Performance

The task of judging whether an earphone offers good or bad performance is extremely hard to do. There are no real conclusive benchmarks to put them through so testing them is rather tedious task. What I usually do is listen to the headphones intensively playing some of the CDs I have listened to a lot of times. In this review I will be comparing the LiveWires T1 to some top of the line universal fit in-ears, even though they are not custom they are in the same price segment as the custom fit LiveWires. The earphones I will be using for comparison are the following: Sleek-Audio SA6, Westone UM2, Klipsch Image, Head-Direct RE2.

To start off with I had some issues inserting my new custom in-ears the right way, but after an hour of fiddling around I had finally found a good insertion method. Just like with the universal earphones a good seal is extremely important for them to perform their very best.
Custom in-ears are a little more picky than universals because you cannot just throw another tip on. In the case that your LiveWires does not fit you need to get your ear molds done again and so the whole process of getting them starts from scratch. If there is only a minor seal problem the LiveWires team can re-dip the canal portion of the in-ear effectively making it a bit bigger.

After getting them inserted properly I hooked them up to my Cowon iAudio i7 and I was rocking. These in-ears are guaranteed to get your feet moving from the start. They are very musical and feature a rich and deep bass a long with crystal clear mids and highs. The bass performance of these earphones quite honestly shocked me at the beginning even though I am used to the Sleek-Audio SA6s generous amount of bass. In quantity these are in a completely different league than my other IEMs. The funny thing is that even though there is plenty of it is never muddy, slow, or overpowering in any of the music pieces I listened to.
The LiveWires are extremely articulate earphones with an extreme bass extension. An earphone like the Westone UM2s which is also a double armature design is no match for the LiveWires. The bass on the Westone UM2s is overpowering and they lack the faithful midrange reproduction and treble extension.

The midrange is what I would describe as lukewarm. To my ears the midrange is a tad warmer than that of the SA6s, but without sacrificing any detail at all. Compared to the Klipsch Images the midrange is way colder and with better detailing and texture. Just after listening to them a short while it is pretty clear that the LiveWires are extremely good with rock due to their generous amount of bass and precise mids. When it comes to classic they are no slouch either, however, I slightly favor the more sparkly highs of the Sleek-Audio SA6s for classic music, but again that depends a lot on your preference. The highs are good and sound very natural without being overly bright. They are very balanced and do not add anything there is not there. And since I absolutely hate sibilance, but like to hear the highs clearly these fit my preferences nicely in that respect.

The most amazing thing about the LiveWires is that their ability to reproduce the smallest details with insane clarity. The midrange detailing and texture is way better than any in-ear I have heard so far. They truly excel at bringing out those small subtle differences. On a side note the LiveWires have a very lively reproduction of vocals, it is airy and as if the artist is standing a little further from you than with other earphones. The soundstage is definitely deeper and wider than that on any pair of IEMs I have ever heard. That coupled with the extraordinary amount of details makes them sound wonderful on well recorded tracks. Instrument separation is likewise way ahead of the competition, it is much easier to tell which instrument is playing and from where with the LiveWires than with my Sleek-Audio SA6s and Images.

To me the LiveWires are in a completely different league than any of my other earphones. Every aspect of the LiveWires performance is just staggering right from the rich and deep bass to the clear mids to the sweet highs. After spending a lot of time with these in-ears they still keep on surprising me by revealing small details across the spectrum.

Microphonic noise was not a problem with these in-ears at all. I think that is due to the soft rubber coated cable and the fact that you wrap the cable up and over your ears. These custom in-ears are the best I have tried in terms of reducing microphonic disturbance. Unless you slap the cable around violently you will not be bothered.

Noise attenuation wise I found these a bit better than my other, but only a bit. There is no night and day difference, but just slightly more noise dampening across the spectrum.

The LiveWires are low impedance eaphones which means that if your source hisses you will hear it easily. My Cowon iAudio i7 has a relative low amount of hiss, but even so I could still clearly hear it when music was not playing. This is something you should consider before going for the LiveWires.

Durability

The LiveWires are a very thoroughly built piece of kit. The earphones themselves are made from an incredibly hard kind of plastic that does not give way to pressure easily. The connectors used on the earphones are also very though and can probably withstand a good amount of abuse before failing. The mini-jack is also very though, however, I do not think it is iPhone compatible