I have, for quite some time now, had terrible trouble finding an earbud that truly fits my weirdly small ear canals. In fact, I was imploring my colleagues for a solution to this problem just this week. So I’ll admit, my ears perked up when I caught wind of a forthcoming earbud from Ultimate Ears that claims to “mould to perfectly fit individual ears in less than a minute.”
I’ll admit that the process by which the true wireless buds, appropriately named the UE Fits, actually pull this off sounds pretty wild. Using a companion app, the earbuds use gel-filled tips with embedded LED lights to map the contours of your ears before hardening to the perfect shape — all in under a minute. Ultimate Ears claims this fitting system creates a comfortable fit “free of pressure, pain or irritation, even after extended use.”
The outside of the earbud, meanwhile, is a pill-shaped capsule of just over an inch in length that comes in a light grey, lilac, and a deep navy blue. Because of the way they fit, Ultimate Ears says they’re capable of blocking out ambient noise. On their own, they’ll provide up to eight hours of listening on a single charge, but they’ll last up to 20 hours with extra juice from their USB-C charging case. And the company says they’ll get a Bluetooth signal up to around 15.24 m.
They are sweat-proof and water-resistant, which is nice if you’re the kind of person who uses earbuds while working out (and their fit should in theory be ideal for this too). As for on-bud controls, you’ll be able to start and stop music as well as answer calls from the earbuds themselves. But Ultimate Ears says that its companion app does allow for button control customisation for things like voice assistant support and skipping tracks. The UE Fits are currently available for preorder and will ship later this fall.
Unfortunately, these custom buds don’t come super cheap: They retail for $US249 ($347), so they’re right on par with Apple’s AirPods Pro. But maybe — just maybe! — this will be the wireless solution to my longtime earbud woes. And hell, I’ll try anything at this point.
Editor’s Note: Stay tuned for more news about an Australian launch for the UE Fits.