Ultimate Ears SuperFi 3 Studio Noise Isolating Earphones (Black)
by Ultimate Ears
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Ultimate Ears SuperFi 3 Studio Noise Isolating Earphones (Black)
Customer Review: an acquired taste
Summary: 4 Stars
My basic requirement for headphones or speakers is that they sound fabulous when my playback device equalization is set flat. I listen mostly to classical music, and I don't believe in juicing up my music with artificial sweeteners. I'm a purist. I want to hear recordings the way they were made. My Cowon IAudio7 player sounds superb with flat equalization through my Grado SR80 headphones, and I was hoping that the UE3 earphones would deliver similarly. Unfortunately, they didn't. The bass just wasn't there. I had to fiddle with the equalization (which the IAudio7 has in spades) to get the sound I wanted.
That said, I have come to love these little cans. I try to forget that my controls aren't precisely flatlined and just enjoy the music. Here are some of the many good points about these earphones:
1. Once I achieved the tonal equalization I wanted, I began to appreciate the clarity of the sound. These phones don't deliver conspicuous, hot sound. They are subtle and natural. They had to grow on me. Give them a week before you return them in disappointment.
2. They have a thick, stiff cord that doesn't get tangled so easily as other earphones. The cord seems pretty durable and less noisy brushing against the clothes than many others. Also, the V cord meets at the middle under the chin with a slide adjuster. I don't care for side cords. Additionally, the stiff cord doesn't flop around a lot when I'm on the treadmill. I usually run it under my shirt.
3. Inserting the earphones properly takes a little practice--the manual explains a "rock and roll" method to twist them into your ear canals. Once you select the appropriately sized pad from the enclosed selection and twist them in correctly, you will hear natural, tonally balanced sound (except for some bass deficit) and an effective soundstage. The snug fit blocks most outside sound, so you won't have to turn up the volume to dangerous levels to compete with the outside world. They sound great on the noisy city bus. I haven't tried them on a plane yet.
4. The stiff cords loop over the ears, increasing stability. I work out with these earphones all the time. They don't pop out. Occasionally, I get a pocket of sweat between my earpad and eardrum so that everything sounds a bit underwater. I don't know if there is any remedy for that, other than to stop sweating.
Here are some negatives:
1. The earpads are devilishly difficult to fit over the earphones. I was afraid I would rip them. The instructions say to twist them on gently. Gentleness didn't work for me. I had to struggle with them for quite awhile. In fact, I got to the point where I called the company to arrange sending them back. It was late at night, the phone support was off duty, so I struggled some more and finally got them on. The good news is that they're unlikely to come off in the ears, so hopefully you won't have to excavate earpads out of your ear canals with tweezers like I have had to do with my Sonys. I settled for the medium sized pads. I was afraid to remove them and try any other sizes. They fit snugly in my ears. Once you get this part worked out--suffer a little for your music--you will enjoy the results.
2. The bass. I'm not a hip hop listener, so I don't need to set off car alarms with my bass, but when I listen to an orchestra, I like to hear some chesty growl in the bass viols and cellos and a good visceral thump from the bass drum. I twiddled and eventually found my sound, but I think more low end should be the default.
Summary: A great sounding though bass shy pair of earphones that effectively block outside noise, making it possible to listen to music at comfortable, safe levels. Set up is a bother, but following that hurdle, and once you have mastered effective insertion techniques and perhaps run up the bass controls a little, you should enjoy accurate, balanced and comfortable listening through a sturdily designed and cool looking device.
Warning: Set the volume low the first time you listen through these earphones. They have plenty of natural gain and don't require a high setting. Depending on what you have listened through up till now, if you don't lower your volume setting, you may blast your eardrums the first time you use these. The manual includes this same warning. Pay attention to it.
Customer Review: Can't go back.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have always been into music a lot, always carrying my CD or tape player around with me since I was probably 5 and now it is an iPod. I've always used over the ear headphones, mostly cheap Sony's (MDRV-100 and MDRv-150), but once I got my Creative NOMAD (RIP) I began solely using earbuds, the default Creative's that came with the NOMAD lasted me quite awhile and I loved them, nothing I got after them was able to compare. I began buying a pair of Philip's from Wal-Mart and after losing the silicon tips and the first two pairs blowing out I decided to maybe start researching higher end earphones.
