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March 28, 2005
Ultimate Ears
Earphones / Adventure Electronics

By Jeremy Spencer

(Courtesy Ultimate Ears)

Imagine being able to fill a pool up with the liquefied sound of a favorite album—say Miles Davis's mind-expanding masterwork Bitches Brew—and then dive in. Sound fun? Lemme tell you: It is. Audiophiles and hi-fi fanatics everywhere are giddily engaging in a similar sort of sensory augmentation via a pair of revolutionary new custom earphones called Ultimate Ears. The base model—but, trust me, more than adequate—UE-5c ($550, www.ultimateears.com) is tuned specifically to optimize the sound of mastered music and has a low-frequency and high-frequency speaker in each ear, delivering an unbelievable salience of sound—not to mention the full spectrum of a recording. You might as well have your head stuck in an amp.

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Think of something you know by heart, then think again. Most likely, you haven't heard the half of it. (For bigger spenders there's the $900 top-of-the-line UE-10 Pro.) Here's the deal: After a quick visit to an audiologist (included in the price), silicone casts of your inner ears will be on their way to becoming a new pair of nonpareil earphones that fit you and you alone. Turnaround time is about a week, and when you screw these rugged yet comfortable little numbers into your head, you'll finally hear your tunes as the musicians and sound engineers intended. Total immersion, indeed.

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