TheSatelliteGuy
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2006
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About two weeks ago, I received my custom made Incredible Ear monitors. I found this company while I was surfing the internet, and relized that they were fairly new in the industry.His prices were more than competive, but had no reference towards the quality. I could only find reviews from his web page directly. So I sent him an email asking about his background, and why he only had musician reviews and no audio. Here is his reply:
"Great to talk to you over the past few days!..."
"As you know, I come from a broadcasting and thoroughbred racing background AND with a long and varied appreciation of music over the years.
I got the idea for iNCREDIBLE eARS from a friend of mine, Mike Arndt, who share similar interests. He also works in the hearing aid industry and was aware --through his assistance to artists that had experienced hearing issues, such as Ricky Skaggs-- that there was also a need for them on stage to hear EXACTLY what they needed at levels that would not further damage their ears.
Ricky and others provided valuable input that allowed us to come up with monitors that met various on-stage and in-studio needs at affordable price points.
One of the issues that came up in talking to Ricky's Kentucky Thunder band members was that they really wanted to have TWO pair of monitors, one that they could keep with their tour gear and one for their personal gig bag. At the prices that some of the highest-end companies (e.g UE) charged, they didn't feel like they could afford them.
We believe that price, quality, and personal service are what make iE 'different from and better than' others in the same competitive market. Additionally, we have extended our product offerings to include a variety of custom-fitted products in the consumer and professional markets.
Regards, John Hernandez
President"
I explained to him my interest was with the experience of the audio, and about the equipment I own. He offered to build me a set if I gave him my impressions, and if I did not like them, he would take them back. I told him that i would compare them to the other units i own, and that I would post my findings on head-fi. I also asked him if he has ever heard of JH13's, (which I have on order) he said he wasn't aware of them, and he would love to know how they compared.
When the box arrived I was impressed with the packaging and noticed a very high quality build. I had them made in translucent and the backs are solid black. Most of my listening is done portable with over the ear headphones, but I do use my shure 500's, my ultimate ear triple-fi 10's, my shure 4gs, and my ep4ps. My first test with the new IEMs, I chose to use to my Maxed-out SM4 off of a cd player with line out. The first CD I used was a tweaked copy of the Dooby Bro. Greatest Hits. I hooked it up with ALO connectors and took a quick listen. At first listen everything sounded out of proportion. I realized that I had to change some settings on the SM4.
I took off the bass boost, cross feed, and turned up the volume a little bit, turned down the gain, and realized these headphone were very articulate. They offered a moderate sound stage, but more impressively I realized in a short period of time that there was a bass line that I wasn't getting from any other of my IEMs. These have the capability of producing a larger sound then you would expect from a IEM, just like full sized headphones. In fact they sound as good as full sized headphones.
I then started the burn in period. I left them on overnight with the same CD for the next few nights, but they still had the veiled sound quality. At about the 125 hour mark of the burn in period I changed the CD and noticed the sound quality had improved greatly. I used one of my reference CDs (which is ABBA Gold, not my favorite, but a good reference), and they hit an instant Wow factor. What I heard was everything I expected from over the ear headphones. The highs were crystal clear, The mid range was varied and strong, but when I took notice of the bass line, they were putting out a strong bass line that isn't expected from an IEM. Not only did I hear it, I felt it, which I haven't experienced from any other IEM that I've owned.
When I was throughly convinced that these were special I got out an Ian Andersons orchestral album of Jethro Tull songs. His flutes were just about live, and you could pick up on his breadth and fluttering of his notes. I was really impressed at how fast these monitors were. It seemed as if the monitors made me more aware of what was in the music than any other in the ear monitors that I have heard. To test and see exactly how much better they were, I got out my Shure 500's and my UE3fi10s.
The iNCREDIBLE eARS are in an entirely different league than any of my other IEMs. They actually made the Shures and UEs sound inadequate. Years ago my first pair of IEMs that I bought were EP4Ps, and i was just delighted with what they put out compared to the factory buds from my IPod. This experience took me back to that huge jump in sound quality and sound awareness. I couldn't believe how much they outpaced the Shure 500s that I thought were so great just a week ago.
These are truely a great set of IEMs and compete in every aspect with any of my other headphones. They obviously don't have a woody quality, but can still run in any circle. I can't wait until I can compare them to the JH13's and will reply when I am able to.
