Just like with the JH13, it’s hard to find any fault with the Mage. It is a wonderfully balanced sounding IEM, and I don’t find it lacking in any one areas. That may be a short description, but it’s something very hard to pull off. The Mage is not tipped to any particular frequency range. The bass, the midrange, and the treble are present just as equally, and with good balance between the three. Aggressive highs, forward mids, or midbass humps are nowhere to be seen. If I have to be critical, I can say that the midrange is a little recessed, and the lower treble is a little forward from a total flat presentation. But they’re nowhere near what I would call a sucked-out mids, or an over agressive treble. The Bass is full bodied, has good extension, and it punches hard. Overall, it is a very musical IEM. It’s not tuned for the bass, not for the midrange, and not for the treble. It’s tuned for music.
So, what else is good about the UM Mage? Well, when I listened to the JH13, I find that the JH13 handled a lot of different genres well. What you find with full size headphones is that, they very rarely can play a lot of different genres well. Most headphones, even the high end models, sound great for a certain type of music, but not so with the other. This is another area where the UM Mage shines. It plays a lot of different genres very well: Rock, Classical, Alternative, Jazz, RnB, Electronica, just about any music you throw at it.
This is getting long, but I cannot stop here. What else is impressive about the Mage? Oh, the fact that it plays beautiful music out of a low-end source. You can stick the HD800 to a kickass amplifier, but you would still need to use a high end source to go with the system. Not so with the Mage. The Ipod Classic is far far from a high end source, and I don’t really use the best, all-silver, $200 LOD too, but I find the Ipod Classic > TTVJ Slim > UM Mage combo to be very good and very musical. The Mage is also fairly forgiving of bad recordings, definitely more forgiving than a lot of high end headphones. Finally, the Mage has a low low level of sibilance. If a recording has massive amount of sibilance, it’ll still come out a little on the Mage, but otherwise, you won’t have to worry about sibilance at all.
Jose
Hello,
Very good review, enjoyed it very much! You should correct on Page 5, paragraph 2, line 2-3, “Red for right side, and clear for the right side, just so I can get a good look of what’s inside.”. Also, I hope you get the HE-5 soon, I already have them and I am sure you will complement them a lot in the review, looking forward to reading it. I like the site very much too, keep up the good impressions.
Bests,
Jose Gz.
Mike
Thanks for the correction Jose!
We already got the HE5 and sold it. And we wrote a review on it too! 🙂
Hifiman HE-5 First Impression
Jose
Are you planning on getting the plastic HE5LE?
Jose
Sorry for that, you already replied in the other review.
Rushabh
Hey! Awesome review.
Will you be reviewing UM’s six driver custom, the Miracle?
Also, how exactly do you think the Mage stands upto the JH13Pro?
Mike
Hi Rushabh,
No plans to review the UM Miracle at the moment. There are so many customs these days, and it's hard to cover them all, especially as we also try to cover a lot of other things. 🙂
As for JHAudio to Unique Melody comparisons, I posted a little bit about that on this thread: http://www.headfonia.com/bbpress/topic.php?id=7
Cheers.
Stephen Guo
Thank you for reviewing our UM Mage.
If you are interested in reviewing other UM products, you can contact me.
Responding to your last page, UM has no more broken English!
We are the exclusive distributor of UM in North America:
http://www.custom-iem.com
UM makes great products that makes me think they deserve to publicize their products in good English to English speakers.
If you have any inquires, feel free to contact me at [email protected]
laon
Hi mike, how much the total cost for you to get this custom? including the fit and shipping.
Thanks. 🙂
laon
bump for my above comment, sorry, delete this if you need.
Azor Ruiz
Hi Mike,
any new of when you’ll review the new UMs? Namely the Merlin, and Miracle?
or even Merlin vs JH16 since both of them claim to have very good bass?
Anonymous
Hi Azor, haven’t made any plans for a UM review but I’ll consider it. Thanks.
Adam Nie
Hi, since the link below expired, can you please post some information about how the sound signature of jh and um differ? I’m quite interested in the jh13 and the mage lol.
Hahn
Hi Mike,
I just want to ask if the westone 4 can keep up with the Mage as i cant decide between the two of them. How’s the bass on both when it comes to quantity and which is better overall? Thanks mate 🙂
Seraphan
Hey there I am looking to upgrade from Triple Fi to a custom with budget of around US$600. I am going to use it straight out from the iphone 4. I am looking for something that is close to but better than triple fi. Do you think the mage will fit my criteria? Or should i just reshell my triple fi and add in 3 driver? Thanks.
Anonymous
Hi Seraphan,
The UM reshelled Triple.Fi with 3 additional drivers is one of the best custom IEMs I’ve tried, and I’d definitely recommend it even more than the Mage. It has a nice forward sound like the original TF10, but with better quality all around and a much smoother frequency response curve (especially in the midrange region).
Seraphan
Thanks a lot for your reply. Your comment seems to match some of my friends… How do you compare it with JH10x3, JH13 pro, Jh16?
Anonymous
Hi Seraphan,
The 6-drivers Triple.Fi refit is like the JH13 but less dark. Same forward sound, engaging and fun, just a little more sparkle on the treble.
So it would depend on your music and recording, as some people find the JH13 to be a bit too dark for them.
Seraphan
Wow seems like a winner… Thanks alot for your your info 🙂
Anonymous
It is a winner product — just no buzz on it.
Special_KARZ
Just had the weirdest idea… Is it ever possible to wire a TRRS plug and mic to the Mage? Thinking of using it as a basic (pause, play, back, forward, call/end) control for iPhone.