[Cyclone]

what do you think the re-sale value on those are?

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyclone what do you think the re-sale value on those are?

Absolutely zero.. nadda, nothing.. not resellable, ever, period.

 

[gorman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyclone what do you think the re-sale value on those are?

As Lindrone pointed out, there's no way you can resell these.

They are custom made out of your inner and outer ear shape. And anybody expert in biometrics would tell you that your chances of finding somebody with a perfectly compatible ear shape are very, very close to zero.

I have to add, though, that I doubt you would ever want to resell them, given their quality. But this is a whole different story.

 

[joanna danna]

How freakin' absurd. Gorman your review was superb and I appreciate your time and effort in its formulation. Certainly it stands on it's own worth despite the initial bend over run over initiated by Plainsong. I don't know why nor am I asking, someone would initiate a frugal interjection to such a worthy post. I am new here but I thought that is what PM were for or at worst an OT threads.

No matter, like bad dandruff this does not shadow Gorman excellent review. I have been riding the fence on a repurchase of the Ety 4 P or the new to these ears UE10. I've become proactive to the perfect fit for my needs and this review only assist with it Thank you Gorman.
joanna

 

[gorman]

Joanna, if my review was helpful for you... well, then I'm happy. Thanks for letting me know. I appreciate it.

 

[QSilver]

Great review gorman.. the thread sure took a bizarre turn but that's allright since your awesome review was the first post.

 

[ZimbuTheMonkey]

NOTE TO SELF: Do not read reviews of 1000$ earphones. Be happy with the newly ordered E3s... be happy... be happy...

ARRRGH! SCREW IT!

ME WANTS UE10!

 

[ogewo]

Question: Why can't the electronics in IEMs be encased in their own protective covering that at some point can be removed from a custom molding? Seems silly that you can't separate $900 of earphone from $0.50 of plastic.

 

[benjamind]

Well, I guess it would make it a lot easier to steal, and seasoned theives would be on the lookout for the UE10s and UE5cs because they're expensive electronics. They'd then get custom molds done for themselves and shazaaam they've got their UE10s or UE5cs without having to pay for them.

As for 50c of plastic and $900 worth of electronics...hmmm, I'd say it's $5 of plastic and $100 worth of drivers, plus the costs of the cables and miscellanous essentials, probably not much, maybe $10 at the most. It seriously doesn't cost anywhere near $900 to build the earphone from the several components - 3 armature drivers, and cabling and solder. But it sure takes a lot of time.

Come to think of it, if you know exactly what you're doing, you can make your own Ultimate Ears. It would take a bit of work, but it's certainly very possible. But it would take good deal of time, speaking of which, is probably why Ultimate Ears cost so much to purchase.

It's the labour and time that costs so much - people have to earn a living somehow.

The custom moulded plastic piece probably costs about $5 to make, the balanced armature drivers probably cost $30-60 a piece. They must be assembled and placed into some sort of housing which is then obviously encapsulated in the custom mould plastic piece. This is a very difficult and tedious task to undertake. One must ensure that the canalphones are aligned and coordinated perfectly, otherwise one would be wasting their time. One must ensure that the cabling and other odds and ends are put together as precisely as humanly possible. That is very difficult and extremely time consuming.

Come to think of it, $900 sounds about right.

But it would be nice if users could replace the custom ear mould pieces. It may be possible in the future, but at the moment they are installed within the custom earpiece. It would be lovely if they had a universal model that would enable people to purchase the UE10 or UE5c but at a much lower price. That option is not there at the moment, probably because all their time is being devoted to custom mould canalphones.

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

Originally Posted by benjamind his is a very difficult and tedious task to undertake. One must ensure that the canalphones are aligned and coordinated perfectly, otherwise one would be wasting their time. One must ensure that the cabling and other odds and ends are put together as precisely as humanly possible.

And yet in some cases (cough cough, Sensaphonics) the tubes that carry the sound to your ears are so bent that they seem to pinch off...

I had sent my 2X-S back to Sensaphonics because of the bent tubes, and they said they tested them and replaced one of the earphones, so supposedly now they are at full spec. But if you ask me, some of the tubes still look kind of pinched. Don't know if/how much that is affecting the sound though...

