[LarsHP]

No hiss with the HM602 + miracle combo . 
 
 
 

Thanks for your feedback. Didn't see this until now.
I am somewhat surprised you don't hear any hiss, though.
The Miracle is both low impedance and highly sensitive, so I would have expected you to hear some hiss when in a quiet room.

 

[pasgod]

Hello Project86,
 
I have just found a review of the Miracle
 
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/hi-fi-and-audio/headphones/unique-melody-miracle-945292/review
 
They like it but think there is a lack of separation in the treble. They confirm what you said about the quality of the bass, it is also the best they have heard.

 

[project86]

 
Quote:

Hello Project86,
 
I have just found a review of the Miracle
 
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/audio-visual/hi-fi-and-audio/headphones/unique-melody-miracle-945292/review
 
They like it but think there is a lack of separation in the treble. They confirm what you said about the quality of the bass, it is also the best they have heard.

Thanks for the link. That's an interesting read and I probably wouldn't have seen it if you didn't post.
 
I agree with them on some things: Phenomenal bass performance and great build quality. But I totally disagree with the statement that the highs are out of whack. If you look at the graph posted in my review, you can see that they have the typical spike centered around 7kHz, and are down to being flat by 8kHz, and then drop off a bit from there..... just like pretty much EVERY other IEM does. So to say they have a "steep roll off from 7kHz" is not very accurate.
 
Also, if you look at the Shure SE535 graph over at HeadRoom, you'll see the same thing (although HeadRoom does corrections on their graphs so it is not a direct comparison), but in their review of those they called the highs "crisp and clean".  Seems like a different standard being applied for each review. This would make sense if they said they were expecting more from the higher priced product, but they didn't. 
 
I also don't get the reference to the cables being bad quality. UM cables are essentially the same as those used by UE, Westone, and JH Audio. Those cables are almost universally praised for their quality (as far as stock cables go). Of course they have every right to say they like the Shure cable better for whatever reason, but to say the UM cable feels "cheap and insubstantial" seems wrong to me. 
 
I think it's great when some of my favorite gear gets reviewed by big websites or magazines. I just wish they would do a better job.

 

[maverickronin]

Subtract 2 from the graphID in the url to get the raw data.

2731 is smoothed and compensated


2729 is raw

 

[Pianist]

Quote:

Westone ES3X
The ES3X, despite being older and having "only" 3 drivers per ear, is still one of my favorites. Even against the JH13pro I've never found it lacking, just different. That is until now. The Miracle is the first IEM I've heard that makes the ES3X sound downright thin and just "wrong" in comparison. It is like switching from some massive high end fullrange speakers to some decent but unspectacular mini-monitors; there is a sense of boxiness, or what I've heard described as a "cupped hand" effect. The transition from low bass to midbass doesn't sound right. And the highs seem harsh and ragged. The disparity is obvious when switching from Miracle to ES3X, although once I spent more time with the Westone offering it gradually started to sound good again. Now that I've returned the Miracle demo, I enjoy the ES3X as much as ever, so thankfully no permanent harm has been done.

 
I heard the same thing when switching from ES3X to $79 RE0. Maybe my ES3X was defective of course, although I doubt it because all the drivers were working - I could hear the sub bass, mids and upper treble fine in both sides. The issue was that the sound was muddy, incoherent, compressed with bass that had no impact and treble that was quite muffled/recessed. Even if all of these issues were fixed, ES3X still cannot match RE0 in the treble and it just doesn't sound very dynamic or detailed. And the soundstage, like you said, is not very impressive. I felt like I was ripped off. Thus, I am now highly sceptical about the sound of expensive customs. Of course, the ES3X may have been an exception and I would love the Miracle if I got one, but something tells me that putting extra 3 drivers per side is not a good way to improve sound quality, especially considering that I find even good 2 driver IEMs already a bit incoherent. All 3 driver IEMs I tried are usually less coherent than the 2 driver ones to the point where I can't stand them. I haven't heard IEMs with more than 3 drivers. I read somewhere that more drivers can actually make the sound more coherent, but I don't see how that's possible. Say a 2 driver IEM won't sound as coherent as a well designed 6 driver IEM, but that sounds like bollocks to me. You seem pretty knowledgeable in this area, so maybe you can shed some light on this phenomenon?

 

[project86]

Quote:

Subtract 2 from the graphID in the url to get the raw data.

 

Thanks! Good tip. It still isn't an ideal comparison because we have different sources who probably measured under different circumstances/with different equipment, but still.... we can infer from the graphs that the SE535 behaves similarly to the Miracle, and yet only the Miracle was criticized in that review. 


