[wquiles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by doggiehowser /img/forum/go_quote.gif FWIW, the best thing abt any custom is the ability to wear it for longer without feeling like my ears are being raped.

+1

That was the single most important reason I went to custom IEMs (SuperFreQs in my case), as I loved my TF's, but could not wear them for any reasonably long time. The custom tips helped at lot, but the true customs are even more comfortable

Will

 

[jude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif ....BTW buddy, you can keep on dreaming, but the UE11 can't touch the Edition 9 in resolution, preference appart, same as many other full size heapdhones, the highs are a lot better and more refined, and more defined, same as the bass, it goes deeper and better quality...not any other IEM that I have heard so far (a few fo them)....

Sov, trust me, man, you haven't heard the UE-11 yet. The univeral-fit demo just isn't it. The UE-10 Pro and UE-11 are, to my ears, truly reference-class headphones, and I've heard a few headphones, too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif ....With all those IEM's out there, they will have a real hard time to get me to pay that price, as I much preffer what I have that cost a lot less....

Again, Sov, that's the tough thing about custom in-ear monitors--the fact that you don't really know what they sound like until you have a set made for your ears. In other words, you might still end up much preferring what you have to the UE-11, but you really haven't heard the UE-11, so what you prefer isn't in comparison to the real thing--trust me on this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif ....Again what I heard, with all due honesty, is not worth $1200.00 at all...They do not sound bad, but IMO not worth that tag....

I agree with you, man--what you heard wasn't worth the retail price of the final product. But you didn't hear the final product. Again, even if you had a set made for your ears, you might come to the same conclusion, but I highly doubt that. The UE-10 Pro and UE-11 are, to my ears, stunning pieces of reference kit (with my ears preferring the UE-11 overall).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif That is not true at all. and that was why they were there, and why they had the universal fit mold, so you have an idea of how they sound....

I feel confident that even the folks at UE will tell you that though it's the best they can do to approximate the final product (offering a universal-fit demo), universal-fit demos just don't tell the story. That is, in my experience, it seems the UE folks know that the performance disparity between the universal-fit demos and final products are substantial enough to merit some sheepishness on their part in offering the universal-fit demos as being in any way representative of the final product.

The guys from FreQ (who exhibited at Can Jam '08) considered bringing universal-fit demo units, but decided against it because, again, they just don't do the final product justice.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif ....How do you expect a person to invest $1200.00 on something that have no idea of how will sound, and can not heard before unless wit the custom fit, as according to you there is not way of trying it if not customized, right? Then what about if you do not like them even after the customization, can they take it back like that??? That is simply ridiculous...

As Robert Linthicum said, it really is a leap of faith. If you want custom in-ear monitors, what other practical options are there for providing such a product than the current methods?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif They have them at CanJam, some kind of universal mold that you can use, and is not so critical as the customized one, of course the personalized will sound better as you will get a better seal, BTW I got a good seal with the universal one....

It's far from just the quality of the seal, Sov. Watch the following video, paying particularly close attention to the part beginning around 05:50:

YouTube - Ultimate Ears Customize Part2

The UE customs are really customized/tuned entirely for the invidual ears, beyond just trying to achieve an ideal seal.

Again, should you order a set (which I'm quite certain, after reading your emphatic posts, that you won't), you might still come to the conclusion that it's not for you, or that you don't like it (but I can't imagine for a second that you wouldn't realize you'd then be listening to something wholly different and better than the univeral-fit demo). I'm merely making the point that you haven't yet heard it.

On the one hand, I feel it's a shame that there's no better way to give a demo than to try to construct universal-fit demo units, as I've found those demo units fall far short of the final product. On the other hand, I think those who hear the demo units and decide to make a purchase based on those have been underpromised, and so will be very pleasantly surprised with what they finally end up with. (I'm guessing overwhelmingly most of the UE custom customers never get a chance to hear the universal-fit demos before they actually order--in my opinion, that's probably a good thing for UE, as they seem to have no shortage of leap-of-faith customers for these products, overwhelmingly most of whom end up being very satisfied.)

 

[isei1984!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wquiles /img/forum/go_quote.gif +1 That was the single most important reason I went to custom IEMs (SuperFreQs in my case), as I loved my TF's, but could not wear them for any reasonably long time. The custom tips helped at lot, but the true customs are even more comfortable Will

Considering my ears' life-span, i would not wear IEM for long time.

 

[user1029]

I finally caved in (I hate this place)...I got an appointment to the audiologist on Monday. I have one question:

how did you guys package the ear molds so they wouldn't be damaged in transit to Ultimate Ears?

Thanks

 

[powertoold]

The molds are pretty durable. I think you'd be fine as long as you put them in a small box and use some paper as packing volume. Personally, I wouldn't spend more than $4 shipping it.

 

[slowth]

used the small cardbox they came in and packed it with tissue.. shipped with padded envelope.

 

[user1029]

I absolutely love the sound signature of my Triple.fi's right now with a perfect seal thanks to Comply foam tips... I really hope the UE-11s will blow the Triple.fi's away! lol

After reading through most of the posts in this thread, I'm undecided as to whether to get an amp (people seem to love the RSA predator) for UE-11s or not (natural, unmodified, non-artificial sound) =/...oh well I guess only time will tell; I feel like I'm really hitting the point of diminishing returns hah

 

[dscans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by user1029 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I absolutely love the sound signature of my Triple.fi's right now with a perfect seal thanks to Comply foam tips... I really hope the UE-11s will blow the Triple.fi's away! lol After reading through most of the posts in this thread, I'm undecided as to whether to get an amp (people seem to love the RSA predator) for UE-11s or not (natural, unmodified, non-artificial sound) =/...oh well I guess only time will tell; I feel like I'm really hitting the point of diminishing returns hah

In my humble opinion, you really need to pair the UE11 with a good amp to maximise its potential. And not just any amp, but one that can output a serious amount of current and handle low impedance earphones well. I was quite surprised to find some highly regarded portable amps just cannot handle the UE11 Pro at all.

