Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5 Pro Earphones Review

by Kevin O'Brien

Sound isolating headphones are becoming very popular these days, with inner ear headphones or active noise canceling headphones being the most popular choices. These types of headphones help to reduce as much outside noise as possible, while giving the audio enthusiast very good sound reproduction. With so many models on the market, listeners have a wide range of options or styles to choose from to best match their personality or body. This review covers the Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5 Pro earphones, so stick around and see if this model fits your needs.

Specifications

• Input Sensitivity: 119dB/mW
• Frequency Response: 20 to 16,000 Hz
• Impedance: 21 ohms
• Internal Speaker Configuration: Two precision balanced armatures
• Noise Isolation: -26dB
• Input connector: 1/8" (3.5mm) gold plated
• Weight With cable assembly: 0.6 oz
• Retail Price: $249.99

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Build Quality and Design

The Super.Fi 5 Pro earphones are offered in multiple colors, including clear, white, and black. The design is very nice and slim, but long enough to stick out of your ears further than other models. For listener comfort and fit, Ultimate Ears includes a nice assortment of sleeves in multiple sizes and styles.

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I felt the build quality of the earphones was top notch, while still being incredibly lightweight. With durability being a factor with something of this size, one attribute I really liked was the user replaceable cables. If the wire is damaged or accidentally cut, it is very simple to unplug each side and replace with a new cable. With many models costing considerably more than $100, letting the user replace a $20 cable for a simple mistake is better than having to purchase an entirely new set of earphones.

User Comfort and Fit

I should probably start off by saying that my ears are quite picky, and some headphones have fitment issues. With the Super.Fi 5 Pros, this problem cropped up, but was resolved using aftermarket ear canal sleeves. None of the stock sleeves seemed to fit correctly inside my ears, causing an improper seal and that side wanting to pop out of my ear.

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To help with comfort the cables have moldable wire lengths near the earpiece, to create a loop to hold onto your earlobe. At first I didn't enjoy the stiff section of cable on my ear, but once I had it shaped perfectly to keep the main lengths of wire off my neck, my view was swayed.

Performance

Sound quality was excellent no matter if I was watching a movie or listening to my favorite music. The Super.Fi 5 Pro's were equipped with two drivers, one for high frequency and another for low frequency. Compared to other single driver earphones, you could clearly tell the difference with better bass and high notes. Cymbals came through with a delicate crash, and drums with an appropriate thump.

1. High Frequency Driver
2. Low Frequency Driver
3. Sound shaping filters
4. Passive crossovers

Performance at both high and low volume levels were excellent. At higher volume levels the sound would stay clear even cranked to the point of creating physical pain in my ears. This type of performance should please both easy listeners and those who want to deafen themselves in short order.

Conclusion

To get such impressive audio performance from a device that weighs less than a handful of change is incredible. While the price can be a bit much to swallow, I find it fully worth it considering how great these things sound. The Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5 Pro's are a great investment if you have demanding tastes in audio for your ears. The only downside is you might get stuck in a path to eventually purchase the fully custom Ultimate Ears 11 Pro models one day.

Pros

• Great audio performance, both low and high
• Replaceable cables
• Multiple color options

Cons

• High pricetag
• May have to turn to custom sleeves if you have mutant ears like me

 

Very nice review.

I own a set of Super.Fi 3s that I got for $40, and the one thing I love about them is the user-replaceable cable. My Shures are fraying everywhere, and they won't replace them because I don't have a receipt. Oh well.

Excellent job, Kevin.

 

I love these earphones, too. I'd love to find a set of custom, after-market ear sleeves. Where did you get yours?

 

I am using the Shure "olive foam" pieces that had the center piece streched out from ramming it over a pen tip.

 

Wow when has notebookreview became headfi? If people want info on headphones, they could always checkout the headfi forums...

 

Don't worry. Kevin has just been obsessed with headphones lately. We're going to stay focused on notebooks and related accessories.

 

How many hours have you used your earphones before reviewing?

Also, it would be nice if there is bit more information about sound signature of Super.Fi 5 Pro. Oh, wait, this is no HeadFi.

