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[size=xx-small]Translucent blue Ultimate Ears UE-11, with Apple iPod nano (2nd generation, 8GB), ALO Audio 7-wire Jena Cryo Dock, and Ray Samuels Audio Tomahawk[/size][/align]
I was already an Ultimate Ears UE-10 customer, so I knew the magic therein (yes, it really is all that). When Ultimate Ears contacted me to ask me if I wanted to be on the beta testing panel for the UE-11, they didn't have to ask me twice--I can't think of many e-mail messages I've answered faster than that one. As a UE-10 Pro customer, Ultimate Ears already had my ear impressions (which were good enough to get me a perfect UE-10 Pro fit on the very first try), so this was as easy as saying, "Yes, yes, yes, please."
A week or so later, the beta UE-11 arrived. First things first, starting from the left side of the frequency response x-axis and moving right. Versus the UE-10 Pro, more bass. At first blush, maybe too much--I mean, the UE-10 Pro had pretty much been my primary headphone for months, due to my more portable lifestyle lately. Midband was freer, more airy, effortless--with almost everything I listened to, I could experience more of what lived in the midrange than with even the very revealing UE-10 Pro. Treble was also a wee bit improved versus the UE-10 Pro, but I could have used even a little more up there if I was being asked to state the ideal.
I kept using the beta UE-11, almost exclusively, until the production unit arrived. I did this for the first few weeks--with the exception of some swapping of IEMs during my flight to and from San Jose for HeadFest 2007--and when I would put on the UE-10 Pro, I realized I missed that beta UE-11 bass. A lot. This reminded me very much of how I felt when I went from the Sennheiser HD600 to the HD650, and then back to the HD600--I missed the HD650 (and it remains my choice between the two today).
One doesn't often read of bass detail. Usually it's midrange detail, detailed treble; but not often much discussion of bass detail--bass usually just gets the "controlled" or "loose" adjectives. Well, bass detail and resolution very much came to mind when I got my ears on the beta UE-11, because I heard things going on in some of my favorite bass-containing tracks that I didn't realize were going on. One of my reference CDs is Andre Previn and David Finck's We Got Rhythm: Gershwin Songbook--it's just Previn on piano and Finck on double bass, knockin' out some fantastic Gershwin. Love it. There was more resonance and sonority--more bass detail--with the beta UE-11 than any other headphone I've got. And, yes, it was controlled, it was taut. I just wanted a wee bit less overall bass amplitude.
I filled out the beta evaluation form in great detail. I was one of a handful of people on the panel, and I'm sure they weighed all our opinions carefully. I'm guessing maybe most of us wanted the same things, which, for me, were: Please tame the bass level just a teeny tiny bit, but please don't lose any of the outrageous bass detail (again, with more bass detail and resolution than I've heard from any of my other headphones); leave the mids alone, thank you very much; I wouldn't be opposed to a hair's breadth more treble. The end product--the final production version--sounds to me like I was the only one on the panel, as it is now exactly what I wanted (and, like I said, obviously what least some of the other panel members wanted, too).
This production UE-11 is dialed in to be darned near perfect for me. Do I think it'll be perfect for everyone? No. Most everyone? Yes, I think most here would love it. Will every UE-10 Pro owner prefer the UE-11? Probably not. Most? Yes, I definitely think so. I thought the UE-10 Pro was just about perfect, enjoying it's relative neutrality and revealing nature. I find the UE-11's enhanced punch, bass detail, more open midrange and a little more top-end extension to be even more perfect--it's perfecter for me. And as much as I love the UE-10 Pro, it has been used only for comparison since I first received the beta UE-11, which itself has seen almost no use (except for the initial comparison) since my production UE-11 arrived.
Ultimate Ears obviously has a sort of rock-n-roll persona associated with it, for obvious reasons. Does the UE-11 rock? Oh yeah, big time. But, just as with the UE-10 Pro--in case you were worried about this--the UE-11, to my ears, sings jazz and classical gorgeously and revealingly. Though the bass is somewhat tipped up versus neutral, I've found the UE-11 to serve music of all my favorite stripes exceptionally well for my tastes, and I definitely prefer the bass as it's done on the UE-11 than I do with the UE-10 Pro.
Which amps have I tried it with? The HeadRoom Total BitHead (latest version), Ray Samuels Audio Tomahawk, Ray Samuels Audio Hornet, and the very new Meier Audio Corda Move. With the Total BitHead, Tomahawk and Hornet, I use their low-gain settings. With the Move, I use its high-current, low-gain setting. The UE-11 sounds fantastic with all of them. If you're going to use it with a desktop source component, all the better. I used a Cardas RCA-RCA-mini to hear how it sounded out of my CD player/DAC combo (and SACD)--feeding the Hornet--and the UE-11 was rewarded by the better source. I haven't tried the UE-11 yet with a bigger, beefier home amp, but I will soon. The Total BitHead, Tomahawk, Hornet and Move are ultimately quieter (in terms of background noise) than most of my desktops, particular when using these portable amps' low-gain modes; and when you use such heavily isolating, sensitive IEMs, you'll find that they'll often draw hiss out of a lot of desktop amps.
Long story short, my new production-version, translucent blue Ultimate Ears UE-11 has everything I liked about the beta UE-11, only adjusted exactly as I wanted it to be. And it is, to my ears, an improvement over Ultimate Ears' previous flagship UE-10 Pro.
So, uh, Ultimate Ears, you know you've got a beta tester here any darned time you need him.
