[Sko0byDoo]

Very nice video, Jude...I got my UERMs in May this year.  Wonder whether it was the old method or new.  I assumed it was a the new way since I've read somewhere that UE keeps my 3-D scanned impressions for future ciem orders.  I'm thinking of getting another set from UE soon.  Thoroughly impressed with the UERMs.      

 

[H0r5e]

Do want! cant have.

 

[Audiophile1811]

  Very good video as an introduction.
 
For the past several months, I've been using the UERM whose impressions have been 3D scanned. To date, the UERM is the best-fitting monitor I've used, and my right ear is terribly difficult to fit correctly.
 
Having also been to UE's facilities and been up close with the UE people, I definitely expect them to have spent a lot of time fine-tuning their standard operating procedures to be as consistent as possible. Using the 3D scanning/printing process allows them to continue on that path.
 
The main drawback of using 3D printing for fabricating shells is that UE will now be defaulting to clear shells for all users, except for special requests, where the traditional method will still be used. Hopefully what they're doing is still printing the finished impression and creating the negative colloid from the 3D-printed impression to create the final UV hand-cured shells.
 
One hurdle that I'd like to see UE take on as a challenge is to create demo units that fit better and more comfortably on a greater number of people, as most demo units are simply not very practical to wear, and run into issues of variable insertion depth across clientele, etc. UE, over the years, has amassed a huge collection of ear impressions that they've kept on file. These impressions can in turn be re-scanned and catalogued to form a very large library of ear impressions that can be statistically analyzed for optimal average fit. In fact, they could take things a step further and begin keeping metadata on a client's gender, height, weight, build, ethnicity, facial shape, etc. to further fine tune shapes for different markets. I know such an effort is already widespread in the hearing aid industry, and it is this kind of data that most universal in-ear manufacturers consult when designing their products, but with their own in-house equipment on hand, UE can tailor these information sets to their own needs.

 

   
At scale, yes, but despite a marked increase in demand for CIEMs, the market is still quite small. The majority of costs go into the extensive labor hours of skilled technicians who, as Jude mentioned, were previously the ones physically filling in the imperfections of the silicone A/B material with wax, and are now in front of the computer doing the exact same thing, but with hearing-specific CAD software. Thus, the man hours required for that process are the same. The shells can be printed faster, but the traditional shell manufacturing process doesn't take that long either, at most a few minutes (unless it's a complex multi-layered cure to put in texture and stuff --- look at Noble Audio's stuff as an example --- that takes multiple curing steps), so it becomes more economical if the printing is done in batches (as much as can fill up the SLA printer's tray).
 
However, the rest of the way is exactly the same as before. A technician still has to stuff the components inside, has to test to see if it all works, and the faceplates are hand-made and sealed. So the process is still very labor-intensive --- it has merely become more consistent because of the 3D scanning and processing aspect. Perhaps ten years down the road shells will become cheaper to manufacture, but right now, the equipment needed for the printing process constitutes a massive sunk cost.
 
UE's efforts to move to 3D scanning and printing are primarily about more consistent fit rates, lessening customer grumbles and hours spent on the phone and over e-mail communicating why a CIEM may or may not require a refit. Absolute manufacturing costs are not necessarily lower, and at this stage of the game, I'd actually argue that they're higher.

 

   
From what I observe, from markets in the US and around the globe, price is usually not the limiting factor, especially in emerging markets of Asia.
 
Ultimate Ears offers the UE4, which is the same price as the UE900, and I can actually imagine the UE4 dropping in price in the future because of the limited options available, but really, custom in-ear monitors will inevitably remain lower in sales volume than universal products. Price is cost-prohibitive for entry-level enthusiasts wishing to buy a top-level product, but TOTL is TOTL, and it really is a luxury offering that isn't accessible to most people.
 
If we go from the perspective of simple supply/demand economics, even though UE's supply capabilities have gone up, they are simply meeting the existing demand for their custom in-ear products in a timely manner. Altering the price point of their CIEMs will shift the demand curve to where it might not be able to deliver a product that can meet its quality and service standards. As mentioned by Jude, the process is still very labor-intensive, so unless they figure out how to automate 3D scan processing and replace skilled technicians with *skilled* robots, UE will not be able to substantially lower prices and still maintain a operational profit margin.
 
Let's view it from another way; switching to 3D scanning/printing has the following benefits for UE:

1. More consistent and faster shipping times
2. More consistent and better fit rates
3. Ability to scale production to meet demand

 
These things have the capability to further:

1. Reduce operational overhead due to lessened customer service burden.
2. Maintain a higher rate of returning clients (competition in the CIEM industry is ever increasing).
3. Be prepared for projected increases in sales volume.

 
Ever since Logitech officially took over UE in 2008, the team at UE has been remarkably clear about its goals, and it is to increase consistency in all areas, from presentation to delivery times to build quality, durability, and even sound quality. This step, now, is merely a continuation of that goal.

