artnoi
I’ve known about CIEMs back in 2011 from the MunkongGadGet.com forum. Because these are very expensive even back then, my 14 year old brain thought that this must be end-game for portable audio: to have multiple speakers shoved into your ears with customized acrylic shell.
Years passed and around 2018-2019 I stopped caring about audio gear after getting the Etymotic ER4SR. I stopped because the Etys provide everything I possibly need:
Within price range (budget = $1200)
Fits my relatively small concha and canal
Sounds flat
Very good isolation (-30dB+ with correct tips)
I like the Etys so much that, in fact, I now own 2 pairs of these. But I had not yet realized that my fixation with CIEMs had been burned into my brain secretly waiting to surface.
And it did. So I went out to demo JH Audio, UE, 64Audio, and in the end chose UERR+ because it was the flattest of the two. The other models I tried were either to V-shaped, or expensive, or cheap.
Order took 6 weeks.
Ordered Sep 7 in Bangkok, received Nov 7 in Bangkok. UE’s advertised standard lead time is 10 days.
Fit great
Note: UE instructed my dealer to make impression with “mouth closed” method. I did just that and the fit turned out to be great.
Minor cosmetic issues (scratch)
The pair I’ve received have some cosmetic issues on the right shell:
Weird scratches
The right shell has weird group of scratchs near the concha part. I assume this is from the shaping/contouring/sanding process when they worked the acrylic to get into shape.
The print is only partial
UE customs come with initials and SN engraved or printed onto the shell. My right shell has bad print (missing some paint, to the point of losing SN).
It looks like my unit did not go through the QC in the cosmetic department. Now I’m not sure if my unit was even binned and measured before leaving factory.
Very, very bad customer support.
They just don’t reply emails and direct me to talk to my Thai dealer instead They also missed deadlines and failed to notice any parties of the delay. They excused themselves saying they’re busy in the states as they’re moving production back to US, which I then asked them “aren’t customs US made anyway?” and got no response.
One pattern I recognized is they’ll reply if you show signs of frustration.
Let’s start with FR:
Nice, accurate bass.
The bass is good, though feels much more volumious than the ER4SR. It feels more immersive with better details.
I personally like the UERR+’s bass better compared to the good old Etys. This might be because the UERR+ drivers are not stressing themselves due to having 3 per channel.
Okay mids (a bit muffled/laid-back, lacking ear gain or pinna gain)
The mids is only “ok” because UE RR+ mids do really sound muffled. By muffled I mean quieter, not inaccurate. Combine this with accurate bass, and what you get is a warmer sound compared to ER4SR.
I opened up Crinacle measurements and found out that the UERR+ lacks the boost in the 1-5kHz region that must be there to compensate for the amplification effect of our ear. We call this ear gain or pinna gain.
If you put a totally flat speaker inside your ear canal, you’ll think it sounds muffled because your brain (you) is more accustomed to the normal pathway of sound:
source >> reflections (including our own ear) >> ear canal >> eardrum
where sound gets reflected around the listener and within the ear before finally hitting the eardrums
Etymotic knows this (they’re audiologists) and so they compensate for that. UE doesn’t, and now I have a very flat drivers directly inside of the canal.
The result is the muffled mids compared to pinna-corrected earphones, but otherwise the response is flat and the UE RR+ is still a good “monitor”.
However, people sometimes argue online about defining “neutral” sounding monitors. The audiophile camp seems to put more emphasis on the pinna gain, while the musicians/professionals prefer their monitors to lack the pinna gain compensation.
One of the most comprehensive, though not sure if bullshit, is this Reddit post
Nice highs. Not sure what to say here.
When I evaluate headphones, the only thing I care about the highs is whether is too piercing, or quiet. This one sounds alright, alright?
Having 3 drivers gives UE RR+ more headroom compared ER4SR (1BA). That is, I can crank the volume up and the drivers will still be producing low distortion output.
With low to inaudible distortion at high volume, you’ll get “better separation and imaging”. Not sure if placebo or less fatigue but I definitely enjoy loud chaotic rock music better with the UERR+.
I can listen to UE RR+ without fatigue for a lot longer than the ER4SR simply because its more laid-back in nature. I think UE might even have tuned it this way for the mixing engineers who’ll have to mix at the console for days on end.
Also, maybe the laid-back mids are to mimick how studio monitors speakers or consumer speakers sound? (I don’t know, I’m a programmer)
On paper the UERR+ provides -26dB of isolation. ER4SR on the other hand is rated to -30-40dB with the correct tips. And yes, the Etys feels are quieter when no sound is playing.
But once music plays in normal environments they are roughly equivalent in the noise isolation department.
UERR+ is a good custom monitor with acceptable reference performance. Like any other customs, it fits really well and provides great comfort.
Though I personally feel like the UERR+ is less “accurate” in the FR department, I still think it’s a great product for intended audience, i.e. the real audio engineers.
Soundwise, it’s a good fit for any listeners who wants uncolored sounds but find the Etys too dry.
The engineers might want some portable monitors that allow them to mix on the move for hours and hours, and be able to hear everything comfortably during that time, which with ER4SR would prove to be tiring/fatigued.