well sort of...
Ultimate Ears makes personal custom-molded monitors for everyone from the Who to Cirque du Soleil. Now you can get headphones of similar quality without having a professional audiologist make molds of your ears, thanks to the new UE triple.fi 10 Pro.
Designed to please true audiophiles, the triple.fi have three tiny speakers in each earphone. The high-frequency driver is the same one used in the company's famous custom UE-10 Pro monitors. Sound shoots into your ear canal via a dual-bore tube, which has separate holes for high and low frequencies. They're also extremely comfortable, with a very secure fit provided by the flexible over-the ear loops. The metallic blue color of the earphones provides an elegant accent without being garish or boring.
I found the sound to be gloriously well balanced, with sparkling highs, tight bass, and an impressive amount of detail in the midrange. I tested them against another triple-driver set of earphones, the Shure E500PTH, as well as my Etymotic ER4-P (with the S-adapter cable attached), and I definitely prefer the triple.fi 10 Pro above all of them. Compared with the Shure E500, the triple.fi's bass is tighter and less overwhelming, and the highs are more prominent and crisp. The Etymotic headphones are more accurate, but that means less bass and a somewhat harsh overall sound compared with the triple.fi, which sounds warmer and has stronger bass. Overall, the triple.fi gives me the best balance and most expansive sound among any in-ear models I've tested.
The triple.fi is an efficient set of headphones, but not quite to the same degree that the Shure E500 is. Still, it's been optimized for use with portable music players (and terminates in a gold-plated, L-shaped, eighth-inch stereo minijack), so your devices will have no trouble whatsoever driving it.
Included flexible over-the-ear loops and the relatively nonintrusive silicone tips (foam tips are also included) make for a very secure fit and eliminate any noise from the cables. Although the noise isolation isn't quite as effective as that of the Shure and Etymotic headphones, the triple.fi blocks out plenty of ambient sound. It's also easy to get a good seal once you've figured out which size tips (three sizes are included) is right for your ears. Choosing a proper tip is also important for getting the best possible sound out of in-ear headphones. Foam tips provide slightly better isolation than silicone ones for some people, though your results may vary.
Inside the package are a metal hard case, cleaning tool, fit kit with silicone and foam tips, a level attenuator (for high-output audio sources), and a quarter-inch plug adapter. Of course, the Shure E500PTH's modular cable design and Push-To-Hear unit are certainly nice perks, but the triple.fi's replaceable cables are more practical. In addition, the handy flexible loops and nonintrusive tips make it very easy to slip the headphones out of your ears temporarily when you need to hear what's going on around you.
At $399.99 (direct), the Ultimate Ears UE triple.fi 10 Pro is definitely aimed at the audiophile crowd. That said, consumer MP3 players and other portables have absolutely no problem driving these high-end headphones, and they're excellent for enjoying every subtle nuance of music, whether you're in the office, at home, commuting, or on a plane. My only gripe is that they're a little bit on the bulky side, tending to stick out of your ears a fair amount; I sometimes feel a bit Frankenstein-ish, but the comfort and sound quality are well worth it.
Ultimate Ears makes personal custom-molded monitors for everyone from the Who to Cirque du Soleil. Now you can get headphones of similar quality without having a professional audiologist make molds of your ears, thanks to the new UE triple.fi 10 Pro.
Designed to please true audiophiles, the triple.fi have three tiny speakers in each earphone. The high-frequency driver is the same one used in the company's famous custom UE-10 Pro monitors. Sound shoots into your ear canal via a dual-bore tube, which has separate holes for high and low frequencies. They're also extremely comfortable, with a very secure fit provided by the flexible over-the ear loops. The metallic blue color of the earphones provides an elegant accent without being garish or boring.
I found the sound to be gloriously well balanced, with sparkling highs, tight bass, and an impressive amount of detail in the midrange. I tested them against another triple-driver set of earphones, the Shure E500PTH, as well as my Etymotic ER4-P (with the S-adapter cable attached), and I definitely prefer the triple.fi 10 Pro above all of them. Compared with the Shure E500, the triple.fi's bass is tighter and less overwhelming, and the highs are more prominent and crisp. The Etymotic headphones are more accurate, but that means less bass and a somewhat harsh overall sound compared with the triple.fi, which sounds warmer and has stronger bass. Overall, the triple.fi gives me the best balance and most expansive sound among any in-ear models I've tested.
The triple.fi is an efficient set of headphones, but not quite to the same degree that the Shure E500 is. Still, it's been optimized for use with portable music players (and terminates in a gold-plated, L-shaped, eighth-inch stereo minijack), so your devices will have no trouble whatsoever driving it.
Included flexible over-the-ear loops and the relatively nonintrusive silicone tips (foam tips are also included) make for a very secure fit and eliminate any noise from the cables. Although the noise isolation isn't quite as effective as that of the Shure and Etymotic headphones, the triple.fi blocks out plenty of ambient sound. It's also easy to get a good seal once you've figured out which size tips (three sizes are included) is right for your ears. Choosing a proper tip is also important for getting the best possible sound out of in-ear headphones. Foam tips provide slightly better isolation than silicone ones for some people, though your results may vary.
Inside the package are a metal hard case, cleaning tool, fit kit with silicone and foam tips, a level attenuator (for high-output audio sources), and a quarter-inch plug adapter. Of course, the Shure E500PTH's modular cable design and Push-To-Hear unit are certainly nice perks, but the triple.fi's replaceable cables are more practical. In addition, the handy flexible loops and nonintrusive tips make it very easy to slip the headphones out of your ears temporarily when you need to hear what's going on around you.
At $399.99 (direct), the Ultimate Ears UE triple.fi 10 Pro is definitely aimed at the audiophile crowd. That said, consumer MP3 players and other portables have absolutely no problem driving these high-end headphones, and they're excellent for enjoying every subtle nuance of music, whether you're in the office, at home, commuting, or on a plane. My only gripe is that they're a little bit on the bulky side, tending to stick out of your ears a fair amount; I sometimes feel a bit Frankenstein-ish, but the comfort and sound quality are well worth it.
It takes about 5-10 minutes to get used to the new sound.
