UE Pro Reference Remastered (UERR/UERM v2)

I am aware of the Sound Guard, @CEE TEE. But its primary purpose is hearing protection via a hard limiter. It's impedance matching feature will not be an issue with professional quality beltpacks.

This article from FOH online discusses this.

The key point here is that only certain monitoring systems don't handle IEMs well. I can attest to this as a monitor engineer. Some artists bring in gear that shouldn't be considered pro quality, maybe pro-sumer at best. They bought something cheap to do the job. These are the types of systems where impedance matching of the UE Sound Guard will help.

I can say, having heard these cheap systems with IEMs and the iPhone with IEMs, that the iPhone is head and shoulders above for sound quality and impedance matching is not a concern when driving IEMs from the phone.

 

Even when driving UERR/UERMs? I have a hard time believing that something with an output impedance of ~3ohms can sound good with the UERR/UERM. My 1.6m cable adds another 1.5ohms (I believe), which makes it even worse.
The UERM itself (without the cable) has an impedance that varies from about 11ohm to 80ohm. (Assuming that Rin's measurements were done with the stock cable)

I think that it would be good if the whole system before the drivers/crossover (amp output impedance + cable) has an impedance of less than 2ohms. Still not 10:1 but good enough I assume.

 

As impedance concerns are such an issue among home-fi enthusiasts, and an almost negligible issue among professionals, I will quote an informative article from Sound on Sound magazine. I can only quote a few paragraphs to adhere to fair use guidelines, so read the whole article for more in-depth info including some of what I have said in earlier posts.

In the world of headphones, output impedance is not too low and cable lengths are nowhere near long enough to have any capacitance issues.

This restates my earlier point. While voltage gain (volume) is limited from the iPhone compared to IEM beltpack receivers, frequency response is unaffected and there is sufficient gain to drive the UERRs to a very loud volume.

 

I really have to question the accuracy of Rin-Choi's results, @Serious. I do not know his testing rig but he admits this is his first attempt at measuring IEMs. Without an IEC 60318-4 compliant coupler you will have measurement issues right away.

My skepticism is also high as Rin-Choi measures an impedance of 21 ohms at 1 kHz for the UERR. The manufacturer specified impedance is 35 ohms at 1 kHz. That is a 40% difference; which is significant, to say the least.

This wide discrepency makes me wonder if UE are fudging the numbers or there is problems with Rin-Choi's measurements. While the first scenario is not unheard of, the second scenario is much more likely. But having seen the graphs you linked, I decided to investigate UE's other pro IEM specs.

The UERR is the only current custom IEM model targeting engineers. While it can be used by musicians, the rest of the pro lineup has frequency response curves often tailored not to be flat but with particular frequency emphasis in mind.

The UE 5 Pro is their only dual-armatured IEM. It is the entry level offering. There is no stated frequency colouration. Impedance is specified as 21 ohms at 1 kHz.

The UE 7 Pro is a triple-armatured IEM geared for guitarists, keyboardists, and vocalists with a midrange emphasis suitable to their instruments. Impedance is specified as 17.5 ohms at 1 kHz.

The UE 11 Pro is a quad-armatured IEM geared for drummers, bass players, and DJs with a bass emphasis. Impedance is specified as 18 ohms at 1 kHz.

The UE 18 Pro is a six-armatured IEM which claims to be their best sounding stage IEM and does not have a specified frequency colouration. Impedance is specified as 21 ohms at 1 kHz.

These stats lead me to believe that UE is accurate with its UERR impedance values. The IEMs designed for frequency emphasis have the lowest impedance, increasing the likelihood of impedance problems affecting frequency response. These lower impedances mean the IEMs can be driven to much louder levels compared to the UERR.

The stats on the non-frequency coloured IEMs are higher at 21 ohms. This could be to further avoid frequency problems due to impedance mismatching. They will be less loud than the lower impedance IEMs but louder than the UERR. This is likely a design trade-off. Stage volume is louder than the volume in monitor world where the engineer is.

The UERR doesn't need to be as loud and UE wants it to be the most accurate IEM. Keeping the impedance ratio above the ideal 10 : 1 target seems the reason the impedance is 35 ohms instead of 21 ohms.

As a result of these considerations, I am more inclined to think the impedance discrepancy of 40% is caused by problems in Rin-Choi's equipment and methodology.

 

I really appreciate that we have discussions on SBAF not only on measurements to inform what our ears are hearing, but also on the limitations of those measurements.

 

Rin-Choi's measurement shows 3X ohms @1kHz, look at the graph. As to why he wrote 21ohms, I don't know.

The difference on @Serious 's post together with the impedance curve can explain this. It just easy voltage divider.

With 2V output and peak impedance [email protected], 51Ohms@20Hz, and 12Ohms@8kHz; If output impedance is 3.3 ohm@every frequency, UERM will get [email protected], 1.88V@20Hz, and 1.57V@8kHz instead of 2V everywhere.
This translates into [email protected], -0.54dB@20Hz, and -2.1dB@8kHz.

I agree that the measurements may not be absolutely accurate but you should get the idea how impedance curve interacts with output impedance.
It may be more than 10:1 @some points and less than that @others.

*This calculation ignores impedance phase and the fact that output impedance magnitude may not be uniform.
Edit: Please pardon my English and remove "OI increases@HF".

 

I think his coupler is IEC 60318-4 compilant. See these:

• Introducing my 60318-4 occluded ear simulator
• Evaluating the accuracy of my new simulator

The UERM FR does measure like this against the DF target. This is why I prefer folks like @purrin who use their ears for making target curves, instead of "science" (see Changstar/SBAF IEM measurements). Yes, to my ears the DF target doesn't sound neutral (at least with the IEMs that I have tried).