 

   
JH Audio was demoing it, but it's an independent company whose name escapes me at the moment. There's more than one company doing ear scanning, but they're actually all hearing aid oriented because those scanners can really do the canal only, up to the external acoustic meatus. It won't be able to take impressions of the tragus/anti-tragus, helix/anti-helix, cymba/cavum conchae, etc. The technology is also far from mature.

 
Wow, you really know what you're talking about . Thanks!

  

 

[nevin]

Really impressed. With the improving of the 3D printer and the materials, I can imagine the process can get further improved. Maybe we will allowed to have our own design software and just send whatever we can think of to the lab, and they "print" it out.

 

[tomscy2000]

  Wow, you really know what you're talking about . Thanks!

  

 
Thanks. A lot of it comes from my conversations with the folks at UE, as well as other CIEM manufacturers. The big difference between UE and other, smaller companies is that they have the financial means to do things like 3D printing in a big way, with the corporate robustness to make sure things don't go wrong. The smaller companies would love to do something similar, but they simply don't have the means to pour substantial money (as Jude mentioned, over $500,000) into scanners and printers.
 
At the same time, UE actually isn't the only company to have 3D scanning and printing as part of their manufacturing process. Unique Melody and Rooth (they're the same company, technically) both offer 3D scanning and printing as part of their manufacturing process. However, they ran into substantial problems rolling it out last year, leading to massive delays to both the 3D printed service and the traditional service, resulting in unhappy customers. It seems they've ironed out their issues, though their turnaround times still aren't perfect.
 
So, I'm glad UE took their time to create a process they feel confident in. Even before the service, UE already had the shortest average turnaround time out of any CIEM manufacturer, and that time is further decreased with this process.
 
This is an interesting period of growth for the custom in-ear industry, and you're seeing manufacturers take on different strategies to cope with increased demand, as well as diversifying their product portfolio. UE's mission of stability and consistency is also informed by their professional clientele --- they have the largest number of professional touring musicians in their client base, and these are the people that truly need fast, reliable shell fittings. Accidentally drop one shell on stage and break it, and get a replacement a couple days later at the next touring location.
 

  Really impressed. With the improving of the 3D printer and the materials, I can imagine the process can get further improved. Maybe we will allowed to have our own design software and just send whatever we can think of to the lab, and they "print" it out.

 
Well, I don't know about UE being a service to provide SLA 3D printing for anything, but I'm sure a company will come along with that service and make it affordable in the very near future.
 
As SLA 3D printing becomes more affordable (dependent upon the success and evolution of products from companies like Formlabs, catalyzing cheaper manufacturing costs for high resolution SLA machines across the board), I can envision UE rolling out a decentralized shell fitting service. At select locations, they can enable on-site shell processing and printing, so that the client can at least wear the shell immediately and see if it fits correctly before receiving the final product. Of course, all of these developments hinge upon the 3D printing market having the kind of growth it's expected to have.

 

[jrkong]

Not really new. I've seen people who've done this elsewhere. I'll be impressed once someone starts printing working drivers out.

 

[warrenpchi]

 

  Wow, you really know what you're talking about . Thanks!

  

 
Thanks. A lot of it comes from my conversations with the folks at UE, as well as other CIEM manufacturers.

 
A quick note for those that don't know... and as a bit of shameless plugging on behalf of a friend, Tom (tomscy2000) is the founder and editor of CymbaCavum - a most excellent blog about personal audio specializing in IEMs. 

 

[yay101]

I can't help but feel like while the cost disadvantage for smaller producers is definitely there, there is no reason that they couldn't do it for far, far less money and get comparable results. Not on par, but definitely enough to shake up UE and drive inovation. In fact as long as you were producing the driver chamber with a traditional means to ensure sound and durability, what is stopping people from producing custom shells around the generic chamber/ driver setup?

A few lines of lua code and blender could extract a very very acurate model from a few photos and measurements. Hell I've seen people extract guages from metal with the same methods for textures.

I'm hoping there are some companies looking at doing this in their spare time or something, because mass produced custom iems could be a reality at the very least for amateur musicians or others who require comfort for long periods of time or audiophiles who don't want to or can't shell out for the undoubtably superior "real thing".

 

[kyuuketsuki]

Jude... I've been avoiding even considering customs because of the possibility for refits. What you have done is make it harder for me to deny them. The more companies that use this the higher liklihood I'll eventually take the dip.
 
If I end up with a set of custom in ears down the road, it will be almost entirely your fault. I hope you're proud of yourself...

 

[tomscy2000]

  A quick note for those that don't know... and as a bit of shameless plugging on behalf of a friend, Tom (tomscy2000) is the founder and editor of CymbaCavum - a most excellent blog about personal audio specializing in IEMs. 

 
Thanks for the shameless plug, Warren --- tee hee...
 
I've been pretty active in this thread mostly for the reason that I've been up close and personal with the stuff that's going on over there at UE so I feel I can provide adequate additional insight. Last summer, I visited the lab and filmed a ton of footage, in addition to having a very long conversation with general manager Phillipe Depallens. Unfortunately, they weren't quite ready to reveal the 3D/digital process yet, so I didn't get to film their 3D printer and CAD stuff, but I did get to film basically everything else. It has been nearly impossible to find time to edit it, though. Only 24 hours in a day...

