Customer Reviews

Ultimate Ears MetroFi 170 Noise-Isolating Earphones

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have been putting the MetroFi 170's through their paces and I must say I'm impressed. For comparison purposes I used a similar quality set of Altec Lansing earbuds and a pair of Shure 110 earbuds. The Shure 110 earbuds are typically regarded as excellent and the Shure name is highly regarded. With that being said these Ultimate Ears actually sound better to me than the Shure set. The mids and highs seem crisper and clearer. Bass is about the same between the two. The biggest difference here is the price. The Ultimate Ears cost about half of what the Shure's cost and for that difference alone I recommend them over the more expensive Shure's. The Altec Lansings are very good earbuds as well but can't quite keep up with the Ultimate Ear's.

The MetroFi 170's are made with high quality materials and I would imagine they will take some abuse. I dropped them several times from about 5 feet onto hardwood floors and they came out unscathed. Two things I particularly like about the MetroFi's is that the right earbud has a red color which immediately identifies it to you as the right ear piece. Very convenient. Also, the included hardcase is a nice addition. Many times I throw headphones into my gymbag or laptop case and I am always a little concerned even with headphones that feature a softcase. This hardcase is nice and I don't have to worry about the earphones when I am travelling.

One thing to keep in mind. These are noise isolating headphones not noise cancelling. There is a difference. These go into your ear to help block out outside noise and isolate sound. Noise cancelling headphones require batteries and typically have a noise cancelling type of "white noise" when turned on. Just wanted to make sure everyone understood that. Overall a great set of earphones for the price.

I bought these headphones in June, and 2 months later, one of the earbuds stopped working. That's fine, I figured. I went on the Ultimate Ears website to get warranty support, and I saw they had a link to Logitech (which owns UE now). Again, that was fine, so I contacted Logitech. After numberous emails and weeks of no responses, I finally heard back from Logitech, and they mentioned that I would need to call Ultimate Ears in order to get warranty support.

I've spent too much time trying to get a replacement set, so I just decided to give up. It's not clear who to contact when you need warranty support, and perhaps that's why they have it set up that way (to discourage people from warranty claims). These headphones were good while they lasted, but I will never buy another Ultimate Ears or Logitech headphone set ever again.

I used to travel for a living, and had an expensive, large, and cushy pair of Sony sound isolating headphones - huge rubber earcups, and some nifty sound neutralizing technology. They were a pain to travel with, as they took up a lot of room and only really worked with batteries in. But they made it possible to hear music or podcasts on the plane, and reduced travel fatigue to a manageable level.

Unfortunately they were delicate. So rather than replace them, I tried a series of other phones. Most of the big ones were either more expensive than my Sonys or worked less than half as well. Earbuds, even the ones with variable-sized tips, just popped out of my left ear. Still I wanted a pair of convenient, lightweight headphones with enough sound isolation to be useful on a plane.

I was pleasantly surprised when I tried Logitech's MetroFi 170 earbuds. They work. Music and podcasts from my iPod were audible on a plane without cranking the volume up to dangerous levels. Even the armrest audio programming was tolerable through these.

You don't get the highest sound quality for this price, and I heard hiss behind a couple of string quartet and piano recordings. But they did the job, and they stayed in my ears. I don't know why they stayed - they don't look so different from other earbuds I've tried.

So if you want functional lightweight sound isolating headphones, and you have lumpy or odd ear canals, try these. Totally worth it. Just don't expect great musical fidelity. They're good enough for noncritical listening.

Earphones are always, always going to be extremely personal things. One person's excellence is another's mediocre. In the case of these Ultimate Ears (Logitech) MetroFi 170 Noise Isolating Earphones, from this person's standpoint (and from the wife's!) they're just not good quite enough.

Since there are several other reviews, I'll break it down for easier reference.

Pros:

1.) Nicely packaged. No scissors required (thankfully).

2.) Nifty little plastic carrier to store your earphones in when you're done with them.

3.) Three different size earpieces for the smaller, medium-sized, or larger ears.


Cons:

1.) While using a red color on the inside of the earphone to distinguish it as being the one that goes in your right ear, it's really not obvious in a darker environment which earphone is which. The red doesn't stand out well at all. It would have made a lot more sense for the white rubber inserts to be a different color instead, or to still have the white L and R symbols on the earphones, which would contrast well with the black material of the phones. My wife and I both tested these earphones, so for those worried about fashion you can't see the white rubber inserts when they're in your ears. So why not make one of them red?

