[Mimouille]

What is all this about universals vs. customs ? Some among both perform excellently to my ears. It is obvious that customs are not always an upgrade. I do not even know why one would think so as some customs cost 200$ and some universals cost 1.5k$ (ok price is not everything but still.
 
The 1plus2 blows many customs out of the water technically. But several top end CIEMs (if you like their signature, and if your ears are ok to get customs - which I think is the case for the majority of people - and if you have access to a good audiologist) will be an upgrade from a good share of universals.
 
Customs have, IMO, specificities that make them better to some people. I for one think that the isolation is in general better, except if you use foam tips, which I do not. Besides, the comfort is superior for me, and I have several of both. Finally, customs have a larger area of contact with your canal making the music sometimes more visceral / immersive, BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE.
 
Music_4321, I think that you might be putting the emphasis on custom horror stories, whereas it is not as complicated as that, unless you have: no tolerance to customs / a bad audiologist / an dishonest CIEM company. Of course we hear the horror stories more than the stories that go smoothly, and refits are a pain. Do you really think if you were to conduct a survey on headfi, were people usually like to complain, you would get more people disatisfied with customs than people overall satisfied ?
 
But let us also remind people that for some people like me with huge canals or like my wife with minuscule canals, CIEMs is a better option.
 
Anyways, back to the SE846.

 

[Aero Dynamik]

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Shure may be a huge company but keep in mind IEM sales are probably a mere 5-10% of their total sales, if that.
 
Not sure how these advancements in IEM technology diminish the value of customs in any way.  I see it the other way...that the more expensive universals get (good universals) that it moreso justifies the $1,200 for a JH13 or 16.  That the price gap in narrowing.  New technologies in custom fitting can now pretty much guarantee a perfect fit.  Other than re-sale value,  at the same price, who wouldn't want a custom?
 
To the poster a couple pages back that has seal issues with his custom when laying down or making faces...that shouldn't happen.  Could be a bad fit or you may have really odd ear anatomy or a combo.  Tough to beat the simple corkscrew placement of a custom. 

No, I do not have fit issues with my EarSonics EM6! They went back enough times to EarSonics to make the fit perfect. My point is that acrylic customs are very, very rigid, while ear canals are very, very flexible. That is, perfect fit is only achieved when the head and jaws are held in the same position they were when the impressions were made. Universals on the other hand are usually more flexible and less deeply inserted and so retain their fit and comfort whatever position we keep our body/head in. I personally find this to be a major advantage of the universal fit.

 

[fuzzy1969]

Ive got one ear canal larger than the other which is why I have customs.

 

[Aero Dynamik]

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To think there are people out there that think it is truly  INSANE  to spend even $100 on an earphone.....LOL!!!

 
For those who find it hard to earn $100 perhaps even $50 is insane—truly insane—, immature, irresponsible… perhaps even a sin (if they're religious).

Reality check! Great, and we need them so much! Thanks!

 

[Ultrazino]

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This earphone has so many extremely fiddly, intricate parts that had to be mad expensive to implement.

The air of this thread is a bit confusing: had the SE846 been a custom-cum universal like the 334, its 1.000$ would make more sense?

 
Customs are handcrafted articles, the Shure is mass-produced by machines. You can change design, mix custom colors, implement personal logos and even tune the sound to your liking with customs. How can you compare the value to an universal? In the end, the Shure still has a transparent plastic housing and is far from luxurious and cannot stand up to the novelty of a custom.
The 334 is just as ridiculously priced, but it's still a fairly unknown (= small) company, they don't have the market share of Shure.
 
Look at the StageDiver series. They are universals with identical build to their custom counterparts. As the housing can be done by a machine, the company let's you save 349 € if the universals fit your ear. And their customs are still priced very fair!
 
My point is, technical improvement is a matter of course. Companies will figure out how to improve the sound naturally. But it's not "art" or anything, so they cannot push the price every time they have a crazy idea.
Companies like Panasonic or JVC create new ideas all the time and also improve their products. But they replace their old models and sell the new product for the old price! AKG, Sennheiser and now Shure just add a leather pouch and sell it as exquisite and triple the price.
 
Of course, there's nothing wrong with that, but it's not what hifi is about and I hope not many people will support this. The improvement in the budget area is going crazy fast and you can get sound for under 100$ that would have cost you 500$ when I joined this hobby.
 
I am still interested in the SE846, but if it does not wow me as the single best technology ever created in a plastic shell, I will be very bummed and obviously lose sympathy for Shure.

 

[fuzzy1969]

I suspect there will be different shell colour options down the road much like the 535 clear, brown and later the limited edition red, I think its to show off the tech inside.

 

[dweaver]

I like the different colors they have for,the other models because they are still see through. I do imagine they will offer some options down the road too. But you never know, at this price the sales may be low enough they won't offer other colors.

