the likes of the V16 Divinity, for example, with a gray fabric cover and the older brand logo on top showing ThieAudio is still using the same cases it must have loads of still in stock. It's well built, including the branded zipper and tiny loop to be used with a carabiner/chain, and opens up to reveal plenty of room for the IEMs, cable, replacement ear tips, and even a few other accessories including a portable DAC/amp. The case has a divider on the inside to facilitate this and the soft felt lining prevents scratches to anything put inside.


We get both silicone and memory foam tips in sizes S, M, and L, but I admittedly wanted more. This is the exact same assortment of ear tips I have seen in far less expensive ThieAudio sets too and the market now expects to see more in this price range—be it in the form of more options or simply better, more expensive ear tips. Not a dealbreaker by any means but it just does not make for the strongest of impressions.


Along with the ear tips is a microfiber cleaning cloth, which can be handy to keep the shells looking pristine. The final set of accessories is a set of three cable connectors allowing you to choose between balanced 2.5 mm or 4.4 mm TRRS or single-ended 3.5 mm TRS. These are placed within metal hardware with the ThieAudio logo and a knurled finish for added grip. The plugs are gold-plated for additional oxidation resistance and come with plastic covers to keep unused plugs tidy. The overall size of these connectors is certainly smaller than what we saw on previous generation ThieAudio modular connectors so this is a good thing for cable management and ease of use.


The last thing to do here is to detach the cable from the IEMs for a closer examination. ThieAudio continues to use the popular 0.78 mm 2-pin terminations, so all you need to do is carefully pull the connector out of each side. Don't wiggle horizontally much lest you bend the thin plugs and now we are ready to check out the cable and IEMs separately on the next page.