Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro

I had never heard of Ultimate Ears before I started this review. Shows you how much attention I had been paying to the MP3 player world. But, I am glad I got a chance to test some, because they  . . . are . . . great!

The UE 5 Pros have a $249.99 MSRP, an impedance of 21 ohms, a sensitivity of 119 dB/mw, and weigh half an ounce each. Each ear phone has two drivers.

These phones are comfortable, and lightweight, but they are curved, so that means you have to insert them in the correct orientation, so that they go into the ear canals properly.

The sound is detailed, with no audible distortion, but that is how all the ear phones sound.

However, the frequency response does not have any hump in the 1 kHz to 4 kHz range at all, which means no EQ is needed here. On the other hand, the bass and low mids are rolled off a few dB. The Deep EQ setting fixes this. Otherwise, the sound is a bit thin.

20 Hz THD+N was low, but not as low as some of the other ear phones.

1 kHz performance was reasonable, but notice that the third harmonic is higher than the second. Compare this with, say the Denon AH-C700, where the second harmonic is the principle one. It is better to have even-ordered harmonics (i.e., the second) more prominent, rather than odd-ordered harmonics (i.e., the third).

At 10 kHz, the second harmonic was almost non-existent. Very nice.

IMD was higher than the other in-ear phones tested here. However, that is not necessarily an intensely audible phenomenon. But, it is distortion.

I gave the 5 Pros an 8 for sound, and an 8 for fit.

Click Here to Go to Part V.

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