Ultimate Ears SuperFi 5 Pro Noise Isolating Earphones (Black)
by Ultimate Ears
(Click here)
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: Ultimate EarsModel: IF-P5PSB0006-02
Color: Black
Product features:
- Dual Drivers for wide frequency response (20 to 16,000 HZ) and efficient performance
- Professional Quality Sound
- Noise Isolating Design attenuates outside noise by an amazing 26db
- Comfortable and Secure Ear Loops
- Includes Universal Fit kit and a protective metallic travel case to store earphones
- Comply Tx-400 Foam Tips w/ Integrated Wax-Guard (Black) 3-Pair Pack
- Comply Foam Tips T-400 - Platinum
- Belkin RockStar 5-Way 3.5-mm Headphone Splitter (White)
- Belkin F8V234-WHT-APL Headphone Splitter
- Comply T-500 Foam Tips - 3 Pair Pack
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Ultimate Ears SuperFi 5 Pro Noise Isolating Earphones (Black)
Customer Review: Good choice for city bus-train commuters with iPods
Summary: 4 Stars
I spent many pleasant hours, to the amazement of my spouse, seeking out what she now derides as my "wife-cancelling headphones"! For my commute, I needed to power drivers from a regular-sized iPod. I wanted a pair that I could take with me "on foot" easily and that would fold up neatly. At the $150-200 price-range I expected durable construction as well as sonic fidelity. I had started out with what everyone thinks of: Bose QCs (as mentioned in the early Dec. New Yorker article about what to get people for the holidays-- this gift being suggested along with an eyemask for harried fathers).
Reviews on Head Room, CNet, and Amazon convinced me that the airline-inspired Bose QCs were overpriced and undernourished. Perhaps better for frequent flyers, but I needed to cancel sounds on buses and trains: a different challenge. I preferred, or so I thought, on-ear "super-aural" sets, so I looked into Sennheiser's more affordable noise-cancelling folding on-ear PXC 250s: better, but their plastic headpieces seemed flimsy and prone to cracking, and their external battery cord seemed to get in the way. AKG K81 DJs tempted me at their fair price; they received nearly unanimous acclaim. But for commuting, they seemed too big and bulky, since although half-folding, they are made tough and strong for dj's to monitor music in clubs. (For the $50 range, by the way, AKG's K26 also receive high marks as a vast improvement for IPods if upgrading standard included buds.)
Still, armed with a gift card to offset some of the cost, I looked to the lower weight IEMs and higher range (in price, performance, and db's of noise suppression). The IEM decision fit best my needs; I ride the bus and subway: about three hours total round-trip. Acoustics and physics prove the point. Bose QC's use white noise to "cancel" sounds with others. IEMs isolate more sound at a deeper level of body contact, and so needed lower volume-- this saves aural damage. Also, less volume in the ear means less power drain for the iPod battery.
UE gained the most support from the hundreds of reviews I must have scanned. I purchased a pair (their price on Amazon is about the least expensive retail amount you'll find). Curiously, many vendors charge more for the black than the white model! I being cheap bought the latter, but I am pleased to note that nobody will mistake these for standard Apple buds. The wire is clear, and the color is handsome without being too attention getting: a must for us urban commuters, unfortunately. The actual earpieces do stick out, since IEMs carry more punch than buds. To my surprise the hook over the ears does markedly help in wearing them comfortably-- it was not interfering at all with the eyeglasses behind the ear. Also, this position minimizes the drag of the wire and reduces the IEM transmission of vibrations into the ear as you move or as the wire brushes against clothing or your body. This does take a bit of getting used to, but, as with the insertion of the IEMs, it can be done in a few seconds after the first few times.
For noise-cancelling, the Pros do not shut out all external sounds, nor for the sake of safety would a commuter desire this. But, they reduce it by perhaps 2/3rds. What remains on bus and train is often attributable to the vibrations and rattles that shake as well as produce sound. You cannot get rid of the discomfort as the vehicle hits the bumps in the road or on the track!
They do reproduce (especially "standard" rock honed in the studio) sounds well, although they so far coupled with the iPod have only outperformed my (non-sound-suppressing, non-folding, but otherwise a bargain) $50 Koss U40T-Radio Shack over-the-ear "circumaural" titanium cans marginally. This may improve with time, as phones need to be broken in, apparently. [Hint: the EQ set for rock reveals much more depth than the bass booster setting that I had previously as my default. Maybe an obvious point?] Debate at "head-fi" on-line has raged as to whether "burning" them in over a couple hundred hours to season their drivers is merely the placebo effect or an actual improvement in fidelity.
