Lately, I have found myself reviewing an increasing number of media players: both hardware portable media players such as the Sony Walkman Video, and software such as CorePlayer and Pocket Player.  One thing I have found through these reviews is that the sound quality of many players is much more nuanced than you might initially expect.  A poor pair of headphones will not reflect this sound and can result in an incomplete review.  Until recently, I had been using the V-Moda Vibe headphones for many of my reviews.  When they broke, I started asking around, trying to find a good candidate with which to replace them.  The almost unanimous response pointed directly at the Ultimate Ears Super.Fi line of headphones.  Let’s take a closer look and find out what everyone sees in these headphones.

What’s In The Box:  I was sent the Super.fi 3 Studio model for this review.  Along with the headphones, I found:

• extra earbuds in a variety of sizes
• cleaning tool
• sound level attenuator
• hard case
• instructions

Look and Style: From the moment I took the Ultimate Ears out of the box, I could tell these were not going to be like any headphones I had used before.  They come in white, clear, and black, and I got the white (although I wish I had gotten the clear or black as that would have fit my device a bit better). 

The buds are each curved to match the shape of your ear.  This means that each will only fit in the correct ear.  To ensure each bud finds its way to the correct ear, they are labeled for your convenience.  The right earbud bears an "R" and the left bears an "L".  While I was glad to see this simple but necessary labeling, I was a little disappointed that the letters were not painted a different color.  Reading a tiny white on white letter is not easy to do.  Using a contrast or accent color such as blue, black, or even the same gray which accents other parts of the buds would have been helpful.

The most intriguing part of the Ultimate Ears, however, must be the included 46 inch cable.  This cable is made of a low friction material which is less flexible and slightly more rigid than most headphone cables.  This means that while you can still wrap it around your device or ball it up in a pocket, it is much less likely to end up a tangled mess like most headphone cables do.  Since one of my biggest pet peeves is spending half of my listening time untangling a mess of headphone cables, I truly appreciated this small, but important detail.

Additionally, although it appears to be one single unit, like most headphones.  The buds are completely detachable from the main cable.  Obviously, Ultimate Ears recognizes that the cable is the most likely part of the headphones to become damaged.  By allowing you to remove the buds, they have made it extremely easy to replace the cable without purchasing a whole new set of headphones (replacement cables and other accessories are available from the Ultimate Ears website.)

Fit and Comfort: One of the more important factors when purchasing new headphones is how well they fit in your ears.  If they are not comfortable, then you are pretty much wasting your money when you purchase them.  The Ultimate Ears are among the most comfortable headphones I have ever used, mainly because they are fully adjustable to fit your ears.

The first thing you will want to do is select your ear tips.  The ear tips slide over the ear conductor and create a seal within your outer ear. 

There are three pairs of single flange silicone ear tips included with the headphones in a range of sizes.  There is also one pair of disposable foam ear tips.  Play around with them and find the ones that create the best seal and feel the best in your ears.

Once you have selected the best ear tips, the instruction manual will guide you through inserting the headphones into your ears.  Most earphones work in pretty much the same brute force manner.  Cram them in your ears until it hurts and then pump up the JAMMs.  Ultimate Ears takes more of a Curt Schilling approach, peppering the corners of the strike zone with their finesse, rather than the brute force fastballs down the middle of Roger Clemens.  As such, you will want to be sure to review the instructions as they detail (in full color) the correct way to use these headphones.  If you do not insert them correctly, you can hurt your ears, damage the headphones, and certainly will not effectively optimize your listening experience.

To use them, simply insert the correct ear tip into each ear ("R" or right and "L" for left) with the cables extending straight up.  Then, rock the eartips forward in your ear so that it is comfortable, and then gently roll it to the rear to create a seal.  That’s it: Rock and Roll!  Finally, there is a Y-junction on the cable.  Slide this Y-junction up until the cable wraps comfortably at or near your chin.  Now, you are ready to JAMM.

Sound Quality: Of course, the most important factor in any headphones is the quality of the sound.  A poor pair of headphones will leave your ears straining for more, or simply damage your ears with bothersome noise which is not part of the recording.  It would be a gross understatement to say that the Ultimate Ears did not experience any of these problems.

In fact, listening to music with the Ultimate Ears headphones can create an almost surreal experience.  The sound is so clear, it enables you to hear movements of the music you never noticed before.  Sure, we can all hear the rhythm and everyone pays attention to the lyrics, but there are undercurrents, subplots to the songs that are lost with inferior speakers and headphones.  I found myself not just listening to the music, but experiencing it.

This experience is enhanced by the noise isolation created by the ear buds.  As I have discussed in previous reviews, there is a significant difference between noise isolation and noise cancellation.  Noise cancellation utilizes a white noise speaker to block and deflect incoming sounds.  This can cause distraction and degradation of the audio signal.  Noise isolation, such as that utilized by Ultimate Ears does not issue a countersignal, it simply utilizes the shape of your ear to create a seal with the ear buds.  This seal does not allow outside noises to enter the ear canal, thus creating a pristine listening environment, no matter where you go. 

[image courtesy of the Virginia Railway Express]

Noise isolation is the current trend in higher quality headphones, and I have found that it is fairly easy to test.  Every day, I ride the train into town, and again in the afternoon to get home.  In order to board the train, I have to walk past the engine.  This are immediately next to the engine is extremely loud (yes that is the actual engine I am referring to in the picture, above).  Typically, if I am talking to someone, we will have to wait until we pass the engine before resuming a conversation.  This is where I test the noise isolation in headphones like the Ultimate Ears.  I simply set my music to a comfortable listening level and walk past the engine.  If the noise isolation works as advertised, then I should have no problem haring the music because all outside noises, including the train engine, will be sufficiently blocked.  Sadly, many headphones I have reviewed have been unable to pass this simple test.  Thus, it was even more extraordinary when the Ultimate Ears did not just pass, they stopped a speeding train.  Not only could I hear the music perfectly, but the sound of the train was almost completely blocked.  I have never used headphones which utilized noise isolation so effectively.

Conclusion: What more can I say here?  These headphones are so comfortable that you almost forget they are in your ears; they isolate all outside and environmental noises, giving you a pristine listening environment; and the sound quality enables you to hear every undercurrent and subplot of the music.  In fact, I found these headphones created the perfect escape.  I slipped them on during my walk to work and suddenly, I was not walking to work, I was ringing the Division Bell, I was Over The Hills and Far Away, I was standing in that sweet November Rain.  It is like creating an oasis of music in an otherwise chaotic world. Don’t just listen to your music…experience it!

Vital Statistics:

Name: Ultimate Ears Super.fi 3 Studio

Where to Buy: Ultimate Ears

Price: $129.95

Tested With: Sandisk Sansa View

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