UE700: Revised

Ultimate Ears just announced a new series of products, including the revised UE700, named UE700R, which said to use an upgraded dual balanced armature transducer. However, judging from the spec, I really don't see much difference from the old UE700. Hopefully it did sound different in real life. Anyway, there are also the less interesting UE600/UE600v (which seems to be just the old Super.fi 5 with a new name), UE400/UE400v and UE300/UE300v (v is for volume control + mic).

Looking at the current UE line up of universal IEM, it really looks more like a consumer oriented brand, like that of Sony or Panasonic, instead of a pro-sumer brand that the old UE used to represent. It seems that is the direction Logitech want the UE brand to go, and I really feel sorry to see how the brand has fallen. It is the end of an era.

New Bottle, Old Wine: Etymotic ER4PT

I would love to tell you that Etymotic finally creates a new flagship IEM 19 years after the ER4 series was released - No, unfortunately not. As far as I can tell, this new Etymotic, called the ER4PT, comes with two more things that are not included in the original ER4P: an airline adapter and a certificate of channels matching test. Now I suppose the airline adapter could be what is adding the T (as in 'Travel') to the new name, or maybe it is the sudden important emphasis on 'Testing'? Well, for what I know Etymotic has been doing channels matching on the ER4 series for a long time now, so adding a certificate really doesn't make it better than it is. All in all, I am really just seeing a marketing decision rather than a real change in the ER4 series. Don't get me wrong though, I still love the ER4 series - with T or not.

[REVIEW] HifiMan RE262 – A Beautiful Voice

First, I’ll like to thanks Head-Direct for the review sample. Also I’ll like to point out that this particular RE262 is part of the HifiMan HM602 bundle so it is from an early production. The final product will be the same, but with better printing and logo on the box. The final retail price of RE262 will be around US$250.

Ceramic Sound: MEElectronics CC51

MEElectronics announced a new IEM to their lineup, called the CC51 with MSRP around US$80. The new IEM features a ceramic housing similar to the already-in-market Nakamichi NEP-XT1 (which is about $50 more expensive). The choice on such type of housing is said to reduce unwanted resonance, though to me they just look cool. 

Officially Official: Vsonic R07

Almost 3 years after announcement, Vsonic finally releases the R07 (also called GR07) to the market: silver cable, 50ohm impedance,  11mm dynamic transducer, bio-cellular diaphragm that has hundred of layers fused together and user adjustable nozzle angle. Official price? Around US$150.

High Style

The trend setting Atomic Floyd has another new iPhone supported (w/ mic) IEM model coming, called the miniDarts. Fairly expensive with an US$265 price tag, though yet to show up on the company's own website. Strange.

[Impression] Cube C30

I got the C30 last week to compare to Hippo Gumstick, though it is not the main reason why I want it in the first place. The idea is to get a small but powerful DAP to serve as my burn-in rig. As a standard procedure, I usually burn-in IEM for at least 50 hrs before review and want to use a decent, but small enough source for it. Gumstick actually meets my need perfectly, except I do use it regularly and I can’t use it when it is used for burn-in. So I thought I’ll get the C30 as well and compared it to the Gumstick where the lesser of the two will be used for burn-in while the other will be part of my portable rig.