FEATURES

In Your Ear!
A Sound Editor Auditions Canalphones
by Michael Hertlein, MPSE

Having taken a critical look at over-the-ear headphones in the MAY-JUN issue of this publication, I'm now giving a listen to in-ear monitors (IEMs), or canalphones as they are also called. If you haven't heard of these yet, you probably will soon as more products try to ride the iPod wave. There's no sense spending $300-plus on a portable audio system just to listen to your music through headphones that probably cost about a dollar to manufacture. The IEMs I consider here are between $100 and $900 and of audiophile quality. While many companies make "earbud"-style headphones--like the ones that come with iPods--for about $20, you get what you pay for; perfectly functional but certainly not high quality.

IEMs can be divided into two main categories: custom fit and universal fit. The first requires a trip to an audiologist to get silicone impressions made of your ear. This is a short and painless process that will cost you somewhere around $50. Those impressions are then sent off to the company from which you're buying the custom IEMs, and they make headphones that fit perfectly into your ear--hopefully. I don't want to discourage anyone from going the custom fit route, but the fitting process can be a little tricky. You may find that when you receive your custom fit IEMs, the fit is not so perfect. (All the companies mentioned in this article allow for re-fits until they get them right.) The problem lies in the fact that your ear canal changes in size and shape depending on whether your mouth is opened or closed, and even if your head is angled up or down. Going to an Audiologist that is recommended by the custom monitor company is a good start, especially if they have experience making molds specifically for IEMs. All of the custom fit companies with which I dealt want an open-mouth impression, making sure the silicone is injected into your ear with your mouth remaining open until the silicone cures. This is when your ear canal is the largest. If you do a closed-mouth impression, you may find that just turning your head or opening your mouth while wearing the custom IEMs can "break the seal."

Speaking of which, in both custom and universal fit canalphones, the seal is everything. If the headphones aren't securely seated in your ear canal, the sound is drastically affected. These headphones thrive on seal to provide both isolation and the best possible sound quality. If you're not someone who likes having things like ear plugs in your ear, you may have a tough time getting used to wearing either custom or universal fit earphones. These things go in your ear, unlike earbuds that rest on your earlobe.

In-ear monitors are not only very portable—fitting neatly in your shirt pocket—they have surprisingly good sound for their size. Flying and riding on trains are a great place to hear the advantages. My thought is that they would be great for recording out in the field or on location, as well as editing in noisy environments. The noise reduction range on most of the headphones is 20 to 35 decibels. These are not active noise canceling--like those famous Bose headphones. What you may not know about active noise canceling cans is that they don't cancel equally across the frequency spectrum. The active noise canceling works better with higher frequencies and not as well with omni-directional low frequencies.

Noise reduction, or passive noise canceling, is what earplugs and IEMs do, which is much more equal across the frequency range. With this much reduction, you can listen at very low volumes and still hear amazing detail, even in the noisiest environments. Conversely, this means you'll also have a tough time hearing people talking to you while you're listening on the phones. You also need to be aware of what you're plugging into. Always make sure you turn down the volume of whatever you're plugging into before you put any of these headphones in your ears. All of the review models are very sensitive and don't require much volume to sound loud. Most models use balanced armature drivers, which derive from hearing aids. These drivers have been tweaked to produce much fuller sound than hearing aids but still have some limitations. The nature of balanced armatures is that they reproduce low frequencies pretty well but typically not as well as dynamic transducers. Dynamic transducers are more like what normal headphones use. The downside to this style is that while bass is much improved, the higher frequencies suffer. Also, dynamic transducer types need to be ported (a small hole made in them) for the bass to sound best. This lowers their noise reduction capabilities, which in some cases may not be a bad thing. Your initial impression of IEMs may be that they lack bass. But the more you listen to them, the better they'll sound. I believe there is a sort of "mental burn-in" required with IEMs before you really begin to appreciate their sound. Don't expect any of these to sound as "big" as a good set of full-sized headphones—just like you don't expect headphones to sound exactly like good full-sized speakers. But once you do become accustomed to the IEM sound signature, you'll begin to understand how great they can sound.

