In-ear-monitors realization

A

aparker2005

Senior Member
Amazing to me how these cheap CCA/KZ iems are destroying my custom Ultimate Ears dual drivers. I'm pretty sure we've had this conversation here before, but it's been a while.

I've noticed at shows and listening to music, I'm cranking the bass for drums and not getting much on my customs.

KZ/CCA single drivers even, absolutely destroy these for drums and even just normal listening to music.

The fit of course on the Ultimate Ears is completely fit to my ear, but my CCA Ca16s are nearly a perfect fit as well.

Just almost makes me mad I spent so much on the customs and they truly aren't as good sounding as the universals. If the universals go out, I can buy quite a few pair to replace before ever recovering the cost of the customs.

I say all this to really consider the universal before going with customs unless you can get some really high end ones
 
aparker2005 said:
The fit of course on the Ultimate Ears is completely fit to my ear, but my CCA Ca16s are nearly a perfect fit as well.
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If they aren't a perfect fit you'll be cranking the volume to mask out your acoustic drums. If other buyers have an even less perfect fit they'll be cranking it more. The key to IEMs is that they fit absolutely perfectly - to save your ears.
 
Chris Whitten said:
If they aren't a perfect fit you'll be cranking the volume to mask out your acoustic drums. If other buyers have an even less perfect fit they'll be cranking it more. The key to IEMs is that they fit absolutely perfectly - to save your ears.
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Oh my customs fit perfectly, and so do these particular universals. It's the only universal that has fit just as good as my customs just about. I'm more so talking about the sound. The MUCH cheaper universals plainly sound better than these expensive customs as much as I hate to admit that.
 
I agree. The CCA and KZ do sound much better than the Ultimate Ears. The advantage to the UE's are the custom fit. Not so much for the isolation, but rather the comfort and ease of cleaning (different material).

Unless you're trying to completely isolate your drums from your mix, there is no need for total sound isolation (which you're not going to achieve regardless). So, having to "crank the volume" if the foam tips don't fit perfectly is a bit of an exaggeration. In order to provide protection from hearing loss, they only have to reduce the dBs below the threshold of causing damage, which is easily obtainable without custom molds. Just make sure to use the best fitting tips for a proper fitment.
 
i run the KZ 6 driver IEMs for both everyday use and for onstage use, and TBH im debating whether i actually need custom IEMs at all. as for 6 driver/armature im looking over £1000 for custom jobbies, whereas im paying just over £50 for the KZ ones.
 
The bass response just isn't there in my Ultimate Ears duals even vs my $19 CCA/KZ single driver iems. It's pretty incredible to compare directly
 
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