Ultimate Ears SuperFi 4 Noise Isolating Earphones
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The super.fi 4 uses the same speaker technology and sound signature that is used in our professional monitors. The noise isolating design reduces ambient interference and enhances quality of sound. The custom tuned balanced armature/speaker is enclosed in durable and lightweight aluminum housing. The super.fi 4 features two wearing styles, cable down for casual listening and over the ear while exercising. Accessories include a pocket ready hard carrying case, comfortable silicone fit tips with small, medium, large and dual flange fitting options and an airline attenuator for hearing protection when using an unstable sound source.
Features
- Custom-tuned speaker enclosed in lightweight aluminum for greater durability
- Stage and studio quality sound
- Noise isolating design attenuates outside noise by an amazing 26db
- Comfortable and secure ear loops
- Includes universal fit kit and a protective travel case to store earphones
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 7 x 3 x 6 inches
- Weight: 0 pounds
Poor quality and poor customer service
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!
Great for a Bit
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!)
Incredible professional sound in such a small package!
I purchased a pair of Super.Fi 4 earphones for use with my new iPhone 4. The metal earbud construction matched very well with the new iPhone, but it was the incredible sound I have heard others comment on, that made the Super.Fi 4 the product for me. Deep bass, clear midrange and accurate highs make me feel like I am in the original recording studio. Absoultely no comparison to the earbuds that came with my phone.
The Super.Fi 4 is extremely well made and very comfortable. The headphone cord is sturdy, yet flexible. A significant upgrade to the thin and flimsy cords on competing products. I am fairly rough on my headphones, being a regular at the gym and using for jogging, so these have been put to the test and passed with flying colors!
Do yourself a favor, if you own an iPod, iPhone or other quality music player, you owe it to yourself to unlock the sound quality potential these earbuds deliver. Simply amazing!
Avoid at all costs!
The main issue with these is where the wire joins the ear bud. The junction came loose after 6 months and there was no way to re-attach it to the bud since the whole housing separated. Customer service did not offer a solution beyond “buy another pair” so I bought another pair all right- of Audio Technicas. I will not but any Ultimate Ears product in the future.
No Bass, period
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.
This review will blow your mind.
Amazing and underrated phones. Here’s the deal – they got bad marks in a couple reviews because the little rubber bits that go in your ears are oddly sized and uncomfortable. But you know what? You can pull the tips off of ANY headphones and put them on instead. With a proper seal, these are amazing. The bass is crisp and strong without being overwhelming. It actually sounds like the instrument – a clear noise that sounds like a string being struck. The mids are perfect – warm and clear. I ended up listening to all of my music as if it was the first time again. I recommend using the classical EQ setting on an ipod.
I accidentally sat on my pair and knocked out one of the speakers pretty much one week after throwing out the receipt by mistake. I tried the Klipsch S4’s next based on the glowing cnet review, and it’s just not the same. The bass sounds muddy and the voices are tinny by comparison. They do have punchy sounding drums, which are nice, but it’s really not the experience I had before. I feel like notes are missing. I’m considering just shelling out for the SF4’s again and having the Klipsch be my running pair.
Really, these are 150 dollar headphones worth every penny, but they’re being sold for half price because people did not like the replaceable rubber tips. It’s insane. Take advantage of this.
Decent Sound, Weak Construction
I liked these earbuds, but unfortunately they didn’t hold up to my daily use.
Comfort
The silicone ear cushions were fairly comfortable. I could wear them for an hour or two without discomfort. The foam ear cushions were more comfortable, and I didn’t have any problem wearing them most of the day at work.
Sound Quality
Listening to mostly alternative and classic rock on an ipod, I preferred these to the comparably priced Shure and Sony earbuds I own.
Build Quality
Unfortunately, after about a month, I made the mistake of wrapping them around my ipod and putting them in my pocket. I was careful about how I wrapped them, and left some slack in the wire near the plug. The next time I used them, I found that one of the earbuds had a short. I’ve done the same thing many times with other earbuds, and I’ve never had a problem.