 

[dleblanc343]

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I had a chance to give these a spin for maybe 45 minutes today (I feel so spoiled) and tried them out of the iphone 5 mostly and Currawong's pico power amp a bit. The filter was the balanced / neutral type and the tips where foam. That was my first listen of the day with "fresh" ears, although I had 3 hours of sleep about last night so impressions might not be very reliable. Furthermore, I am no expert in iems, so I can't relate much to other gear except what I sampled later today (JH13 Pros, ES5 among others) but these were all like 10-20 minute impressions so nothing solid, I don't trust my conclusions .
 
 
In conclusion, if it wasn't for the bit "boosted" bass (from the iphone 5, I can't repeat this enough but I am guessing the poor amp has some issue dealing with this rather low impedance earphone), I'd probably be saving up for one. As it stands, I would need to also buy an amp to go with it and well, I am not quite ready to build a proper "transportable" rig so I will keep looking a bit around for a while (I will post impressions of other iems samples in Tokyo meet thread later on where I will compare the 846 to these well known ciems). 

Hey arnaud, when I got my iphone 5, I was very ticked off by the "frequency tuning" of the device. It sounds good, but the bass is definitely boosted over the previous generations. I realized this when I tried it with my re272's and bass was much more prominent than what they should be. I recommend buying "Accudio player" by Goldenears on the app store, it sounds much better than stock and if you hate carrying portable amps with you like me; this player does very well. Just be wary of some bugs and other annoyances with the app; it's not perfect but I justify using it because of its SQ. You'll also notice better high frequency extension and air, and it's not as grainy. I'd argue bass extends deeper (but again, there is no midbass hump like the stock iphone player, so it's welcomed).
 
It's like 6$, I think it's worth it. I haven't used the iphone 5's music player since September 23rd 

 
Edit: Oh yeah, to stay on topic. Technically the Shure's would sound better in this case. Won't have the drive of the pico. Also, there's a fantastic equalizer with the player, but I don't use it.

 

[fuzzy1969]

I hope they do a bronze like my 535, but they might have other plans, official launch is in june here in the uk.

 

[Aero Dynamik]

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That is up to you of course. The improvements to the SE535 are both visceral (gets you in your guts) and technological.

Again, Shure play a different game. They are not a boutique retailer. Nor are they on the ex-custom train.

Tech improvements meted out in audible tummies (that's yummies, iPhone) are their game. Currently the cost for such improvements - and Shure's obvious commitment to moving forward no matter the cost - is substantial. You'll have to test it out when it comes to town.

How can it? I've always been puzzled reading about "visceral impact" from IEMs. As no sound waves from an IEM reach the inner ear via the body, how can it be visceral? I always tell people to aquire a decent set of speakers if "visceral impact" is what they want, or did I misunderstand this concept completely, or is it just audiophile jargon for something else? Please elaborate! Thanks!

 

[fuzzy1969]

I think there's a bone in the inner ear that transmits sub bass, to other bones and brain goes a bit weird.

 

[Ultrazino]

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I suspect there will be different shell colour options down the road much like the 535 clear, brown and later the limited edition red, I think its to show off the tech inside.

 
No such thing in Europe. Over here it's bronze only. But with customs, I hear people ask the color to match their car paint exactly!
 
Look at the sales ranking for in-ear headphones on Thomann.de: It's Shure and Shure only (Top 10)! The SE846 will be mass produced like any Windows laptop - I have no doubts.

 

[Spyro]

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No, I do not have fit issues with my EarSonics EM6! They went back enough times to EarSonics to make the fit perfect. My point is that acrylic customs are very, very rigid, while ear canals are very, very flexible. That is, perfect fit is only achieved when the head and jaws are held in the same position they were when the impressions were made. Universals on the other hand are usually more flexible and less deeply inserted and so retain their fit and comfort whatever position we keep our body/head in. I personally find this to be a major advantage of the universal fit.

For the record, I don't have this issue with my all acrylic JH5.  I think lifting weights is the toughest test (face contortions, sweat, etc) and mine never go out of whack.
 
But that's me, I suppose it could happen with others depending on ear anatomy.

 

[fuzzy1969]

We had the bronze and clear option in the UK, amazon uk are still selling them, I think the limited edition red was a japan only or something, people do go a over the top on customs colours though.

 

[Aero Dynamik]

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... but keep up the good anti custom fight.

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... you are displaying your anti custom bias as well.

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Originally Posted by goodvibes /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
It's more than coincidental that the most respected IEM reviewer's favs are customs but I doubt they look upon it as a universal truth as you do the opposite.

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Originally Posted by goodvibes /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Don't know and don't really care because I'm happy and don't have an axe to grind.

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Originally Posted by goodvibes /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
No need to continue the anti custom crusade...

 
 
Oh dear...

How very British! Love it! Thanks!