The Logitech-owned Ultimate Ears is ready to bring its in-ear monitor (IEM) technology to another pair of wireless earbuds. Available now at a shockingly high price tag, each pair of Ultimate Ears Drops are custom-molded for their owner just like a pair of professional IEMs.
This is Ultimate Ears’ second attempt at IEM-inspired earbuds. Previously, the company launched UE Fits, which automatically molded to a wearer’s ears using bright LEDs and light-sensitive plastic. The whole process was like fitting a mouthguard, minus the glass of warm water.
With the new UE Drops, Ultimate Ears is taking a more traditional route to custom earwear. The company will send each customer a FixKit with ear-scanning technology and two automatically-molding eartips. The customer ships this stuff back to Ultimate Ears, which then manufactures a bespoke set of UE Drops earbuds.
While this process sounds convoluted, it should produce high-quality results. Ultimate Ears takes these same steps when fitting CSX IEMs. Most notably, your pair of UE Drops will come with a high-quality set of eartips, instead of the awkward self-molding tips that the UE Fits are stuck with.
Along with all the molding technology, the UE Drops feature 9.2mm dynamic drivers, a 22-hour playtime (with the charging case), smart assistant compatibility, and a Transparency mode to let you hear your surroundings. There’s also water and dust resistance, though Ultimate Ears doesn’t boast an IPX rating, so take that with a grain of salt.
The only thing that’s seriously missing here is ANC. But to be fair, custom-molded IEMs block out a ton of external sound because they fit so snugly in the wearer’s ears. UE Drops should offer the same passive noise isolation—hopefully, at least.
Ultimate Ears Drops are available now for anyone who’s got $450 to burn. Unfortunately, the custom-molding process takes a lot of time. Customers can expect to wait between two and four weeks before they receive their earbuds.