I was going to Japan for a little bit so I decided on finding something that can really isolate outside noise well. I spent about a week doing research and it pretty much boiled down to the Super.fi 3's, Shure SE100's, or the Eytomic Research Er6i's. I noticed a lot of people enjoyed these, so that probably pushed me towards settling with these. The other bit I liked was that they had a replaceable cord, which is really nice because after about a month and half the left monitor blew out and luckily it was the cord, so a quick call to UE and still being under manufacturer warranty they sent me a replacement free of charge and received it about two days later.
Long intro, yes, so I'll say what I have to say about the sound quality: I honestly can't go back to anything else. Yes, those Philip's earphones I have sound similar but I get amazing isolation and a bit more clarity. Now, I am no audiophile (trying to get more and more into it) so I can't throw out technical jargon like "highs" and "lows" but I can say that treble is perfect and the bass is perfect, neither clash with the other.
I listen to a wide variety of music, mostly black metal, classical, and crust punk, and indie. So, the only problem I could say with these (which is probably true for other IEM's) is that there is a slight lack in space, what I mean is that you lose some of the atmosphere those genres can produce when using these. I've tried my brother's SkullCandy (I believe they were the Ink'd) and his Sony MDRs (I forget the model, but they're from Circuit City, when they were opened) I also gave the Sony MDR-EX55's which broke on my roommate a week after he got them. All three of those had way too much bass for me, which made me feel that having too much bass in IEMs will kill the sound. Isolation on these things are amazing and I think only the Eytomic Research IEMs can rival them, fit is everything (if you didn't already read that ;)) and once you get the right fit these things really do shine. Speaking of fit, I ended up losing one of my silicon tips, so after 30 minutes of searching I decided to check to see if by some miracle my brother's SkullCandy tips could fit these, and they did. So instead of paying $10 for replacement tips, you can go out and buy a set of SkullCandy's for $10 give them to your bass head younger sibling or child and keep the silicon tips you need. The UE tips are better, though.
I have not tried these with an amplifier, so I can't say anything on that matter... I will hopefully get around to making myself a cMoy amp. If anythign that will boost my love of these.
Wrap up...
PROS: - Sound great, a great intro to IEMs.
- Everything in my music is much more clear than ever before.
- If isolation is needed, these will do the trick.
- Replaceable cords.
- You can use SkullCandy tips.
- Cheaper and better than the Bose in ear earbuds.
-iPod has longer battery life because I don't have to turn it up
nearly as loud as before.
CONS: - If you do like bass, these may not be for you.
- Until you get use to it, the cord length may be too short.
- It is pretty hard to sleep with these (the reason for me to be
thinking of getting the ER6is eventually)
- Not getting these before spending $100 on multiple pairs of
inferior earbuds.
- Like other IEMs, will not work if you want to use these while
being active (as in exercise).
Customer Review: Fit Dependent
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the third pair of earphones I have tried on the last 2 months and am now on my fourth pair (hopefully my last for a while).
A short backstory:
I have had a pair of Sony MDR-EX51's for the past couple of years but had always thought the sound was just OK, while the fit was a revelation. I have never found traditional *buds* (iPod included type earphones) very comfortable for long periods. So a couple of years ago I tried out the Sony's.
They have a fit that I love. I can wear them for hours on a plane and have even worn them snowboarding with a hat. They never seem to get fatiguing from a fit perspective; sound wise, I always had a sense they just weren't there. I could sometimes hear a *crackle* that I knew just wasn't right.
So empboldened by recent home theater research I set out to find a new pair of earphones. Hopefully a pair with a fit like the Sony's and improved sound to boot.
First, I tried the MDR-EX85's and they just weren't right (see my review for details).
Next came the Ultimate Ears SF3's in clear.
