The SH3 is the latest flagship model from the swiss company PEARS, it mounts 3drivers each side and was designed to have a flat and reference signature.
PEARS is not much famous in the audiphile community, so here you can find some info about their philosophy and history:
PEARS is born from the meeting of Samuel Harsch, acoustic engineer and founder of harschacoustic, and Stéphane Rochat, electronic engineer and musicians.In 2012, Samuel Harsch manufactured his first custom in-ear monitors made out of acrylic resin, for himself and for some of his friends and colleagues.In 2014, given the success encountered with his first prototypes, he devoted his partial working time to make in-ear monitors and launches the model SH-2, dual driver. In 2015, Samuel Harsch decided to create a more powerful and flat in-ear monitors; the SH-3, triple driver, is launched in spring 2015. In parallel of this year, Stéphane Rochat joined harschacoustic as freelancer by doing at beginning a study market for understanding more the Swiss market and the wishes of musicians about in-ear monitors. In October 2016 the brand PEARS is officially launched as 1st Swiss made custom in-ear monitors.
Samuel Harsch
Co-Founder / Acoustic Engineer
Samuel has always been passionate about sound. In primary school already, he designed and built various speakers. From 2005 he was hired as an acoustics engineer at Phonak. He was in charge of the acoustic part of many research projects and various products such as custom made hearing protection devices called Serenity (passive and active) or the in-ear earphones Audéo PFE series that have won numerous awards and mentions on various specialized blogs and forums, both in audio quality and comfort. He filed 7 patents for Phonak as inventor or co-inventor, including the patent of the interchangeable acoustic filters that was one of the key points of the success of the Audéo PFE series. In 2013, Samuel takes the decision to reduce his working time at Phonak in order to focus on in-ear monitors and other personal projects. He develops speakers and various acoustic elements for a Swiss company, Audio-Performance in Echallens: a waveguide and an adjustable directivity horn for line arrays as well as various filters, small speakers and subwoofers.
Stéphane Rochat
Co-Founder / Electronic Design Engineer
Stéphane wears different hats here at P·EAR·S. He handles all the business stuff like sales, marketing, artist relations and different technical aspects such as electronic & acoustic too. Stéphane’s been messing with music since his childhood. He started by studying classical guitar followed by jazz guitar in different music schools for many years. In 2006 he graduated from University of Applied Sciences of Fribourg with a degree in Electronic Engineering. In parallel of his former job, he worked as sound technician during 4 years at Fri-Son Fribourg in order to understand more technical aspects of live music. Since 2011, he is working at Phonak, using his skills in acoustic and electronic engineering. In 2014, he did postgraduate studies in project management for improving his knowledge in business. Stéphane brings to P·EAR·S a wealth of experience in the music and an experience of more than 10 years in different R&D departments. In addition to the business stuff, Stéphane is also involved in new developments for the next generation of P·EAR·S.
This unit was sent me for the purpose of this review, i am not affiliated with the company and all observations and opinions will be only my own. This company usually produces custom fit iem, they can sell universal fit too under request.
For more info about PEARS , you can easily contact them on their facebook channel:
https://www.facebook.com/pearsaudio/
PRICE: 1083 USD
DRIVER CONFIG: Triple Driver dual mid-low/single high 1 passive crossover
SIGNATURE: NEUTRAL-NEUTRAL/BRIGHT
SUGGESTED EARTIPS: SPINFIT CP145
PACKAGING: my units arrived in a simple aluminium carrying case, from what i see on their site, they use a carrying case made of wood too. Inside the case, you can find a cleaning set, pouch and cloth in microfiber. Both SH2 and SH3 comes with a standard copper cable( standard plasticsone cable).
SOUND: the SH3 has a reference signature, but with enough body and sweet vocals to avoid a boring reproduction. It sounds accurate, with good tonality and resolution to satisfy audiophile needs too.
BASS: maybe the weakest point of the SH3( and usually the weakest point for BA drivers). It is quite flat, a boost from 20 to 100Hz helps to have a fuller sound and sweeter vocals. If you are looking for a big bass, or a fun signature, this is not the iem for you. The SH3 was aimed to combine good technicalities and a natural sound and for this purpose, is a great iem. Bass has enough impact and body to make the SH3 a good all-rounder with most musical genres, and i think the custom fit, can give you a better bass response. Overall, with Spinfit cp145 i can get a satisfying bass response.
