I have been very impressed with the JH13 IEM. Acknowledged by all as the current king of in ear monitors, the JH13 is the first IEM that successfully challenge and beat a lot of full size headphones. Well, that the phenomenon is not unique to the JH13. When I heard Unique Melody’s top of the line customs, the Mage, I immediately ask myself: “In the future, will IEMs take over headphones for good?”
Unique Melody is a company based in China that manufacture custom molded IEMs, though they’re more known for fitting universal IEMs into custom shells. Both Unique Melody and Jerry Harvey Audio are fairly young companies, but Jerry Harvey managed to slingshot to universal acclaim, while Unique Melody still remains relatively unknown. Of course, Jerry Harvey was the founder of Ultimate Ears, and the guy has a more solid reputation than Unique Melody has. Added to the fact that the JH13 has been getting an abundance of superb reviews all around the world, no wonder Jerry Harvey has been the biggest name in personal audio in 2009. Despite being eclipsed by Jerry Harvey’s accomplishments, Unique Melody is certainly a company worth looking at, especially when they offer something as good as the Mage at such a bargain price.
I didn’t have high expectations for the Mage. Looking at the poorly taken pictures at the Unique Melody website, most people would have had the same impression. Upon arrival of the Mage, however, I was greatly surprised. The Mage have a top-notch build quality easily on par with Jerry Harvey’s creation. Though the JH13 still tops the number of driver count with 6 drivers per side, the Mage is sufficiently equipped with 4 drivers per side. Two drivers are for the low frequencies, then one for the midrange, and one for the highs. With a 21 Ohm impedance and a 114 dB/mw sensitivity, the Mage sounds great out of my Ipod Classic — a portable amplifier is very much optional.
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.