The_Duke_Of_Eli
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2006
- Posts
- 2,113
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- 10
Before I get flamed through the kazoo, just remember that this is my own opinion and ears, and no one will hear exactly the same. I don't mind opposing arguments, but please don't flame me.
Quick listening experience:
I've gone through every low to midrange IEM available on the market. I was quite satisfied with the etymotic ER-4. I never really caught on to the E4, and the Super.fi 5 pro never really caught on for me because it laked the detail and punch that I loved in the etymotic ER-4.
Packaging
I hate blister packs. They're the worst invention ever. You hate to cut and ruin that nice packaging, and almost all of Shure's line (sole E5c and E500s) come in a blister pack. I beleive the super.fis do as well. The etymotic packaging is probably the best as it doubles as a holding centre. After tearing off the ceran-wrap like coating, it was interesting to find a door-like packaging alot like how computer games are sold. After pulling the velcro apart, low and behold there are the beauties. The packaging looks nice, and has modern art and people playing music and whatever. Opening up the plastic packaging pulls out a plastic tray almost that contains the bare essentials.
Contents
This is probably one of the weakest points of buying the UM2. You really feel kind of shafted at first. The only things in the packaging are the UM2s, a carrying case (much like the shure ones but without the spindle), and 4 sets of comply tips (1 already on the headphones) (2 long, 2 short), a wax removing loop and a small user's guide/booklet. On the other hand, the E4s from Shure include a 1/8" to 1/4" adapter, foamies, rubber, hard rubber, triflanges (I think) and a volume attenuator. Quite the nice little package. Even the etymotics come with multiple black foamies and a couple of pairs (2?) of triflanges. Now comply tips are arguably the most comfortable tips, but I'm not crazy about their level of isolation. Good thing that with my UM2s I got 2 sets of shure triflanges. So after trimming off most of the excess tube I was ready to rock and roll. I use the triflanges and the black etymotic foamies which are by far the best foamies. The Westone contents may seem to skimp, but who doesn't already have a family of adapters? More tips would be a welcome addition.
Design
The UM2s are probably the best designed IEMs I've ever tried (apart from custom ones of course). Insertion is dead easy. They're incredibly comforably designed to be perfectly inline with your ear canal, and they sit outside of your ear comfortably. The cable is a nice and strong black intertwined cable that is still thin but won't break. There is no "memory wire", so it's flimsy, but works remarkably well. The loop around the ear is very comfortable, and I've never had it pop off my ear before. The cord is also perfect length to reach a system in a pocket. It uses a right angle plug, but I like striaght angle ones, but I'll bite my tongue on that regard. Full marks here.
Microphonics
Full marks here. There are none. Zero. Unlike the etymotics which have terrible microphonics, the UM2s have none. The cord wraps perfectly around the head so there is no rubbing to cause noise.
Isolation/Comfort
Isolation is really a matter of tips. Complys are okay, foamies are pretty good, and I find the best are tri-flanges. All isolate from outside noise on par with any other IEM. They are very comfortable. I can wear these for hours on end with no air pressure or pressure on the ear canal from the tips. Full marks here.
The Sound
The UM2s are the best overall-sounding universal IEMs. I beielve that they benefit over anything single-drivered such as the ER4s, E4 or 5 pros. The UM2s really have the clarity of the ER4s, with the overall warmth and bass of the E4s and the kind of straight-fowardness of the 5 pros. The lows are very strong, almost too strong. And I have to take back what I said before about boomy or muddy bass. It is a tad messy, but still overall tight and really well-implemented. Vocals and the midrange are liquid smooth. They really show how the single-driver models can't give smooth vocals and good bass at the same time. Highs are very clean as well and pretty well defined.
If I had to describe how the UM2s sound I'd say that it's a very "live" experience. With recordings they feel more as if you were at a concert then listening to a CD. Live recordings sound even better. You feel with these that everything is perfectly in place and really bring music to life. These headphones are very picky about bit rates so don't mess with < 192 kbps. It's not worth it. But chances are people looking at this price point of IEMs aren't using 64 kbps .mp3 anyways. Apart from the slightly overpowering bass (which is easily controlled using Rockbox' EQ) I have no sound-related gripes about these IEMs. They suffer of the infamous "IEM syndrome" of a compressed soundstage, but that's found in all IEMs. You will never get the "airy" sound of an open, full-sized can.
Value (and rant)
These IEMs are expensive to say the least. For the same price of these IEMs you could get a 30gb Ipod. However, these are still incredible value. I've A-B'ed the UM2s with the E500s and honestly, the difference is ~5%. And that 5% was slightly in clarity and the rest was cleaning up the bass.
Note that the dual-driver UM2s are composed of 1 tweeter and 1 subwoofer. The E500s consist of 1 tweeter and 1 subwoofer, so you won't get better midrange or high-end response neciassarily, just better bass control. If you ask me the whole three-driver IEM is kind of a hoax. I would have really liked to have heard a re-make of the E5c to make it sound better, then release a 500$ IEM with another subwoofer. Sure sonically there will be improvements, but those improvements cannot justify the cost increase. In the race for supremacy in the IEM world everyone has to outdo the next guy and release what I think is an unecessary jump from 2 to 3 drivers. More is not always better. I'd strongly recommend giving the UM2s a test drive before plopping down an extra 200$ for E500s. There's no word yet on the more moderately-priced Triple.fis, but there's still a large gap in prices, that may or may not be justified. We'll just have to wait and see.