Universal Fit Models

Future Sonics EM3 ($99) www.futuresonics.com
Getting these headphones to stay in my ears was a bit of a problem. Future Sonics knows about the ergonomic criticisms of its EM3 model, but doesn't seem to be looking to improve it. Certain people may find they can't get the EM3s to stay in their ears because of the way they're designed. The cord from each ear hangs straight down instead of looping over the ear, which means they can easily be pulled out. Also, they only come with foam tips, which aren't very comfortable.

These are the only universal fit model I sampled that use a dynamic transducer. As expected, the bass was great but the upper ranges lacked detail. These would be good for listening to bass-heavy music, but not very good for jazz, classical or vocals. They look and feel pretty flimsy but might be a good investment if you're a basshead and listen to a lot of music through headphones.

Shure E3C ($175) www.shure.com
These are one of the mid-level Shure IEMs. As with all their models, the only difference between E3C and the E3 is the color. These Shures were the first ones I ever owned. They use a single-balanced armature design. The sound has good detail in the mid-range and into the upper frequencies, but is pretty lacking in the bass department. They are certainly a great improvement over stock earbuds, but don't expect to be blown away by the bass.

Like all universal fit models, these come with different sized tips that you can try to best fit your ears. The Shures come with both foam and rubber tips; I found the rubber more comfortable, but the foam had better noise reduction. The cord is designed to come up from behind your ear and over the top, which keeps the phones from being pulled down by the weight of the wires and also greatly reduces "microphonics" (sound being conducted by the wires through movement). The cables on these phones are thicker than any of the others, but overall they're still pretty light.

Etymotic ER4 ($330) www.etymotic.com
This is the flagship Etymotic model and comes in a few different flavors. The ER4P has a lower impedance and was designed to work with portable audio players. The ER4S has a higher impedance and works much better if being powered by a dedicated headphone amp. If you decide to get the ER4s, I recommend the 4P because you can always buy an adapter from Etymotic to turn them into a 4S, but you can't go the other way.

The ER4s have been around for over a decade and have a great reputation in the audiophile community. For a single-driver design, these sound amazing; arguably the best sound for a universal fit and better than some custom fit models with more drivers. These are not bass-heavy, but they aren't too bright either. The sound is controlled, detailed and refined--but never fatiguing. I've heard them described as "hyper-real"-sounding. If Etymotic could come up with a more ergonomic design and keep this sound, I would use these headphones frequently.

The design is its main drawback. These come with either foam or triple-flanged rubber tips, and both provide great isolation but can get uncomfortable after a while; you'll always know something is in your ear. Another problem is that they go straight into your ear without the cable wrapping around your ear. This makes them very susceptible to "microphonics," even with the included shirt clip. Also, they are not low-profile; they stick out from your ears.

Shure E4C ($299)
This is the newest single armature model from Shure, and it's a vast improvement over the E3C model. These have much more emphasis on the mids and upper frequencies, very similar to the Etymotics. Bass is tight and controlled but not boomy. It's basically a toss up between these and the Etymotics when it comes to detail.

The design is very similar to the E3C; both have thick-ish cables that wrap over the ear. I never found the supplied rubber tips to fit very well, but the foam ones work great and are comfortable. With the design advantages and the similarity in sound, I'd have to give these the advantage over the Etymotics.

Westone UM2 ($329) www.westone.com
This model has dual-balanced armature drivers, one to handle low frequencies and one to handle the highs. As you might imagine, this tends to improve sound. The overall sound of the UM2 was the best of the universals. An argument could be made for the Etymotics or Shure E4Cs for certain types of music, but the UM2s did bass much better and highs almost as well. I'm not sure if it's the bass getting in the way of the high end detail or if they just don't do the high end as well as the Etymotics and Shures, but these are still great sounding IEMs.

Fit-wise, the UM2 is the best universal design, being both comfortable and very low-profile. You could probably sleep with these in because they don't stick out from your ears. The only problems I have with these are the lack of color choices (clear only) and discoloration of the cable over time where it connects to the earpiece. It looks as though the wire inside the cable is oxidizing. There was no noticeable change in sound from this, but it looks a little weird. Westone knows about this, so changes may be made to address it.

