At the time this review was written, the Vibro Veritas IEM measuring device was on sale at Vibro Labs. Here is a link to their listing of the product:
http://vibrolabs.com/products/veritas
What is Vibro Labs?
When I first caught wind of the Veritas, it was being sold at a discounted introductory price. Being someone who does reviews I couldn’t help it jump on it, knowing it would be awesome to have the ability to produce graphs for whatever in-ear monitor I am reviewing.
I sent an email to Vibro Labs because I had questions on what the Veritas is, and whether or not it was difficult to get the Veritas installed and working (knowing that I’m not super technologically or computer savvy). Luke (the man behind the product) was very quick to respond. After chatting for some time, I was able to find out more about the simple operation of the Veritas as well as a bit about Luke and the Vibro company. Just like many people I talk to who have a passion for audio, our conversations about products and designs went beyond just the product I will be covering today. Stay tuned, from what I hear Vibro Labs has some great projects in the making.
Luke is a true American and free spirited guy. Talking to him, I can tell he’s most definitely an inventor and creator by nature. We have discussed things like “If I designed a end game earphone what features would it have?” or “what would you do to improve on the Veritas?” Simply put, he aims to make innovative products that please customers more than anything else.
NEWS FLASH: Luke is discussing making some killer in-ear monitors. I look forward to the release of these new models and giving them a try.
SO SIMPLE, SO SMART
So what exactly is the Veritas? To be honest I’m still figuring that out.
I’m not going to lie, I had some issues shortly after getting and using the unit, so after my initial excitement things got quiet for a bit. Let's discuss the Veritas and I’ll take your through my time with the product. Myself, Paul (Brooko), and Alex (Twister6) all will be posting impressions on the following thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/782241/vibro-veritas-in-ear-monitor-home-measuring-device-reviews-and-impressions-by-brooko-twister6-hisoundfi#post_11946742
The Veritas is nothing more than a coupler that is designed to test in-ear monitors and in my case for making graphs for review purposes. It’s plastic molded from a 3-D printer into a coupler. A microphone is held in place on the bottom by some blue audio tac. A sixteen inch gray cable extends from the device and leads into a 3.5mm microphone cable. The Veritas also comes with a foot’s length of clear plastic tubing and extra blue audio tac. The Clear tubing and extra blue tac can be used in combination to get readings from individual armature drivers, or combinations of armature drivers. I suppose this information is useful to those thinking of using the Veritas to get readings when building their own custom built monitors. I am not in that line of work, therefore can’t comment too much on how well it does for this application. The extra blue tac can also be used with CIEMs to help create a good seal when measuring them in the Veritas.
The Veritas works in combination with software that can be downloaded onto your computer. In my case, since I’m a windows guy, so I used ARTA sound measuring software. The trial version of the ARTA software can be used indefinitely. If you want added features beyond the trial version, you can buy a product key and unlock other applications. Apple uses another software application, but with the same concepts.
When I first got the Veritas I followed the instructions, plugged the unit into my laptop and used my Toshiba Satellite's installed sound card. I was up and running in no time, pumping out graphs with ease. Comparing them with manufacturer graphs and examples from InnerFidelity, I could honestly say that they weren’t perfect matches, but close enough for me to say that it was a fair representation of what the product sounded like. I was the cool kid on the block, able to compare IEMs response, check for channel balance, and even started using graphs in reviews. Needless to say, my peers were very interested, wanting to get there hands on the same measuring equipment.
TAKING MEASUREMENTS
Measuring as accurately as possible requires getting a consistent seal into the coupler. I noticed that using foam tips caused a slight roll off in upper frequencies. I did some tip rolling to find what works best. For me, the tip I found to be a good universal fit on the IEMs and coupler was the small tips from my pair of Sony MH1C. Your mileage may vary, but from my experience I would suggest using a smaller bullet shaped silicone tip that seals in the coupler well. Also be careful not to shove the IEM into the coupler too hard and cause damage to the drivers of your earphones. If your measurement doesn’t look quite right (primarily a roll off or drop off in bass frequencies) you probably don’t have a good seal in the coupler. I would also suggest that you take a few measurements before coming to a final reading. This helps eliminate the possibility of a false reading.
My initial success with the Veritas was short lived. When my computer was upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10, the Veritas stopped working. Graphs showed lots of distortion and bass roll off. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software, I tried making sure that the microphone was in position and sealed with the blue tac, I even tried changing sound output settings and looping pink noise from another source to see if maybe my headphone out jack on my computer was the problem. I thought “well it was fun while it lasted.” I figured the Veritas is either broken or defective, I even questioned the components and their durability, thinking that maybe this happened because of cheap parts. Luckily this wasn’t the case.
I messaged Luke, telling him about my issues. He suggested that I purchase a preferred user interface instead of the hardware installed on my computer. I got a link to the
StarTech.com ICUSBAUDIO2D USB Stereo Audio Adapter External Sound Card with SPDIF Digital Audio Out. Here is a link to the product if you are interested. For a measly thirty dollars, it was worth a shot. Here is a link to purchase this device:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F7120TQ?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00
The StarTech device is plug and play. I didn’t have to install any external drivers of any sort to get this thing going. After following the instructions on how to use the external soundcard in combination with the ARTA software and Veritas, I was back in business making graphs! I even used that blue tac bottom of the Veritas and applied it to the top of the USB interface, making it one device I can plug and unplug from my computer whenever I need to make a graph. Most excellent I must say!
I really like being able to first take each channel and get a reading to make sure channels match. I was surprised to see how many of my earphones have imbalances ranging from minor to quite a bit. Listening to them again after getting an imbalanced reading, it really made sense in some cases why there was something about an earphone that seemed a bit off. Once a matching channel configurations is confirmed I can save the graph by making a copy of the reading and saving it to a file on my computer. This is very handy to use when comparing earphones to each other.
There are some things that I think need to be made very clear. This device IS NOT intended to replace expensive measuring equipment. It is pretty damn accurate from 10Hz to 10kHz, but loses a little bit of accuracy outside of this range.
THE VERITAS IS NOT A 711 COUPLER. It is designed to give gearheads an opportunity to make and share graphs, or to be used in making their own gears. It is no slouch as doing so either.
CONCLUSION
I personally love this little gadget. The Startech adapter in combination with the Veritas is an extremely useful tool I try to use as often as possible when writing reviews, or discussing audio gears. It helps audio enthusiast and reviewers take what they hear and turn it into a reliable and usable graph.
Thanks for reading and Happy Listening!
