Headphone Reviews

There are ordinary, universal-fit in-ear headphones and then there are those that are custom-molded to your ear canals to ensure a perfect fit. Customs are built to order and usually require a trip to an audiologist to have impressions taken of your ear canals. The skill of the audiologist or technician taking the impressions plays a role in the final fit, but when done right, custom in-ears do a better job than universal-fit models of isolating outside sound, allowing you to enjoy music at lower volumes when listening in noisy environments. Here are a couple examples.

1964 Ears V6-Stage ($699)
Handcrafted by 1964 Ears technicians in their Portland, Oregon, facility, these ’phones can rock out—but with acoustic music, they sound sweet and lovely. The V6-Stage digs deep into the more subtle elements of a recording, so you’ll hear stuff like the singers’ breaths and the instruments’ textures. 1964ears.com

JH Audio JH-13 ($1,099)
The resolution, upper treble detailing, and “air” in the JH-13, from in-ear pioneer Jerry Harvey, are among the best I’ve heard from in-ear ’phones. The sound is less “in your ear” and remarkably spacious. And the JH-13 nails a drum kit’s dynamic attack and punch like no other in-ear I’ve tested. jhaudio.com