[Funkmonkey]

I just got back from CanJam and spent a little time talking with Ron Carlson from Affinity Medical Technology. You may ask yourself: "Medical tech? Whats a med/tech company doing at a head-fi meet?" Well they are breaking into the IEM market, and in a very nice way. The background for the company is in hearing aids, so it's not too far of a jump to get to IEMs from there. They had several prototypes on the table at CanJam, and are going to be offering three custom in-ear monitors "hopefully by July." If I remember right they are also going to offer the same proprietary drivers in a universal fit model for each of the three offerings. You can choose from single driver, two driver or a three way IEM. I listened to the demo two way, in a very rough exterior early prototype form. Nothing slick looking about it. But they sounded great. It would be unfair to offer up any kind of an extensive review, having only heard the middle model, and that one only briefly. I tried to listen to two different prototypes of their custom three-way model but couldn't get them to fit in my ears. Oh well. What I did hear from the two-way's was enough to write this (I am not affiliated in any way shape or form with the company). I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with in finished form. From the sound of it the custom versions are going to be fully customizable (colors, wires, swivels or not, detachable or not...) and fully American made. And Ron said that they are trying to keep the cost in the realm of the reasonable.

If anybody gets out to CanJam tomorrow stop by their table and give them a shot. Show a little support for an emerging company that is really trying to do the right thing.

Good luck to the folks at Affinity, and nice to meet and talk to Ron. I hope you guys can get the kinks worked out and have great success with your IEMs.

Cheers,
-Greg (aka Funkmonkey)

 

[ZINC13]

Greg- Much thanks for the kind words, and for looking past our obviously rough protoype casings on our universals (hey, we got the prototype shells just this past tuesday!).

We know it is quite hard, to near impossible to really showcase custom IEM's as they are, well, custom and thus hard to get a truly great listening audition with them which is why we chose to bring our prototypes with us to the show

To everyone else, don't be afraid to swing on by to our booth in Newport B and give our product a test for as long as you'd like.

-Ryan from Affinity

 

[Sinocelt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Funkmonkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just got back from CanJam and spent a little time talking with Ron Carlson from Affinity Medical Technology. You may ask yourself: "Medical tech? Whats a med/tech company doing at a head-fi meet?"

Well, no, it's a question Phonak already answered (and Westone, too, less directly). This said, new customs are good news! I'll be needing a pair within the next year. Can you compare the model you heard to other IEMs?

Ryan, what about comfort? What kind of material are you going to use?

Hm, and, while visiting your website, I couldn't help but notice that your "musician earplugs" picture is in fact a photo of custom IEMs... which I seem to have already seen elsewhere.

 

[ZINC13]

Sino, I've yet to update the site with our new monitors. The image you found was supposed to be a placeholder until we got our product up. Look for a new and vastly improved website very soon

Like I said earlier, I really pressed our owners to come out with our prototypes to the show to get feedback from the (in my opinion) people who I think know the industry better than anyone and we got some great input from many great minds this weekend. I feel that with some of the input I got, from very surprising people in the biz no less, we are definitely on the right path with the Aura line.

As far as materials, we currently offer the customs in a traditional acrylic shell similar to the UE custom line. However, thanks to our shooting protection earmuff line, we have a fantastic soft shell that nobody else has. I can not really say more about that project until we debut it, but I assure you that Head-Fi will be the first to see the new project.

 

[Sinocelt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZINC13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Sino, I've yet to update the site with our new monitors. The image you found was supposed to be a placeholder until we got our product up.

Not an uncommon practice, but here it's the wrong type of product.

These are custom IEMs (from Westone, I do believe), not musician earplugs at all.


Quote:

Originally Posted by ZINC13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif As far as materials, we currently offer the customs in a traditional acrylic shell similar to the UE custom line. However, thanks to our shooting protection earmuff line, we have a fantastic soft shell that nobody else has. I can not really say more about that project until we debut it, but I assure you that Head-Fi will be the first to see the new project.

I'm looking forward to it.

Ah, but the soft shell will not debut around July, with your custom IEMs themselves. Any idea of the timeline? Within a year, you think? (I'm not gonna hold you to it!)

 

[Funkmonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sinocelt /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can you compare the model you heard to other IEMs?

They were not too far off of my q-Jays, with perhaps a little fuller bass. I have been out of the IEM world for a couple of years now (focusing on my home 2 channel rig), so that is the only comparison I can make. They really did sound good, and I honestly did not expect them to.

 

[ZINC13]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sinocelt /img/forum/go_quote.gif Ah, but the soft shell will not debut around July, with your custom IEMs themselves. Any idea of the timeline? Within a year, you think? (I'm not gonna hold you to it!)

We are on the way to the airport now, once I get back to Minneapolis I'll talk with the owners and our engineers about a possible eta on the new shells and update the thread accordingly for ya.

 

[Sinocelt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZINC13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif We are on the way to the airport now, once I get back to Minneapolis I'll talk with the owners and our engineers about a possible eta on the new shells and update the thread accordingly for ya.

I can't believe you took the time, on your way to the airport, to keep me informed!