filipelli
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 28, 2007
- Posts
- 2,291
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- 14
Hello head-fi!
Well, the UE5cs are in! I have not had the time to do any real listening because of exams (3 this week, along with a paper), but I just thought I would post some initial impressions, as well as some fun pictures for people looking at the lower end of custom IEMS. I have not had the time to really think about anything other than QSAR and post transcriptional modifications, so here are just some little tidbits I noticed comparing the UE5c from my own reference IEM, the Livewires.
Background/musical preferences
Livewires
Like some of you guys may know, I consider myself faithfully, and truthfully, a grado gal. I enjoy a lot of different genres of music, but most of my collection consists of indie rock, new wave and ambient/electronic music. Before I got my livewires, I was looking for a IEM that would give me the excitement and punch of the grado house sound, while being as comfortable as possible.
UE5c
Although I love livewires, I started to feel pangs for something different. A lot of members asked me why I went for UE5cs – a dual driver that is comparable to the IEMs I already owned. Part of it was because I wanted to hear the house UE sound, and part of it was because I wanted something different…on the cheap if possible. I heard the UE5cs were bassy, so I went for them to compare directly to another dual armature IEM, the livewires
Packaging/Extras/Service
With a price difference of about $300, the UE customer service definitely beats out the livewires and this is probably because of the relative size of each company. UE has been established for professionals and consumers alike, while livewires was a start up at the time when I bought a set. UE answered my questions immediately, made small changes to my order on my request, and have been responsive to a possible refit – more on that later. The $300 while getting me more personalized service, also got me a personalized hard shell foamlined case ($40), a smaller IEM only case ($15) and a shrink wrapped package for them.
The LW team was not shabby either. The head hauncho, Mr. Diles, was my correspondant from the company, and he was equally responsive to my emails. In recent weeks however, customers have started to find that follow up is increasingly frustrating since they have not been answering emails. This is probably due to their growing fanbase and interested customers. My livewires came in back then, in bubble wrap and a plastic generic case probably worth less than $5 to be made. I do not really use it anyway, but that is where part of the price difference lies.
Build quality
LW – For being fresh into the market, the LW had amazing build quality on first look. Edges were smooth, no acrylic bubbles and flush connectors put together with attention to detail. Great looking IEM. Virtually no microphonics when the cable is lopped over your ear. Personally, I cut off the memory wire tubing because it was annoying, and this made the comfort of the cables much more preferable.
UE5c – Obviously UE knows what they are doing. However under close observation of the UEs I can see parts where the liquid acrylic formed an internal bubble. Not the tiny foamy bubbles of some IEMS, but bubbles that appeared to separate the insides of the IEM into chambers. I actually like the look, because it makes my clear UE5cs look like glass.
"Initial" impressions UE5c vs. LW
LW – I have said it once and I will say it again! The LW are incredibly accurate. They transmit the quality of the recording you are listening to as well as your source! There is a great deal of clarity, with very pronounced mids and lows. These IEMS can be considered “bright” because of their highs. While I have never had a complaint against this (because of my inclination towards punchy and clean), people who are into the more dark and robust sound may find the LW bright a little too bright. Nevertheless, the bass is very present on these IEMS, not in a BOOM BOOM way, but a THUD THUD kind of way, if that makes any sense. Paired with my zune 80, I found that there was a great balance between the player and then IEMS, so the LW will do great if you have a source that it can mesh well with.
UE5C – From the brief experiences I have with this IEM, these things are BASSY. The bass for these monitors are in fact of the boom boom variety, and in fact vibrate the monitors in my ears just slightly. They do not have the clarity that the LW have off the get go, as much of the music that wants to push its way into your ears is accentuated by the bass from the monitors. The music however has that extra warmth that the LW lacks( due to its analytical nature). The highs, mids and lows of various musical pieces seem to just clump together and mold together. This is not to say that this is bad, but in comparison to the LW, the UE5c did not have the same kind of definition and separation of the LW. Instead the UEs seemed to take in the music and reinterpret it to make it all ebb and flow together into the highs, mids, and lows.
So in the end, I cannot say which IEM I like more, because they are both very different. At the moment I prefer the UE5cs because of the warmth and robustness of the sound, and the ability of the UEs to make the music cohesive and full. But I imagine myself to prefer the LW when I really want to get down to listening analytically.