As long as my ipod is stationary, I’m able to wiggle the plug and get them to function properly. When I think I’m not going to be moving around, I still use these because I really do like the way they sound.
I would have liked to have given these earbuds a better rating, but they just didn’t earn it.
They are Great, but they broke, but logitech replaced them
Headphones sound great.
Headphones feel great.
They broke in about a year. But i called logitech (866-837-7734) and the native english speaking guy who answered the phone sent me a mailing label to exchange them with. All he needed was the manufacturing date code on the cable. I send them in free of charge, they sent me new ones.
The headphones have a 2 TWO year waranty. The box says one year but i called the company and they said it is 2 years.
STAY AWAY
i returned it 2 minutes after it arrived, really it was that bad….. you can buy better ones in the dollar store.
i got the Klipsch s4′rs in exchange and the ROCK!
Worst headphone I’ve ever used
Over the years, I’ve tried various brands of noise cancelling headphones, but these are actually music cancelling headphones. If it’s possible, these sound worse than the free (now $2) headphones that airlines give you to watch the inflight movie. I thought they were defective but working with Logitech tech support, they are supposed to sound this bad. Besides the poor sound quality, these are built cheaply with very thin wire and likely to break as other’s have suggested but I didn’t own mine that long to verify.
very awesome balanced armature drivers headphones
I am surprised they are not rated higher. They are really good balanced armature phones. I didn’t know I liked this technology that much until these. I prefered dynamic drivers before but I am impressed here. They are quite a bit more than Apple in Ear, even though Apple ones have two drivers. Still, UE produce noticably more pleasant overall sound, with larger soundstage, have more bass, much better quality midrange and even detail. Midrange is wonderful here, it’s neither forward nor recessed. They seem to have quite a flat response and are well balanced across all frequencies. None of the included tips worked for me, even comply ones which usually shine with my other headphones. The only tips that I can use are Shure orange foam for E2C and the like.
Mine Broke, too
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.
QC must be lacking
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.
Great sound for 7 1/2 weeks
Loved the sound – clarity, depth, range, etc. etc. etc. wonderful, amazing, great. Yay! Treated them gently and carefully (after reading the reviews) but dang! Perfection only lasted 7 weeks. One of the earbuds started to work erratically, problem towards the plug end. Boo. Called Logitech and was treated very well, and am now awaiting the prepaid shipping label to return the set for replacement. Yay! Hope they tweak the technology so the next pair works forever without the drama.
p.s. Logitech customer service was great – we returned the earbuds, and they replaced immediately with new ones. These have worked for 3 days now with no problem…
I almost wrote these off, but glad I didn’t!
I bought these at the same time as a set of UE MetroFi 220’s and did extensive listening to both to determine which would go with my main DAP setup(Sony NWZ-S639F + Fiio S3 headphone amp) and which would go with my secondary DAP (iTouch 16gb Second Gen). When first removed from the (beautiful) packaging, I was underwhelmed with the sound quality to say the least. Although the highs were clear and crisp, it lacked the low end “oomph” of the MetroFi’s. So much so, that I almost wrote them off and took them back. I’m glad I didn’t..
Now, I’ve never bought into the whole “break in period” and thought it to be more placebo than anything. Well I’m here to say, in this case, it isn’t. I let these run for approx 20hrs at mid volume on a source unit with above average bass output (the Sony) and it has made all the difference in the world. There is a definite increase of bass 100hz and below. Where previous to break-in there was a sharp bass rolloff at about 150hz, now its silky smooth all the way down to 30hz with rolloff shortly thereafter. A good test is the single bass note (I’m estimating to be around 40hz) at the beginning of “Body Language” by Jesse McCartney and T-Pain (Not really my kinda music, but this one is decent). With a proper DAP, the note is low and powerful. The great thing about the SuperFi 4s is, the bass is in no way sloppy or “fartish” like a lot of lower end IEM’s and does not overpower the mids and highs.
