[435279]

Here is my DIY modded balanced 18+ Pro cable I finished yesterday, it was fiddly to do but works very well and now I can use the balanced port on my Sony ZX300 via an adaptor. I did buy a spare cable too after some issues with the soldering but I got there in the end and the cable is probably only around 1 inch shorter.

I will most likely redo it with a 4.4mm plug eventually and make a better job of it too with the experience gained from doing the 2.5mm mod.

 

[gemmoglock]

@Deezel177 hope your UE Live review is coming along great! Just curious - did you/will you be giving the 3rd gen UE18+ a listen? Curious how 2nd gen, 3rd gen and Live stack up together :

 

[Deezel177]

@Deezel177 hope your UE Live review is coming along great! Just curious - did you/will you be giving the 3rd gen UE18+ a listen? Curious how 2nd gen, 3rd gen and Live stack up together :

Unfortunately, there’s an imbalance issue on my LIVE that’s preventing me from reviewing them properly for now. The right sound bore is a few milimetres longer than the left, so I’m waiting on UE’s response to resolve it ASAP. From what I’ve managed to hear, the custom is quite a bit better than the universal demo. The bass has greater authority and has less bleed into the midrange. Sub-bass rumble is immensely impressive if I tug on the right earpiece and get it to sound right. The lower-mids aren’t as cloy, so the soundstage is a tad more open and airy. There’s better balance between the upper-mids and lower-treble, and the top-end is more refined as well. The chesty centre-midrange bump and upper-treble roll-off are both still present, so it won’t magically adopt this hi-fi sound. But, I reckon it has great potential from performing; drumming especially.

I’ll be visiting Singapore at the end of the month, and I’ll definitely give the 3rd Gen. a try if Music Sanctuary has their demos on hand.

 

[gemmoglock]

Unfortunately, there’s an imbalance issue on my LIVE that’s preventing me from reviewing them properly for now. The right sound bore is a few milimetres longer than the left, so I’m waiting on UE’s response to resolve it ASAP. From what I’ve managed to hear, the custom is quite a bit better than the universal demo. The bass has greater authority and has less bleed into the midrange. Sub-bass rumble is immensely impressive if I tug on the right earpiece and get it to sound right. The lower-mids aren’t as cloy, so the soundstage is a tad more open and airy. There’s better balance between the upper-mids and lower-treble, and the top-end is more refined as well. The chesty centre-midrange bump and upper-treble roll-off are both still present, so it won’t magically adopt this hi-fi sound. But, I reckon it has great potential from performing; drumming especially.

I’ll be visiting Singapore at the end of the month, and I’ll definitely give the 3rd Gen. a try if Music Sanctuary has their demos on hand.

Hope the Live issue gets fixed soon and look forward to your impressions!

 

[samuelnsh]

Hi all, I'm about to order a CIEM from UE and I've basically narrowed my choices down to UERR and UE LIVE. UERR seems to be a safe choice with overall positive reception, while UE LIVE seems to be quite polarizing. I've failed to draw decisive conclusions from crinacle's measurements (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ultimate-ears-live-impressions-thread.879935/page-5#post-14301242) so I hope to hear comments from you all. One fear I have over UE LIVE's tuning is whether the tuning makes it sound similar to Westone W60. My experience with W60 is that it has punchy bass and somewhat lush vocals but with the rest of the instruments distanced and higher frequency "sparks" severely muted. I don't mind trading a bit of "spark" for overall warmth but W60 does it too excessively. Can any of you comment on whether UE LIVE's tuning takes it to that level or is it much subtler than that? Thank you very much!

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a location where I can do a unit demo in my area, so I have to go with written comparisons found online.

 

[twice tzuyu]

Hi all, I'm about to order a CIEM from UE and I've basically narrowed my choices down to UERR and UE LIVE. UERR seems to be a safe choice with overall positive reception, while UE LIVE seems to be quite polarizing. I've failed to draw decisive conclusions from crinacle's measurements (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ultimate-ears-live-impressions-thread.879935/page-5#post-14301242) so I hope to hear comments from you all. One fear I have over UE LIVE's tuning is whether the tuning makes it sound similar to Westone W60. My experience with W60 is that it has punchy bass and somewhat lush vocals but with the rest of the instruments distanced and higher frequency "sparks" severely muted. I don't mind trading a bit of "spark" for overall warmth but W60 does it too excessively. Can any of you comment on whether UE LIVE's tuning takes it to that level or is it much subtler than that? Thank you very much!

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a location where I can do a unit demo in my area, so I have to go with written comparisons found online.