So, to bring this post back to the thread topic, I'd say we shouldn't take the precision of IEM makers as being all that impressive (at least for Sensas).

 

[mavis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide And yet in some cases (cough cough, Sensaphonics) the tubes that carry the sound to your ears are so bent that they seem to pinch off... I had sent my 2X-S back to Sensaphonics because of the bent tubes, and they said they tested them and replaced one of the earphones, so supposedly now they are at full spec. But if you ask me, some of the tubes still look kind of pinched. Don't know if/how much that is affecting the sound though... So, to bring this post back to the thread topic, I'd say we shouldn't take the precision of IEM makers as being all that impressive (at least for Sensas).

Same thing happened with my Sensas. I'm going to send them back in a week or so, it's just HIGHLY frustrating that there is so little attention to detail with these $1150 IEMs ...

 

[gorman]

This still remains an UE-10 review thread, though.

To speak about Sensaphonics problems there is... a whole forum out there!

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide So, to bring this post back to the thread topic, I'd say we shouldn't take the precision of IEM makers as being all that impressive (at least for Sensas).

I think it's easy to say that due to your personal experience... but I think it has to be put in perspective in respect to how the process itself is actually achieved.

For Sensaphonics, it isn't simply a process of taking your ear impressions, making a mold out of it, and then pouring materials into the mold until it cures. They take a look at your impression, then make adjustments to the mold as to what information is needed, what isn't, what, by their experience makes a more comfortable fit if made a certain way. Basically they're still taking a blind guess on an approximation of what you will be happy with, your impression isn't 100% the same shape as what your IEM eventually will look like.

For example, your impression is not going to fortell the rigidity of your cartillage structure in which to hold the IEM securely in place at all time, how much should they extend the top flap to fit snugly in place? How much do they adjust the bottom extensions? All those things come by experience of the technician putting it together.

This is farther complicated by the soft silicone material that they use, which fills out your ear very snugly, ensuring the best seal possible and maintain comfort at the same time. The additional closeness of the IEM makes the slight amount of deviation even more apparent.

Furthermore, Sensaphonics is a one-piece construction, which means everything is formed and molded in a single process. This makes some of the internal driver placement and tube placement and such a bit harder, I would imagine. Also the driver housing, including the entire silicone mold, is smaller in size than the UE products. Which means they're trying to squeeze those two drivers into an even smaller space, to make them look as inconspicuous as possible. I suspect a combination of the two, probably later more so, is the reason why your tube was close to being pinched.

Of course, your earshape plays a lot into that as well, there's no guarantee that UE product wouldn't be equally pinched due to your ear shape. For example, I've never had any problem, whatsoever with my Sensaphonics nor UE's in terms of fit & comfort. My Sensa's sound tubes are literally straight from point A to point B.

In comparison to UE.. Ultimate Ears fit comfortably, but not "snugly"... They don't make their IEM as "closely fit" as the Sensas.. because they use a hard acrylic material, it simply wouldn't be comfortable to make it more snug. The manufacturing process is also a two-piece construction. They make a half-shell, drill out and place the drivers, and then form the other half-shell... glue them together and sand down 'til the merging plane is almost invisible (but if you look closely, you'll still find them).

This two-piece construction process with a hard material is much, much easier to achieve than a single-piece process with a flexible, soft material.

 

[Blitzula]

Lindrone lives! Taking a break from killing elves and such?

 

[plainsong]

I would also add two things, in defense of Sensa and UE both, and that's the kind of material the audiologist uses for the injection. There are different silicone compounds, and each behaves differently outside the ear. Some types expand a little bit over time, others contract a little, while others stay the same. The audiologist should write down what was used so that UE or Sensa can make a better guess from there, but they probably don't always.

Another thing, more in defense of Sensa I guess, was something Sugarfried said in another thread about pinched tubes. He said these things can go at a very severe angle, so that they might look pinched but aren't. He has plenty of experience with this stuff, but it fell on deaf ears.