Sound: Much improved versus the Sony's. The clarity of the music was much improved although don't expect a ton of bass as other reviewers have said. I was aware of this though, and for me this wasn't an issue. These phones sound great and considering that they are priced only ~$20 more (street), definitely worth the additional money. Additonally, these earphones are extremely efficient meaning that they they put out a ton of sound with a little imput. In fact I had to turn down my iPod quite a bit to keep the approximate volume that I was used to with the old EX51's.
Fit: The reason these phones were sent back. Thought they actually felt good in ear, they just didn't work for me in this regard. Using them as they were designed with the cord looping over my ear to support them wasn't as akward as I thought it would be, nor as bothersome. Once they were in they were great.
But here's the rub, the phones were just clumsy to use. Maybe I just hadn't gotten used to them yet but they seemed less than intutive to use. I kept getting the sides mixed up when trying to put them back on - it was just a clunky experience. Not only that but I was additionally not helped by the fact that I didn't want to straighten them everytime but use the *bend* from the previous usage.
The *bend* comes from the fact that these phones contain a metal *memory* wire near the phone to keep the cable looped over the top of your ear. And like any wire continued bening of this wire will eventually cause them to fail. Now mine didn't break in the short period I had them but I knew that I would have to baby them because of this.
Getting a good seal was also difficult for me. Sometimes they would seal and sometimes it would seem that I had an ear that just wasn't cooperating. I did try the larger silicon gasket but this didn't seem to fix things entirely.
Lastly, these things just stick out. I believe this is where my sealing issues were originating but I can't be certain. The cord as another reviewer has mentioned is quite thick and beefy feeling, though people might consider this both a blessing and a curse. It should be more durable but at the same time it had a hard time *draping* naturally.
In the end, for me, these phones would have been more of a compromise than I was willing to make. I have a hard time giving the product a low rating based on the quality of the product and the performance-to-price ratio it offers. It is quite a package but definitely contains some caveats that you should think through when considering them, i.e. are these going to be used during sports, etc.
Customer Review: new to in-ears? read this
Summary: 4 Stars
There seems to be a bit of confusion regarding in-ear headphones just within these reviews alone -- hopefully this will clarify a point or two for a first-time buyer.
First: the UE Super.fi 3 earphones are NOT noise-cancelling headphones. Noise-cancellation involves some sort of "masking" white noise, or phase cancellation, in order to reduce external noise. What in-ear headphones/monitors do is (hopefully) provide a strong seal INSIDE the ear-canal, blocking out external noise in the process. (The Super.fi 3s provide about -26db isolation, creating a quieter environment, thus enabling the user to listen at lower volumes.)
Second: a lot of reviews seem to not grasp the concept of in-ears in general, complaining about lack of bass and that they're uncomfortable. True, various makes of in-ear headphones might not fit everyone, but they ARE meant to be inserted INTO the ear-canal. This is, in fact, how in-ears produce bass -- the bone-conduction of the ear-canal itself becomes part of the sound reproduction. If you're not looking for a pair of "in-canal" phones, these in fact WON'T produce much bass for you.
That said, a few notes on the UE Super-fi 3s themselves:
ROLLED-OFF HIGHS: the Super.fi 3s are Ultimate Ears' entry-level phones, and as such, I wasn't expecting too much "sparkle" -- I mostly just wanted something to make my train commute quieter so I could hear my music again. These phones DEFINITELY have that "warm" sound you hear people talking about, for better or worse -- the high-end reproduction is rolled off significantly. That might have something to do with the "balanced armature" drivers, though, which are unusual even for the rest of UE's products -- it makes for a MUCH more "transparent" listening experience than I'm accustomed to. (Crisp highs might be present when listening to super-high-tech glossy production -- electronic tracks, for example -- whereas tracks that have just "normal" amounts of high-end sparkle -- say, the Beatles -- don't have the same sizzle you'd expect from regular phones.)
SOMEWHAT LARGE DRIVERS: I have slightly narrower-than-average ear canals, but most in-ear drivers (Shures, Westones) fit me decently. The Super.fi 3s have a ever-so-slightly bigger driver opening than usual (again, because of the balanced armature drivers?), so even with the smallest ear-tips, the UEs are just barely small enough to provide the needed seal, at least on my right ear. For most people, probably not a problem, but if you know you have narrow ear canals, you might want to choose a UE set with smaller drivers.
