Customer Reviews

Ultimate Ears SuperFi 4 Noise Isolating Earphones

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(23)
1 star:		(41)

 

 

I'm a club DJ and have always used over-the-ears for work, but in-ear for play.
I bought these about 2-3 months ago.
I had conducted extensive research into "mid-grade," in-ear, ear-bud type earphones. I found that Shure, Ety, and UE were at the top of the review lists.
After careful consideration of sound quality, noise isolation, looks, and durability, I went with the Super.Fi 4

Pros:
They look sharp, and they are the smallest in the UE line-up. I'm not a fan of large earphones (I sometime sleep with them on)
The sound quality is great. After they are "broke-in" they sound superb in the mid and high tones. The lows are lacking.
I know how to set an EQ and how to sound test equipment--point black, if you like any kind of R&B, Hip-Hop, Electronic/Dance music, you'll want something with a little more "thump"
They come with a multitude of earpieces (I prefer the double flange)

Cons:
Now, the reason for the 2-star rating:
The lows suffer--really! I've gotten clearer, punchier, bass response for a $20 pair of Sony buds.
The construction is cheep, wait, I meant CHEAP! The wires are "angle-hair thin" and the connections are thrown together.

THE KICKER: My left side shorted out after three weeks--Three Weeks!
When I contacted the company they were of no help. The "Service Rep" I spoke with treated me very disrespectfully, and didn't seem at all concerned that the "earphones of the stars" went bust inside of a month.
I told them I wanted a refund, and sent them the goods with a receipt. They said no, and then tried to sell me another pair for twice the original price. When I said "hell no," they agreed to send a replacement pair (I had to pay the shipping--are you kidding me?)
All-in-all I would never again buy anything from this company. I don't care how recommended some of their products are.
I'm all-about customer service.

THIS COMPANY DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU ULESS YOU HAVE A RECORD DEAL!
I don't know why they got into the retail market

I saw that the reviews on the site broke down between 4 and 5 stars with comments that "They sound great", and then 1 and 2 star reviews that said "They sound great - and then they broke". Well, mine sounded great for about two weeks, and then the left earpiece stopped playing sound. Short of carrying these around in a velvet case wrapped in Titanium, I couldn't have handled these things much more delicately. I never used them during jogging, I stored them in their carry case, and was gentle handling them.

To Logitech's credit, I got in touch with a live person fairly quickly, and they are sending me a replacement. But if I had it to do over again, I would stay far, far away from these headphones.

I bought these locally because I had a discount coupon for any store item. I was looking for a backup set for my Klipsch S4's and wanted to try something different.

I had read online the UE's were very good earphones and thought I'd give the Fi4's a shot since they were same price as my Klipsch's. I plugged them into my IPod Nano and immediately noticed I could not hear the click of the click wheel or menu selections. I thought something was wrong with my IPod, but when I played a song, I was shocked. There was no bass, NONE, I could not hear any instruments, only vocals and the vocals sounded like they were coming out of a coffee can. I tried quite a few songs/genres but it was still the same. They were obviously a defective set.

I went back to the store and asked to replace them with another set fo Fi4's. When I got the set out to the car and plugged them in, they sounded good, EXCEPT that the right bud would short out occasionally.
I ended up returning the second set and getting another set of the Klipsch S4's.

It's a shame because I really wanted to like UE's, I had hoped to get the Ultimate Ears 700 in the future, but I'm a little leery of the quality control now.

The Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 4 earphones are a great mid-level pair of earphones. They have a very warm and well-balanced sound, with clear bass and mids and crisp highs. Bass is not excessive, but very respectable, even using a `flat' equalizer. I'm very happy with the sound on my laptop or iPod, and the noise isolation is impressive - once you get the correct fit they mask much of the surrounding noise. This is much better and more pleasant than `active' noise reducing `phones, and works really well when flying.

If you've never worn in-ear headphones before (as I had not), a recommendation would be to try out a pair first to see if you can stand having them in your ear, comfortably and for a while. To see if I liked in-earphones, I bought a pair of the Coby super bass earphones for $5 and wore them for a while (for $5 these are remarkably good earphones, but not up to UE quality and sound). I tried all except for the large size silicone plugs that come with the UE Super.Fi 4's, and it was immediately clear which was the correct fit since you lose all bass and much of the mids when the fit is not right. Plus, they can be worn up over the ear, or down, which is a great choice for people like me with glasses that can get in the way.

All in all, a very good pair of earphones. They sound great, look great and are very light and easy to use. Are they value for money? That's a personal decision, but considering their sound quality, and the fact that you can pay over a grand for the best earphones, i'd say these are worth the money (shop around, prices vary considerably).

