[battosai]

Hi fellas,
As many other head-fier, I am tempted to go customs but not willing to dash >$1000 just yet.
In order to keep the shipping cost/re-fit issues at a reasonable level, I would like to buy a custom from a US company, with a maximum budget of $600 for the IEM only.
 
My setup consists of a Cowon J3 which canbe paires with an Ibasso D2 Boa or a D10 Cobra. I currently own the universals Earsonics SM3 v2 and have owned the Westone UM2 and UM3X. I love bass therefore I have narrowed down the following IEM:
Clear Tune Monitors CTM-400 pro $600 link: http://cleartunemonitors.com/Products/ct-400_pro/
Dream Earz aud-5X $565 link: http://audioearz.com/
1964 Ears Quad Drivers $525 link: http://www.1964ears.com/products_quads.html
 
The problem is, I cannot find any review of the CTM-400 pro, but the review of the CTM-200 by joker is appealing. My questions are:
- Which is the best CIEM for my taste within these 3 customs?
- Which is the best company to do business with (customer service, knowledge, speed of processing the orders)?
- Are there any other bassy customs that I missed? ( I was thinking of including the Alclair reference but they don't seem to fit my taste, Livewires has some customer service issues, InEarz ie-p450 Pro Quad, but no price on the website?)
 
Thanks for your help.
 
Battosai
 
PS: can someone recommend a good audiologist in San Francisco? Thx

 

[Shoulon]

I say save up another 2bills and get the UM Merlins. they currently have Top rank in what ur looking for

 

[battosai]

But isn't Unique Melody a chinese company? I checked their website yesterday and I believe that you have to send your ear impressions to China, which I want to avoid...

 

[Shoulon]

http://www.custom-iem.com/
 
Not in china, But they are out of USA

 

[KimChee]

Whoa I didn't know that.

 

[Shoulon]

Okay im sorry i just checked and they are from China. But there very very reputable.

 

[kckc]

Custom-iem is the North American dealer for UM. But yes, all UM products are made at their lab in China. I do agree the Merlin seem like what you are looking for though. 

 

[battosai]

Quote:

http://www.custom-iem.com/
 
Not in china, But they are out of USA

I am not a native speaker so I do not fully understand what you are trying to say.
From the ordering page, on custom-iem.com, they clearly state that you have to send the impressions to China:
 
4.Send your ear impressions together with your order form to:
Address: UniqueMelody (UM) ear monitor    
NO.15, the third building. Blue mountain villa,
SanXiang town, ZhongShan city, GuangDong Province, China
Postal code: 528463.
 
Then they state the following:
If you are re-shelling or upgrading, simply mail your old earphones to the address above along with your ear impressions.
What is custom-iem.com doing exactly? It doesn't look like they are building UM iems...
 
But if it would be US made, then I would buy the UM Merlin in a heartbeat!

 

[Shoulon]

Quote:

I am not a native speaker so I do not fully understand what you are trying to say.
From the ordering page, on custom-iem.com, they clearly state that you have to send the impressions to China:
 
4.Send your ear impressions together with your order form to:
Address: UniqueMelody (UM) ear monitor    
NO.15, the third building. Blue mountain villa,
SanXiang town, ZhongShan city, GuangDong Province, China
Postal code: 528463.
 
Then they state the following:
If you are re-shelling or upgrading, simply mail your old earphones to the address above along with your ear impressions.
What is custom-iem.com doing exactly? It doesn't look like they are building UM iems...
 
But if it would be US made, then I would buy the UM Merlin in a heartbeat!

Here's the UM's on there website
I had reposted stating i was sorry and checked, turns out there products do ship in and out thru China. And yes they do see here on how to buy UM's
That same pdf form u where looking at is where u pick the Merlins as in my picture Below
 

 

 

[ukflyboy]

I was looking for a CIEM with the same criteria as you (inexpensive and bass heavy). After a lot of research and some very positive comments on here from other posters I settled on the Aud-5x. I havent received them yet though they should be getting close to shipping. I must say I have been very pleases with Mitch from Dream Earz customer service.
Have a read of Average-joes review on here. He has tried and reviewed a LARGE number of CIEM and regularly states that you would be struggling to find a better CIEM for the same money and in fact would have to double the cash spent to find something to beat it. I cant wait to finally try out mine!

 

[battosai]

Quote:

I was looking for a CIEM with the same criteria as you (inexpensive and bass heavy). After a lot of research and some very positive comments on here from other posters I settled on the Aud-5x. I havent received them yet though they should be getting close to shipping. I must say I have been very pleases with Mitch from Dream Earz customer service.
Have a read of Average-joes review on here. He has tried and reviewed a LARGE number of CIEM and regularly states that you would be struggling to find a better CIEM for the same money and in fact would have to double the cash spent to find something to beat it. I cant wait to finally try out mine!

Thanks for posting. I have read Average Joe numerous reviews as well as Joker's review and I must say I wished Average Joe would put a score on each Custom IEM, he owns. Sometimes it is difficult to read between the lines to see which one is better than the other one. Aud-5x are on my very short list but I would like more opinion on the CTM-400 pro for example which has absolutely no love here on Head-Fi...
When are you supposed to receive your Aud-5x?

 

[ukflyboy]

Im not sure when exactly. Royal Mail say the impressions arrived 1 Feb and Mitch suggests 3 weeks for manufacture so they must be about ready. I am currently serving in Afghanistan though so they will take a week or two longer than normal to ship out here. Im sure they will be worth the wait though.

 

[aphroti]

I own a aud 5x, bassy enough.

 

[ProjectDenz]

No reason to crawl your way up the custom chain if you are planning on going higher in the future (come on, you know you will

) as selling your customs ( to fund a higher leveled custom) have a low resale value. Go straight to the Merlins if you want bassy. Doesn't matter if it's from China, UM has the best build quality out of all custom iems.

 

[justhavingfun]

I do not have experience with your other mentioned ciem but I do have 1964 Ears Quad model. One thing for sure is that I am completely satisfied with their customer service. From the time that I sent my ear impression until it arrived to my door step was less than three weeks with perfect fit. As far as the sound quality, it does emphasize bass region but not overtly nor covers other frequencies. Despite of many owners claiming this is bass heavy ciem, to me it sounds very balanced. Of course if you listen to bass heavy music genre, it will give you plenty of quality bass without question when it calls for.