Oh believe me I know haha... I was mostly testing the waters to see if anyone would kill me or not. Definitely not something I would get, but I would get a chuckle out of seeing someone else with them.
I am getting my first pair of customs in August, and I literally can't decide. I'll have the funds to comfortably purchase the UE-11s, but with so many lower-costing options out there, its hard not to re-consider. Is UE really the best? How come there is such a large price range across brands for 3-driver 'phones? How can Sleek really claim their 1-driver custom is on par with the UE-11?
So many questions. I could answer them myself by extrapolating from all the posts I've read here (I've been doing quite a bit of research for the past 6 months or so), but the answers I come up with are vague and backed by nothing.
As with any market that has certain companies that dominate that market (e.g. the computer software market, Microsoft), "paying for the name" becomes an issue. Hearyourself.com offers their triple driver custom for $375. Westone; 875. UE; 900.
Ultimate Ears has a stronghold on the professional market (live musicians), and therefore a large portion of the consumer market. Westone comes in second by being known as a good audio equipment company in general. Hearyourself.com seems to be (and I don't know the company's history, so forgive me if I make a royal mistake) targeting the lower end of the market in order to gain share. As I've read here and elsewhere, the custom art option seems to be a kicker for a lot of people, and in response, the custom IEM companies charge or don't charge for art depending on the product.
Now by all means there are more companies for customs (FreQ, Livewire, Sleek, etc...), but I'm just perplexed by the wide variety of options and prices for custom IEMs.
I would love to get the 11's, but if I can get the same SQ from something half as expensive, why not?
