{"id":1068,"date":"2011-04-22T00:46:38","date_gmt":"2011-04-22T00:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nargalzius.com\/blog\/archives\/2011\/04\/22\/ultimate-ears\/"},"modified":"2017-02-15T11:01:16","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T11:01:16","slug":"ultimate-ears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/archives\/2011\/04\/22\/ultimate-ears","title":{"rendered":"Ultimate Ears"},"content":{"rendered":"<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5145\/5605489974_a4feee8386_b.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"You may click on the image for more details\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5145\/5605489974_a4feee8386_m.jpg\" class=\"wb\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>What do you get when you visit an audiologist, <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5294\/5512438048_ec64c7cfda.jpg\">have impressions of your ear canal(s) made<\/a>, send those <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5016\/5512649924_92d0c0bcef.jpg\">impressions<\/a> to a headphone manufacturer, wait about two weeks, and end up getting a <a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5028\/5605489890_4c698bf16c_z.jpg\">headphone custom-fit to your ears<\/a>? You experience <strong>auditory awesomeness,<\/strong> that&#8217;s what!<!--more--><!-- \/\/ --><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5223\/5636091489_2a5759e336_o.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"You may click on the image for more details\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/farm6.static.flickr.com\/5223\/5636091489_75c376bf32_m.jpg\" class=\"wb\"><\/a><\/div>\n<p>I&#8217;ve somewhat officially run the whole gamut of in-ear monitor price ranges. From $100 FutureSonic EM3s, then the $300 Etymotic Research ER-4Ps, then up to the $500 M-Audio IE40s <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_1');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_1');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_1\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">1 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_1\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Ultimate Ears Triple-fi OEMs<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script>, and now the top-tier custom monitors with my new Ultimate Ears IERMs <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_2');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_2');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_2\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">2 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_2\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">In Ear Reference Monitors<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script> which hit the thousand dollar price-range.<\/p>\n<p>As such, I guess I&#8217;m in a position to be able to give a reliable review\/comparison of the difference in audio quality as you jump from one price-range to the other&#8230; as I still own every single one of those headphones mentioned above.<\/p>\n<h1>Disclaimer<\/h1>\n<p>Since I don&#8217;t own &#8220;competitors&#8221; products at similar price ranges (e.g. Shure SE530s, which are in direct competition with the IE40s), I won&#8217;t bother getting into the debate of which brand\/model is better at a given price-range.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, this post is meant to be an analysis of the improvements <em>across<\/em> price-ranges. Simply put, think of this as a <em>&#8220;what more do you get when you invest more in your headphones&#8221;<\/em> sort of thing.<\/p>\n<h1>First thing&#8217;s first<\/h1>\n<p>First question posed by people who actually know about custom in-ear monitors is why I didn&#8217;t go JH Audio <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_3');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_3');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_3\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">3 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_3\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Given that UE was founded by Jerry Harvey (the &#8220;JH&#8221; in JH Audio) before selling it to Logitech<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_3').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_3', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script> or Westone.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s just say I did my research and while each brand had its strengths, UE, specifically with their IERM catered to my personal need\/preference in audio. All other brands, while claiming &#8220;frequency neutrality&#8221; are honest enough to admit that their monitors will still invariably have unique sonic characteristics (&#8220;color,&#8221; as it were).<\/p>\n<p>Having said that, I found that UE&#8217;s collaboration with Capitol Records to develop the most &#8220;neutral&#8221; reference-grade monitors very appealing. Marketing or not, I doubt a well respected studio like Capitol would allow its name to be used if these headphones didn&#8217;t deliver the same sonic signature you would get as you recorded\/mixed\/mastered with their own hardware.<\/p>\n<p>But like I said earlier, this is not about brand comparison, so I&#8217;ll stop at that.<\/p>\n<h1>What do you pay for<\/h1>\n<p>&#8230; as you cross price-ranges, that is. I guess in a nutshell, you pay for &#8220;resolution.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>One thing that I immediately noticed when trying the IERMs is that even more elements &#8220;readily jump out of the mix&#8221; &#8211; and I&#8217;m going to have to qualify that statement since it can be pretty ambiguious\/subjective. The reason for such a statement is because I&#8217;d really like to say that these babies made me hear things I&#8217;ve never heard before&#8230; which felt that way when I first tried it (and usually every time I try &#8220;better&#8221; headphones) &#8211; especially since I didn&#8217;t have the other units to do an A\/B comparison with (as I was still in the US then). <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s usually the little details; like the sound generated by the palm rubbing against the neck of the guitar while doing a vibrato on an acoustic guitar.<\/p>\n<p>But now that I&#8217;m home, and have done the A\/B, I confirm that these little nuances are also present on even the EM3s, the difference was that I had to listen for them &#8211; as against clearly, unmistakably (and unavoidably) hearing them with the IERMs.<\/p>\n<p>So the answer I&#8217;ve come up with is that [more] expensive headphones make you respect\/appreciate the work put into the mix more and more. Those little details, no matter how faint they may sound, show how much detail can packed in a recording. And as you get better headphones, the less effort it takes to hear those things &#8211; to the point that you&#8217;ll <em>think<\/em> you heard stuff you&#8217;ve never heard before. But the more correct assessment would be that you&#8217;ll hear stuff you&#8217;ve never <strong>noticed<\/strong> before. And in that sense, the marketing lingo is in fact correct: good headphones can indeed make you &#8220;re-discover&#8221; the music.