[size=xx-small]Translucent blue Ultimate Ears UE-11, with Apple iPod nano (2nd generation, 8GB), ALO Audio 7-wire Jena Cryo Dock, and Ray Samuels Audio Tomahawk[/size][/align]
I was already an Ultimate Ears UE-10 customer, so I knew the magic therein (yes, it really is all that). When Ultimate Ears contacted me to ask me if I wanted to be on the beta testing panel for the UE-11, they didn't have to ask me twice--I can't think of many e-mail messages I've answered faster than that one. As a UE-10 Pro customer, Ultimate Ears already had my ear impressions (which were good enough to get me a perfect UE-10 Pro fit on the very first try), so this was as easy as saying, "Yes, yes, yes, please."
A week or so later, the beta UE-11 arrived. First things first, starting from the left side of the frequency response x-axis and moving right. Versus the UE-10 Pro, more bass. At first blush, maybe too much--I mean, the UE-10 Pro had pretty much been my primary headphone for months, due to my more portable lifestyle lately. Midband was freer, more airy, effortless--with almost everything I listened to, I could experience more of what lived in the midrange than with even the very revealing UE-10 Pro. Treble was also a wee bit improved versus the UE-10 Pro, but I could have used even a little more up there if I was being asked to state the ideal.
I kept using the beta UE-11, almost exclusively, until the production unit arrived. I did this for the first few weeks--with the exception of some swapping of IEMs during my flight to and from San Jose for HeadFest 2007--and when I would put on the UE-10 Pro, I realized I missed that beta UE-11 bass. A lot. This reminded me very much of how I felt when I went from the Sennheiser HD600 to the HD650, and then back to the HD600--I missed the HD650 (and it remains my choice between the two today).
One doesn't often read of bass detail. Usually it's midrange detail, detailed treble; but not often much discussion of bass detail--bass usually just gets the "controlled" or "loose" adjectives. Well, bass detail and resolution very much came to mind when I got my ears on the beta UE-11, because I heard things going on in some of my favorite bass-containing tracks that I didn't realize were going on. One of my reference CDs is Andre Previn and David Finck's We Got Rhythm: Gershwin Songbook--it's just Previn on piano and Finck on double bass, knockin' out some fantastic Gershwin. Love it. There was more resonance and sonority--more bass detail--with the beta UE-11 than any other headphone I've got. And, yes, it was controlled, it was taut. I just wanted a wee bit less overall bass amplitude.
I filled out the beta evaluation form in great detail. I was one of a handful of people on the panel, and I'm sure they weighed all our opinions carefully. I'm guessing maybe most of us wanted the same things, which, for me, were: Please tame the bass level just a teeny tiny bit, but please don't lose any of the outrageous bass detail (again, with more bass detail and resolution than I've heard from any of my other headphones); leave the mids alone, thank you very much; I wouldn't be opposed to a hair's breadth more treble. The end product--the final production version--sounds to me like I was the only one on the panel, as it is now exactly what I wanted (and, like I said, obviously what least some of the other panel members wanted, too).
This production UE-11 is dialed in to be darned near perfect for me. Do I think it'll be perfect for everyone? No. Most everyone? Yes, I think most here would love it. Will every UE-10 Pro owner prefer the UE-11? Probably not. Most? Yes, I definitely think so. I thought the UE-10 Pro was just about perfect, enjoying it's relative neutrality and revealing nature. I find the UE-11's enhanced punch, bass detail, more open midrange and a little more top-end extension to be even more perfect--it's perfecter for me. And as much as I love the UE-10 Pro, it has been used only for comparison since I first received the beta UE-11, which itself has seen almost no use (except for the initial comparison) since my production UE-11 arrived.
Ultimate Ears obviously has a sort of rock-n-roll persona associated with it, for obvious reasons. Does the UE-11 rock? Oh yeah, big time. But, just as with the UE-10 Pro--in case you were worried about this--the UE-11, to my ears, sings jazz and classical gorgeously and revealingly. Though the bass is somewhat tipped up versus neutral, I've found the UE-11 to serve music of all my favorite stripes exceptionally well for my tastes, and I definitely prefer the bass as it's done on the UE-11 than I do with the UE-10 Pro.
Which amps have I tried it with? The HeadRoom Total BitHead (latest version), Ray Samuels Audio Tomahawk, Ray Samuels Audio Hornet, and the very new Meier Audio Corda Move. With the Total BitHead, Tomahawk and Hornet, I use their low-gain settings. With the Move, I use its high-current, low-gain setting. The UE-11 sounds fantastic with all of them. If you're going to use it with a desktop source component, all the better. I used a Cardas RCA-RCA-mini to hear how it sounded out of my CD player/DAC combo (and SACD)--feeding the Hornet--and the UE-11 was rewarded by the better source. I haven't tried the UE-11 yet with a bigger, beefier home amp, but I will soon. The Total BitHead, Tomahawk, Hornet and Move are ultimately quieter (in terms of background noise) than most of my desktops, particular when using these portable amps' low-gain modes; and when you use such heavily isolating, sensitive IEMs, you'll find that they'll often draw hiss out of a lot of desktop amps.
Long story short, my new production-version, translucent blue Ultimate Ears UE-11 has everything I liked about the beta UE-11, only adjusted exactly as I wanted it to be. And it is, to my ears, an improvement over Ultimate Ears' previous flagship UE-10 Pro.
So, uh, Ultimate Ears, you know you've got a beta tester here any darned time you need him.
