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What Happened to UE?

post #1 of 8
1/17/12 at 1:24pm
Thread Starter 

I'm a long time "off and on" lurker here on Head-Fi.  When I was first contemplating a set of custom IEM's back in early-mid 2009, I seem to remember quite a bit of buzz around Ultimate Ears, specifically huge "Impressions" threads raving around their UE-7/UE-11, etc.

 

I realize the Logitech acquisition and JH Audio developments may have changed things, but now that I'm back in the market for customs I've been browsing for a few weeks and don't really see any posts about UE customs anymore.  Have they just fallen out of favor with the community?  Or are their other factors I should be considering?

 

Thanks!

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post #2 of 8
1/17/12 at 1:48pm

Ha!  When I saw the thread title I thought it was about Uncle Erik just dropping off the map here the past few weeks.

 

As to your question, there was a point where UE was the customs company.  Now you have:

JH

UM

1964

Heir

Sleek

Westone

 

and a bevy of other companies all competing in the same market.  There's more customs consumers than ever, but they are diluted among a much wider swath of brand-allegiance.  Sure, the logitech thing affected it (more problems with CS and QC afterwards from what I remember,) but a host of companies with cheaper prices doesn't help either.

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post #3 of 8
1/17/12 at 3:34pm

When I got my UE11 3 years ago, I used to have pride in that I had one of the best (at least in terms of price) IEM's on the market, but now with so many alternatives I just don't feel the same way as I used to. Also, the fact that I recently had to send it in for refit twice and still waiting does not help either.

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post #4 of 8
1/17/12 at 3:39pm

Also depends how high-end you're looking to go...

 

I'm thinking SpiralEar, Hidition, Starkey, FitEar etc.

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post #5 of 8
1/17/12 at 4:04pm

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mython View Post

Also depends how high-end you're looking to go...

 

I'm thinking SpiralEar, Hidition, Starkey, FitEar etc.



Wow I've never heard of those companies except for the Korean Hidition. If they all manage to stay in business, makes you wonder how big this market really is.

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post #6 of 8
1/17/12 at 4:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zeitfliesst View Post

 



Wow I've never heard of those companies except for the Korean Hidition. If they all manage to stay in business, makes you wonder how big this market really is.


That's because all those companies are located outside of North America, including Europe, Norway and Asia. We're much more exposed to the "bigger" companies here and there are currently only a select few around the world that head-fi is fond of. There are probably many great CIEMs out there, but who's willing to take the risk considering how costly each one is. 

 

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post #7 of 8
1/17/12 at 6:28pm

http://www.head-fi.org/t/541494/multi-custom-iem-review-resource-mfg-list-discussion-thread-15-reviews

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post #8 of 8
1/17/12 at 6:31pm

The best UE I've heard is the IERM.  It's a very enjoyable listen for something I'd consider an audio tool.  I still use it as my neutrality reference for ABing gear, mostly portable and sometimes not so much.


Edited by Anaxilus - 1/17/12 at 6:32pm
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