Which headphones of Drop's currently available?
I have some rewards points to burn but there's no obviously good options on Drop right now for headphones Contenders Ultrasone - maybe? I don't own any Ultrasones, so curious. Looks like garbage travel headphone which could be useful also. Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. - Maybe? I have the DT 880 Good price point, really uncomfortable headphones but could be interesting to try the upgraded version. E-MU - strong contender but $400 is a bad price point for what it is. Which of the above would you choose and why? Nothing else on Drop is relevant to my interests, because Already own 6xx 820 800 s Ether cx Garbage / Consumer grade Meze 99 - garbage bass canons, hard pass No gaming headphones obviously Sennheiser wireless - no to wireless/bluetooth Hifiman - I have 2 of drop hifimans and they make really bad cheap shit on Drop, hard pass on HE-R7DX Aeon - I own the closed, Drop refuses to address #padgate so no reason to buy open Beyerdynamic 177x - wireless, nope Too similar 8x / 560s...
Mar 28, 2024
A very quick comparison with the UERM this morning (more to come — have to get to an appointment, so this is a little brief for now).
The mids of the UERM and Plus are definitely similar to my ears. I’d say the Plus even sounds a bit more clear in this area, however they do not have quite the level of refinement that the UERM has. In a sense the UERM sounds a bit smoother to me, while the Plus is a little bit rougher sounding, although I wouldn’t describe it as harsh at all. The biggest difference is in the sense of depth and layering: the UERM just sounds a bit more three dimensional and nuanced. The Plus is more intimate to my ears, with more of a “up close” kind of presentation. I actually prefer this for vocals, so it’s not necessarily a point against them.
In terms of highs, the Plus is slightly less fatiguing to me. Someone compared the highs to a properly driven Sennheiser HD650 (no veil), and I think that’s pretty spot on from what I’ve heard so far. No trace of sibilance with these, mercifully. At the same time these don’t have quite the same sense of air that some of the brighter IEMs have, but they still manage to sound extremely clear, and it’s this combination of clarity and lack of fatigue that I find quite addictive.
Bass. Yes, these things go low. On some tracks they rumble. Continuing with the theme of clarity however, the low end doesn’t swallow up the mids which I think is an important point to emphasize. These live up to the name: a UERM type frequency response PLUS satisfying sub bass. At this point I’m still trying to work out just how the low end compares to some other IEMs like the Shure SE846, specifically in terms of texture. It’s definitely not amorphous though; these don’t do the wub wub wub thing. Again, mercifully.
My gut (and what I’ve been hearing from others) tells me that fans of the UERM and Etymotic type of signatures will enjoy the Plus. Especially if you’ve ever found yourself liking that type of sound but wishing there was a bit more “meat” to it.
ALSO. I just wanted to clear up some confusion: these are made by Massdrop. They aren’t being made by the bucketload by a factory across the globe and being branded Massdrop. CEE TEE was telling me the story of how they came to be, and I could really sense the pride in his words. These are made by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. As corny as it sounds in this day and age, these are indeed a labor of love. This is a realization of a dream CEE TEE and others have had since the early days of the UERM. Which isn’t to say they didn’t have help. They consulted different companies, but interestingly enough none of these companies are in the personal audio industry. Go figure.
Edit: most of my listening is done with Sony Walkman DAPs, which I collect because I’m a weirdo. Out of the ZX2 they sound brilliant. But they also sound brilliant straight from my iPad. I’ve also tried them with a Leckerton amp, but I don’t feel they really needed it. These aren’t that picky from my experience.