What about the 18+?

 

[crinacle]

Hi all, I'm about to order a CIEM from UE and I've basically narrowed my choices down to UERR and UE LIVE. UERR seems to be a safe choice with overall positive reception, while UE LIVE seems to be quite polarizing. I've failed to draw decisive conclusions from crinacle's measurements (https://www.head-fi.org/threads/ultimate-ears-live-impressions-thread.879935/page-5#post-14301242) so I hope to hear comments from you all. One fear I have over UE LIVE's tuning is whether the tuning makes it sound similar to Westone W60. My experience with W60 is that it has punchy bass and somewhat lush vocals but with the rest of the instruments distanced and higher frequency "sparks" severely muted. I don't mind trading a bit of "spark" for overall warmth but W60 does it too excessively. Can any of you comment on whether UE LIVE's tuning takes it to that level or is it much subtler than that? Thank you very much!

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a location where I can do a unit demo in my area, so I have to go with written comparisons found online.

I've also wrote about my experience with the Live here, basically just me rambling about all the significant hybrids I've tried over the years. The Live was honestly the worst high-end (or more accurately, highly-priced) hybrid that I've heard. Would even take the UE6 over it any day.

 

[samuelnsh]

What about the 18+?

I've also wrote about my experience with the Live here, basically just me rambling about all the significant hybrids I've tried over the years. The Live was honestly the worst high-end (or more accurately, highly-priced) hybrid that I've heard. Would even take the UE6 over it any day.

Thank you for your replies. The UE 18+ series was actually my target CIEM as I read through 18+ 2nd gen reviews. Then came the mixed 3rd generation reviews, less polarized as the UE LIVE but still a spectrum of reactions from a raving take my money stance to it being oddly tuned and master of none (crinacle's impression being one of them). I recognize that each person has different expectations and preferences when it comes to headphone/IEM tuning, and the taste could differ from genre to genre as well. The intended purpose of this purchase is for on-the-go non-critical listening, with tracks mostly consisting of J-POP from 90s to modern era as well as western rock from David Bowie era. The following few points might sum up the characteristics that I'm looking for:

• A moderate amount bass emphasis wouldn't hurt given the mobile environment that these will be used in, but not at the level of Roxanne 2 with 100% bass.
• Realistic vocals, what some might describe as "organic".
• Decent sound stage. I'm happy with IE 800's level of perceived sound stage, but more wouldn't hurt. In contrast, I've listened to universal demos of most of JH audio's offerings a couple of years ago, and they all came off to me as lacking in this regard.
• Avoid Westone W60's level of lack of "spark", pardon the a lack of more specific description...

Although offerings from other brands might fit these characteristics, I might be able to get a moderate discount on this purchase, hence the heavy preference for UE. Given the listed characteristics, which CIEM among UERR, UE 18+ PRO and UE LIVE would you all recommend? Thank you very much!

 

[crinacle]

Thank you for your replies. The UE 18+ series was actually my target CIEM as I read through 18+ 2nd gen reviews. Then came the mixed 3rd generation reviews, less polarized as the UE LIVE but still a spectrum of reactions from a raving take my money stance to it being oddly tuned and master of none (crinacle's impression being one of them). I recognize that each person has different expectations and preferences when it comes to headphone/IEM tuning, and the taste could differ from genre to genre as well. The intended purpose of this purchase is for on-the-go non-critical listening, with tracks mostly consisting of J-POP from 90s to modern era as well as western rock from David Bowie era. The following few points might sum up the characteristics that I'm looking for:

• A moderate amount bass emphasis wouldn't hurt given the mobile environment that these will be used in, but not at the level of Roxanne 2 with 100% bass.
• Realistic vocals, what some might describe as "organic".
• Decent sound stage. I'm happy with IE 800's level of perceived sound stage, but more wouldn't hurt. In contrast, I've listened to universal demos of most of JH audio's offerings a couple of years ago, and they all came off to me as lacking in this regard.
• Avoid Westone W60's level of lack of "spark", pardon the a lack of more specific description...

Although offerings from other brands might fit these characteristics, I might be able to get a moderate discount on this purchase, hence the heavy preference for UE. Given the listed characteristics, which CIEM among UERR, UE 18+ PRO and UE LIVE would you all recommend? Thank you very much!

The Headfonia review is apparently of the second gen:

"The version we have in for review actually is a V2 version and not a V3 version. The V2-version only existed for a very short time and the difference with the V3 version is that the latter offers even more headroom than the V2. Not that the V2 lacks in that area though, but more on that later."