If you plug it directly into your DAP, it's going to compare unfavourably with the Triple Fi 10 Pro. That's to my ear, at least. YMMV

 

[powertoold]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dscans /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was quite surprised to find some highly regarded portable amps just cannot handle the UE11 Pro at all. If you plug it directly into your DAP, it's going to compare unfavourably with the Triple Fi 10 Pro. That's to my ear, at least. YMMV

Would you please be more specific? Which portable amps are you referring to, and what were the differences you heard once you used better amps?

Thanks,

 

[dscans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by powertoold /img/forum/go_quote.gif Would you please be more specific? Which portable amps are you referring to, and what were the differences you heard once you used better amps? Thanks,

Hey there powertoold, this is what I posted earlier:

Quote:

Specifically, the UE11's sounded very ordinary when plugged directly into your DAP's. While it has very engaging mids / vocals, the bass was bloaty, boomy and unfocussed, and the sound signature was overwhelmingly warm. In fact, it sounded surprisingly coloured. In terms of clarity, separation and detail it did not compare favourably to the Triple-Fi 10 pro. To say that I was surprised was an understatement. It didn't compare well at all with the TF10. The TF10 gives a huge soundstage, and the bass was tight and punchy and the treble was silky smooth. Music just sounded much better. My Futuresonics Atrios M8 has better treble sparkle. For clarity and separation, my Sleek SA6 sounded way better. So what gives? Despite the fact that the UE11's nominal impedance is only 18 ohms, it is not easy to drive at all, especially straight from the anemic headphone out of most DAP's. This is an extremely power-hungry earphone. Plugging it into an amp is a must - and not just any amp either. The amp must be able to pump out a serious amount of juice. I tried it on my Hornet - it did not tame the bass at all, and the overall sound was congested...ditto with my Govibe V5. In fact, none of the 9V powered portable amps worked well. I then tried it on a Headamp AE-2. Well blow me down, we're talkin' about a whole different kettle of fish here! The UE11 was totally transformed - crisp clear highs, super smooth mids and tight controlled bass. No more boominess here! The bass was clean with impressive extension. The low frequency rumbles were all there. Clarity, separation, detail....it was all here, and in spades! Soundstage was huge, the sound was almost 3D, all around you. Hand over heart, it surely ranks among the very best of all the headphones I have heard, and I've heard a few. Everything sounds just right. It was so good that I was loathe to unplug it to try on another amp . I stuck it on my Firestone Beyond (class A) and damn, it sounded mighty fine. It's not as refined sounding as the AE-2 though, because of the higher noise floor. I could detect a slight hiss on the Firestone on some of the quiet portions of the music. The AE-2 was dead quiet. Most earphones benefit from amping, of course, but few improve to such an extent. Kinda surprising, because the Triple Fi 10 pro sounded pretty good straight from a headphone jack on most DAP's.

I also tested it with my Portaphile with pretty much the same results. None of my portable amps that were powered by 9V rechargeables sounded good with the UE11.

Also, I need to add that the amp should be set to low gain - as in low gain in relation to super-sensitive IEM's. The Headamp AE-2 has 3 adjustable gain levels, and the low gain setting was perfect. The Firestone Beyond also has adjustable gain settings....but not so fine grained: It's just "Low" and "high". Even at the "low" setting, it was still too loud for the UE11. I can only crank it up 2 notches on the volume pot before the sound became too loud for comfort.

Some folks mentioned the Larocco PRII and the LISA, or even the Apache as good matches for the UE11, but I have not heard them.

Again, I hasten to add that this was according to my ears

Some folks may disagree entirely with me.

 

[xand]

dscans - getting a pico soon?

 

[user1029]

dscans: You've convinced me to get a headamp ae-2!

Since I'm a n00b, I am very impressionable lol

 

[dscans]

Quote:

Originally Posted by user1029 /img/forum/go_quote.gif dscans: You've convinced me to get a headamp ae-2! Since I'm a n00b, I am very impressionable lol

You might want to ask around to see what others say....everybody "hears" differently - what sounds good to one may sound terrible to another. Good luck on getting the AE-2 or Pico though. I think Headamp is seriously back-logged. I ordered a Gilmore Lite more than 3 months ago, and not a peep so far (the 6 week turnaround mentioned on the site, notwithstanding). No replies to my emails either.

I don't own the Pico, but I've had the pleasure of listening to it - a very smooth refined sound that is impressive for its small size. I have not heard it with the UE11 though. It's on my "to do" list

 

[FreeBlues]

I've said this before, the Pico in amp only mode did not work well for me with the UE11's. I did not try it as a dac/amp. In the amp only mode (out of an iMod) I found the midrange waaayyy too forward and the bass too recessed. I really wanted to like it, just did not.

My personal favorites, amps I own and have owned and used with the UE11's include the Lisa, iQube, PRII and SR71. I have heard good things about the Predator but have not tried it.

Finally, to address a question above, the UE11's sound pretty darn good straight out of an iPod, better than they should! That said, I fully agree that an amp is HIGHLY recommended with these IEMs. I'd almost say required.

 

[xand]

Could someone with the UE11's and a sansa clip confirm that there's no hiss from the clip with the UE11's?