UE DROPS are custom molded wireless earbuds for $449
How well a pair of wireless earbuds fit and how effectively they can transport music into your ears are significant aspects of how they sound. That's why most ear bud producers include a few different silicone ear tips, since everyone's ears are different. However, the new UE Drop buds from Ultimate Ears are guaranteed to fit every user exactly because they're molded from the ears.
Custom-designed ear inserts for headphones are nothing new, but the businesses that create them primarily cater to professional musicians who need to wear an ear monitor on stage while still keeping it in place. Anyone may get custom in-ear monitors from Ultimate Ears, but they cost more than $2,000. That's a tough sell if you're not going to perform in front of a stadium full of people paying to see you.
Ultimate Ears launched its UE Fits several years ago, which allowed users to obtain custom-fitting earbud tips in a simple at-home procedure that took about 60 seconds. Users inserted the headphones into their ears and then used an app to activate "Lightforming LEDs," which heated each earbud's "Photopolymer Gel Tip" until it was soft enough to conform to the shape of the ear. The end results weren't as perfect a fit as truly customized in-ear monitors will provide, but for $169, they were miles better than squishy silicone or memory foam alternatives.
The Ultimate Ears UE Drops are a hybrid product that is meant to bridge the gap between the ease of use of the UE Fits and the precise fit and finish of its professional in-ear monitors. Users are still spared from having to go to an audiologist, but after ordering a pair of the UE Drops, they're given a FitKit. The FitKit, which comes with instructions for making one's own custom ear impressions, may be used with the help of a guided app. When completed, the FitKit is sent to Ultimate Ears, who after around two to four weeks delivers the final pair of UE Drops with the personalized ear tips that should offer a great, secure, and very comfortable fit—if not, you have 30 days to notify Ultimate Ears.
The UE Drops is a wireless portable speaker that offers nine hours of playback time on a single charge and features 9.2-millimeter drivers, up to eight hours of playtime with the matching charging case adding an extra 14 hours away from a power source, and a mobile app for making EQ adjustments. The UE Drops don't have active cancellation; in fact, they don't even include a pair of silicone tips. When compared to wireless earbuds that just use silicone tips, the passive noise blocking on the UE Drops should be considerably better, yet given that you can get excellent ANC performance from a $99 set of wireless earbuds, it makes the UE Drops' $449 price seem even more extreme when compared with opting for a professional set of in-ear monitors.
Source: gizmodo.com
