Ultimate Ears appreciation

[Electric Cowgirl]

Holy Ultimate Ears!!!  I just got a pair of UE Super.fi 5 extended bass in-canal earphones...and all I have to say is HELL YEAH!  These are by a far the best sounding "earbuds" I've had the pleasure of experiencing.

Do you have some UE?  Think they suck?  Post it here

[Eigenklang]

I have a pair of Triple Fi 10 pro. They are really good.

Some time ago I tried some upper class Shure IEMs and sold them a couple of days later. I stopped searching for IEMs because testing them in stores is near to impossible. Also my expectations towards the Shures were so highly dissapointed....


But then I had the chance to listen through UE's complete (non-custom) product range... I tested the triple fi 10s 3-4 weeks and finally bought them.

I like UE for their honesty. While almost every manufacturer wants to tell us that his $80 Headphone provides a frequency range of some Hz to 30 kHz, UE just states "10 Hz - 17 kHz" (best case; triple Fi 10). When scrolling through the seller's websites, this will for sure be the reason not to buy UE for some people. This fact and the good experiences up to now is why I will stay with UE for a long, long time. Next step for me is a pair of custom ear pieces and a good portable headphone amp.


One last thing to say. The 10s are not completely free of some kind of "sound" and therefor not perfect, but under some circumstances they are by now the closest approach towards "real" HiFi that I have heard. Their dynamic abilities in combination with very low intermodulation distortion are fascinating. Listen to a good opera singer - wow :'''')

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I've looked at UE as a replacement for my Etymotic ER-6s for when they finally die (rated 20hz->16khz I think). For those interested, I recommend reading the IEM threads over at head-fi.org. Much like the pre-amps we use here color sound, the head-amps will as well.

I know for the ER-6s, you can get an adaptor that will allow you to use musicians plugs as your headphones instead of the 2 flang'ed pieces. I haven't looked around UE's stuff enough to know if they have a similar without getting the customs. Anyone?

[Brian Skalinder]

I haven't looked around UE's stuff enough to know if they have a similar without getting the customs. Anyone?

I vaguely recall asking if they'd fit custom musicians earplugs, and I believe the answer was no.  Can't find the post I made about it, though, and at this point it's only a vague recollection.

[stevetoney]

I have a pair of UE Super.fi 5 pro's that are great, but I have somewhat of a sad story.  Last time I flew here to Europe, I put my ipod into the plane seat pocket in front of me so I could take a snooze (9 hour flight...aargh).  Upon arrival, I discovered that my knee had applied pressure to the phones while they were inside the seat pocket, which caused one of the ear pieces to crack/break at the bend where it connects to the small cable connector.  Oh well, when I get home I'll either buy another pair or see if I can order a new earpiece.  Something tells me that I'm gonna be better off just buying a new pair though...ya know $120 for an earpiece or $180 for a new pair type thing.  Besides, if I do that, I'll have plenty of spare parts.

[Eigenklang]

It is possible to get custom earpieces for a variety of "standart" IEM. For UE in germany this means you send in a print of each ear to the importer and they will manufacture a pair of custom ear pieces. These pieces can also be used as hearing protection with filter pads instead of the IEM drivers.

http://fischer-amps.de/in-ear-hoerer-gehoerschutz/iem-otoplastiken-gehoerschutzotoplastiken.html

[Electric Cowgirl]

I have a pair of UE Super.fi 5 pro's that are great, but I have somewhat of a sad story.  Last time I flew here to Europe, I put my ipod into the plane seat pocket in front of me so I could take a snooze (9 hour flight...aargh).  Upon arrival, I discovered that my knee had applied pressure to the phones while they were inside the seat pocket, which caused one of the ear pieces to crack/break at the bend where it connects to the small cable connector.  Oh well, when I get home I'll either buy another pair or see if I can order a new earpiece.  Something tells me that I'm gonna be better off just buying a new pair though...ya know $120 for an earpiece or $180 for a new pair type thing.  Besides, if I do that, I'll have plenty of spare parts.

Me too.  Within a week I had managed to break off the right ear piece.  Amazon sent me another pair which I'm using right now.  These are pretty good for active use.  I play about 20-30 hours of disc golf a week and these will stay in pretty good during a full on round.