Also: He said that this was his first attempt at measuring CIEMs, not IEMs.

EDIT:

You must mean 460Hz instead of 4.6kHz, but otherwise YES, this is exactly what I've been looking for.

I also agree that my measurements might not have been totally accurate, the difference might actually be smaller or the difference in impedance might have been larger than 3ohms.


______

Reading posts from 2012 I see the 21ohm impedance @1kHz being mentioned a lot. I would assume that there was an error on their website or something like that. I think Rin always used the manufacturer's specifications for these images, so this seems to make sense.

 

I'm really considering getting a pair of these. I am just worried that I won't like them. Sadly where I live there is no place I could test out a universal pair. Going customs is always a risk since there is basically no reselling if they aren't for you.

I'm really tempted though, I've heard of people having build quality problems with UE though? Can anyone attest to this?

 

I have had three pairs of UE monitors, build quality and fit have always been perfect. They are fairly utilitarian. The angled cables are very comfortable though.

Buying unheard is always a risk. If you want monitors that wow and excite you, don't buy UERR. They are reference IEMs that seem pretty unremarkable. In time you appreciate their subtle and nuanced qualities.

CIEMs can generally be reshelled but UERR has a proprietary all-in-one triple bore nozzle/driver housing that seems to be integrated into the shell which would probably preclude this.

UE4 is a great entry point to UE monitors. Similar presentation to the original UERM with a little less resolution and more bass emphasis. They are one of the few things I have bought in audio that seem underpriced (apart from occasional jazz vinyls from a local charity shop). If I had my time again I would have bought UE4, plugged them into my iphone, subscribed to tidal/qobuz and walked off into the sunset a happy man...

That said, after throwing a lot of money at 'reference' headphones, UERR are my end game.

 

Yes, I agree,
I would never buy CIEMs blind.
I was 98% sure that UERMs were for me and still waited for over half a year to get a chance to listen to them (In hindsight, there is a UE dealer very close to where I live).

For what it's worth, when I first heard the UERMs I was completely blown away by their correct midrange timbre (and resolution and imaging precision in an IEM). I guess this depends on the person but for me an uneven frequency response (or bass emphasis) is the most annoying thing in a headphone/earphone.

When I compared them (which was brief and a looong time ago) I didn't find the UE4 to be bassier. Maybe I'm wrong. I'm guessing @CEE TEE can chime in.

 

'Bass emphasis' is probably overstated. I should have said the bass is 'less articulate' with more 'bloom'. It could also be the fact that I listen to UE4 exclusively out of an iphone, whereas UERR is amped...

I agree with you regarding uneven frequency response. I rarely keep headphones that 'wow' me on first listen as I always seem to grow tired of them.

 

Anyone familiar with the UE18 hear the UERR? Thoughts? I really like my 18 for most of the music I listen to, but find myself hankering for a more natural sound while keeping some added bass.

 

They're super different. You might try hearing a Noble Django as the N6 was warm and slighly bassy but not the full stage monitor sound of the ue18. So, it's a transitionary step between the 18 and uerr, kinda.

Just my take based on memory, your farts may smell different, etc.

 

Nice, thanks. I should be able to make it to the spring NY meet so think I'll have a chance to try them all out then.

 

My loved Etymotic hf-3's are breaking down and I'm in market for iem's. I was wondering that if I spend 1100€uros in UERR will it be worth the money in sound wise. I like the soundstage of Ety's and the accuracy. What will the UERR bring to the table? At least the custom fit is huge plus but what about the sound?

 

I'm really tempted to grab a pair though part of me feels like I should just settle for a UERM. Are the differences really that significant? I will be owning this with an SE846 on the side for bass.

 

Did anyone end up trying their UERM / UERR with a balanced cable out of the Ragnarok? I've mostly been using my UERM out of my iPhone and Rag single-ended (using the 'buffer' with the Rag), both of which I think have about 3 ohms output impedance. On a whim I ended up trying the UERM with a Chord Mojo the other day and it seemed to sound a lot airier and more detailed. I wouldn’t have thought the Mojo should do a better job with the UERM than a Rag / Yggdrasil setup (although I might be wrong) so I’m wondering if the output impedance might be the difference. Or maybe I should just buy a Mojo and be done with it…

 

I use my UERR from the balanced out of Ragnarok. I have the UE balanced cable, an adapter from Norne audio and a 4pin XLR M to 4pin XLR F extension cable which I got from eBay.

Here are the links for the parts:
http://pro.ultimateears.com/products/custom-accessories/cases-cables/balanced-48-black-cable
http://www.norneaudio.com/litzheim/...Kern-ak240-ak380-ak120-ak-240-380-120-adapter
(link for cable not available, bummer... ebay store seems to be empty for the time being)

It sounds excellent. A clear step up from the SE + pigtail. Part of it is balanced out > SE on Ragnarok and part of it is the removal of the impedance gizmo.

I also got a UE line drive which really improves the sound quality of UERR/UERM with any amp that does not provide a near zero output impedance. Highly recommended for use with iPhones and laptops etc...



Edit: Added photo

 

I felt like adding the impedance gizmo with my GO450/Leckerton (which has near zero OI) was worse than resorting to digital volume control on the GO450 (but I never did any real comparisions).

Is the line drive an advanced impedance gizmo? It is an active device, so not really comparable. What was it like with a low OI source?