 
(For another shameless plug) here's a teaser:
 

​

 ​

When the time comes to release Part 1, I'll make sure to provide additional commentary for head-fiers.

 

[vitaliy belo]

Lantos Technologies http://www.lantostechnologies.com

 

[Mike Dias]

Obviously, we kept this story under wraps as we were perfecting the process and we were honored to share the news with Jude and the Community at large. We also shared the story with ProSound News for all of our professional clients. Frank Wells, the Editor-in-Chief of ProSound, just featured the story on the ProSound blog. It's a perfect compliment to their full write up in the September issue and to their There's More online section. I've posted Frank's write up below but please click though to read his full story. And for anyone who's not familiar with ProSound, I highly encourage you to sign up for digital delivery or to subscribe to the print edition. It's an industry must-read trade publication. And I know I've said this before but my biggest goal in being part of this community is to bridge the 2 worlds that Ultimate Ears lives in. The members of Head-fi will love reading audio trade pubs and the readers of ProSound will love being part of Head-fi. Here's to 2 worlds coming together. 

 

The Ultimate Ears IEM Creation Process—“Analog and Digital”

http://www.prosoundnetwork.com/Default.aspx?tabid=69&EntryId=757
 

SEP17
Written Frank Wells 
9/17/2014 4:36 PM  

 
 
For most of us who've had the experience of getting a custom set of IEMs made, there are two steps to the process. First is getting an impression of your ears made, then there's the delivery of the finished product a short time later. A tour of Ultimate Ears' headquarters and manufacturing facility reveals the unseen parts of the process. And now a portion of that process includes a digital detour on the path—an alternative methodology as you'll see below (and as described in more detail in Pro Sound News, September, 2014, page 5).
 
Below: The process begins with making a molded impression of the user's ear. A small ball of cotton on a string is inserted in the ear to protect the eardrum (the string also serving later to help remove the cured impression). A pliable, fast-setting silicone gel is squirted into the ear canal.
 

 

 
Below: The resulting impressions are rigid enough to be used to make a mold in which final IEM shells can be formed. At UE, the impressions (these below just happen to be green) go in a sleeve with the work order and in one of two directions. In the traditional “analog” path, the impressions go to a production lab for manual manipulation and IEM shell casting.

 
Below: The original impression is shaped and excess material removed by one of a handful of trained and experienced technicians.

 
Below: A more rigid clear plastic is poured around the impression to produce the mold in which final IEM shells can be cast. To the right are cups in which molds are formed with the device that delivers the thick liquid which, when cured, becomes the mold.

 
Below: A wide variety of colors are available for the final cast IEM shells, though Ultimate Ears is encouraging clear in-ears for one simple reason: it's easier for users to see when the IEMs are clean, or when ear wax has built up, which eventually will affect performance.

 
Below: In the new digital path, the impressions are inserted into a three-dimensional scanner. The resulting digital file is fed into a 3D CAD program, as with the left/right pair below.

 
Below: The same technicians experienced in physical optimization of ear impressions at UE were trained on CAD operation, carrying years of experience across to the new process. Seen here, areas of the impression can be trimmed or can have millimeters of thickness added. Best of all, every step can be undone if the fit needs to be revisited.

 
Below: The image below represents a final file, ready for 3D printing. You can see that the exit ports have been placed as well. Visit our Pro Sound NewsSeptember, 2014 issue's "There's More" page for video of the digital impression manipulation (scroll to Page 52).

 
Below: This 3D printer has been optimized by UE to produce IEM shells that are indistinguishable from traditionally molded clear shells.

 
Below: Even through a reflection on the outside of the printer, the laser trace can be seen as it follows the pattern of a thin layer of the IEM shell being printed.

 
Below: Resulting 3D-printed shells

 
Below: For each IEM pair, whether created through traditional or digital processes, drivers and crossover components are mated and semi-rigid plastic tubes attached, to be slid into IEM shells after test and optimization.

 
Below: The last production steps are the fitting of leads and placement of the cap on the IEM shell. This is where visual customization is possible. A wide variety of cap cover colors are available; band logos and other text or graphics can be used—even alternate materials can be used, as with this very limited availability leather-capped set of UE Reference Monitors.

 
The final step in the process is delivery to the customer. As befits a premium, custom product, the 'unboxing' experience itself is impressive—then there's putting them on for the first time, feeling the 'made for you' fit and pressing 'Play.

 

[miceblue]

Here's another video explaining the old "analog" process from 2011.

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbjJNfjgck0[/video]



and more about how the drivers are put in and matching frequency responses:

[video]http://youtu.be/UPpHBFsvmlg?t=5m49s[/video]

 

[stormmilk]

This news is so exciting! I'm looking forward to buy a pair.

 

[Audiophile1811]

  This news is so exciting! I'm looking forward to buy a pair.

 
Lucky you!