I’d like to extend a very special thanks to Filipp Sklyarov for arranging review samples of the new versions of these two amazing IEMs at short notice for this project. Your passion for all things 64 Audio – and audio in general – is inspirational, and your continued support is much appreciated.
It gives me great pleasure to ‘revisit’ not one but two IEMs that, despite their age, have outlasted – and continue to outclass – countless wannabe newcomers.
I’m speaking, of course, about 64 Audio’s all-rounder masterpiece, U12t, and its older, flashier, and still currentco-flagship, U18t.
These two IEMs, along with a small handful of others, put 64 Audio on the map, so to speak, and so it’s fitting that we celebrate the company’s 15th anniversary with this, the first of our Living Legends review series.
But before we get there, I’d like to offer some context to the inspiration behind this idea. Bear with me, this could take a while, so jump to the next page if you just want the meat and potatoes without the garnish.
In the beginning
The audio gear hobby is a journey, and many of us have journeyed here with similarly humble intentions: wanting a ‘good’ set of IEMs (or headphones) to improve the quality and enjoyment of music.
For me, that journey started almost a decade ago, around the time that IEMs were beginning to make inroads into the higher end of the hobby, garnering the attention of hobbyists like myself who, until then, regarded them as second-class citizens to ‘serious’ headphones.
To shorten a long-winded story, it was thanks to my brother, a fellow journeyman, that I discovered what would become my first real IEM epiphany: 64 Audio’s U12t.
Retailing for $1,999 at launch – as it still does today – I was incredulous that an IEM would dare cost so much more than the headphones I was enamoured with, refusing to believe something so small could also sound so big.
I still vividly remember the first time I went over to my brother’s to try out this ‘crazy expensive’ toy, then picking my jaw up off the floor after a few minutes of listening to the Eagles Hotel California, which made me question everything I thought I knew about audio at that point.
I’ve enjoyed many such ‘wow’ moments with some impressive and, yes, even more expensive IEMs since then. But few can compare to that memory I have of the very first time I heard music through that unassuming silvery nub.
Biblical brothers
Fast forward to the present, and the self-same U12t is still one of my firm favourite IEMs. Despite the IEM world being almost unrecognisable today compared to what it was like back then, some things haven’t changed that much at all, and 64 Audio’s perfectly-tuned all-rounder is one of them.
Oddly enough, while I’d heard (and owned) several other 64 Audio IEMs over the years, including one or two that will likely feature in future Living Legends reviews, none have captured the imagination of audio enthusiasts the world over more than U12t – except for maybe its older, bigger and costlier brother, the $2,999 U18t.
For some or other reason, these two IEMs have often been held up as the Cain and Abel of the 64 Audio world. Depending on who you speak to, they’re either big fans of the one or the other, but somehow not both.
While that could well be just my own personal experience talking – having long been of the ‘opinion’ that the U12t was better suited to my taste in music and propensity for moar bass – the truth is I’d never actually heard a U18t for myself until a few short weeks ago.
To my surprise, not only was I hearing more bass – especially midbass – than I expected to hear, U18t was still pleasantly balanced, despite being brighter than its sibling, and so refined too. The familial ties were also very apparent; this was a spacious, uber-detailed sound that made me want to continue listening, regardless of what was playing.
Cue the Old El Paso meme: why not both!?
That was my exact sentiment when I had my most recent ‘wow’ moment, this time with U18t, realising once again that we don’t really know what we don’t know, until we know. And what I now know is that if I only owned these two IEMs and nothing else, I could ride happy into the sunset with the sounds of sweet music playing in my ears, and never look back. Except…
No DD, no dice
Here’s another twist in the tale. Those who know me, and specifically know of my proclivity for dynamic driver bass, may be wondering why I’m waxing lyrical about two IEMs with 60 BA drivers between them that together don’t push as much air into my ears as a single dynamic?
That’s a very good question, and one I could flippantly answer by pointing to the stash of dynamic driver IEMs I already own and love. But that would be lazy, and disingenuous.
I’m still of the view that, when it comes to reproducing bass notes, dynamic drivers are simply better at it. Heck, I sold my first U12t for that very reason – searching for the bass feel I felt it lacked, and didn’t even contemplate the U18t after that for the same reason.
Maybe I’ve just outgrown the constant need to prove one thing must always be better than another – which, as a sidenote – is part of the dark side of this hobby, and in my opinion, causes more problems than it solves. Instead, I find it liberating listening to music with these two storied performers, not because of what they lack, but because of what they don’t.
It’s this part of the deeper journey, finding out how to really enjoy what an IEM is presenting without the pretense of wanting it to always present music differently, that opens me up to exploring exactly what it is that makes these two IEMs the legends that they are today. And for me, that something is discovering just howrelevant they still remain.
Continue to new look, same feel…
