The debate rages on! The consideration of tech and its worth in price is something that has ruled the conversation of tech and diminishing returns. Let’s face it, IEMs are small little pieces of tech that create art and heaven inside the heads and minds of the users. For a great many people, about 98% of the population, the thought of buying something so small and something that won’t do anything different from what they are doing already with their AirPods, just doesn’t work for them. For them if they can hear the music, it’s good enough for them. For some others like bass heads, as long as it has big bass, this means it’s quality to them.
But for those of us that are Audiophiles, the sound quality levels, the ability to stand out in details, the ability to register sub bass frequencies in its purity form of decay and while having the most realistic Timbre is everything. The focus on the ability to bring forward Mids frequencies in layers and treble extension that help for the tonality and structure root that whole sound is dependent on is paramount. And when you can pull this off, those in the know, realize greatness. So those people are willing to pay for such an ability from a IEM.
That instrument sometimes has craftsmanship that far exceeds normal earphones and cheaper IEMs. Things like my U12T hand handcrafted. Its build is normally surrounded with materials more than just plastic. It also has a form uniqueness that exceeds the normal sharp or look of even similar priced IEM. They do this to stand out and also bring attention to why they should be considered for anyone’s next IEM.
Ironically, the iconic U12T is mine now with its $2000 price tag and although it’s my favorite IEM, the price tag of $2000 was not in the cards for me personally. I personally don’t believe that any sound instrument as small as a IEM should ever run $1000+. This includes the Odin’s, Fir M5’s, and any other ultra high cost IEM. Yes, the art and technology places on them and inside these deserves “a” nice price tag. I’m just not feeling the kilobuck direction at all.
Sure you can make a case that these IEM’s do things never heard of from an IEM especially for any earphone. But at the end of the day it’s just a device that you stick inside your ear to listen to music. Some give more details than others, some give more power than others, and some look and fit better than others. Those differences however, still won’t make up the dollars signs some have vs others.
I still could put back on my Monarch MK2 for the next three hours and forget about all the differences I had in my U12T over the Monarch’s. I only have better when I compare their sound because at the end of the day, these IEMs are some of the best ever made and it only comes down to needs and certain colorations or tonality and frequency focus that make the sound different even though the U12T is $1000 more than the Monarch’s MSRP. Finally, your ear is a miracle of adaptability.
It will get used to whatever you use and it will sound fantastic over time even if it’s not that way before. Or it can make what you hear everyday that is special and make it seem just normal because it’s leveling out and balancing what is strange into normalcy. So it is there why the answer to that question for me is, NO. No, I don’t believe any IEM is worth $1000’s of dollars unless the material (like diamonds or gold) is somehow adding to that price. Will I pay up to $900 for a supreme IEM like the U12T? Yes because that’s what I did of course!
But even that is still not something I would recommend others. In fact, if I had never found the $900 U12T and only had the Monarch mk2 at the $740 price tag I got it for, I would have been every bit just as content with that outcome even now as I know that the U12T is better. Why? Because at this level it’s not about missing something. It’s more about getting more of what you have, not correcting something that isn’t already good enough and that’s only if that’s something you even want based on the money you have to spend to get it. It’s not one of those things that places you in a position that you listen to what you have and say”man this is not what I had with my more expensive IEM after you already spent $1000 on your IEM currently. So if you already have the Monarch and love to tonality, timbre, and balance of the Mids and treble, etc, etc …understand you don’t need the U12T to make you feel amazing about your music. It is clearly and easily better but it won’t leave your brain crying for it if you needed to go back to the Monarch but at the same time neither will the Monarch if you did move on from it to the U12T. And it is there where things seem not the best worth it.
Tech-N-Things 