I haven't had issues with excessive dynamic peaks slamming your ears, but I have had issues with unexpected crackles and pops, especially when powering the system up and down with canalphones in your ears, or unplugging them and plugging them back in. There are times when loud sounds will smack you hard in the eardrums.
The thing is, it's not really
that loud, and your ear has machinery that is designed to protect you against sudden loud noise, so I wouldn't worry
too much about it. Sustained high-volume noise does significantly more damage to your ears than sudden high-volume peaks, which is why average SPL of a concert is much more indicative of the hearing damage that it can cause. I.e. you can listen to classical music all day long at live levels with 120dB peaks but it will do nowhere near the damage than 1 hour of rock at rock concert levels, with 120dB of
average SPL.
Canalphones are a professional item first, and a consumer item second. I'm a bit worried about canalphone saturation of the market - a lot of them are pushing 120dB sensitivity, and given how teens listen to their ipods at the maximum volume it can put out, regardless of what it sounds like or how their ears are taking the SPL, there is potential to greatly extend the hearing damage that personal listening devices are already causing. In a canalphone, it is your responsibility to limit the volume to whatever level you see fit. You can protect your hearing with a canalphone and effectively lower the SPL you're listening at by isolating outside noise, but you can also destroy your hearing if you're careless.
Well, I lie. I'm not worried about it at all. If teens want to destroy their hearing, it's their choice. Natural selection at work, as it were.
I doubt you could fry your earbuds this way. I've had many canalphones over the years and I've yet to have a driver fail, though not for lack of trying. I've put my Etys through the washing machine and they're still fine, though of course that's a different kind of mechanical stress entirely
I think you'll be quite happy with the UE11 or UE10. I use the ES2, which is similar to the UE10 in overall performance levels, though with a rather different sound signature, and the UE11 should be a nice upgrade from it. Still, the ES2 is a nice budget option if you want a fuller sound that's more suited to rock and jazz. The UE10 should be flatter and more accurate at the frequency extremes, and the UE11 should have the accuracy of the UE10 with the fullness of the ES2.