MIDS: the strongest point for this iem: both male and female vocals sound enough rich and bodied, creating a great balance with the clear treble. Vocals never sound thin, but quite rich with exellent timbre and realism. There is no sibilance in female vocals like my inear SD5 and can compete in many ways with my Aroma YAO, that is one of the best vocal iem i have ever tried.
TREBLE: treble is clear, showing good resolution and details and giving great presence to instruments like violins, cymbals and strings. This helps to have a mature sound with good technical abilities. Sometimes, it can sound a bit harsh, due to its revealing nature, special if used with a clear sounding player and with bad recorded tracks. From my experience with custom iems, i think the SH3, could have better bass response and less hot treble with a custom fit iem.
SOUNDSTAGE: soundstage is very wide, with great layering, showing a good out-of-the-head experience. Depth is average, here i would have preferred a better balance of width and depth. If i can find one area to criticize is the soundstage, that like vision ear VE8 has great width and layering, but sometimes you can loose the focus of instruments around you. Maybe too much holographic, but don't know if this problem will be still there with a custom fit iem.
COMPARISONS:
PEARS SH-2: the SH2 shares almost the 80% of the SH3, with the same timbre, but it lacks the technicalities and sweet vocals of SH3. Soundstage is less wide, but more rounded, with better depth, thanks to the vocals placed more behind the scene. SH2 is slightly more organic, darker, fuller, a bit more fun with more mid-bass presence. SH2 is a good all-rounder iem, sounding good with most tracks, SH3 has a more flat,detailed and a more mature reproduction.
SH3 VS INEAR SD5: SD5 has a w shaped sound singature, compared to sh3, it sounds more fun and engaging, with more boosted sub-bass and upper treble and overall a better bass quality. Where the SH3 clearly wins is on vocal reproduction, giving much more body and realism to both male and female ones. On SD5 female vocals can sound a bit sibilant. Upper treble on SD5 is more forward, giving more sparckles, on the other side SH3 has less boosted upper treble, but gives more finesse on violin or string instruments. SD5 sounds engaging and fun, working better with more modern tracks, on the other side SH3 has a more mature reproduction, combying in a better way technicalities and natural sound. Soundstage on SD5 has more depth and more or less same width of sh3.
SH3 VS INEARZ EUPHORIA: EUPHORIA has a more u shaped sound signature, with more mid-bass presence and slightly fuller reproduction. Vocals on euphoria are rendered in a more “liquid” way, on the opposite, the SH3 has a more organic and realistic vocal reproduction. Treble on Euphoria was tuned to result innofensive, but is less detailed compared to SH3. Both are exellent iems, Euphoria has a more modern approach, sounding good with many players and tracks, on the other side SH3 sounds a bit more sterile, but with better technical abilities.
SH3 VS nfaudio NF6I: the nf6i is another great iem, if you are looking for a good reference sound. 6i has a bass response similar to SD5 with a more sub-bass boost compared to sh3, vocals on 6i sound drier, on the other side on sh3 they sound more organic and fuller with a better sense of realism. They both have similar treble extension and detail retrieval. Soundstage on 6i has more depth with a more precise instrument positioning.
PAIRINGS:
OPUS 2: great sinergy: reference and natural sound with wide soundstage, female sweet vocals. Can easily drive the SH3 on mid gain, with high gain bass gains more impact, but soundstage is too much holographic.
Opus 1s: more organic reproduction, more rumble on sub-bass area, vocals are more organic and gains more emotions compared to the leaner vocals on the Opus2. Great left/right channel separation, but less width compared to Opus2.
Opus3: more fun reproduction, with more boosted bass and less forward midrange, a bit clearer on top end, sounds more harsh and less natural compared to Opus 2, but portrays more details on top end. Better to use on high gain and push the volume to 85-95 to have a satisfying volume level.
SPECS:
FREQUENCY RESPONSE
INPUT SENSITIVITY
IMPEDANCE