 

[samuelnsh]

The Headfonia review is apparently of the second gen:

"The version we have in for review actually is a V2 version and not a V3 version. The V2-version only existed for a very short time and the difference with the V3 version is that the latter offers even more headroom than the V2. Not that the V2 lacks in that area though, but more on that later."

In this case, there don't seem to be a lot of positive opinion towards the V3 then... From your written impressions and your ranking list, I assume you'd actually recommend UERR over the other two? Or would your thoughts change given the list of characteristics given above?

 

[crinacle]

In this case, there don't seem to be a lot of positive opinion towards the V3 then... From your written impressions and your ranking list, I assume you'd actually recommend UERR over the other two? Or would your thoughts change given the list of characteristics given above?

Given your criteria I'd probably recommend the UE6. Perhaps a little lacking in the vocal department relative to the other models but the rest would fit your needs.

 

[twice tzuyu]

Thank you for your replies. The UE 18+ series was actually my target CIEM as I read through 18+ 2nd gen reviews. Then came the mixed 3rd generation reviews, less polarized as the UE LIVE but still a spectrum of reactions from a raving take my money stance to it being oddly tuned and master of none (crinacle's impression being one of them). I recognize that each person has different expectations and preferences when it comes to headphone/IEM tuning, and the taste could differ from genre to genre as well. The intended purpose of this purchase is for on-the-go non-critical listening, with tracks mostly consisting of J-POP from 90s to modern era as well as western rock from David Bowie era. The following few points might sum up the characteristics that I'm looking for:

• A moderate amount bass emphasis wouldn't hurt given the mobile environment that these will be used in, but not at the level of Roxanne 2 with 100% bass.
• Realistic vocals, what some might describe as "organic".
• Decent sound stage. I'm happy with IE 800's level of perceived sound stage, but more wouldn't hurt. In contrast, I've listened to universal demos of most of JH audio's offerings a couple of years ago, and they all came off to me as lacking in this regard.
• Avoid Westone W60's level of lack of "spark", pardon the a lack of more specific description...

Although offerings from other brands might fit these characteristics, I might be able to get a moderate discount on this purchase, hence the heavy preference for UE. Given the listed characteristics, which CIEM among UERR, UE 18+ PRO and UE LIVE would you all recommend? Thank you very much!

I have the UERRs and 18+ 3rd gen in the form of a custom and honestly they aren't too different than the 2nd gen. In fact I was pleasantly surprised that I prefer it over the 2nd gen when I received it. I agree with Crinacle that the Live was terrible and that you should consider the UE6 over it. Honestly the UE6 is definitely on par with the higher end models within UEs lineup.

 

[samuelnsh]

Given your criteria I'd probably recommend the UE6. Perhaps a little lacking in the vocal department relative to the other models but the rest would fit your needs.

I have the UERRs and 18+ 3rd gen in the form of a custom and honestly they aren't too different than the 2nd gen. In fact I was pleasantly surprised that I prefer it over the 2nd gen when I received it. I agree with Crinacle that the Live was terrible and that you should consider the UE6 over it. Honestly the UE6 is definitely on par with the higher end models within UEs lineup.

Thank you for both of your inputs! I've neglected the UE6 so far, it's a bit of a surprise that it's a hybrid design. I think I can safely cross UE LIVE off the list, read up more on the UE6 and weigh the options. Thank yo very much!

 

[Arkenar13]

My UE Live ciems are being delivered tomorrow so I will give my opinion in the near future.

I am by no means an audiophile and alot of my time will be spent with them on stage or at practice so I can hopefully give you an artists impression of them.

For non stage listening i will be using them with the ifi xdsd, and on stage I will be using an x32 rack mixer / Shure PSM wireless pack.

Will post initial impressions this week and follow up after i get some real use.

 

[Deezel177]

My UE Live ciems are being delivered tomorrow so I will give my opinion in the near future.

I am by no means an audiophile and alot of my time will be spent with them on stage or at practice so I can hopefully give you an artists impression of them.

For non stage listening i will be using them with the ifi xdsd, and on stage I will be using an x32 rack mixer / Shure PSM wireless pack.

Will post initial impressions this week and follow up after i get some real use.

I think you’ll really come to enjoy them for stage use. They’ve become my go-to drumming in-ears, because out of my entire collection, they deliver the best balance between hard-hitting energy and long-term comfort. They tell me when I’m hitting the snare and kick as hard as I should be, and I can play open hi-hats with zero fatigue or ringing. Even if I still never use them for music listening, they do deliver their promise of live energy especially when performing. Looking forward to your impressions soon!