Review: 64 Audio U18t (with lots of comparisons including Andromeda, Ara, og Solaris and more)

That's fair. I feel like I get more bass from both Solaris and Andro although none of the three is "bassy" per se.

DD bass on IEMs doesn't have the same response as BA though, which might be a factor in the comparison. I'm also coming from using the CIEM version which - at a not particularly educated guess - has less bass than the UIEM with most rubber flanges.

 

For what it's worth, I do think that the OG Solaris and OG Andromeda are thicker sounding than the U18t, especially on the OG Andro, to the point where I found it overwhelming. Much less so the OG Solaris, where the midrange focus seems to be in the center midrange... sort of. Kind of a difficult IEM to put into words IMO.

DD bass is a weird one. In my experience, DD bass on similar FR to BA bass will typically have much better subbass extension, and a fair amount more impact, but it's obviously a case by case thing. I don't personally think it's enough to push the OG Solaris past the U18t in terms of perceived bass quantity, but that's just me.

Common knowledge would say that CIEMs would be bassier than their UIEM counterparts, but given the experiences I've had with 64 and their UIEM/CIEM unit discrepancies, who knows. I can't comment in the case of the A18t, since I haven't heard one.

 

People say that, but on...I think about 85% of my CIEMs I end up getting less bass quantity. More sub-bass? Yes, definitely, but I don't think I got more 200hz out of any of my CIEMs other than Fitear which does solid pours that really adds a major punch beyond the universals. That said, you can easily add far more than 4db of bass just by tip rolling, so it's a bit of a moot point.

Yeah, I also meant the OG on both. Haven't heard any of the new ones yet. I like the OG Solaris quite a lot. But the fit was difficult for me. A CIEM Solaris is something I'd happily pay for.

 

From personal experience, my A12t was a little bassier compared to the U12t. That's nothing at all compared to how much darker it was though, which is a story for another time.

On the other hand, I would say my CIEM Viento-B is a hair bassier than the universal, which is perfect because I find the universal a bit bass light, even on the B setting. I would say the more significant gain is in bass impact, not that it's too relevant because it's BA bass impact anyways.

 

@rhythmdevils I haven't disliked your posts because I don't dislike people for being factually wrong, only for being purposefully misleading. Now, if you think that I'm wrong about the IEM case design, do please enlighten me about why I'm wrong. You can easily find out by buying a fresh set of pills from 64's website and trying them out yourself, and see how long each of them lasts if you remember to immediately close the box every time you use the IEMs. Better, just buy one and leave it out in the open. You'd be surprised by how long the pill lasts.

Yes, you can buy a Pelican and chuck a few of the small bags in to protect your IEMs but if the manufactures makes a case that allows you to do that, to immediately see if the pill has been saturated with water, and also prevent it from banging around with the IEMs, wouldn't that be a pretty good idea?

I don't know about your style and preferences, but when I review something I try to understand what I'm working with first - that the APEX modules add/take away bass, that you can't extrapolate synergy of tips, that a fair shake of a piece of gear involves a variety of sources and genre of music and that generally, people aren't stupid and design decisions are the product of deliberation. If the desiccant pack truly is a stupid idea, why do Westone, Sensaphonics and others have similar carrying case designs?

Otherwise, you're just going off on your preconceived notions about the quality of the product. Being a contrarian doesn't mean that you're right. I'm not affiliated with 64 and I don't even like about half of the things they do. But I'll defend what I think are good ideas, the U18t included.

BTW, just to be super, super pedantic. A 1 ounce desiccant pack absorbs ~6 grams of water. Looking at the 64 one I'm guess that's about a quarter of an ounce of the absorbing material. 40% humidity is about 10 grams of water per cubic meter of air. That box is around 7-10 cubic inches. Each unit of air in the box contains about 0.001 grams of water. So even if you assume that it pulls all of the moisture from the air, that pack can dehumidify at least 200 units of the box's air. Of course the seal isn't perfect and you're exposing it to fresh air every time you open it, but it doesn't pull that quickly, usually you'll need about 20 minutes in the open before the indicator beads start going off.

So yes, you do get a few days of use per pack. Continuous exposure to moisture is death to BA drivers, and an electric dehumidifier is obviously a better long term option, but the pack isn't too bad at its job especially if you just need for maintenance after every live performance.