Quick listening experience:
I've gone through every low to midrange IEM available on the market. I was quite satisfied with the etymotic ER-4. I never really caught on to the E4, and the Super.fi 5 pro never really caught on for me because it laked the detail and punch that I loved in the etymotic ER-4.
Packaging
I hate blister packs. They're the worst invention ever. You hate to cut and ruin that nice packaging, and almost all of Shure's line (sole E5c and E500s) come in a blister pack. I beleive the super.fis do as well. The etymotic packaging is probably the best as it doubles as a holding centre. After tearing off the ceran-wrap like coating, it was interesting to find a door-like packaging alot like how computer games are sold. After pulling the velcro apart, low and behold there are the beauties. The packaging looks nice, and has modern art and people playing music and whatever. Opening up the plastic packaging pulls out a plastic tray almost that contains the bare essentials.
Contents
This is probably one of the weakest points of buying the UM2. You really feel kind of shafted at first. The only things in the packaging are the UM2s, a carrying case (much like the shure ones but without the spindle), and 4 sets of comply tips (1 already on the headphones) (2 long, 2 short), a wax removing loop and a small user's guide/booklet. On the other hand, the E4s from Shure include a 1/8" to 1/4" adapter, foamies, rubber, hard rubber, triflanges (I think) and a volume attenuator. Quite the nice little package. Even the etymotics come with multiple black foamies and a couple of pairs (2?) of triflanges. Now comply tips are arguably the most comfortable tips, but I'm not crazy about their level of isolation. Good thing that with my UM2s I got 2 sets of shure triflanges. So after trimming off most of the excess tube I was ready to rock and roll. I use the triflanges and the black etymotic foamies which are by far the best foamies. The Westone contents may seem to skimp, but who doesn't already have a family of adapters? More tips would be a welcome addition.
Design
The UM2s are probably the best designed IEMs I've ever tried (apart from custom ones of course). Insertion is dead easy. They're incredibly comforably designed to be perfectly inline with your ear canal, and they sit outside of your ear comfortably. The cable is a nice and strong black intertwined cable that is still thin but won't break. There is no "memory wire", so it's flimsy, but works remarkably well. The loop around the ear is very comfortable, and I've never had it pop off my ear before. The cord is also perfect length to reach a system in a pocket. It uses a right angle plug, but I like striaght angle ones, but I'll bite my tongue on that regard. Full marks here.
Microphonics
Full marks here. There are none. Zero. Unlike the etymotics which have terrible microphonics, the UM2s have none. The cord wraps perfectly around the head so there is no rubbing to cause noise.
Isolation/Comfort
Isolation is really a matter of tips. Complys are okay, foamies are pretty good, and I find the best are tri-flanges. All isolate from outside noise on par with any other IEM. They are very comfortable. I can wear these for hours on end with no air pressure or pressure on the ear canal from the tips. Full marks here.
The Sound
The UM2s are the best overall-sounding universal IEMs. I beielve that they benefit over anything single-drivered such as the ER4s, E4 or 5 pros. The UM2s really have the clarity of the ER4s, with the overall warmth and bass of the E4s and the kind of straight-fowardness of the 5 pros. The lows are very strong, almost too strong. And I have to take back what I said before about boomy or muddy bass. It is a tad messy, but still overall tight and really well-implemented. Vocals and the midrange are liquid smooth. They really show how the single-driver models can't give smooth vocals and good bass at the same time. Highs are very clean as well and pretty well defined.
If I had to describe how the UM2s sound I'd say that it's a very "live" experience. With recordings they feel more as if you were at a concert then listening to a CD. Live recordings sound even better. You feel with these that everything is perfectly in place and really bring music to life. These headphones are very picky about bit rates so don't mess with < 192 kbps. It's not worth it. But chances are people looking at this price point of IEMs aren't using 64 kbps .mp3 anyways. Apart from the slightly overpowering bass (which is easily controlled using Rockbox' EQ) I have no sound-related gripes about these IEMs. They suffer of the infamous "IEM syndrome" of a compressed soundstage, but that's found in all IEMs. You will never get the "airy" sound of an open, full-sized can.
Value (and rant)
These IEMs are expensive to say the least. For the same price of these IEMs you could get a 30gb Ipod. However, these are still incredible value. I've A-B'ed the UM2s with the E500s and honestly, the difference is ~5%. And that 5% was slightly in clarity and the rest was cleaning up the bass.
Note that the dual-driver UM2s are composed of 1 tweeter and 1 subwoofer. The E500s consist of 1 tweeter and 1 subwoofer, so you won't get better midrange or high-end response neciassarily, just better bass control. If you ask me the whole three-driver IEM is kind of a hoax. I would have really liked to have heard a re-make of the E5c to make it sound better, then release a 500$ IEM with another subwoofer. Sure sonically there will be improvements, but those improvements cannot justify the cost increase. In the race for supremacy in the IEM world everyone has to outdo the next guy and release what I think is an unecessary jump from 2 to 3 drivers. More is not always better. I'd strongly recommend giving the UM2s a test drive before plopping down an extra 200$ for E500s. There's no word yet on the more moderately-priced Triple.fis, but there's still a large gap in prices, that may or may not be justified. We'll just have to wait and see.