Speaking of mids and highs. These are some of the cleanest IEM’s I have ever heard. The mids and highs are crisp clear and powerful without any of the tinnyness you normally hear with single armature phones. I’ve actually heard things in my music I never noticed before. And I have a somewhat large collection of headphones from the cheapest of the cheap, all the way up to pairs costing $300.
I found, for me, the default medium-sized silicone ear tips to be the best balance of comfort and sound quality. However, UE includes several pair of other tips in different sizes and material for those that need/prefer something other than the default. They also include a plastic carrying case, but I never use included cases, so I cant comment on the usefulness.
After break-in, I have decided to keep these as my primary IEMs and use the MetroFis with the iTouch. I am very happy with the sound quality of these SuperFis and once broken in, can recommend these to those who want to spend a bit more and get above average sound quality.
NOTE: While writing this review, I went from listening to the above R&B song to Tool and both sound equally impressive. I’m quite satisfied.
Not long lasti ng
When I first got these I was very happy. The sound quality for the price was excellent. Comfort and fit also were excellent. If I was to write a review at the time it would have been five stars. But I found that the supplied ear ‘cushions’ did not stick to the housing after a moderate amount of use. So every tme I took them the earpuds out of my ear the cushions would slip off and stay in my ear and I would have to fish them out. This got irritating fast! I use my earpuds on a regular basis. One year down the track I found that the plastic used on the cord became more brittle and started to break at the junctions exposing the wire. Finally after a little more than a year, they finally had their day. While not huge money the irritation of having the cushions come off and the fact that they did not last longer led me to a two star review. I have not had this problem with any other earbud I have used and cannot recommend the SuperFi4’s
Poor durability
I returned these three times during the course of one year before I finally gave up on them.
One time the jack came unattached from the wire.
One time the left ear bud did not work ever. It was faulty straight out of the box.
Two times the the left ear bud quit working after 2-3 months.
I’m not particularly hard on my earphones. I’ve never had these types of problems with other ear buds. Customer service at Ultimate Ears seemed to acknowledge that there was an issue with the left ear bud on this model.
The sound was good when they worked but I’ll never purchase this brand again.
For Rap and Classic Rock fans. Not for Metal/Hard Rock
I bought these for $89 and own the metro.fi 2 from they same year as these (last years models I think). If you listen to classic rock like Led Zepplin, the Who, Stones, Beatles etc these head phones will be a good option. Even some modern pop rock like U2. Little Wayne sounded good if you listen to Rap. The bass seemed to carry but that is an easy sound to recreate. They have a very warm full mid range, decent treble and bass. In older mastering the bass is sufficient but in more modern hard rock, punk and metal recording they dont translate the sound, bass guitar notes dont carry and drums are muddled. Even the Killers “Mr Brightside” didnt seem bright. From tests Ive seen on wesbsite reviews prior to buying these they accurately reporduced the sound that is recorded. Alot of this has to do with modern mastering of audio using “loudness” whereas with speakers this small I dont think they can reproduce the sound do to their size and the compressed music files innate weakness. So these headphones actually seem to counteract the “loudness” method of recording. Which in some opinions may be a good thing but I prefer to listen to the music as it was chosen to be release by the artist. The metro.fi 2 were far superior sounding for modern music but didnt fit well. I can make the sound satisfactory using the IPOD EQ but at low ends the headphones become distorted. I am going to try the new version of the metro.fi 220.
UE SuperFi 4 – Not Worth the Money
These earphones are clearly better than the ones that come with your ipod, but in my opinion they are not worth anywhere near $100. I owned these UE’s for six months and decided to try earphones by Creative Technologies for $39. The ones by Creative were moderately better — deeper base and better fit.
Terrible design flaw, disappointing sound
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!