PICTURES: ProPhonic 2X-S and Ultimate Ears UE-10 Pro (huge files!)

[lindrone]

PICTURES: ProPhonic 2X-S and Ultimate Ears UE-10 Pro

So the other day, a relatively new Head-Fi member, kdb650, came over to my place. He was curious about both the Ultimate Ears and the Sensaphonics IEMs. I invited him over, so that at least, even if he can't fit them into his ears. He'll be able to tell the build quality differences just by having them in his hands. He also brought over his DSLR (a lovely Canon 10D with macro and wide-angle lens..... ooooh.. lovely). He took some pictures of both of these earphones that I've never been able to take before. Not with my camera and my skills.

So, the images are huge, each of them will be followed by some meaningful caption.. so here we go...

Pictures Part 1

I wiped the 2X-S with some sanitizing wipes before kdb650 got to my place. It's not the first time I was able to get the picture of the 2X-S without any lint, but it's the first time I've seen them so smooth and refined. The way they really feel like when you've got them in your hands.

An image from the backside. There are some slight bit of air bubble that forms inside the casing... it's inevitable. However, as you'll notice later, the amount of air bubbles and ugly surfaces are actually much less than the UE-10 Pro upon close inspection.

You also notice the wire assembly here, the "memory" wire is a pre-formed plastic tubing that goes around your ear and around your head. It's very elegant, sturdy and functional. Simply beautiful work of good industrial design.

As you can see here again, the surface is actually very, very smooth, despite the fact that it's a little more sticky due to its silicone structure. You can see the sound tube and the drivers much better in the picture above, but in this picture you can see some of the circuits and other things in a better angle.

The two drivers side by side. It's really hard to photograph them, because the memory wires are always a semi-circle. Unless you can glue them down.. which we didn't want to do, for obvious reasons.

This is a close-up image of where the top wires join with the bottom wires. It's a single, small rounded body. Again, great workmanship on the part of the Sensaphonics design team.

 

[lindrone]

Pictures Part 2

We took the UE off its wire for the photograph, they were easy to place that way, and the wire doesn't get in the way. However, you can get a sense of some air bubbles on that's formed through the manufacturing process. Also you notice there's a lot more messy wire works all throughout the inside of the earpieces.

Not much more to say here, just another shot of it...

Once again, a lot of weird artifacts in the manufacturing process, lots of air bubbles near the tubing area... Everything just looks a bit messy and not as well thought out. Although one can argue it's hard to squeeze three drives into that small body shape regardless.

If you look really closely, you can see a little bit of a line that runs horizontally from the plug holes along the rest of the driver. HRA mentioned previously that UE are made in 2 half pieces and then glued and sanded down. I think this is what this line is.. it's a joint.

I could not find anything like that for the life of me, on the 2X-S. I don't know how they make it, but I think 2X-S is made in some sort of a one-piece process.

This is the reason why I advice people to not detach their cable unless they have to. All there is to hold them in place is two little prongs. There isn't even any sort of a notch or anything. Everything is just held together by the friction of very tight contact. You pull them out enough times, they'll loosen up and potentially lose contact eventually.

Just to put it in perspective of how they look compared to something normal.. like your hand. All these zoomed picture makes both the IEM's look humongous.. when they're really pretty small.

 

[lindrone]

Pictures Part 3

Now, for some comparison shots...

The wire joints of the 2X-S is on top. UE-10 Pro is on the bottom. The 2X-S joint is smaller, more elegant, and weighs less as well. Even though weight is usually not a problem.

The white plug is the UE-10 Pro, the semi-clear plug is the 2X-S. The 2X-S plug just looks a little cooler. Otherwise, virtually identical. I like the clear better.

It's still hard to tell... but the 2X-S is just a little smaller than the UE-10 Pro. If you look really carefully, you'll notice that the non-driver portion of the UE-10 Pro, particularly the top part that goes behind your ears.. are just larger than it needs to be. If it's not clear to you right now, it should be pretty self explanatory in the next picture.

As you can see, the top portion of the 2X-S goes "into" the ear... it is shapes that it can fit in flush, without anything sticking out. The top portion of the UE-10 Pro is set flush against the thickest part of its body, which means it sticks out much more. The next picture will illustrate this even better.

The 2X-S is much more recessed, much less obtrusive looking. Beyond that, you also notice that even though when shot on their own, the 2X-S looks like they've got a peachy/pink tone, and UE-10 Pro looks very clear. Once it's actually in your ear though, the UE-10 Pro takes on a greenish tint, not clear at all. Meanwhile the 2X-S sort of disappears into your ear's natural tone a little more.

Granted, when you order a "clear" 2X-S, it's going to have a fleshy/pink tone, that's just the natural tone of the silicone material. Nothing wrong with that though.

The UE case is nice... until... the other day.. I saw the same type of case at Fry's for like, $15 or something. If you look carefully. You can see that the case is dented on the top right surface. They arrived that way... Also, I noticed the hinges aren't really aligned properly, so the cover is more to the right... Basically, these are just cheap cases you can get off the shelf and then engraved. I just don't feel like they're that much of a novelty after realizing that

Just an inside shot.. the foam quality is really not that good either. I remember that Ety's case came with better foam, E5's case definitely came with a denser foam. The Sensa case came with someting close to the quality of the UE's, but they glued a layer of velvet on top that helped the overall structual integrity.

