Ultimate Ears Pro Reference Remastered UERR (demos/universals)

Wow, two different flavors here. The UERM really does have a lot of air. Is the UERR really warm or even dull sounding in comparison?

 

UERR or Jupiter?

 

These measurements confirm what we heard at the NY meet in February.

 

I have to disagree with this. I think it is because your using a universal version that isnt even being sold (the customs ones have a special 3 bore filter thingy in them) because those measurements do not correlate to what I'm hearing.


The UERR IMO, has one of the biggest soundstages i've ever heard in an IEM, the FR sounds very flat to me except for a tiny slight sparkle in the treble and a touch of elevated bass. Calling them the "audeze" sound for an IEM is not accurate. again... IMO.(the uerr has way more bass than the uerm, so this is something that contradicts with your measurements also)

 

Hmm, well I don't know then. Would be interested in seing a measured custom version if possible.

The main discrepancy for me is I don't get how the measured bass could be identical on both of them.

 

Most of the time when there are such subjective differences, the measurements will still look very similar, if not the same. For example I have the ADDIEMs and I still prefer the UERM bass although the UERM has audibly more distortion and slight rolloff. The Apple IEMs measure very flat in the bass with much lower distortion than the UERMs. AFAIK the CSDs in the bass look pretty much identical.
It could very well be that the differences in the bass are due to different frequency response in the mids or treble. I think that even differences in the treble can change bass perception (what Marv said).
The differences do sound like they would show up as differences on the CSDs, but most of the time they don't. It could even be that there are other factors to bass performance that aren't necessarily captured with our measurement methods, like how the small vibrations of the shell affect the ear canal, general IEM shell resonances, etc. I'm pretty sure that the shell material (and even the exact glue used to glue the drivers to the shell for CIEMs) changes the sound of IEMs a lot, but I don't have too much experience with that myself to be sure.

Overall I'm not too suprised that people are hearing differences in the bass even if the curves (in the bass) look nearly identical, simply because of the huge differences from the upper mids on. I also find it interesting to see that they changed the midrange tuning for the RR with less 2-3kHz and slightly more 1.5kHz. I always thought the midrange tone was the UERMs strongest point.

 

That makes a lot of sense actually, I noticed I always have the volume higher with my UERR then my UERM, likely because of the recessed high frequency, so by upping the volume your incidentally making the bass louder as well.

That being said I still enjoy my UERR more than my old n' trusty UERM, I find music is just more enjoyable. MOAR bass(precieved), MOAR treble extension(proof in your measurements). And they retain the biggest thing that I liked out the UERM, soundstage. I kind of look at this like the HD800 vs HD800s argument.

PS. You need a good amp for the UERR especially. They sounded like dildos out my ak380 (even with balanced, actually balanced kinda sounded worse then SE for some reason) likely do to the weak AK DAP amp section.

 

Super late to the party here but I'm surprised the measurements show no difference in the low bass. I hear the UERR as having significantly more bass extension vs UERM. Could be a universal vs custom thing with the seal etc... Tomorrow I'll grab my UERM from the office and bring them home to subjectively double check.

@SingSing Higher volume required with UERR is mostly due to the sensitivity difference.

BTW I use both on a regular basis now (UERM at work and UERR at home) and am really happy with both. They're kind of like Vanilla and Chocolate ice cream. They compliment each other perfectly; you can't go wrong. My only advice is that despite what the frequency response would lead you to believe I find that the UERR is less tolerant of poor quality sources then UERM which for me leads to listening fatigue. Hook it up to a great source though and it really shines.

 

I brought both home today. Trying to level match them is a pain but it appears I am wrong and the measurements are correct re: bass extension. I hear them as about the same.

I guess I perceive better extension with UERR due to the frequency response delta.

 

“Proprietary True Tone Drivers extend the frequency range and deliver a flat response to 18KHz.”
but the frequency range seems against the introduction on the official webpage?
very confused.