Ultimate Ears UE 900 Discussion and Appreciation Thread - Page 97

 

The Shure are inferior in every aspect: resolution, prat, frequency extension, fatigue, timbre and build of the cable.

I would agree. After listening all day to these, I am finding them to be well worth their price and more. If there ever was an underpriced $400 IEM, this is it. Considering you can snag them for much less on eBay or Amazon, these are truly amazing.

Burn in the GR07s before you return them - they'll grow on you.

Had over 150 hours on them. They are on their way back to Amazon. Can't hold a candle to what I am hearing from the UE900s. I didn't even like them nearly as much as the BA200s. Just too congested and sibilant.

I got my replacement a couple of days ago directly from Logitech. It took about 9 days from when I first opened the ticket to receiving the replacement. They sent a brand new pair, serial number starting with 1243. I'm happy to say no problems so far! 

Hi fellows,

This is my first post, I´d like to share my experience with the UE900. I am a professional musician (keyboardist), I use in-ear monitoring on stage on a regular basis. I´m not a native english speaker so I´ll try to explain myself the best I could!

Today I received my UE900s, was blown away with their sound quality, transparency and detail. Just found the treble (around 10-12khz) a tad too exaggerated for my like... the build and cable quality seems to be fragile, but time will tell.

IMO they sound WAY better than my Shure SE425s, which lacked on both the low and high end (they have a pronounced rolloff), lacked in detail and soundstage (they sounded like way too "in-your-face", like they were monaural). Also their low-mid range lacks some definition. The UE900s are a great improvement and definitely worth the price.
In my opinion, the UE900´s sound signature is similar to my Beyerdynamic DT770 cans, which I like very much.

I am aware of the issues that some of you guys are having with the UE900, like distortion and sudden cut-outs; I´d like to share with you something I discovered about this; maybe it could be helpful.

THE PROBLEM:
- When I first put them on, I played a song on my iPhone. Then, I pressed the R side firmly inside my ear canal -to get a better seal-, then... i heard the sound distorted and suddenly cut out for a second... then back to normal. Then, I pulled the earpiece out a little, and again... distortion and a membrane-like sound (like a candy wrap).
I was using the single-flange (soft, light-gray) tips.

SO, I figured out -at least on my case- that this problem was NOT a connector issue; It was caused by the vacuum that is created in the moment between pressing and releasing the earpiece inside the ear canal (when it settles to its final position). The seal of the gray tips is fully hermetic, so this also happens when you pull out the earpiece, the vacuum affects the membrane inside the transducer(s).
NOTE: This DOES NOT happen with the black foam tips. Given their porous material, they will not form sufficient vacuum.

THE SOLUTION
So, a transitory solution was punching 4 tiny little holes in the tip flange (on the sides), with a fine needle. Note that these holes are not visible, and they will not affect the seal in any way; they will let air in only when you move or pull out the earpiece.
These holes act now like tiny "pressure-relief" valves, so, when you pull out or move the ear piece, the holes will let some air to get inside the ear canal, preventing the vacuum to form.

Just my two cents about this issue, I hope it will be helpful for some of you! Maybe this could be obvious but it just worked right for me.

Best regards, and greetings from Chile,
Cristóbal Platz

PD: number printed on the plug: 1243
Edited by platz - 1/31/13 at 8:04pm

Hm, that's actually very interesting Platz.  So you feel the distortion is caused by driver flex (possibly)?  In this case it would actually be the tip flexing, as I do get that, but it's not the driver causing distortion.  

Hi Tinyman,

 

I did a search about this phenomenon, and yes, it seems to be driver flex. And you´re right, I double checked them and they still distort when pressing them firmly (even with the holes in the rubber tip). I reckon this happened as well with my SE425s now and then.

 

Actually the issue was more noticeable when I pulled the earpieces out than when I pressed them. Now with the little holes I made to the rubber tip flanges, at least the distortion is gone when pulling them out, so I guess the problem is a combination of tip flexing (when pushing) + driver flex (when pulling).  

Edited by platz - 1/31/13 at 9:19pm

 

It's good to see that you found out what caused it for you.  I don't want to take the words away from others though, as it is possible that there are some models that actually distort.  The cutting off of audio you described earlier was actually due to the cable connection.  It seems that yours went away (like mine did; UE still wanted to see my UE 900 though).  It's quite possible that this could be what others are experiencing, but it's still possible its actual distortion as they seem to say it increases with volume (driver flex would happen independent of volume).  Thanks for the input though, I do get some driver flex from these (with jaw movements though).  If inserted properly though, I can eliminate them all.  

alright!... thanks for your help and comments, Tinyman.

 

I almost forgot to say, the Shure SE cables are 100% compatible with the UE900; I tried mine, sounded ok but (maybe!!) noticed a sliiiight difference in treble response (slightly lower)... or was just my head..?

 

Best Regards!

Cristóbal

Edited by platz - 2/1/13 at 12:23am

If I enjoy forward mids will the UE 900's be able to keep me satisfied?

Should be, as I do think that the UE 900 mids are decently forward.  But of course I am not you, so please go try it out yourself if possible.

Interesting - I'm ready to move on from the 07s even though I really dig them. I'm going to wait awhile and see what else VSonic has in the next few months. The Hifiman RE-400 seem pretty good, too (according to project86's review) and are cheaper...if nothing else sways me, than I'll probably get a set of 4Ais from Heir. Too bad the build quality of the UE900 is suspect; enough people rave about them to be under heavy consideration.

To note, mine are from batch 1242, been using them daily for a little over a month now , no issues whatsoever.

 

 

Exactly. Mine are from 1243 and I think UE has gotten through the batch with issues and addressed it.