Minerva Mi-Performer Pro Silicone Custom IEM

Specification
Price: £385
Medical grade Silicone
Full shell (can request different)
Dual driver balanced armature
1.4m non removable cable. Kevlar reinforced clear cable.
Ear impressions and Otoscopy included – Hidden hearing audiologists 
Colour/etching options (£10 extra each)
 
 
I’ve had this IEM for a year now.
I think it’s time to share my thoughts, starting from the beginning.  
 
Background
I wanted the ultimate commuting headphone. Over the ear closed backs didn’t float my boat for many reasons. Universal iem’s I’d been using for many years but these were getting annoying. I could only find comfort with a shallow fit, having tried pretty much every tip on the market with over 50 iem’s. Isolation was always lacking and with this shallow fit they would too often slip out of my ears.
Thankfully, I found what I was looking for (and more!) with the Minerva performer pro. 
 
I’d read a lot about CIEM’s and what they offer. And through having a few silicone custom earplugs I already knew about the ear molding process and what to expect comfort wise with the product after.
A few things that I was looking out for before purchasing;
 
- UK based + Experienced manufacture
Could have been mainland Europe if not the UK. But to avoid excessive shipping fees, VAT, customs and time delays, closer to home made more sense. Customer service was always going to be important with a product like this as was the manufacturers experience in making custom products; build quality and comfort were high priority.
 
- Silicon rather than acrylic
On the subject of comfort, the Mi-Performer Pro has a slightly higher shore rating compared to others out there, including my silicon earplugs. Whilst this means they’re slightly less flexible, there’s less friction enhancing comfort in my experience.
 
- Inclusive of audiologist ear impressions
Minerva have a strong relationship with Hidden hearing UK, a branch of audiologists found pretty much all over the place. You select one of over 75 of these branches and Minerva arrange the appointment for you; though you can arrange it yourself if you wanted.
Interestingly, you can stay on hidden hearings database and take advantage of their free hearing tests / otoscopies. I went to one recently (Piccadilly, London) and was surprised by really impressive facilities.
 
Anyway, since this was my first CIEM, I also didn’t want to overspend. Overall £350 for everything including delivery turned out to be very good value.
 
 
Process
Two step standard procedure. Around two weeks each.
1) Place the order and book with audiologists who form an impression of your outer/inner ear.
2) Audiologists send this to Minerva who convert it into an earphone, sending it to you via post. 
 
Again, some pointers.
- Earwax 
The audiologist at the time of impression taking will carry out an otoscopy which will include checking for earwax. They can advise further action to take if there’s too much wax for taking safe impressions. Some people get it checked from a GP beforehand or know enough to see to it themselves.
 
- Full mould including outer ear 
Normally okay, but you may want to remind the audiologist to take the mould past the second bend of the ear canal, and to also include regions such as the upper helix and others of the outer ear.
 
- Moving and duration of mould setting.
With hidden hearing the putty takes ~10mins to set, during which you should remain as still as possible. It’s up to you which jaw position you choose – open, closed, bite block, or a combination. Minerva’s customer service is great with very fast responses – their advice would be the best if you’re unsure.
Of course, it’s also up to you how slumped you are (back position) and other ways of positioning yourself such that the inner ear shape changes. I’d go for a neutral position, one that replicates how you would normally listen to iem’s when seated.
 
Remember, the shape of the mould will be slightly different to the silicone IEM body. The latter will be more comfortable, less extended and can be notably less in physical volume. Personally I needed the body to be half way between full and half shell, but still the point remains - mold is very important to final comfort and sound.
For someone new to custom in ear products, it may take around 1 or 2 weeks to get used to the fit, but otherwise it should be comfortable from the start.
 
 
Comfort/build quality
 

 
Obviously it’s a well done for build quality, but as these guys are very experienced with massive resource as a company, I wasn’t settling for anything less.
I took these pictured after a month of use, so naturally the silicone shows a touch less clarity. 
 
Overall the performer pro's are extremely comfortable earphones. 6hrs a day no problem, every day, months on end. Almost like an external body organ!
Comfort is a major plus point of these IEM’s which I’ll talk more on later.
 

 
Something else very important to build and comfort – the cable.
This cable is majestic. My favourite cable I’ve come across from all earphones/headphones. It’s fully smooth, fully supple along its entire length which is an ideal 1.4m. The reinforced wire section near the earpieces is completely integrated and goes undetected (no annoying stiff memory). The cable is not prone to tangling and catching onto clothing. Even the Y split is ideal in its position as is the cable cench and operation. And the L shaped jack is made really well too, being light, unobtrusive and allowing good flexibility.
It may seem like I’m going over the top but if you use an IEM all year long, it really makes a difference.
 
