Review of the UM2 Dual Driver in-ear earphones with passive crossover built-in.

March 28, 2005

When I tried these a couple of weeks ago in a Trade Show in Orlando, FL, I told my wife we HAD to get these and let our customers know about them.

Then I saw the impressive list of artists that use the earphones manufactured by the UM2 makers. Check it out!

So today I got our first UM2 Dual Driver in-ear earphones. I have been testing the UM2 since I got them a couple of hours ago. I'm testing them with my iPod Shuffle (the iPods are in the cars -- will get them tomorrow). The Shuffle is driving this thing with perfection. Prince is playing some serious tunes on these dual driver high end babies right now.

Finally! The UM2 delivers great bass, great detail and very similar to the Shure E5c in appearance and performance. One of the differences is that because the UM2 derives from a newer project, the crossover is housed in the ear bud instead of outside like the Shure E5c. A couple of things the UM2 resolves much better than the E5c and they are related: the fit is better and I think it’s because they are slightly fatter (just a hair) and for my ears it provides a better fit. The other thing is that the CABLES are MUCH BETTER. My biggest complain with the E5c were the cables. On the Shure’s E5c they are thick and to make matters worse there’s a memory wire that goes around the ear. With the UM2 there are no memory wires and the cable is thinner falling gently behind the back of the ear. In that sense they work exactly like my favorite cables from before on the discontinued Shure E1. It provides a much better experience in my opinion since for me dealing with the E5c cables was always a hassle. The cables on the UM2 are thinner but not fragile like some of the ones seen on the Etymotic earphones. I did not experience any microphonics so far (noise that gets transmitted to the ear by the cables), a common problem with the Etymotic earphones. The transparent finish goes even better with the iPod than the white cables. Very cool looking. Best isolation so far and best comfort from the foam sleeves. Although these sleeves fit the Shure E3c and the E5c, the texture feels better on the skin, they are also softer and expand better than the Shure PA750.