BTW, I am thinking of getting UE tips (the rightmost one on your picture) for use with my ATH-CK7, to improve noise isolation - I hope it will fit my ears!

And yeah, I wish if my ATH-CK7 had user-replaceable cables and packaging comparable to their competitors, but oh well.

 

I broke them in for probably 20 hours or so (ipod overnight). They didnt change much from right out of the box, to even 30-40 hours in.

 

I think it is worth mentioning that in this price range of headphone it might be worthwhile to also consider a basic headphone amp. Notebook onboard sound is rarely very good, so an external amp that decodes digital might create a further improvement for earphones like these. I have a pair of Shure SE530s and bought a HeadRoom Total BitHead for my notebook and work PC. What a great combo and the BitHead doesn't add alot of extra cost IMHO.

Anyway, don't want to stray too OT. If you're into good sound on a small budget check out that Headfi forum. Hide your credit card first though.

 

Very nice review!

If they are really as good as this review say .. I might consider getting those.
(Damn, now I feel like I wasted 90$ on some Philips isolating earphones >_<)

 

I hear they're pretty good quality earphones, but I just dont like the sticking out of the ear design, especially for mp3 players.

 

Oh god so true. I was this | | close away from seeing a local audiologist and getting some UE10's.

My Shure SE530's have been working great without a headphone amp, although the jack on my notebook isnt really hiss free.

 

So whats your comparative verdict between these UE5 pro's and your SE530's
I am tossing up between the SE420's and 530's with the 430's being a nearer competitor to the ones you review here [even though their more expensive.

The one thing that puts me off UE brand is the amount they stick out of your ears compared to shure.

What do you reckon?

 

Same here!

I wasted my money on Philips Nose canceling headphones too. They driver is HUGE and the AAA battery thingy is huge. The 3 different size ear-bud sucks too. The small is too lose, and the mid is bit too small and the big is way too big.

I was very close to getting Shure 210 or 310 but it was beyond my price range. I end up getting the Sony MDR-EX90LP.

I got 2 pairs of EX70 from long time ago and I really like them. The only down side is the poor quality of the cables. Both pairs end up dying after 1-2 years.

I also got a question for Kevin

On paper, Shure specification is much better than UE specification.

Since you said you have the SE530 which is one of the best headphones in the market, why spend another 250 for UE.5?

 

^ love of collecting stuff?

And yeah, I don't see the point of these "inner-ear noise-canceling headphones", neither. Also, MDR-EX90 is supposed to be pretty good as well.

 

definitely, considering he has bought himself a bunch of IEMs already

 

You're not comparing apples to apples. The 530's are triple drivers while the UE5's are dual driver. Obviously the triple drivers will be superior.

I would recommend going here earphonesolutions.com and reading some reviews/pictures to help you decide.
visual comparisonn by price: http://www.earphonesolutions.com/side-by-side-comparison-headphones.html


If you have the money go for the 530's hands down. The 530 competition would be the UE Triple FI, also triple drivers. Westone is coming out with the triple driver too, UM3's very soon (a month or so). I have the UM2's and they're great, ranked 2nd after the 530's along with the 420's but I love the Um2's design a lot better.

ES ranks: http://www.earphonesolutions.com/beeaforip.html

 

Yes,I do actually realise one has 2 drivers and the other has three....I was asking Kevins opinion because of that very reason,and he is using what an audiophile would call a "low quality sound source" notebook output.
Considering some of these so called audiophiles say using 530's is a waste with either compressed music or said low quality dac and amp....it would be nice to hear this from a normal,non fanboy type that doesn't use words like "warm" and "high end rolloff" type of crud.

And yes,your westone's do look nice,but I prefer the cable system on the Shure's.

Thanks for the links anyway.

 

Well this is how I see it. Going from the SE210 to SE530 is a massive jump in audio quality. The SE210's never got the highend or lower bass that I wanted, but the SE530's filled in perfectly in those areas. The SF5P was a jump above the SE210's, and only a fraction below the SE530's in a couple of spots.