2.) The actual cord is a very unfortunate, rubbery, stiff material. This doesn't lend itself well for casual wear. It's just not very ... malleable, for lack of a better word.

3.) Because the cord is very stiff, you can hear it moving even when you're listening to music at moderate levels. If you're using these on a treadmill or while running, and your music isn't VERY loud, you'll hear the constant sound of the cord movement. Very annoying!

4.) The sound. Notice I get to this last, because it's not something that stood out very well. The problem with these earphones is that they're designed for the high-end of the scale, i.e. if you like classical music, you'll dig these. If you like R&B or hip-hop, you'll be disappointed by the lack of low-end. I found the sound a little too "screechy" for my taste, with the high-ends giving me a bit of a headache. For the price, I'm just not super impressed.

Overall, just not quite good enough. From a design standpoint to a sonic standpoint, my wife and I both came away underwhelmed.

3/5

I was very happy to get a good deal on the MetroFi 170's after reading many, many product reviews that ranked them as good as, or better than, more expensive models. But after having them for awhile I am just plain underwhelmed.

My first issue is mainly one of physiology - I must have a very narrow ear canal because I simply cannot get a comfortable fit with even the smallest of the slip-ons. They always feel like I am forcing them in and then just don't want to stay put, like they are pushing themselves out as the rubber works itself out. I think this is definitely affecting the sound performance as they just sound flat to me. This problem is not unique to the MetroFi's as I had the issue with some add-on buds and it really takes work for me to get normal compressing earplugs in when working around the house.

My second issue is the audio, these headphones just don't sound good to me. I know it is blasphemy, but the stock iPhone headphones sound better. They don't seem to go as low as I like (I am not looking for thumping club base, but at least I should be able to sense it).

My final issue is also somewhat self inflicted - I actually like to hear some background noise when wearing the buds. I have a set of Bose noise cancellers that I use when I travel if I want to block the noise out, the sound isolation actually of the MetroFi's actually bothers me. The world sounds muffled and I can hear myself too much in my own ears (not fun when listening to podcasts or quiet music). I wear buds primarily when working out and when out running errands (in store, not behind the wheel) and I want to hear what is going on around me: is there are car coming up behind me, the wife calling me from upstairs, is someone behind me in line asking a question, etc...

All in all I think these may end up in the back of the drawer to eventually be given away with my old iPods to family.

My review is based on the assumption that you will pay the current Amazon listed price (49.99).

I tested these earphones against my ultra-comfortable Panasonic RP-HT260 Monitor Headphones and an old earbud set that came with a Sony Discman many years ago.

There were two test songs, a pop song and a classical song. The pop song was Flashdance...What A Feeling. The classical song was the first movement of Bruch's violin concerto from the CD Mendelssohn, Bruch: Violin Concertos / Chung, Kempe. No particular reason for these choices; just what I felt like listening to at the time.

Now I absolutely love my Panasonic monitor headphones, but these Logitech earphones blow the former out of the water on sound quality. I couldn't believe how much clearer and more vivid (for lack of a better word) the songs sounded with the Logitech earphones. As might be expected, the Discman earphones were also inferior to these Logitech ones.

I'm usually not a fan of earbud style headphones (much prefer the over-the-head type) because they're often uncomfortable. But these Logitech ones are probably the most comfortable I've ever used.

It's really nice that there are three sizes of ear cushions. My right ear seems to be smaller than my left ear, so with other earbuds, if it fit one ear nicely, it didn't fit the other.

With these earbuds, I can use two different sizes of ear cushions!

I have a gripe with the carrying case. It's just an empty case, and you stuff the earphones inside. There's no winding mechanism to prevent the cord from getting all tangled and jumbled.

Is it worth the price? For full price, I'd say maybe, depending on how important comfort and sound quality are for you. If these earphones get discounted from the full price, then I'd definitely recommend them.

Full disclosure: I received a free sample of this product but was not paid for the review.

Thank you for reading!

Ultimate Ears MetroFi 170
Positives: carrying case, adequate sound quality
Negatives: fit, nothing special about the sound

I really wanted to like these earphones. Made by Logitech, a very consumer-friendly company, they come very professionally packaged. I should have a wing in my house dedicated to all my Logitech products and I was hoping that I had found a reasonably priced set of earphones. I know that you can spends mega-bucks on your connection to music - but I have never been able to appreciate the difference between $30 and $100 earphones. I can tell $10 earphones right away, but once north of $30, I just don't appreciate the difference.

