World’s first liquid-metal custom earphones are unsurprisingly expensive

HelloEar has just launched two pairs of custom-fit earphones that are the first to be made from liquid metal.
Sure, noise-cancelling headphones are clever and that, and sound-isolating earphones can do a good job if you get the right size and shape of tip for your lughole, but pro musicians will tell you there’s nothing quite like a custom-fitted in-ear monitor.
Custom-fits are moulded to the exact shape of your ear, so they block outside noise almost entirely, as well as being super-comfortable. And the latest flagship IEMs from HelloEar are the first to have shells made from metal – a 92.5% silver alloy, to be precise.
The company employs 3D scanning, model rebuilding and laser sintering technology used by jewellers to print the bodies of the monitors, which are available in a platinum or rose-gold finish. There are also over 100 artwork designs to choose from, to ensure you don’t run into another super-rich audiophile with the exact same in-ears.
The (only slightly) more affordable HelloEar Wonderland Monet has six balanced-armature drivers per ear and costs $2499, or you can go all out for the Wonderland Gauguin at an eye-watering $3699 and brimming with 12 drivers per side.
Despite the metal shells, each monitor weighs just 15g. Both models cover a frequency range of 10Hz-30kHz and offer noise isolation of -26dB.
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If the liquid metal models are too rich for you, HelloEar also makes more conventional resin custom-fitted earphones (as in the pic above) starting from $599 and heading up to $1099.
Think people must be barmy for spending that much on headphones? Let us know in the comments below.