Recording - March 2017 - 62

Ultimate Ears
UE 4 Pro
Review by Mike Metlay
In our December 2016 issue, I reviewed the Ultimate Ears UE
Pro Reference Remastered, an in-ear monitor whose detail and
clarity makes it a suitable choice as a portable reference listening
source. Combined with a great D/A converter, those in-ears make
it possible to have a listening experience that's accurate, reliable,
and easily available in any listening environment... even amid the
noise and distraction of a live recording at a venue. They might
not replace a good pair of studio headphones, and it's not a good
idea to rely on any headphone completely as an alternative to
studio monitor speakers, but they do offer fantastic sound that
you'll never have to live without, no matter where you go.
Not long after that review began, I spoke with the folks at Ultimate
Ears Pro about the one place where the UE Pro Reference Remastered
worried me as a recommendation: its price. People who are used
to custom in-ear monitors understand that $999 is by no means an
outrageous price for a quality product, but to the recording or gigging
musician who's new to the field, it's a daunting figure. Ultimate Ears
Pro suggested a followup review of a much more affordable in-ear
monitor, the UE 4 Pro, and I was quick to agree.
The UE 4 Pro differs from its more costly sibling by having
significantly simplified internals. Both are dual-bore designs, with
the lows separated from the mids and highs before they're delivered
to the eardrum. However, rather than having three balanced
armature drivers for lows, mids, and highs, with the mids and
highs in a dual-concentric bore, the UE 4 Pro has only two drivers,
with the lows and mids delivered by a single driver through its own
bore. This allows for a huge cost savings.
The UE 4 Pro comes in a classy machined aluminum waterproof
storage case (personalized with your name engraved into the lid,
no less), with a cleaning tool but no 1/4" adaptor. Like the UE
Pro Reference Remastered, it is available with five different cable
choices: 48" or 64" braided cables in silver/clear or black, or a
black 48" cable with a built-in volume/play remote, microphone,
and TRRS minijack for use with Apple devices. For my listening
sessions, I tried it with the Apple-friendly cable and the 64" and
heard no difference between the two.
The UE 4 Pro is a custom in-ear. You'll need to have your ears
examined and molds made of your ear canals by an audiologist.

Samson

QH4 Headphone Amp
Review by Mike Metlay
62

RECORDING MARCH 2017

$399; pro.ultimateears.com
Those are then sent to Ultimate Ears Pro after you go online and
choose a custom color/finish for your in-ears, as well as the cable
you'd like supplied with them. Ultimate Ears Pro turns around orders relatively quickly, and it won't be long before you're admiring
your initials in blue (left) and red (right) on the insides of the inears themselves, and putting them on.
Is there a difference in sound between the UE 4 Pro and the
UE Pro Reference Remastered? Yes, there is. I would classify it as
merely "exceptional" vs. "Oh my gosh". There isn't quite as much
definition and extension in the very high frequencies; you might
notice the difference if you routinely work with audio at 88.2, 96,
or 192 kHz sample rate. However, in my experience, the overall
listening experience on the UE 4 Pro is still wonderfully clear and
rich, with accurate details easily discerned at all frequencies, and
without a direct A/B comparison with a higher-end in-ear it's
unlikely that you'll perceive any noticeable reduction in quality.
Speaking of A/B comparisons, they're very hard to do with
headphones. The human brain can only retain fine details of a
listening experience for a few seconds, and the act of swapping
headphones takes too long for those details to be accurately
remembered and compared. With in-ears, you can listen in mono
to the same signal sent to one ear of each model and make
qualitative comparisons-as long as your ears' frequency sensitivities
match one another very well. I compared the UE Pro Reference
Remastered and the UE 4 Pro with high-resolution audio playing
(switching models in each ear several times) in order to arrive
at these comparisons. They're not quantitative, but I feel I can
communicate them to you with confidence.
Bottom line? The UE 4 Pro is still a bit more expensive than many
professional headphones, and there are universal-fit in-ears out
there that match its quality for the same or less money... but there's
nothing quite like a custom in-ear for comfort, sound isolation, and
consistent performance under all conditions. If you've ever wondered
what it would be like to have a set of monitors customized to your
ears and 100% reliable no matter where you are, Ultimate Ears
Pro has placed that dream well within reach.-MM

Maybe you're sharing your home studio with a friend for the
first time and the two of you want to work late without monitor
speakers disturbing everyone in the house. Maybe you're tracking
a band and you want to give them a click track or guide track
while they play. Maybe you're working with a small group in a
live situation and you want to share a zero-latency cue mix rather

http://pro.ultimateears.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - March 2017