EDIT 28.5.2013: Both StageDivers have been released and can currently be bought directly from InEar, via Thomann.de or via mp4audio.de! The current pricing (~440 euros for SD3, ~320 euros for SD2) is an intro one is valid until ~30.6!
Reviews on Head-Fi:
- http://www.head-fi.org/t/664229/review-inear-stagediver-sd-2-sd-3-to-follow-soon (by Ultrazino)
- http://www.head-fi.org/t/668727/review-inear-stage-diver-3-an-experience (by Sinth)
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Original post:
Hello fellow Head-Fi people,
I´ve been browsing hifi-forum.de today (I understand German very well, but no longer speak it that good) and noticed something very interesting: the German pro-audio custom IEM company In Ear (http://www.inear-monitoring.eu) is preparing to launch a universal version of their high end Live Pro series early next month during the ProLight + Sound event starting 10.4.2013. I haven´t previously heard of this company, but they seem to be a bit like Violectric: decades of experience in the local/EU market without making much noise about themselves. A traditional pro-audio company then... Sounds good to me! The StageDiver 3 is going to be sold at 449 euros. High end, but not all that expensive compared to AKG K3003/Sennheiser IE800 and so on.
One of the moderators of hifi-forum.de, Bad_Robot (Markus), has posted a preview thread there with even a few pre-release pictures: http://www.hifi-forum.de/viewthread-110-14211.html (you can use Google translate if you don´t speak German)
From what I´ve read he´s a very experienced IEM-enthusiast with a preference for neutral sound and this seems to be his favorite universal IEM - very high praise indeed! It looks like Heir Audio is getting some real competition soon. If I´ve understood Bad_Robot´s posts correctly it seems the main sound quality advantage of customs compared to the usual universal IEMs is the amount of space for components which is used to include a real crossover, not just a frequency filter at the output. There´s just not enough space for those in the usual universal IEMs. The StageDiver 3 apparently uses the same internal components from their custom model Live Pro 3. Looking at the first pictures from Bad_Robot´s post, this IEM looks (no idea sound wise) VERY similar to the FitEar 334 - superb build quality, custom-standard connectors and a large shell.
Reviews on Head-Fi:
- http://www.head-fi.org/t/664229/review-inear-stagediver-sd-2-sd-3-to-follow-soon (by Ultrazino)
- http://www.head-fi.org/t/668727/review-inear-stage-diver-3-an-experience (by Sinth)
------------------------------------------------------------------
Original post:
Hello fellow Head-Fi people,
I´ve been browsing hifi-forum.de today (I understand German very well, but no longer speak it that good) and noticed something very interesting: the German pro-audio custom IEM company In Ear (http://www.inear-monitoring.eu) is preparing to launch a universal version of their high end Live Pro series early next month during the ProLight + Sound event starting 10.4.2013. I haven´t previously heard of this company, but they seem to be a bit like Violectric: decades of experience in the local/EU market without making much noise about themselves. A traditional pro-audio company then... Sounds good to me! The StageDiver 3 is going to be sold at 449 euros. High end, but not all that expensive compared to AKG K3003/Sennheiser IE800 and so on.
One of the moderators of hifi-forum.de, Bad_Robot (Markus), has posted a preview thread there with even a few pre-release pictures: http://www.hifi-forum.de/viewthread-110-14211.html (you can use Google translate if you don´t speak German)
From what I´ve read he´s a very experienced IEM-enthusiast with a preference for neutral sound and this seems to be his favorite universal IEM - very high praise indeed! It looks like Heir Audio is getting some real competition soon. If I´ve understood Bad_Robot´s posts correctly it seems the main sound quality advantage of customs compared to the usual universal IEMs is the amount of space for components which is used to include a real crossover, not just a frequency filter at the output. There´s just not enough space for those in the usual universal IEMs. The StageDiver 3 apparently uses the same internal components from their custom model Live Pro 3. Looking at the first pictures from Bad_Robot´s post, this IEM looks (no idea sound wise) VERY similar to the FitEar 334 - superb build quality, custom-standard connectors and a large shell.