 
Sound
Okay, now the sound. Or maybe this is the first (and only) thing you’ll read..!
Put simply, the sound quality is beyond what I expected and my expectations were not low.
 
It's the only CIEM I’ve had, so I’ll relax a little on direct headphone comparisons. Just how I find the sound in general is good enough I think.
 
- Bass
Very good definition and balance. It's not a bassy headphone so for some tastes the bass at ~60hz may be lacking. In soundtracks for instance some people may want more. I don't like bass shy headphones that also present notes with thin body - miss out on the emotion of sound. This Minerva fares well in this regard though, where notes have plenty of meat and natural quality to make things sound heavy enough. You’ll feel the gravity of bass drums in orchestras and will receive a decent bass experience from complex rock compositions rather than drowning in a sea of lingering high frequency sound.
 
- Mids
Overall I'd describe this earphone as mid-centric, with a touch of elevation in the upper mids (~4khz). Actually it's more noticable since the highs are far from accentuated. Notes sound thick and plentiful, presented with a satisfying timbre. I have heard headphones better in portraying natural sounds, but not in the universal IEM world though. In other words it's a plus point of this headphone. Detail is high across the board as well as instrument separation, .  
 
- Highs
If 10 is the brightest high end headphone and 1 is the darkest, I’ll give it a 4.
Long term listening fatigue doesn't really occur with the minerva. That's for me anyway, but I suspect there will be those who want something brighter especially if it’s something they’re used to.
The Mi-Performer pro is extremely forgiving and smooth in the highs, the opposite of grating and punishing, making it great for listening to a variety of material. So whilst for example the sig pro would sound untolerable with a distortion suffering track, with the Minerva it’ll probably be listenable. You’ll still know it’s a poor recording but just won’t care as much.
 
- Presentation
Here is where I’ve seen the largest acoustic difference from universals. There’s definitely less congestion in the soundstage, thanks to a black background and well spaced out presentation. The soundstage benefits from more lateral extension, behind/in front of the head soundstage which overall surpasses all I've come across in the universal iem world; PFE 232, IE800, Shure 535, GR10...and so on. Needless to say, I prefer the overall sound of the minerva over all of them too, for many reasons. It just outsmarts them pretty much across the board in my opinion. But to those with customs, you probably expected me to say that!
 
- Different Sources
I’ve tried this earphone out of more sources than I can remember. It is of course sensitive but thankfully not particularly hiss prone; connecting to a standard smartphone should be okay. 
Notably, not much changes when swapping between ‘good enough’ sources. A poor source will make this sound as such, but above for example the HTC one M8 (slightly modified), there’s not much to be gained IMO. True, from an AK240 it sounds better but not near enough to warrant a purchase for me. You might want to use it with a desktop setup, but make sure your amp volume dial caters for sensitive headphones.
 
 
Over a year
A year makes a difference. You evaluate things differently, especially with respect to 'other than sound' features.
 
- Isolation
The Minerva has been my most favourite headphone over the year and isolation is one of the main reasons why.
This level of seamless comfort, sound and isolation transformed the worst part of my general day into something easily tolerable. Daily commuting in London with harsh annoying noises ensued in headaches and it's difficult to emphasize enough the difference this CIEM has made. 
 
It's as if you take your world with you, yet have very decent control over outside volumes. A lot of people worry about being dangerously oblivious to the world outside but much is dependent on the playback volume IMO. These IEMs without music playing isolate around 20db. Now if you pump up the volume and achieve an effective isolation of 50db+, you've made your choice. But with CIEM base isolation so high, little extra volume is needed for enjoyable listening. And at such levels train announcements, police sirens, traffic and even decent volume conversations are all audible. Actually pretty much everything to some degree apart from the quiet stuff.     
 
- Reliability
The Mi performer pro is extremely well built, definitely the cable section too. No hint of a problem with this hard wired cable. Remember though, It's a custom balanced armature earphone so you've to take care of it as standard. I had one problem with moisture damage to the RHS, around 8 months in. Minerva's customer service is very good so it was fine - but I did eventually need new impressions for a new build. 
 
- Complementary headphones
Maybe this is something important only to those with steady headphone collections. So headphones that their ears are well accustomed to, where a newcomer might find it hard to fit in. Sometimes an IEM with a strong signature can make the sound from your other headphones a bit weird. Because of it's largely neutral signature the Mi-performer pro avoids this. Actually not only does it fit in, but shines in its own way, never really giving the feeling of ‘I’ve missed out’ when switching over to full size reference headphones.
 
 
Conclusion
If you're considering CIEM's I fully recommend to go for it.
This particular one has been useful to me beyond expectation having completely changed the way I listen on the move.
CIEM's are not your average purchase and it does take time and effort in getting there. But for me, definitely, it was worth it in the end.