dcmidnight
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2007
- Posts
- 18
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- 0
I got the super.fi 3 clears this week and have really had great luck with them so far. I know that they seem to be getting a bad rap here lately but personally I think for the price ($79 for the clear, $69 for the black/white) they are a great IEM. While I have played around with IEMs before and trying out different brands that friends own this was the first pair I had actually ordered and it took an hour or so of screwing around to get them to feel right. I did the fs mod to get them to sit flush in my ear and while I know they so not get rated for extreme comfort, they sure do sit really flat/flush in my ears. I tried a pair of the super.fi 5ebs and those were just too big for me. But with the 3s I could even lie down with them on and have no issues whatsoever. I'm not sure what the specs are but they seem a smidge smaller than the 5's which would make sense to me given the driver? Also I wear glasses most of the time and had no problems getting them to fit right.
Anyway, I settled on the foamies as having the best seal and wow what a difference they make. I was sitting in my office with two pcs - each with two fans running - along with other general office racket and just when putting them in it immediately blocks out most of the sounds and only gets better as the foam expand. As I flipped through a handful of songs it was amazing how clear the music sounded. Even when watching a couple of movies the new, smaller background sounds that you never seemed to notice before just seem to pop out at you.
Anyway, at this pricepoint I think they are a great IEM and seem to be very well constructed. It is tough to see people comparing them to $200+ IEMs - I just dont think you can do that. I'll be flying next week and since that will be my primary use for these - long trips 2-3x a month listening to music and watching video on my ipod - I am interested to see how they perform in an airplane environment. But at this pricepoint like I said, I bought them to see how I liked having an IEM, so if they break down or break or I find something else I like better I dont feel I am out too much money to buy another set.
A couple of minuses in my review. One, it looks like UE has really skimped out on their included accessories. Reading past reviews it seems like the super.fis used to come with not only the leather case but a reel-system in the metal case to wind the headphones. Neither of these are included now. Two, the 80g ipod produces a real hiss with these phones and you need to plugin the airplane attenuator to get it to stop. It does not seem to be related to the quality of the recording and in going back through old posts it looks like I am not the only one with this issue. It turns out to be not a huge deal and I dont see this as an issue going forward but its kind of a pain. Since my rig is going to need to be ultra portable and I try to leave out excess crap when I travel I just wont be buying an amp or anything else to add here. A little disappointing but again the adapter fixes that.
And if you count this as a "minus" - personally I would never use them at work since they just shut out too much sound. The A8s are perfect for that environment.
Anyway, I settled on the foamies as having the best seal and wow what a difference they make. I was sitting in my office with two pcs - each with two fans running - along with other general office racket and just when putting them in it immediately blocks out most of the sounds and only gets better as the foam expand. As I flipped through a handful of songs it was amazing how clear the music sounded. Even when watching a couple of movies the new, smaller background sounds that you never seemed to notice before just seem to pop out at you.
Anyway, at this pricepoint I think they are a great IEM and seem to be very well constructed. It is tough to see people comparing them to $200+ IEMs - I just dont think you can do that. I'll be flying next week and since that will be my primary use for these - long trips 2-3x a month listening to music and watching video on my ipod - I am interested to see how they perform in an airplane environment. But at this pricepoint like I said, I bought them to see how I liked having an IEM, so if they break down or break or I find something else I like better I dont feel I am out too much money to buy another set.
A couple of minuses in my review. One, it looks like UE has really skimped out on their included accessories. Reading past reviews it seems like the super.fis used to come with not only the leather case but a reel-system in the metal case to wind the headphones. Neither of these are included now. Two, the 80g ipod produces a real hiss with these phones and you need to plugin the airplane attenuator to get it to stop. It does not seem to be related to the quality of the recording and in going back through old posts it looks like I am not the only one with this issue. It turns out to be not a huge deal and I dont see this as an issue going forward but its kind of a pain. Since my rig is going to need to be ultra portable and I try to leave out excess crap when I travel I just wont be buying an amp or anything else to add here. A little disappointing but again the adapter fixes that.
And if you count this as a "minus" - personally I would never use them at work since they just shut out too much sound. The A8s are perfect for that environment.