 

I will dislike posts for making headphones personal. I’m just going to ignore you moving forward. And no, I don’t think you’re the smartest person in the room.

It’s Christmas Eve man. Chill. There will be a time you feel very foolish about these posts.

 

I think that your review and follow-ups are personal enough.

Is "sorry I don't know what I'm talking about regarding dehumidification" so hard to say?

 

Oooh controversy. I've heard about this IEM but never seriously considered it due to the price. I agree about the look-- I find both 64 flagships (this one and the Fourte) to have butt-ugly colour schemes. I much prefer the look of the u12t, which is the definitive 64 Audio IEM according to most reviews I've read. I haven't heard it in some time but I preferred both Solaris and Andro to it when I had it. The thing about 64 cables is pretty galling-- I think they make them intentionally bad to compel people to seek some stupidly priced kilobuck after-market cable.

Agreed on all fronts, though I just got a Vision Ears tour kit in the mail yesterday and the Elysium has totally caught me off guard and is emerging as a new standard for me in terms of emotional engagement.

 

I got a reply from the eBay seller I bought these from. Turns out I’m (at least) the third owner. Here’s what he wrote.

“Hi, I bought them on Head-Fi from user mrgray (Stephen Gray) from Australia in mid-June. His ad has expired and was deleted on the Head-Fi server. I paid $2100. Based on what I know and how they sound, and how they compared with my Fourte and U12T, I doubt they are fakes. All three sounded close-- with a slight midrange elevation on the U18 compared to the others. But the U18 had the best imaging and detail of the three. There should be a serial number you can verify with 64 Audio.

I did a shootout between them here: and

They weren't my favorite, mostly because of the flatter midrange with perhaps even a slight bump, I prefer a little recession in the midrange, and these present the midrange more forward, at least to my ears. They compared very close to the U12T. A bit more detail, analytical by comparison. I preferred to give up a bit of that detail for musicality. “​

I found what definitely looks to be a serial number on the box here and emailed 64 Audio about helping me verify that they are legit. I probably won’t hear back immediately because it’s Christmas.



given his response and the serial number it’s looking like these are not fakes and aren’t duds either.

interestingly, the eBay seller wrote a second message sharing his impressions and they were more in line with the other 2 people in this thread. But I don’t trust eBay reviewers for shit I didn’t watch these videos I can’t stand the format. But I have some investigating to do.

I’m beginning to think that iem reviews are pretty useless given all the variables. I’ve heard 3 different pairs of Ara’s at 3 different times and they sounded different each time. Granted I heard them as I was figuring out how to wear iem’s so it could be fit but this third pair has me skeptical.

I’m going to take a little break and then listen with an ieMatch adapter and also with my iFI Nano just to have a separate system in the mix snd will post more impressions. Hopefully I can figure out what’s going on. I did go into this hoping for this iem to sound awesome. But at this point I stand by my comparisons snd my general impressions out of a zero output impedance source.

 

The previous owner saying that all 3 64 audio iem’s including this one sounded similar seems to point against this. But eBay reviewer so who knows.

 

Not trying to disrespect the ebay/youtube reviewer but I have seen his videos and he was talking about the Utopia having a wide large soundstage. I've watched his other videos and found his impressions and reviews to be different, sometimes the complete opposite of what I found with my testing of the gear.

I trust your opinions and reviews more than his.

 

I am trying to make sense off the whole discussion/comparisons but how would that -3/-4 solve the rest of the appointed "flaws" or "good aspects" (in your cause) ? Am i missing something?

Thanks

 

You do actually get a M15 and M20 for free with every purchase. I think the MX only comes for free with one of their IEMs, because it was released alongside it and tuned specifically for it. As for why it’s $99, I have no idea. Probably the same reason Utopia pads are $250.

 

I decided that if I was hearing the u18t wrong it was likely due to the tips not fitting correctly because of the super long nozzle, allowing the tips to slide down to far, and not only making the nozzle opening flush with the end of the tip but also filling the end of the tip so it couldn’t compress to seal into the ear canal meaning I could only use one eartip with them, the rest just didn’t fit.

You can see in this picture where I’ve flipped the tip inside out so you can see how it fits on the nozzle, the nozzle is protruding way out of the blue area which is where the nozzle is supposed to reside.



