Tag Archives: 232

Custom Art – Silverline Interconnect & PFE232 custom tips – An amazing experience!

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I recently bought Custom Art’s Silverline Interconnect for my portable rig and a set of custom moulded ear tips for my PFE232’s.
First, the cable:
I wanted a durable, flexible, good quality and good looking cable. Custom Art offered a cable like this for a very reasonable price of £21.
I went ahead and bought the 7cm interconnect, that has a straight jack on one end and an angled one on the other – it also is triple braided with a 5N silver cable.

I got the cable in, and ever since I have had it in my possession, I’ve loved every minute with it. It brings out the mids of the PFE232’s and doesn’t dampen the quality of the music, unlike with other cables I’ve tried in the past. More so, the cable is so tiny and extremely flexible that it works very well with my rig.

The cable was thus perfect and I hope it lasts very long for me.

Here are some pictures of the cable:

Unto the ear moulds:
The custom ear tips were extremely small in size, meaning they aren’t like full custom ear moulds. That said, with it being custom, it would block out more noise than your average ear tip. I thus went ahead and bought that for around £35. The price was extremely reasonable and very much affordable.
The quality of the finish of the ear tips is top-class, and really well done. The only negative thing I found on them, is that the hole on the end of the ear tip, meaning that the soundstage of the earphones was slightly reduced. That said, after speaking with the owner of Custom Art, Piotr, he said he could easily open the hole, in order to widen the soundstage a bit. He chose to put a small hole as it was how the PFE232’s drivers were, which is completely understandable, in order not to modify the sensational sound of the PFE232’s.

The ear tips, increased the sub-bass response and power of the mid-bass of the PFE232’s, but also due to an earphone tip that doesn’t alter the sound, unlike the Comply Foam tips, the mids were also a bit more up-front. As said above, the soundstage felt a little less open, but that could have easily been changed.
Overall the sound quality was an improvement, and the experience was great. However, for me the earphone tips weren’t comfortable for long periods of time. This has nothing to do with Custom Art, as I had the same discomfort with my 1964ears ear moulds. Thus meaning the earphone tip impressions were at fault, not the ear moulds themselves.
If I get around in making new ear impressions, I will send my tips back to Piotr, in order for them to be re-moulded (he was very kind in letting me do that).

Here are the pictures of the ear tips:

I hope this posts helps you out!
I would strongly suggest buying from Piotr, as not only was his products and craftsmanship excellent, but his customer service was absolutely phenomenal. A MUCH BETTER experience than dealing with other custom earphone companies out there, be it in the UK or in the USA.
Go check out his facebook page, for more pictures of his other works!
–TotallydubbedHD

1964-SLV Universal IEM Custom Sleeves for Phonak Audéo PFE 232

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Introduction

In summer 2012, I was visiting my family in California, USA for a month of sunny holidays.
Whilst I was out there, I thought to myself to get some custom sleeves done. I had previously, from the UK emailed 1964 Ears to see if they would do the PFE 232’s – The reason being, is because the PFE’s have a slightly larger nozzle than your standard earphones like the Shure Se535’s ones. Thus I couldn’t find a reputable custom earphone company within Europe that would do them. All of them that I called, emailed, either hadn’t heard of the PFE 232’s nor would do them. For example, I got in contact with ACS in the UK, and they said they were unavailable to do it; I’m sure there are other companies out there, that could have done it, but I wasn’t aware of them at the time.

1964-SLV Custom Sleeves - Good U.S. ear impressions & 1964 sleeves

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Review of the Phonak Audéo PFE 232 – The Best Universal Earphones I’ve Heard to Date

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Pros: Highs, Mids, Bass response for BA drivers, comfort, build quality
Cons: Sibilance, price, isolation, needs to be driven

Packaging & Accessories: 9/10
Build Quality: 10/10
Design & Look: 10/10
Microphonics (higher ratings means lower cable noise): 10/10
Isolation: 8/10
Comfort: 10/10
Audio Quality: 10/10
Value: 7/10
My final Rating: 9.5/10

Purchase Date: April 2012
Purchase Price: £400

First and foremost, I would like to send out a huge thanks (and hug?) to David, over at Phonak Audéo in sending out the PFE232’s to me, for review!

I would also like to point something out about the PFE232’s in relation to the P-Series tips – this was made aware to me by Comply:
“This tip series has a threaded core. While this core is fairly flexible and may stretch to accommodate the sound port of the PFE232 – there is a significant risk that attaching or disengaging a P-Series tip would damage the sound port. I highly discourage any customer from using the P-Series tip with this earphone. Any time you force a tip that is too small onto a sound port, you risk stressing that sound port in such a manner that could cause damage. We have heard of, and have experienced, cracking or breaking of sound ports in these situations (not speaking of Audeo specifically, but of forcing or attempting by force to put a tip onto, or remove a tip from a device that is not compatible with the Comply™Foam tip used in the attempt.)”
(Thus, please do not use the P-Series tips with your PFE232’s)

The Phonak Audéo PFE 232, also known as the PFE232’s are one of the best earphones I have heard to date. These earphones define for me the best universal fit earphones I have ever heard. That said, these do have some slight flaws, such as their sibilance, their isolation and most of all their price tag.
Apart from those few things, the PFE232’s I find are a class-leading earphone, whilst maintaining only 2 Balance Armature (BA) drivers in each ear piece.
Without further ado let’s get on with this review!

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