Nice headphones...as long as they do not break. I have gone through 2 pairs with less than averge wear and no abuse. Since being purchased by Logitech, Customer Service is awful and return policies are not fitting for a high-end product like this.

AVoid these headphones if you plan on using them heavily or care about potential to get shafted by returns policy.

Looking for a set of earphones to replace the flawed Shure e2bs that I bought (and have since disintegrated) I thought I'd try these after a co-worker offered them at a discount due to having an in connection.

These earphones are worthless. Most frustrating of all is I cannot get a refund due to the nature of my purchase. Let this be a warning. Do not get these.

The prime problem is the design flaw of the tube that holds the in-ear material. It simply does not hold the silicone sound isolators with the tube when you remove them from your ear. This will result in you using whatever you can get your hands on to pry the remaining parts from inside your ear.

Absurd!

The bottom line is that these headphones have no bass. I'm not saying they don't have great bass or super-overwhelming bass (like the Bose), they have no bass at all. The songs actually sound different because there is NO BASS. Maybe I got a dud or something?

They're also very poor quality, i had the over the counter warranty and in one year I exchanged 5 pairs. Keep in mind I use them every day, but I don't abuse them.

The midrange is amazing, but once I started trying other speakers, even $20 dollar Skullcandy's (ughhh), I found the sound to be so unbalanced it was unacceptable, regardless of the midrange.

Unhappy with the fit and sound of my stock IPOD earbuds, I looked extensively for a replacement. Without checking any reviews, I bought a pair of $30 Sony earbuds... what a mistake. Pure garbage. I can't believe they put their name on them. I used them for no more than 20 sec and returned them to Circuit City the next day.

So I searched online and narrowed it down to the Ultimate Ears brand. All great reviews. I settled on these and boy I am happy.

Pros:

-Excellent, crisp, non-tingy sound.
-Isolates sound
-Exquisite detail in songs that you've never heard before
-Cool look; they are much smaller than their other models; do not stick out of your ear; The other models make you look like Frankenstein, very odd look to them
-Go in your ear and the wire does not go over the ear, an important point if you wear sunglasses or eyeglasses when wearing them.
-Wire does not feel flimsy, sturdy construction
-Not nearly as expensive as their other models
-Comes with several different sized earpieces

Cons:

-Made in China (what else is new)
-Cheap plastic protective carry case that is guaranteed to break... their other models come with really snazzy metal cases

Tips:

-When you buy these, make sure you try ALL sizes of the rubber earpieces. Tight fit is essential, as an incorrect fit will leak sound and it sounds bad.
-If you use these outdoors, be VERY alert, They are so good at blocking outside noises, that you might not hear traffic until it is right on top of you. They do what they are supposed to do and isolate the music.
-Try to keep you ears clean ans wax will build up on the rubber earpieces. They give you a tool to clean, but I never used it.
-For cleaning, use a sink with some kind of stopper or fill a bowl with soapy water (so you don't lose them), put the earpieces in you hand with some liquid hand soap or mild dishwashing detergent, rub them in you hand with the soap for 20-30 sec, This will remove and wax, dirt, or dust. Use a q-tip for the inside. Let dry for 15 min or so.

I bought these to replace a pair of Ultimate Ears SuperFi 3's that I really liked. But within a couple of weeks, I started having problems - the connection at the plug started the sound to cut in and out. Judging by reading the other reviews, this seems to be a common problem and in my opinion, a product defect. I contacted customer service who agreed to replace them as they were still under warranty. That's the good news. It took them more than four weeks to finally send me a replacement pair. 4 weeks! If these had been my only pair of headphones, what was I supposed to use in the meantime? I guess the company feels I should be grateful that they replaced them in the first place? Incidentally, I had also purchased a pair of MetroFi 200's that came down with the same problem. I sent those in too as they also were under warranty. I'm still WAITING for those headphones to be replaced!! It is nearly 3 MONTHS since I sent those back. 3 MONTHS!!! On two occasions, I contacted their customer service asking if I could get something else even if it meant PAYING MORE to get a pair of headphone sooner. And yet, I'm STILL WAITING!

If you are looking for a pair of headphones, look for ANYTHING other than Ultimate Ears OR anything owned by Logitech (who own Ultimate Ears). Poor construction, and TERRIBLE customer service. By contrast, I have a pair of Shure E2C headphones that not only outlasted the SuperFi 3's, but have been through a wash and STILL WORK! I repeat, avoid Ultimate Ears at ALL COSTS!

I really really wanted to love this earphone. It sounded great and it looks great.
It completely stopped working while I was on vacation in China (1 month after purchase). Went without out tunes for majority of the trip and on the trip back.
(I didnt want to buy earphones in china...bootleg everywhere!)