 

[lindrone]

After all that...

kdb650 admitted later that before he came over, he didn't believe that (at this point, I thought he was gonna say he didn't believe that I had them both.. hahahah) the UE-10 and 2X-S's build quality can really be that far apart. There's some quality that even these pictures will not really justify. Having the 2X-S and UE-10 both in your hand really tells a lot about the product design that went into the creation of these IEM, not just the engineering of the sound itself. He came away feeling that the 2X-S was really had a much better build quality...

Of course, we also tried the jam the thing into his ear to see if they'll fit. He got parts of it in, good enough to get a seal that gave him some idea of what the midrange and high sounded like. I don't think he got any sense of what the bass is like though. Of course, no way to evaluate a product.. hehehe. What is telling is that since the silicone material is soft, he was able to attempt such a feat and come away with some level of success. We won't attempt jamming the UE-10 into his ear at all, the thing is nearly solid, it'll probably cause some damage and irritation.

Anyway, so we took a few last pics just for fun:

So.. I guess there's a solution for keeping the 2X-S in.. er... I don't know exactly what this achieves...

Just a testament that size doesn't always matter

Once again, big thanks to kdb650 who spent the time and energy to drive all the way to my place and take these pictures. These are much better than any picture that I've ever taken of my headphones. I think I'll have to contract him out sometimes.. LOL...

 

[PhilS]

Neat pictures! They really give you a better idea of what these things look like and how they are constructed.

 

[Lil_JV]

Thanks for the pics! Did he snap any shots of your 4G iPod?

JV.

 

[lindrone]

Hahhaa.. no.. I just didn't need any shots of the 4G iPod... I mean, it's just an iPod, you can see it at stores (if not now, eventually)... and there's pictures all over the internet already. It won't be like, anymore than what anyone else has taken. So we spent our time taking photos of these, auditioning the headphones a little bit.

He tried out my CD3000 shortly, and I tried out his RS-2 briefly as well

 

[Big D]

Quote:

If you look really closely, you can see a little bit of a line that runs horizontally from the plug holes along the rest of the driver. HRA mentioned previously that UE are made in 2 half pieces and then glued and sanded down. I think this is what this line is.. it's a joint. I could not find anything like that for the life of me, on the 2X-S. I don't know how they make it, but I think 2X-S is made in some sort of a one-piece process.

You have to remember that your UEs are actually made of two different materials with different refraction indexes (firm silicone and hard acrylic). The outer part of the earpiece is made of hard acrylic, while the "soft acrylic" is apparently made of firm silicone. The Sensas are made up of one material so will be much more likely to be seamless.

 

[ayt999]

thanks for the photos lindrone and kdb650.

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big D You have to remember that your UEs are actually made of two different materials with different refraction indexes (firm silicone and hard acrylic). The outer part of the earpiece is made of hard acrylic, while the "soft acrylic" is apparently made of firm silicone. The Sensas are made up of one material so will be much more likely to be seamless.

Ah, I see, I was under the impression that all UE earpieces were made that way. So the backside is hard acrylic?.. Hmm.. that explains a lot.

 

[Idiot MD]

Lindrone, you need a haircut!

Seriously though, nice pics. I just got my E5's and ordered a SR-71 and now you *almost* have me wanting to save up to get some Sensa's. T_T This board is ebil! Very very Ebil!

As to the green tinge with the UE's they might be a refraction of the light on the PCB in them. It looks likes the Sensa's have a metal case over its circuitry and that reflects light more cleanly than the PCB does in the UE's.

 

[jink]

WOW. I am amazed at not only the picture quality of this thread, but the detail of those drivers! How much do those cost, and where can I get some for relatively cheap?!

I've owned some etymotic er-4p's, and they were nothing in comparison to the ones pictured here. Ignore my ignorance, but are these prophonic and ultimate ear's formed for your specific ear, or is it a one size fit's all, like most canal phones?? (if they are qualified as such).


Amazing, you must love the way your setup's sound. I only wish to have a 'collection' of your magnitude.... drool.

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jink WOW. I am amazed at not only the picture quality of this thread, but the detail of those drivers! How much do those cost, and where can I get some for relatively cheap?! I've owned some etymotic er-4p's, and they were nothing in comparison to the ones pictured here. Ignore my ignorance, but are these prophonic and ultimate ear's formed for your specific ear, or is it a one size fit's all, like most canal phones?? (if they are qualified as such). Amazing, you must love the way your setup's sound. I only wish to have a 'collection' of your magnitude.... drool.

There's several review of them in the featured review section... most members that has one or the other. I've got both of them... so I did a comparative review that's also in there.

They are customized to only fit your ear... which is why kdb650 tried to stuff them in as much as possible, but it just didnt' work

The Sensaphonics ProPhonic 2X-S costs $750 for the earphone itself, about $50 or so for the audiologist fee. Some audiologist charge more or less, but that's what you should expect.

UE-10 Pro is $900, plus $50 for the full-soft option if you choose to go down that road, but it's really not worth it, imo. The full-soft isn't all that soft, nothing that makes it all that more comfortable one way or another. Yet again, $50 or so for the audiologist appointment to get the ear impression done.

Yes, they are very, very high end... Both sound quality that ER-4 or E5c doesn't come close to. Very, very expensive as well.

 

[warubozu]

Awesome pics and side by side comparison of both canalphones. Does the 2X-S come with any type of storage or carrying case?

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by warubozu Awesome pics and side by side comparison of both canalphones. Does the 2X-S come with any type of storage or carrying case?

They do, but I didn't photograph mine.. because they come with very different case than what they did when I ordered mine. I have a new version of their case on the way.. it's not here yet.