STRANGE MATERIAL ON CABLES?
UE's Super.fi cables seem to be made from a different rubber or plastic (or whatever) than standard portable headphone cables -- I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, actually. It's a glossier, less rubbery material than I'm used to -- perhaps this has something to do with the "memory tubing" around the ear area (which I LOVE, by the way -- it really does a fantastic job of keeping the weight of the cables away from the drivers themselves, so they don't want to fall out of your ear so easily), and the material necessary to produce it. But it does conduct an awful lot of noise, so for those not running the cables behind your head (I generally tuck the cable into a jacket, keeping it from bouncing around), it might create a fair amount of noise brushing up against a lapel, or something of that nature.
Other than that, I would have to say these are fantastic -- for under $100, these are a complete bargain. The quality is a drastic improvement from any non-in-ear set, and you'd be hard pressed to find a pair of in-ears of this quality for anywhere near the price.
Customer Review: Ultimate Ears - The Ultimate Music Experience!
Summary: 5 Stars
My music just got better - thanks to the pair of Ultimate Ears earphones that I got as one of the Christmas gifts this year from my wife. These were not the first earbuds that I've tried with my portable mp3 player. Prior to getting Ultimate's, I've also owned/tried a pair of Shure's E2C, and Sony Fontopia 81LP. So, my review will not only be a review of Ultimate Ears super.fi 3 earphones, but more of a comparison between them and the other two brands. This way I think a lot more people will benefit from my review and hopefully will make an educated purchasing decision. So, here it goes...
PROS:
Sound Quality - Outstanding!!! Crisp and clear! It does take a bit of an adjustment to get the right fit, but once you do, you can hear details that you've never heard before when listening to the same music using different headphones. So, how does it compare to Shure's and Sony's? Much, much better. I thought Shure's were lacking a bit on bass. Sony's sound quality was surprisingly good. Not quite as good as Ultimate's, but still good. The reason I didn't like Sony's is because they were literally hurting my ears, but we'll get back to that later.
Noise Isolation - "What?!" Yes, that's what I kept saying when I was wearing these headphones, and people were asking me something. It's blocking virtually all the noise around you. Perfect for when you want some piece and quiet. Driving in the car, studying at the library, whatever it is that you are doing, it's perfect for every occasion. Now, the Shure's and the Sony's - Shure's are probably just as good as Ultimate's. Sony's, however, are not even close. With Sony's on, I could hear surrounding noise just as well as without them.
Extras - It comes with 3 different sizes of ear tips. Experiment with each and see which one fits the best, and you are ready to go. For those of us with extremely sensitive ears, these earphones also come with foam tips, which provide an even a better fit, noise isolation, and sound. In addition, there is a very cool looking leather carrying case, and a small antistatic cleaning brush. What does Shure and Sony have to offer? Pretty much the same thing, but Ultimate's product quality is much better. Shure's are pretty comfortable as well. Sony's, on the other hand, hurt like hell. The stupid over the ear hook is also very uncomfortable and takes a long time to get used to.
CONS:
Cord Length - This is one thing that I wish could be different. It is just a few inches shorter than I want it to be. When I'm in the car, or at home, I don't have any complaints. But when I'm at work, I usually plug those in directly to my desktop PC. And, unfortunately, it's not long enough! I have to be very close to it, which is fine when I'm actually typing something, but if I'm just sitting in my chair, relaxing, the cord length is barely making it.
Price - They are certainly not the cheapest pair of earphones on the market. $100 is a lot of money for a lot of people, and if you want to save yourself a few bucks, I'd suggest you look some place else. Shure's, however, are in the same price range, so you're not going to win anything here. Sony's are a lot less expensive, although I can't really recommend them because of practically zero noise isolation, and, of course, for the fact that they were giving me a headache.
Summary:
Besides a few minor things, I think these headphones make a great choice. Once again, yes, they are expensive. But if you are serious about your music, and want to experience the Ultimate sound, they are very well worth the price. Recommended!