I always have two distinct problems with earphones: I either stick them in a coat pocket and lose them for several weeks, or I manage to damage the cords, accidently zipping them in a jacket, or breaking the sensitive connections somewhere. So when I replace them, I look for something that will let me hear the crisp clean bass notes of Mars in Gustav Holst's The Planets, or the high tones of Joe Morello's cymbals in Take Five.

When I got the Ultimate Ears 170s from Amazon, I opened the box, was impressed with packaging, the carrying case, the Quick Start Guide (I'm not kidding - there is a multipage mini-booklet that tells you how to use them!) but not so much with the actual product. The cords are not impressively constructed, nor is there any marking of left channel vs. right channel on the earphones. Instead of L vs R, there is a red tint on the inside of the right earphone which is the visual clue. There is a nice case - about twice the thickness of a tick tack container - that holds the earphones when not in use. OK, how do they measure up in the only two tests that earphones need to pass?

FIT: think about it... I don't care if earphone sound quality brings you two steps closer to heaven - if they don't fit right - if they hurt or if they just can't stay in your ears without constant pressing, twisting, re-insertion - they're just not going to work!

I'd rather have mediocre sound quality with `phones that stay in my ears, than great sounding earphones that I have to constantly adjust or that fall out with the slightest head motion. And here, the Ultimate Ears don't make the cut for me. I tried all three sizes of the ear cushions that came with the package - none fit securely. I felt like a rejected bear in a bad Goldilocks fable - none of them felt just right. After settling on the smallest size, I tried living with these earphones for a day. Just sitting down in a restaurant, I tried listening to some rock, and I could not keep the earphones in place. Just turning my head or looking up pulled the earphones out of one of my ears. I then tried the next larger size of the cushions again, and nope - these just are not fitting. OK, maybe I have weird ears. Onto the next measure.

SOUND QULAITY: Gee, maybe I can tell the world that, despite their not fitting my aural cavities, they sound great! No, strike two in a two strike league. They sound OK. Not bad - I can hear those bass notes and those highs, but not with any particular clarity or `color'... the earphones have good, but not great sound distinction. If I could get the darned things to fit, I would use these as backup reserves to my Creative cheapies - $30 - that have the best sound of any inexpensive set of earphones I own. But the fit of the Ultimate Ears is the killer for me. OK - not great - sound and a poor fit for my ears.

One of the earbuds just stopped working after 2 months. I use them a lot but I also took care of them. They should not have stopped working. I've probably used 4-5 other sets of earbuds a varying quality. These are the worst I've tried!

I purchased the Ultimate Ears Metro Fi 170's after much internet research and comparisons of specifications. I was convinced I would be getting a really nice sounding unit with the flexibilty of multiple ear cushions. I was right on one count .... but for some strange reason, I could not get the ear cushions to stay in my ears. When I held the ear pieces snuggly against my ear canal the sound quality was amazing. I have never heard such bass response from earphones before and the range from them was awesome. But the faintest movement of my head or jaw and the silicone type buds would slither out of my ear. I tried everything, even dampening them a little before inserting. but that only helped for a few seconds. I was frustrated and reluctantly sold then to a workmate who has no problems at all with the fitting! I then purchased some Sony earphones with similar looking cushions... and they fit wondefully and stay in place even when jogging! I honestly have no answer as to why the Ultimate Ears cushions don't stay in my ears but that's a gamble you take when you buy online.

First thing: Noise-isolating earphones are not necessarily the best choice for all situations. Because they largely occlude the ear canal, they do indeed push most background noise to the background, if not eliminate it completely. But the sensation is kind of like having your fingers stuck in your ears: your own voice will sound much louder than normal (and if you sing along with a voice like mine, that's NOT a good thing). Additionally, you will hear impacts of your own footfalls if you're exercising, even walking briskly. For me, noise-isolating phones are best when sedentary and in noisy situations like airplanes.

Having said that, not all noise-isolating headphones are created equal. I also have a pair of Apple headphones that can be used as a telephone headset. Although they, like the Ultimate Ears, come with different sizes of rubber "ear plugs," the Apple headphones don't stay put as well as the Ultimate Ears set does. Construction seems solid, too, without being particularly bulky.

For my purposes, it would be nice if the cord were about a foot longer, and if there were a lapel clip to keep the cord from pulling at my ears, for instance while gardening. Nevertheless these are very good headphones, stay put well, and are my current top choice.