As with any decent set of phones, these IEMs will reveal the hiss underlying the soundcard & compressed audio files that you may have if playing them back on a computer or portable device. I recommend if you're using these with an iPod to re-route the headphones through a headphone pocket amp (Gary Ali crafts them at electric-avenue dot com); this greatly deepens the "soundstage" but increased fidelity for the phones alone but much more with the amp also means you will hear, on cheaper boomboxes and CD players as AC-running devices, the static and the running of the current below the richly enhanced music. On batteries, the DC does not seem to interfere with the amplified signal, and even without an amp added the signal sounds great.
Ultimately, what IEMs are at this range, I gather (as opposed to the thousand-dollar customized pairs UE designs), are "musical earplugs."
They shut out the outside, boost what sounds you program and prefer, are lightweight, enjoyable, and while not audiophile-level, fulfill their purpose. From what my spouse tells me the sounds I hear do not leak out. They are less expensive than competing models, the fit in the ear is not nearly as traumatic as some reviews have made UE IEMs seem, and the match of form-- plugs-- with function -- players, will never be airtight, offer orchestra-like fidelity, nor will it be able to satisfy those lucky enough to afford higher-level IEMs or phones. But, for commuting, portability, and ratio of cost to performance, they work well.
As my hearing is overly sensitive, and I could/can not ever listen to amplified sound at a rock concert, for example, the lessened volume was crucial for the IEM I chose. This does run at about a third of the iPod volume setting compared to half for other headphones. (I did comparisons with a cheap back-of-neck pair and my over-ears on the commute: these by the way both do one thing: they place the music as an additional layer of sound closer to your ear, but no external sounds are mimimized at all.) Conventional headphones therefore only distract you by their placement of preferred sounds nearer to your ear. Think of when you talk louder to a neighbor in public so as to drown out somebody else at a nearby table.
What remains a bit frustrating is the cord. Sitting at a desk with a computer, if you are at all tall, plugging in to the computer (if it is near or on the floor, or at arm's length) for playback will nearly reach if not match the limits of this cord's length. Also, the hiss of the typical computer's operation reveals both the fidelity of the IEMs and the "sound floor" of the usual soundcard/ compressed audio file combination.
Super.fi 5 Pro's are better used while walking along or holding the iPod. The detachable cord feature also narrowed my choice to UE. At three feet it is perfect for movement while carrying a portable player. However, I have noticed a glitch with the initial starting up of the iPod, during the shift from regular use to the hold button, and the shutting off of one or both sides of the IEMs. Is this the cord's transmitting problem? But, this may be my own clumsiness or lack of practice. So far, the shut-off continues sporadically when the iPod plugged into the IEM is jostled. With the headphone amp, this annoyance has vanished, and so the plug may be at fault with the iPod connection, or the signal may be weak when driven into the IEM only by the iPod's own output.
But, how to wind up the cord into a pocket or case? It tangles constantly, and the need for the permanence of the semi-flexible bends near the ears means the wires cannot be totally compressed as they would be in buds-- or even other IEMs, I suppose. I carry them in an eyeglass case, since this allows for fewer folds and preserves longer the twist given to the behind-the-ear beginning of the cords.
I give four rather than five stars for a specific reason. The company is known for customer service, so the lack I mention is surprising. Past reviews led me to believe that a small leather case was also given gratis along with the metallic box. The UE booklet now lists it for $10. What is needed in the metallic box is a winding device; earlier models apparently included this while the one I bought notes, in the booklet, that such a winder is "optional" although it is not listed on the accessory form nor is it explained with which models it would presumably come free. For the price these sell for, I expected a bit more generosity in the "add-ons."
Description of Ultimate Ears SuperFi 5 Pro Noise Isolating Earphones (Black)
For the last ten years, Ultimate Ears has been designing custom ear monitor products for your favorite professional musicians for use on stage and in the studio. Musicians put their hearts, their souls, their breakups, their memories and their passions into every song and they count on Ultimate Ears products to get the most of out of their music. Our super.fi products were developed so that you too can hear music the way it was meant to be heard. If professional studio quality sound is what you are after and only the best earphones will do, then you need the super.fi 5 Pro dual speaker professional quality earphones. The super.fi 5 Pro earphones offer the most accurate experience when listening to any style of music. The super.fi 5 Pro has the best quality in-ear, acoustic technology available making this our premiere dual speaker professional earphone product. These earphones also incorporate all the best features that super.fi products have to offer including pro-style ear loops that secure your earphones in place and a universal fit kit with 6 single flange silicone(2 small, 2 medium, 2 large), 2 dual flange silicone and 2 standard foam ear tips that maximize your comfort and increase noise isolation from the sounds around you. The super.fi 5 EB's come with a 46" cable, cable adjuster, and gold plated 1/8" input plug and ship with a metallic protective travel case, sound level attenuator, cleaning tool,1/4" adaptor jack, user guide and a 2 year warranty. Now your head is a concert hall. But don't take our word for it-hear the difference!Digital Cameras & Photo Categories
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