Features
PEARS UT-125 is very flexible. There’s a special 6.3mm to 3.5mm cable to connect your source to the device. The best thing about it is that you can hook up any device to it. All you need is a 3.5mm output. A DAC/Amp, a DAP or an amplifier, it just doesn’t matter. Anything with a 3.5mm output should work.
The benefit of this feature is basically that, you can use your own Digital Audio Player or portable DAC/Amp. If you’re going to use your IEM from a DAP for example, you can bring your DAP to their dealer or lab, and you can customize your sound with your own source. This is great since you can customize the sound with your own particular setup.
If you want to test the IEM with your smartphone it’s also fine, since the UT-125 has an active mode. The switch behind the device acts as passive/active switcher. If a customer wants to open a song from their phone, the device would be switched to the active mode to use its own HiFi amplifier circuit developed by PEARS. Since the smartphones aren’t HiFi devices, this solution serves as a nice assistant to hear the IEM in better detail.
PEARS UT-125
Yet, we audiophiles often use our good quality DAPs or DAC/Amps. The device can be set to the passive mode for this, so you can use your device’s own output without interference to setup your sound. Pretty awesome.
User Experience
The UT-125 is very simple and easy to get it to work. In my case, I didn’t even ask Stephane anything about how to use it. It’s very easy to understand and very straightforward. Plug the 3.5mm jack to your source, plug the opposite 6.3mm jack to the device. That’s it. You don’t have to do anything else for that matter.
The active mode is operational only when you plug the micro USB charging cable. Otherwise there’s no difference when you flick the active/passive switch. Plugging in the special demo IEM is quite easy as well. Once you get the rotation of the special plug to the correct position (which is indicated by a red dot), you’re all fine.
Once the music is on, it’s so much fun to play around with the tuning knobs. They work sharply and the build quality is really good. The clicks are very clean and precise, and it’s easy to hear the sound difference. The only thing that’s bad is it’s a little hard to settle with just one setup. You want to play around all the time. But at the end, you need to choose one configuration only.
PEARS UT-125
My only recommendation or criticism here is the step count. There are 5 steps in each knob with around 3dB difference between steps. But if you need to have a pinpoint tuning, that’s not enough to me. I think there can be more steps to tune the IEM a little more precisely. Sure, that can make things more complicated and the process would take even more time, but in the end the customer will have a pinpoint accuracy in terms of their desired sound.
Yet, I of course don’t have the knowledge whether it’s possible to create more than 5 steps, in terms of electronic engineering and etc. But this device would be even more awesome with a little more precise setup.
Conclusion
PEARS UT-125 is an awesome device to tune your PEARS IEM particularly to your liking upon purchase. These guys from Switzerland don’t have fancy words, fancy colors or fancy prices. They keep it simple with their IEMs with a small number of drivers, and they kept it simple with this device as well.
The important thing for PEARS is purpose. With the UT-125, they offer a great option for the end user to select a customized sound with their own source. From that perspective, this device is spot on with its simple and flexible usage. I hope PEARS will grow as a brand eventually and have more distributors across Europe, so people can have access to their great IEMs, with their own sound tuning.
PEARS UT-125
The PEARS SH-2 IEM will also be featured here in the future, so keep an eye out to follow the latest developments of this brand.
