[chowk]

Thanks, forgot the tee.

 

[BloodSugar00]

Ah, ok, that would make more sense. So why DFKT get the extra goodies?

 

[user1029]

U.S. Olympic Basketball Team Equipped with Ultimate Ears Custom-Fit Earphones | Reuters
Quote:

Earphones Used By Rock Stars Now Choice Of Star Athletes IRVINE, Calif.--(Business Wire)-- Ultimate Ears, leading producer of in-ear-monitors for professional musicians like Madonna and the Rolling Stones, is also focusing attention on All-Star athletes--the entire 2008 U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball Team. Ultimate Ears is outfitting each player, including superstar names like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, with custom-fit, personalized earphones to use while traveling and training during the worldwide competition in Beijing. Now basketball's elite will join rock royalty in experiencing music with unmatched clarity and precision. Adding some beat to their bounce, the UE-11 Pro custom-fit earphones were molded and individually designed for each of the twelve players according to their personalities. The UE-11 Pro serves as the industry standard in earphone technology, offering an unparalleled listening experience through a unique quad speaker configuration. Each earpiece houses four proprietary balanced armatures with a passive three-way crossover, a design that delivers defined and detailed low, mid and high frequencies for a crisp sound. A two-driver subwoofer ensures a full bass and the -26 dB noise isolation will drown out jet engine roar during the team's long flight to China. "Athletes on every level use music to both energize and relax, prior to competition," said Ultimate Ears' co-founder Mindy Harvey. "Ultimate Ears wanted our country's basketball team to have the highest-quality products available to them when they represent the U.S. in Beijing. The custom-fit ensures a snug fit during workouts, while the superior sound introduces the players to new levels of highs and lows of their favorite music they couldn't hear before." Each player had the opportunity to personalize the handcrafted earphones to match his own unique style. Earpiece colors range from clear and black to translucent blue and orange; cord colors can also be customized. Players chose to include artwork like corporate logos and their children's initials on the earpiece, and rhinestone embellishments added flair to the luxury earphones. Provided to the U.S. Olympic Basketball Team free of charge, the UE-11 Pro is priced at $1150, includes a one (1) year warranty and is available at Ultimate Ears Earphones Headphones Personal Monitors. About Ultimate Ears Ultimate Ears is the leading supplier of in-ear-monitors for professional musicians and an emerging provider of premium earpieces for the consumer market. Founded in 1995, the firm supplies custom-molded earphones costing up to $1,250 per pair to a who's who of performers in all musical genres. The company also offers custom-molded consumer earphones, as well as off-the-shelf super.fi products for the high-quality universal-fit market. For more information, visit Ultimate Ears Earphones Headphones Personal Monitors.

Lebron's (from tmz.com lol)
***sort of not work safe***

 

[Deadneddz]

Im getting my UE11s soon and im not sure what source is should go with.

Im going to be using an iqube as the amp with a ALO lod, but i dont know if i should go the IMOD route, or just the newer 6g classic ipod.

It kind of bothers me that people describe the 6g classic to have poor separation and a fatiguing sound.

I want my source to really feed something amazing into my customs.

I really need an opinion on the differences between the two with the ue11s. All lossless of course.

 

[EyeAmEye]

It is heartwarming to know Lebron James and co. get a UE11 free of charge that is $1100 to us ordinary folk. I know they would never have been able to afford it otherwise.

Anyone ever think the UE11 is $1100 because of all the freebies? Hope Lebron enjoys the set I helped pay for, would make me very happy.

 

[spraggih]

I was thinking along the same lines-- I suppose this is their Marketing expense budget. Instead of radio, TV, print ads they give away the product to stars, athletes, etc. and then have press releases to create buzz.

O well-- if I were only 10 inches taller and had an agent.

 

[rlanger]

@user:

I was in Vegas recently, and on my way home I was on the same flight as Jermaine O'Neal. We spent a lot of time talking about Basketball and how excited he is about coming to play in Toronto.

But he had a pair of Bose QC3s and I couldn't resist showing off my customs to him and trying to convince him that there are much better choices out there than the Bose.

Pointed him in the direction of UE for the 11Pros. Don't know if he ever checked out the website or not, but if you see him sporting customs, you know where he got the idea from.

Maybe he got a pair and that's where UE got the idea to sponsor the men's basketball team. Yeah, that's it!

 

[EyeAmEye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spraggih /img/forum/go_quote.gif I was thinking along the same lines-- I suppose this is their Marketing expense budget. Instead of radio, TV, print ads they give away the product to stars, athletes, etc. and then have press releases to create buzz. O well-- if I were only 10 inches taller and had an agent.