Well, the UE5cs are in! I have not had the time to do any real listening because of exams (3 this week, along with a paper), but I just thought I would post some initial impressions, as well as some fun pictures for people looking at the lower end of custom IEMS. I have not had the time to really think about anything other than QSAR and post transcriptional modifications, so here are just some little tidbits I noticed comparing the UE5c from my own reference IEM, the Livewires.
Background/musical preferences
Livewires
Like some of you guys may know, I consider myself faithfully, and truthfully, a grado gal. I enjoy a lot of different genres of music, but most of my collection consists of indie rock, new wave and ambient/electronic music. Before I got my livewires, I was looking for a IEM that would give me the excitement and punch of the grado house sound, while being as comfortable as possible.
UE5c
Although I love livewires, I started to feel pangs for something different. A lot of members asked me why I went for UE5cs – a dual driver that is comparable to the IEMs I already owned. Part of it was because I wanted to hear the house UE sound, and part of it was because I wanted something different…on the cheap if possible. I heard the UE5cs were bassy, so I went for them to compare directly to another dual armature IEM, the livewires
Packaging/Extras/Service
With a price difference of about $300, the UE customer service definitely beats out the livewires and this is probably because of the relative size of each company. UE has been established for professionals and consumers alike, while livewires was a start up at the time when I bought a set. UE answered my questions immediately, made small changes to my order on my request, and have been responsive to a possible refit – more on that later. The $300 while getting me more personalized service, also got me a personalized hard shell foamlined case ($40), a smaller IEM only case ($15) and a shrink wrapped package for them.
The LW team was not shabby either. The head hauncho, Mr. Diles, was my correspondant from the company, and he was equally responsive to my emails. In recent weeks however, customers have started to find that follow up is increasingly frustrating since they have not been answering emails. This is probably due to their growing fanbase and interested customers. My livewires came in back then, in bubble wrap and a plastic generic case probably worth less than $5 to be made. I do not really use it anyway, but that is where part of the price difference lies.
Build quality
LW – For being fresh into the market, the LW had amazing build quality on first look. Edges were smooth, no acrylic bubbles and flush connectors put together with attention to detail. Great looking IEM. Virtually no microphonics when the cable is lopped over your ear. Personally, I cut off the memory wire tubing because it was annoying, and this made the comfort of the cables much more preferable.
UE5c – Obviously UE knows what they are doing. However under close observation of the UEs I can see parts where the liquid acrylic formed an internal bubble. Not the tiny foamy bubbles of some IEMS, but bubbles that appeared to separate the insides of the IEM into chambers. I actually like the look, because it makes my clear UE5cs look like glass.
"Initial" impressions UE5c vs. LW
LW – I have said it once and I will say it again! The LW are incredibly accurate. They transmit the quality of the recording you are listening to as well as your source! There is a great deal of clarity, with very pronounced mids and lows. These IEMS can be considered “bright” because of their highs. While I have never had a complaint against this (because of my inclination towards punchy and clean), people who are into the more dark and robust sound may find the LW bright a little too bright. Nevertheless, the bass is very present on these IEMS, not in a BOOM BOOM way, but a THUD THUD kind of way, if that makes any sense. Paired with my zune 80, I found that there was a great balance between the player and then IEMS, so the LW will do great if you have a source that it can mesh well with.
UE5C – From the brief experiences I have with this IEM, these things are BASSY. The bass for these monitors are in fact of the boom boom variety, and in fact vibrate the monitors in my ears just slightly. They do not have the clarity that the LW have off the get go, as much of the music that wants to push its way into your ears is accentuated by the bass from the monitors. The music however has that extra warmth that the LW lacks( due to its analytical nature). The highs, mids and lows of various musical pieces seem to just clump together and mold together. This is not to say that this is bad, but in comparison to the LW, the UE5c did not have the same kind of definition and separation of the LW. Instead the UEs seemed to take in the music and reinterpret it to make it all ebb and flow together into the highs, mids, and lows.
So in the end, I cannot say which IEM I like more, because they are both very different. At the moment I prefer the UE5cs because of the warmth and robustness of the sound, and the ability of the UEs to make the music cohesive and full. But I imagine myself to prefer the LW when I really want to get down to listening analytically.