Quote:

 
I heard the same thing when switching from ES3X to $79 RE0. Maybe my ES3X was defective of course, although I doubt it because all the drivers were working - I could hear the sub bass, mids and upper treble fine in both sides. The issue was that the sound was muddy, incoherent, compressed with bass that had no impact and treble that was quite muffled/recessed. Even if all of these issues were fixed, ES3X still cannot match RE0 in the treble and it just doesn't sound very dynamic or detailed. And the soundstage, like you said, is not very impressive. I felt like I was ripped off. Thus, I am now highly sceptical about the sound of expensive customs. Of course, the ES3X may have been an exception and I would love the Miracle if I got one, but something tells me that putting extra 3 drivers per side is not a good way to improve sound quality, especially considering that I find even good 2 driver IEMs already a bit incoherent. All 3 driver IEMs I tried are usually less coherent than the 2 driver ones to the point where I can't stand them. I haven't heard IEMs with more than 3 drivers. I read somewhere that more drivers can actually make the sound more coherent, but I don't see how that's possible. Say a 2 driver IEM won't sound as coherent as a well designed 6 driver IEM, but that sounds like bollocks to me. You seem pretty knowledgeable in this area, so maybe you can shed some light on this phenomenon?

Well, you have to take my comments in context. I did specify that I had not been bothered or even noticed that problem until doing a direct comparison between ES3X and Miracle. And later when I sent the Miracle back, I started to enjoy the ES3X as much as ever. Sounds like your ES3X was very different than mine though, as mine was a problem only relative to the superior Miracle. 
 
That said, I don't necessarily think more drivers has to always equal better. Think full sized speakers - often times as you move up in the line you will get the same tweeter but with an increase in either size or quantity (or both) for the woofers. You can find examples of this all over, from lower end (Polk Monitor series) to higher end (PSB Synchrony 2 and 1). I suppose at a certain volume level or with certain music, the differences would be irrelevant. And I'm fairly certain that it is possible to design a 2 or 3 driver model that is very good..... likewise I'm sure someone could design a 6+ driver model that was not so good. But as far as potential, I think when done right, a higher driver count can indeed be better. At least that's been my experience thus far. But then here comes the UM Merlin to challenge that thinking....

 

[Vitor Teixeira]

Figure it's about time to chime in. Sent my impressions to UM lab about 3 weeks ago. I'll post my thoughts in this thread when I get them.
 
Any idea on brokerage fees to Canada? In my experience, when Fedex is dropping off your package your wallet is going to be sore afterward.

Hey there!

Have you got the Miracle?

 

[Joelby]

Unfortunately not yet. My impressions never made it to UM labs.I ended up sending another set of impressions after 5 weeks. Lesson learned - Use a service with tracking! 
 
The 2nd impressions arrived there on the 10th so I'm expecting them within 3 weeks. I'll post impressions here asap. 

 

[natashaful]

I think these will be my next IEM, I just need to save up £755 for them and get my impressions done, I'm deffo getting kirby put on one side of them and maybe a hello kitty on the other side lol, Hay they say free art!.

 

[Old_Snake]

Why did the review use a tip when it's a custom IEM?

 

[Vitor Teixeira]

Quote:

Why did the review use a tip when it's a custom IEM?

Because it's a demo unit, just for the purpose of the review.
 

 

[Maxvla]

Project, did you ever review the Merlins? I saw you mention you'd post about it in this thread, but I don't see anything.

Thanks.

 

[project86]

Quote:

Project, did you ever review the Merlins? I saw you mention you'd post about it in this thread, but I don't see anything.

Thanks.

 

Nope, not yet. For whatever reason the pair they sent me is a prototype which has a somewhat different sound signature compared to the final tuning. The end result should be rather similar but with a fairly significant boost in the lower region. 
 
I'm loving the model that I have, but there's no point in writing about a model that isn't going to be available. So I'm going to wait until they send me the final version before I do a review. They had some delays due to an emergency with their lead engineer but I hear they are back on track, so I should get the final model soon and start working on it.
 
I will say that this prototype is just about on the same level as the Miracle.... which means it is absolutely spectacular. I'm hopeful that the final model will be similarly excellent. 
 

 

[rebirthz]

project86 i got back my retunes! and man they sound great with an even greater extension in the sub bass region. just wondering how would you compare the bass between the miracle and merlins from you current impressions? because from what i heard from the universal i felt that the miracle had a more analytical bass whereas the merlins bass was more playful and so called musical. just wondering if you shared the same views.

 

[project86]

Quote:

project86 i got back my retunes! and man they sound great with an even greater extension in the sub bass region. just wondering how would you compare the bass between the miracle and merlins from you current impressions? because from what i heard from the universal i felt that the miracle had a more analytical bass whereas the merlins bass was more playful and so called musical. just wondering if you shared the same views.

That's exciting! Hopefully mine arrive soon as well. I'm loving the proto model, so I'm curious to see how the final tuning will sound. Do you notice much difference in the sound aside from the low bass region?
 
I think your assessment of the Miracle/Merlin bass situation might be pretty much in line with mine. I'd call the Miracle extremely accurate, but in a more generous way than some of the other IEMs with "accurate" bass (Ery ER4S).