So I came up with the idea to make a spacer on the nozzle by cutting off the tube part of another tip (one that was too small for me so I didn’t waste tips) and sliding this down the nozzle. Then the actual eartip I wanted to use would hit this spacer and wouldn’t slide down as far. The spacer didn’t wind up being long enough, the nozzle was still longer than properly designed iem’s. But it was the best I could do. I also realized that spinfit tips were also long tips (I used Azla Sedna Earfit tips before because they are some of the longest tips). So I used Spinfit CP145 tips.



I also used an “ear buddy” 2ohm output impedance adapter for all iem’s tested this round and turned the EQ off.

I’m not sure this is still a fair test because CA iem’s loose resolution and dynamics with the ieMatch adapters. And I don’t know about the u18t it might be better suited for this adapter. Also I’ve modded the U18t to have a better nozzle design.

All 4 of these iem’s are very neutral with the impedance adapter. They all had about the same FR. The U18t has a gorgeous upper midrange full of detail. But it’s treble suffers from some BA timbre and it has terrible BA bass that is boosted from neutral and quite bloated.


Vs og Solaris

• About equally resolving. The U18t might have the slight upper hand in resolution in the upper midrange but the og Solaris beats it everywhere else
• Og Solaris has better tonality.
• U18t has terrible bass. It’s still very boosted and bloated even with my tip mod snd 2ohm output impedance adapter
• Og Solaris bass is tight snd controlled with the same output impedance adapter
• Og Solaris is more spacious sounding.
• Soundstage is similar enough with the lead going to the og Solaris
• I enjoyed listening to the og Solaris quite a bit more

Vs Andromeda 2020

• Andromeda is slightly more resolving especially in the lower midrange where the U18t starts to get bloated
• I did however hear more detail from the U18t on tracks with less lower midrange information so I believe the U18t may be more resolving in the upper midrange.
• Andromeda 2020 has much much better controlled bass
• Andromeda has much better treble tonality and FR. More neutral and extended. Beats the U18t by a wide margin
• Similar FR except for bass quantity - U18t has way moar
• Soundstage is similar

Vs Ara

• The Ara really shone with the impedance adapter.
• Equaled the U18t in upper midrange resolution and bests it at everything else except treble where they are about even, having different weaknesses which I’ve already explained in the previous comparison.
• Once again, the Ara has a unique smoothing effect in the tonality of other BA iem’s. Like noise reduction in photography. It maintains clarity but generally looses resolution. However it really improved with the adapter. I think the Ara needs high output impedance to shine.

No impedance adapter but with EQ AND U18t modded nozzle.

Surprisingly in this setup the U18t has good BA bass. Controlled, neutral and tight.

I’m going to keep this brief and subjective because I’m sick of this iem and all the controversy after putting so much energy into evaluating it before.

Vs Ara

• U18t is more resolving through the midrange

Vs og Solaris

• Og Solaris is better in every way

Vs Andromeda 2020

• Pretty similar but the win goes to the andromeda 2020. More resolving and much better treble

Conclusion

There’s absolutely no reason to spend the extra money on the weird U18t. No matter what your rig or setup, CA offers superior sounding iem’s that have a similar signature so should appeal to the same audience but the CA iem’s are designed and built better, don’t have design quirks that need mods to fix, are more attractive by far, are more comfortable, come with an infinitely better cable that is cheaper to replace, are more versatile with different upstream gear and don’t come with magical color changing moisture absorbing beads.

I do not recommend the U18t to anyone. See my comparisons and choose the CA iem that seems to best fit your needs.

• Ara if you detest BA timbre but want the speed and clarity and even, resonance free sound they offer.

• Andromeda 2020 if you like an ethereal stat like sound and prioritize treble quality over other things

• Og Solaris if you want something that combines the two above for a very well rounded iem or if your priorities are for best bass response while having a fairly neutral, even, resonance free sound.

Here’s a picture of what happens every time you pick up the U18t even if you coil it carefully. The Fisher-Price plastic cable really sticks to itself.

 

Very different. They really don't sound anything alike, though I do think your guess about it being a bit warmer and more V-shaped is about right.

I actually think SBAF people may like the U12t. It may be a bit too bassy for some, but it limits itself mostly to the subbass, and it's not bad bass (by BA standards, or any standards really) either. It's one of the best, if not the best full BA on the market, in my humble opinion. I really don't think the U18t compares in a lot of ways, not just in tuning but with technical stuff too.