The UM2s also came in the most durable packaging for the universals--a black pelican case that includes a reusable moisture-absorbing packet. Unfortunately, they don't provide a "daily use" carrying case and the pelican case is too big for quick uses.

Ultimate Ears Super.fi Pro ($249) www.ultimateears.com
The newest universal fit on the market is the Super.fi Pro, a dual-driver model that offers a detachable cable. (There's also a super.fi EB [extended bass] that has a dynamic driver for the lows and an armature for the highs, but it wasn't reviewed for this article.) This is also UE's first foray into the universal fit market.

I auditioned the Super.fi Pro and the bass response is great; I don't know why you'd need the EB version. The stems have two bores, one for each driver, which makes them much larger than all the others. These have arguably the best bass of the universals but the high end is a little veiled in places. The lows, mids and even the higher frequencies are very good but lacked a little presence in the vocal range for me. Still, I found these to be an engaging headphone for listening to rock music.

Like most of the universal fits, Super.fis come with several rubber tips for various ear sizes. None of the tips go very far into your ear canal, but they still provide a good seal and isolation, which also makes them comfortable to wear; it's easy to forget you're wearing them. However, they aren't low-profile enough; they stick out from your ears almost as much as the Etymotics.

Custom Fit Models

You've probably seen at least one of these custom IEMs and didn't know it. I see them most often on performers during the Grammy Awards or some other live music event. You may have thought they were wearing hearing aids. The growing trend for live performances is to have the musicians wear IEMs to hear the music, and themselves, instead of having to blast speakers aimed at them.

This achieves several things: it allows performers to hear at much safer levels, gives them increased mobility because the IEMs are hooked to wireless systems, and allows each musician to hear a custom-tailored mix. The drummer may want to hear more bass, the singer may want more of his vocals and so on. These advantages can also translate into other applications.

The first thing I noticed wearing any of these custom models is that you can hear even the most minute detail. I heard pops and clicks I never heard with regular, open headphones, so it isn't always about the headphone that has the most accurate frequency response. Full-sized headphones will have a fuller sound than IEMs simply because they can move much more air than these little things, just like a fullsized speaker can move more air than a headphone.

Challenger Pro 6500 ($750) http://store.yahoo.com/earplugstore/chpro65.html
This is an almost unknown company that I stumbled across in my initial searches. The design is very similar to the Westone ES3, but the phones don't sound nearly as good.

They have a dual driver, but not the bass or high detail of other dual-driver models. The sound is muddy and unrefined.

Sensaphonics 2X-S ($750) www.sensaphonics.com
I found these to be the most comfortable of the customs. Wearing these all day was the closest to not having anything in your ears. They are made entirely from soft silicon, which houses the dual drivers. The silicon softens as it warms to body temperature and just seems to conform best to your inner ear. The sound seems to follow as well, coming across as slightly warmer than the rest. Bass is very good and high-end detail is more than adequate.

An argument probably could be made that these IEMs don't have the best frequency response of the bunch, but I like the sound signature; they're very musical. While nothing soundwise stands out as the best with these headphones, nothing stands out as bad either, making them a very solid performer.

These phones are the most comfortable for long-term wearing, but they are also the hardest to insert. The soft silicone doesn't slide into my ear canal as well as the hard acrylic does. Sensaphonics claims that the thin teflon cable coming out of the headphones can hold a 50-pound weight. Even so, I like the idea of a detachable cable like the other companies offer. Sensaphonics does offer a "breakaway" cable that detaches at the point where the cables coming from the ears meet at a "Y." One thing I did like was that you could unplug from your source and keep the headphones in as earplugs. It does make the cable much heavier, however. Comfort and sound combined puts these at or near the top of the custom IEM list.

Westone ES3 ($800)
The ES3s are designed more for singers and guitar players and have an artificial hump in the mid-range frequencies. It is the only true three-way driver IEM available, one each for lows, mids and highs. Since I listen to mostly rock music, I like the boosted mids--especially if I was listening to something at low volume-- because it provides clarity. The bass response is very close to the UE-10s (see below), but isn't quite as detailed in the high frequencies. I didn't find the artificial hump to sound artificial; rather I found it to be refined and in control. For rock music, I liked these the best.

