- Joined
- Apr 25, 2013
- Posts
- 70
- Likes
- 36
UE unveiled their new flagship CIEM today. The UE PRO 18+
http://www.head-fi.org/t/829098/ultimate-ears-unveils-the-new-ue-pro-18Here's a bit from that post which is an interview with:
Philippe Depallens (General Manager), Mike Dias (Sales & Marketing Director), Vincent Liu (Product Development) and Joe Saggio (Engineer) from the Ultimate Ears team
Q: What is the UE 18+ Pro?
Philippe: The UE 18+ Pro is the brand’s new flagship model and the culmination of UE Pro’s 20 years of experience. This new monitor gives you the best of the previous flagship model, the UE 18 PRO, but adds UE Pro’s proprietary True Tone drivers to a redesigned acoustic system. This means you get more detail, air and spacing in your music, leaving a silky, smooth and clear sound.
Q: Why did Ultimate Ears Pro decide to create this product?
Vincent: The UE 18 PROs have been our flagship model for many years. However, in the past few years, UE Pro has pioneered great technical innovations, such as True Tone Drivers and our precision tuned sound engine. We wanted to apply our pioneering technology to our flagship model. Therefore, we created the UE 18+ Pro, our latest flagship model – a reimagined version of the UE 18 PRO.
Q: What are True Tone drivers?
Joe: True Tone drivers are proprietary balanced armatures that focus on the overtones and harmonics, so that you can hear and feel the emotional qualities of the music.
Q: Who was the UE 18+ Pro created for?
Vincent: The UE 18+ Pro was created for musicians of all kinds. Below are a few ways this flagship model can be experienced depending on musician type. Vocalists will notice a warmer and less “spikey” sound, guitarists will get a more natural, less crispy sound, bass players will experience a strong warm bass response, and Music lovers will experience more detail to their music than ever.
Q: How is the UE 18+ Pro different from the UE 18 PRO?
Mike: Thanks to UE Pro’s proprietary True Tone drivers and optimized sound engine in the UE 18+ Pro, the sound is more alive and open, working even better as a live tool. The new flagship continues to use a 4-way crossover, but adds a newly designed bandpass filter on midrange drivers and highly customized, extended frequency response tweeters.
Specs:
A: Below are the technical specs.
- 18+ Impedance
- Measured with Tenma 72-6948 Audio Impedance Meter
- 18+ Impedance @ 1kHz = 37.5 Ohms
- 18 Impedance @ 1kHz = 25 Ohms
- 18+ Sensitivity
- Measured with:
- Newly Calibrated system
- SMAART RTA
- IEC-711 Coupler
- U24XL Audio Interface
- SM Audio HP6E headphone Amplifier
- Oscilloscope - validated HP6E voltage stimulus
- 18+ Sensitivity; 1kHz, 100mV = 100dB SPL unweighted
- 18 Sensitivity: 1kHz, 100mV = 106dB SPL unweighted
The impedance/sensitivity increase provide the following benefits:*
- Less noise floor heard from source device @ volume = low/off
- Easier to drive across source devices (Line Drive effect)
- this renders a response closer to designed when not using Line Drive
- Turning volume level up a bit takes one further away from the noise of a device and improves signal to noise ratio (esoteric but something of note)