Perhaps, but when customs at 1/3 of the price are giving them a decent run for the money, I become suspicious that Lebron & co are enjoying the freebies at our expense.

 

[Spyro]

I have not been to UE to see how they make these customs but $1,100 actually seems about right.

I am guessing that each ear impression is actually a form of injection molded tooling. Not sure if tooling steel is used but to wire EDM the impressions is pretty technical and tedious process done by a very expensive machine.

Sort of reminds me of the process for getting a crown at the dentist only the dentist charges about $1,200 for one tooth and the tooth doesn't even have balanced armatures in it?

Surprised we haven't seen some UE advertising during the B-ball Olympic games.

 

[dfkt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spyro /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have not been to UE to see how they make these customs but $1,100 actually seems about right.

Ultimate Ears - Lab Tour 1 - MSN Video

Ultimate Ears - Lab Tour 2 - (Marah Carey earphones) - MSN Video

Ultimate Ears - Scanning Moldings - MSN Video

Ultimate Ears - Jennifer Blackwell - MSN Video

They just moved to a new lab, but the process is the same, I assume. (And I hope Logitech doesn't meddle with that!)

 

[thread]

Haha those are some good videos I hadn't seen. Sort of oldish, too... at the end of the Jennifer Blackwell video, it was said they had entered the consumer market (universal fit) 1 year ago.

 

[boomana]

I got my UE11s almost two weeks ago, and although I'll have to send them back to get a slight adjustment to the left monitor, I'm more than pleased with this purchase.

Right out of the box, they were slightly bloomy in the bass when using the pico as a dac/amp (not so straight from the ipod), but that seems to have changed, and it's not all about me becoming used to the sound, as I didn't listen at all for a few days, and the mids, and upper mids, which had seemed recessed by comparison during the first week, are no longer, the change being most evident on female vocals. I can't explain the change, as I'm not big believer in burn-in, and certainly not for iems, but there it is. Anyway, I was prepared to announce that I'd wish I gotten the UE10s, but now I wouldn't change a thing about them. They have a fullness in the lower midrange and bass, but I would not call them bass-heavy, as the bass presence is balanced by the presence and pretty damn accurate tones of the rest of the spectrum. I'd guess anyone claiming too much bass is listening to things recorded that way. Other than the fact that they're iems, and can't reproduce soundstage, they are as close to a live-music sound as I've experienced with most headphones, and what's even better is that I have zero desire to turn up the volume to get a visceral sense of the music.

When I get them back and fitted right, I'll do some real listening and post impressions at that time. All I can say for now is that I wish I had gotten them sooner.

Here's a not so hot pic from a lousy camera.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Don't forget, if the problem is simply slightly loose fitting, you can paint them carefully with a thin layer of Clear Glossy Tamiya Acrylic model paint (with the IEM hanging from a rack), and after the first layer is dry add another layer(s) if needed to make it thicker. I did send my first Livewires and my first Freq back for a re-dip, but I did my spare pair of Livewires myself and they turned out splendidly.

 

[ZarakiSan]

Amazing earphones. That's all I can say about these things. I'm firstly lucky not to have to pay for them myself (I have a sort-of job as a sound techie, but it's pushing it) and seondly to enjoy them quite a lot out of the box. Sure, my right ear doesn't feel completely right, but there's no news in that, it's been acting up for the last year or two.

They sound very, very detailed. Listening to live albums - I had Steve Miller's live show from Chicago last year on when I plugged them in - makes you realize these things truly are made for live shows. The band on that 'album' is pretty huge, but the UE's just open up a little more soundstage and make you hear every tiny little bit, making me stand and sit amazed at just how much there is going on in that particular song (Fly Like An Eagle is 15 minutes of joy!)

They also sound very natural. Just like my DT880's, they sound as if you should never have listened to music any other way. I'm curious about the UE-10's, but I think they'd just me a little less enjoyable, because I can't imagine even more detail and treble-regionic bliss.

Now to sell my ER-6i's...

 

[WalkGood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don't forget, if the problem is simply slightly loose fitting, you can paint them carefully with a thin layer of Clear Glossy Tamiya Acrylic model paint (with the IEM hanging from a rack), and after the first layer is dry add another layer(s) if needed to make it thicker. I did send my first Livewires and my first Freq back for a re-dip, but I did my spare pair of Livewires myself and they turned out splendidly.

I was a bit disappointed when ue called to let me know I had to redo my impressions, which I promptly did. Although, I’m so happy today as I truly have a great fit and can’t imagine what a pain it would be to go through trying to get them right after they’re finished making them.