**I have plugged them into 8 different amps and they allow the amps signatures to come through rather than color it.
I have received my JH13 and will be posting my comparisons soon. I will try to get some info up real soon. Gary
"Great to talk to you over the past few days!..."
"As you know, I come from a broadcasting and thoroughbred racing background AND with a long and varied appreciation of music over the years.
I got the idea for iNCREDIBLE eARS from a friend of mine, Mike Arndt, who share similar interests. He also works in the hearing aid industry and was aware --through his assistance to artists that had experienced hearing issues, such as Ricky Skaggs-- that there was also a need for them on stage to hear EXACTLY what they needed at levels that would not further damage their ears.
Ricky and others provided valuable input that allowed us to come up with monitors that met various on-stage and in-studio needs at affordable price points.
One of the issues that came up in talking to Ricky's Kentucky Thunder band members was that they really wanted to have TWO pair of monitors, one that they could keep with their tour gear and one for their personal gig bag. At the prices that some of the highest-end companies (e.g UE) charged, they didn't feel like they could afford them.
We believe that price, quality, and personal service are what make iE 'different from and better than' others in the same competitive market. Additionally, we have extended our product offerings to include a variety of custom-fitted products in the consumer and professional markets.
Regards, John Hernandez
President"
I explained to him my interest was with the experience of the audio, and about the equipment I own. He offered to build me a set if I gave him my impressions, and if I did not like them, he would take them back. I told him that i would compare them to the other units i own, and that I would post my findings on head-fi. I also asked him if he has ever heard of JH13's, (which I have on order) he said he wasn't aware of them, and he would love to know how they compared.
When the box arrived I was impressed with the packaging and noticed a very high quality build. I had them made in translucent and the backs are solid black. Most of my listening is done portable with over the ear headphones, but I do use my shure 500's, my ultimate ear triple-fi 10's, my shure 4gs, and my ep4ps. My first test with the new IEMs, I chose to use to my Maxed-out SM4 off of a cd player with line out. The first CD I used was a tweaked copy of the Dooby Bro. Greatest Hits. I hooked it up with ALO connectors and took a quick listen. At first listen everything sounded out of proportion. I realized that I had to change some settings on the SM4.
I took off the bass boost, cross feed, and turned up the volume a little bit, turned down the gain, and realized these headphone were very articulate. They offered a moderate sound stage, but more impressively I realized in a short period of time that there was a bass line that I wasn't getting from any other of my IEMs. These have the capability of producing a larger sound then you would expect from a IEM, just like full sized headphones. In fact they sound as good as full sized headphones.
I then started the burn in period. I left them on overnight with the same CD for the next few nights, but they still had the veiled sound quality. At about the 125 hour mark of the burn in period I changed the CD and noticed the sound quality had improved greatly. I used one of my reference CDs (which is ABBA Gold, not my favorite, but a good reference), and they hit an instant Wow factor. What I heard was everything I expected from over the ear headphones. The highs were crystal clear, The mid range was varied and strong, but when I took notice of the bass line, they were putting out a strong bass line that isn't expected from an IEM. Not only did I hear it, I felt it, which I haven't experienced from any other IEM that I've owned.
When I was throughly convinced that these were special I got out an Ian Andersons orchestral album of Jethro Tull songs. His flutes were just about live, and you could pick up on his breadth and fluttering of his notes. I was really impressed at how fast these monitors were. It seemed as if the monitors made me more aware of what was in the music than any other in the ear monitors that I have heard. To test and see exactly how much better they were, I got out my Shure 500's and my UE3fi10s.
The iNCREDIBLE eARS are in an entirely different league than any of my other IEMs. They actually made the Shures and UEs sound inadequate. Years ago my first pair of IEMs that I bought were EP4Ps, and i was just delighted with what they put out compared to the factory buds from my IPod. This experience took me back to that huge jump in sound quality and sound awareness. I couldn't believe how much they outpaced the Shure 500s that I thought were so great just a week ago.
These are truely a great set of IEMs and compete in every aspect with any of my other headphones. They obviously don't have a woody quality, but can still run in any circle. I can't wait until I can compare them to the JH13's and will reply when I am able to.
**I have plugged them into 8 different amps and they allow the amps signatures to come through rather than color it.
I have received my JH13 and will be posting my comparisons soon. I will try to get some info up real soon. Gary