Now keep in mind this is getting to the point of comparing different shades of the color blue, but here goes. Comparing the UE SF5's directly to the SE530s I noticed the UE had a tad deeper or more pronouced bass. The highend is similar but the se530's seem to hit the finer peaks where the UE's might gloss over them. Listening to music with a lot of intricate high points like some classical sources or jazz the se530's managed clearly output those items, where the UE's might not have been able to get as high.

Regarding fit the UE's take much more tweaking to get them sitting on my ear in a way that doesnt bother me. That flexible metal part really bothered me, but at least you replace the cable with something else.

Now about my audio source, my main choice is my computer (desktop with optical output to H/K stereo) playing high bitrate mp3's. My notebook, ipod video, ipod touch, and even ipod shuffle are more than enough for driving the se530's at the volume levels I listen at. While an amp has been suggested, I can reach levels that can physically hurt my ears with the source still not distorting the earphones output.

With most of my audio collection in the 256-320kbps bitrate range, I have a few things that give some compression noise, but most has been ok. I plan on replacing all of it with lossless or straight 320 when I get the chance, but for now its perfect. My primary source of content has been DD5.1 or DTS from TV shows or movies, and that has been perfect for the earphones.

 

Awesome post Kevin...thanks soo much.

Pretty much decided from your post that the triple driver 530 won't be much benefit to me over a dual driver model with most of my music being 128 bitrate with a bit of 256 and 320 mixed in since I've had a set of proper IEM's that came with my XDA flame[which as far as I can see has the same wolfson chip as the touch etc]....will be using the XDA and my notebook as sound source with no amp or external sound card....although as you point out....things like this can easily snowball

I'm glad you also mentioned the 210's as I was wondering whether I was over buying IEM quality for my most used music source and was considering getting those [SE210]just because I was worried I'd be wasting money on anything better.

Guess I'm gonna be reripping a lot of music shortly

Thanks again.

 

I have not posted a reply on this website for a very long time now but after seeing a review of my current IEM, i had to say something

I agree with virtually every aspect of the review, so great stuff...kevin.
The earphones do require a bit of work and mastering to get it at a very comfortable wear. It took me a week because like kevin, i think i also have mutant ears . None of the stock sleeves was a perfect fit and so i had to look for an after-market solution. Another learning curve was how its meant to be worn. Unlike normal earphones which you can just stick them into your ears without worrying about positioning, these require a little more patience. It is worn with the socket facing up and wires are tucked behind you ear. There is a "Rock n roll" technique to get these things to fit properly and i think UE has a video demonstrating this.

They are great earphones and i will recommend them to anyone who wants to shed a few extra bucks for better quality.

DISCLAIMER:Frequent use of these earphones are liable to covert you to an audiophile and change one's taste for only premium gadgets. Users discretion is advised.

 

I dunno if I would like to pay this much for a set of headphones I mean they might be the best but I could buy a 8800GT with some of those prices.

 

Yea well it goes into the same category of buying a nice TV, nice computer monitor, nice computer chair, etc. If you are going to be putting hundreds or thousands of hours of use into it, why cheap out if its not *that* expensive.

 

FWIW, I mainly got my amp for its builtin crossfeed and to avoid the noisey analog outputs in PCs. Headroom's crossfeed is great. But I guess there are software alternatives...

 

The beauty of quality sound hardware is that it'll last years, possibly decades if you take care of it. In one year or less an 8800GT will be outdated and slow...

 

Aragon you can boot up an 1990 Mac still to this date, so if you take care of technology that will last forever as well.

 

Perhaps I should have been more specific with my words. Quality sound equipment doesn't date nearly as quickly as computer hardware. In fact in some cases old sound equipment sounds better than the latest and greatest on the market.

 

i dont know if this has been mentioned yet.
but the atrio m5 is also getting much love from headfi.

it's about the same price too.

if this is the UE5 non - EB version, i've heard the bass is lacking...

also. if your running on notebook audio, try using asio4all.
it was like night and day for me.