Ultimate Ears newest Super.Fi 5 earphones may be 80’s hair-metal approved, but are they good enough to take on the Sennheiser audio giant? You might just need to be a rock-star to afford them.
It’s time to record your deleriously cool music tracks: You’ve got your six string shredder ready to jam, while your keyboardist cuts open on a classic riff - but at the very last minute, your sound engineer storms off, enraged by the recording sound quality he’s hearing through his inferior quality earphones.
It’s the classic rock band nightmare. And enough to make us hope (or pray) that you'd have a pair of Ultimate Audio’s (UA) latest Super.Fi 5 in-ear headphones to save the day.
The Van Halen connection
The UE (Ultimate Ears) range of earphones were first designed by 80’s rock gods Van Halen (with a bit of help from their devoted sound engineer) in 1995.
The design of the earphones were to deliver a knockout blow of rock'n'fusion to the ear canal. Soon enough, all the bands were talking highly of UA's quality and they became well known through music circles as the makers of pro-quality gear. Later, the company was purchased by Logitech.
 |
| Designed by rockstars to look as good as they sound |
Rock n roll specs
Designed from liquid-silver plastic housing for a comfortable rock n roll fit, the Super.Fi 5 earphones feature a large frequency response range of 15 Hz to 15 kHz and a top sound pressure level (SPL) of 115 dB. The Super Fi range are known for their excellent custom armatures, that allow the headphones to shape the type of sound depending on its layers and characteristics, giving the listener the benefit of clean mids and highs, with bouncy, extra deep bass.
Choose the right size
Customers are given total flexibility with the Super.Fi 5 buds, as each box ships with three interchangeable soft-silicone ear tips and two Comply foam ear tips for a flexible, in-ear perfect fit. This creates a premium seal around the ear cavity, enfusing noise isolation of upto 26 dbs, handy for studio and recording sessions.
Rock n’ roll prices
Still, you might need that elusive record contract just yet, or even some hard earned gig money to buy every member of the band a pair of these: they’ll cost you $329 and that’s just for the Super Fi.5 mid-range model.
There is also a ‘multifunction’ model for $379.95 – the Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 5vi that features an iPhone music/video button that answers/ends phone calls and controls music/video on iPhone.
However, if your sights are set on the hottest pro heaphone (in-ear) model on the market, you may wish to try Ultimate Ears premier product, the Triple 10fi Vi. It's priced at a whopping $899, which could end up being the most money spent your band may ever spend on gear that isn’t beer or instruments.
Still, the UE models compare favourably for price. Take, for example the Sennheiser Orpheus , which for a stupendously high price of $27,999 (yes, that's the correct amount, your not seeing things) are still known as the world’s best (and most expensive) headphones. Ideally, at those prices you'd either want to be a rock star or be hope to be mixing the latest multimillion dollar album by the French Riviera.
 |
| This could be your ear - imagine how popular you'll be! |