Got 'em!
My initial impression is that these are the best of the bunch of iems I've heard.
My first CIEMs were UE10s, purchased nearly nine years ago, in early 2007. They were quite good, but really suffered when not driven with quality gear. Which meant that for most of my listening, they sounded good, but not that great.
Last year, I picked up a pair of Sennheiser ie800s. I think that these iems sound incredible, but can be hit or miss depending on what source I'm using, and then there is the fact that that they are not custom molded. I've wanted to pick up a pair of 'snug fit' tips, but haven't pursued that yet, and may not, now that I've heard the UERR. I did use super glue with the ie800 tips, to correct the issue I had with the tips getting stuck deep in my ear canal, where I had to suppress the urge to panic, and calmly remove said tips with tweezers(What, seriously?). As is, they don't stay in that well when I'm active, and the isolation they provide is not nearly as good as a good CIEM.
This past summer I bit the bullet and ordered a set of Noble K10s, and while they have grown on me, I was disappointed upon my first listen. Steven Rochlin wrote about internal crossovers and wiring with multi armature driver iems benefiting from 'burn in', which may explain why I observed certain 'shouty' elements of the sound 'disappearing' over time, though even the designer and owner of the Noble brand dismisses burn in as utter fallacy. For him, and the innumerable others of the same persuasion (burn in apostates) it's equally likely that deathly secretive ninjas broke into my iem monitors and swapped out components to have achieved the observed smoothening, for certain offending artifacts. Not to mention the eerie specter that is 'brain burn in'. Though this does not satisfy, as the aforementioned 'shouty artifacts' were clearly observed on numerous instances with my favorite music, and are no longer present. Perhaps this is an element of 'ear burn in', where actual physical components of my ear drum have been assaulted and 'smoothed over', through direct confrontation with multi balanced armature drivers? Of course I jest. The explanation is not as important as the end result: satisfying sound.
And to be fair, I really have come to appreciate the K10s, and they so far have had the best fit of any I've tried. So strange is this hobby...brain burn in, indeed.
Upon the realization that the K10s were not ultimately the sound I wanted to settle on, I decided to
go big, rather than left wanting in some way with my $1600 purchase, and fired off orders for a set of custom Angies, and UERMs.
Now, to keep things from being too straightforward and pat, more curveballs were to ensue. I had gotten lucky with my choice of audiologist for my K10's. I live in a rural area, where it's a two hour drive to where I go for impressions, and I just happened to pick a place where the technician actually
owns a pair of CIEMs, and he knew how to make a really good set of impressions. No argument against 'open mouth' (they will try to talk you out of this, I've experienced) and nice and deep.
Well, I set up the appointment, drive all the way there, come to find out they are out of the material to make impressions, and I get sent to another laboratory across town. Short story is sub par impressions, Angies and UERMs don't seat deeply, send them back for refit, cost and bother of extra 4 hour round trip for new set of impressions, wait for new monitors...PITA!
The upshot is that UE said that they'd need to build an entirely new set of monitors, and they'd be happy for this re-fit set to be the updated UERR! No extra cost, free overnight shipping, and this was all technically past the 30 day window for a re-fit. The best customer service, just incredible.
I'll also add that they will supply you with impression molds, which they generate from the impressions which they store digitally (they provided these for me free of charge, in my case for the purpose of sending with my Angies for a fit adjustment).
I only got to spend a few days with the UERMs, so I didn't get to know them in great detail, but I did like them. I was looking for a clear window, open, detailed sound and they worked. My initial impression is that I like these better. I'm waiting for the rebuilt Angies, so I'll look forward to those coming back, but these are what I was looking for. They sound great. [Edit:] The original set (that didn't seat deeply, not remastered version) were shipped back as well. Let's call this a surprise x-mas gift. Or a victory for the poor individuals who spend way too much for audio gear than their budget should allow for, and get a little surprise in a good way. Let's just say I'll be in a good position to compare the two
.
I'm listening to them out of my Sony ZX-2, and the sound is what I've been craving; CLEAR, open, holographic, detailed and 'alive'. They can reach fairly deep, as well. I was just now listening to Daniel Lanois' Belladonna, and there is some serious rumble down low with these. They sound great out of my ibasso DX90 as well.
I've enjoyed the ZX-2, but I've been left wanting, to the point where I've been planning on picking up a different source. I mean I've put enough into different iems...I was looking at the Questyle QP1-r, L&P pro, Fiio X7, having come quite close, but couldn't settle on one over the other, as I carefully combed through posts, at times contradictory, in an attempt to pick the right one, with the Questyle mostly coming out on top.
I did end up purchasing a MOJO, which just shipped yesterday, and I'll see where that gets me. I'll be curious to see if it provides a clear improvement over the ZX-2 on it's own. But what I'm hearing from varying sources (wife's nano, dx90, zx2, headroom micro stack) tells me that this is what I've been missing. I can't help but be excited for the MOJOs arrival, but I can say that I'm not left wanting from my source, when listening to the UERRs.
This was what my gut was telling me all along, to just go with the UERM, but it needed to be the 'remastered' version, which was not available at the time of my purchase. So I can't complain about the way this whole venture went, as I would not have ended up with these in any case. I'm just out thousands of $'s, whatever. I work for an hourly wage, what do I care?
The best I've heard.