Westone claims that for listening to recorded music, the ES2s would be better. Since I liked the sound of the dualdriver universal fit Westone UM2, I'm pretty sure the dual driver custom fit ES2 would sound great as well.

The build quality is very good and, like the UM2s, these come in a pelican case. The shell of the headphones is hard acrylic, but the stem that goes into the canal is softer silicone. I liked the softer material for the ear canal because it seemed to melt into my ear as it warmed to body temperature. These come with a detachable cable, which is sold in different lengths.

Ultimate Ears UE-10 Pro ($900)
These are considered by some to be the cream of the crop. While also a triple-driver model like the ES3, it uses two drivers for the low frequencies and one for highs. UE claims on its website that this is "the most accurate custom personal monitor available." The frequency response is pretty flat and the high-end detail is great. Bass is very good as well, but not head-shaking, so if you're a basshead you may be left wanting more--as is the case with almost all of these IEMs.

The more I listened to these phones the more I liked them. When listening to music at low volumes, I sometimes felt like the vocal range was a little veiled, but that was in comparison to the ES3s, which have an artificial hump there. These definitely have the widest soundstage and best instrument separation of all the IEMs.

The shell is made completely of hard acrylic and feels very solid. The cable is detachable and comes in two different lengths. UE packages its custom monitors in an aluminum roadcase with the model and your name laser-etched into it. The one thing I didn't like about the case is that it only opens 90 degrees and so the top always wanted to close or tip over backwards. The pelican cases open 180 degrees.

Ultimate Ears Hybrid ($800)
These dual driver IEMs are unlike any others. UE has taken one dynamic transducer for the lows and one balanced armature for the highs. I liked these from the minute I listened to them and look forward to spending more time using them. The dynamic transducer requires a port so the isolation on these cans are only about 15 decibels. I found this to be more convenient because I can hear the phone ring and sometimes hear people knock on my door. The bass response is the best among all the IEMs and the high-end detail, while not as good as UE-10s or Etymotic ER4s, is still pretty good. These have the most open, airy sound of all the IEMs.

The build quality is just like the UE-10s and the phones come with the same carrying case. One observation about getting UE cables in colors other than clear is that they are covered in shrink-wrap, which makes them heavier. My UE10s are clear and the Hybrids are black--and noticeably heavier. The shrink-wrap is a little stickier and so the cable gets caught up more often.

Conclusion

None of these IEMs (except maybe the Hybrids) have any kind of openness to them. They cut you off from the rest of the world. As with most closed types of headphones, the sound may not seem as natural. Since these headphones don't move air in the same way as large headphones or speakers, there is a sort of "mental burn-in" to get used to the way they present sounds. For someone who has never listened to IEMs, I would suggest borrowing or auditioning some universal fit models before you spend too much money on a sound or fit that may not appeal to you. Don't expect these to sound exactly like your normal headphones.

You have to weigh all the factors before deciding if a $700plus custom IEM is for you. Luckily, most of the companies that make custom models have some universal fit models that can give you an idea of their sound signature. Also, be aware that there is a slight learning curve with both universal and custom in terms of insertion. They go further into your ear than you may think is appropriate, but once you've done it right a few times it won't seem so weird.

If I could only have one type of headphone to do everything—recording on location, editing, listening to music or movies while traveling--it would be custom IEMs. It's not a matter of being the best headphone made, but the most versatile headphone for the most situations. If you never listen to headphones outside of a quiet, comfortable room, you may not see the advantage of any of these headphones.

The comfort is great even wearing them all day long. The isolation and sound quality allow me to hear minute details that I'd never heard with other headphones--both in recorded music and while editing projects.

Some potential drawbacks are price, isolation and having to get a fitting (for custom fit models). I mention isolation as a problem because if your phone rings a lot or people knock on your door, you'll have trouble hearing those interruptions.

The convenience of portability and great isolation may be off-set for some people by having to put something into their ears. Although the comfort of customs is greatly improved over universals, if you're one of these people, there's nothing I can say that will change your mind.

Michael Hertlein, MPSE, is a dialogue, ADR and foley editor working in feature films. He can be reached at dialedit@yahoo.com.

[ return to top ]