<\/p>\n<p>The question that remains is if that enhanced accuracy\/resolution is worth the added cost. Do you really need $1,000 headphones when I just admitted that even a $100 can do the same (although in a much inferior manner). The answer to <em>that<\/em> will always be different from person to person. Just like asking a golfer what is there to be gained when you buy an astronomically priced golf-club.<\/p>\n<h1>Personal impressions<\/h1>\n<p>Now that I&#8217;m done with the &#8220;facts,&#8221; I&#8217;ll just shoot the breeze of what I noticed while A\/Bing the 4 different models. Here&#8217;s a list of facts I got to confirm over time regarding the respective models.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>EM3s are indeed, [too] bass-heavy <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_4');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_4');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_4\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">4 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_4\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">due to dynamic drivers<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_4').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_4', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script> and have a very early roll-off on the high frequencies.<\/li>\n<li>ER-4Ps actually have the ideal mids and highs, it&#8217;s no wonder why these became the standard to compare mid\/high freq resolution performance with.<\/li>\n<li>IE40s\/Triple-Fis are pretty well balanced, but it has a bit of a bass\/treble boost, and a slight dip on the mid.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The IE40 <em>was<\/em> still the best despite the EQ curve it had because I&#8217;d rather have a slight dip on the mid than severely lacking bass. But I will not deny that the ER-4Ps still had the best sounding high\/mid performance I came across.<\/p>\n<p>The IERMs sound like a perfected version of the IE-40 in the tonal sense. They backed off a bit on the bass\/treble (more on the bass) and flattened the mid. So the result is like an ER-4P with balanced bass &#8211; with much more resolution.<\/p>\n<p>So I&#8217;ll be hard pressed <em>not<\/em> to say that the IERM undoubtedly had one of, if not <em>the<\/em> most flat frequency curve I&#8217;ve ever heard to date. And that&#8217;s exactly what I was going after.<\/p>\n<p>And the sound-isolation on the IERM&#8217;s phenomenal, as expected from any custom fit headphones. Once I put them on, everything else just disappears. In fact, have to make a disclaimer to the people around me that if they want to ask me something, they have to <em>physically<\/em> nudge me &#8211; else I wouldn&#8217;t hear them.<\/p>\n<p>This probably adds to the clarity of the IERM&#8217;s apart from having top of the line components, an excellent seal will also do wonders in audio clarity since there&#8217;s no other outside &#8220;sound&#8221; muddling the sound coming into your ears.<\/p>\n<h1>Conclusion<\/h1>\n<p>Once again, these units sound so good that I cannot imagine going back to anything less <span class=\"footnote_referrer\"><a role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" onclick=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_5');\" onkeypress=\"footnote_moveToReference_1068_1('footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_5');\" ><sup id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_5\" class=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text\">5 <\/sup><\/a><span id=\"footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_5\" class=\"footnote_tooltip\">Save for emergencies<\/span><\/span><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_5').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1068_1_5', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top right', relative: true, offset: [10, 10], });<\/script> &#8230; the next time I ever consider getting a replacement, I&#8217;ll probably be looking at the $1,000+ price-range here on out.<\/p><div class=\"speaker-mute footnotes_reference_container\"> <div class=\"footnote_container_prepare\"><p><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_label pointer\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_1068_1();\">Notes<\/span><span role=\"button\" tabindex=\"0\" class=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button\" style=\"display: none;\" onclick=\"footnote_expand_collapse_reference_container_1068_1();\">[<a id=\"footnote_reference_container_collapse_button_1068_1\">+<\/a>]<\/span><\/p><\/div> <div id=\"footnote_references_container_1068_1\" style=\"\"><table class=\"footnotes_table footnote-reference-container\"><caption class=\"accessibility\">Notes<\/caption> <tbody> \r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1068_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_1');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_1\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>1<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Ultimate Ears Triple-fi OEMs<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1068_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_2');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_2\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>2<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">In Ear Reference Monitors<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1068_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_3');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_3\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>3<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Given that UE was founded by Jerry Harvey (the &#8220;JH&#8221; in JH Audio) before selling it to Logitech<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1068_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_4');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_4\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>4<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">due to dynamic drivers<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n<tr class=\"footnotes_plugin_reference_row\"> <th scope=\"row\" class=\"footnote_plugin_index_combi pointer\"  onclick=\"footnote_moveToAnchor_1068_1('footnote_plugin_tooltip_1068_1_5');\"><a id=\"footnote_plugin_reference_1068_1_5\" class=\"footnote_backlink\"><span class=\"footnote_index_arrow\">&#8673;<\/span>5<\/a><\/th> <td class=\"footnote_plugin_text\">Save for emergencies<\/td><\/tr>\r\n\r\n <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> function footnote_expand_reference_container_1068_1() { jQuery('#footnote_references_container_1068_1').show(); 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jQuery('html, body').animate({ scrollTop: l_obj_Target.offset().top - window.innerHeight * 0.2 }, 380); } }<\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What do you get when you visit an audiologist, have impressions of your ear canal(s) made, send those impressions to a headphone manufacturer, wait about two weeks, and end up getting a headphone custom-fit to your ears? You experience auditory awesomeness, that&#8217;s what!<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[803],"class_list":["post-1068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-reviews","tag-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1068"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1918,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1068\/revisions\/1918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nargalzius.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}