[mtd]

I'v never had/tried a quality IEM. Except the cx300, which i enjoyed. I like bass, and am constantly underwhelmed by many headphones lack of bass. I do listen to lighter music, and would like a decent amount of clarity, and openess. I am looking at picking up the Ultimate Ears super.fi 5 EB. I have some questions:

1) Is the overall clarity acceptable for listening to bass light music? (ie coldplay, synth pop, ect)

2) How far do they stick out of your ears?

3) How bass light is the PRO (non eb) version of this iem?

4) How does the midrange, and upper spectrum of this headphone compare to cx300?

5) How does the bass compare to the cx300.

For the love of god, please I only want to hear from people who have listened to these phones before. NOT HEARSAY!

 

[Shahrose]

1) clarity is good, not as much as the dt990 (my main can and thus my reference) though certainly not lacking

2) they stick pretty far out, more than you see in pictures, i posted an image of wearing them myself in the thread super fi EB underrated headphone thread, search for that

3) never heard the non-eb version, and don't want to

these are great for me

4) don't know how it compares to the cx300 but the lower treble is a bit dark, while the highest octaves are bright, so i eq up the lower treble (around 4khz) up a bit

5) don't know, but it's safe to say that the bass on the sf5 eb is more powerful than any other IEM, and more than the dt990. it doesn't matter how far up i eq the bass on these things, they just won't distort or rattle, they reproduce as much bass your source delivers. the first phones ever to vibrate my eyeballs lol, and they go deeep.

i actually eq the midrange down a bit, from 120hz to 1000hz, and then the rest of the spectrum becomes much more balanced and clear. the 4khz band up a bit as well.

 

[mtd]

How are they powered by weak sources, such as an mp3 player? Fine? or am i looking for an cmoy amp?

 

[Shahrose]

no amp required, but ofcourse an amp makes some slight improvements to sq. the great thing about these phones is that they're so sensitive. my portable player, (cowon d2) goes from 1-50 volume, at level 7, my ears start to hurt that's how loud it goes with such little power (i usually listen to them at level 4 and that's actually pretty loud). they sound excellent and do not break up at extremely high volumes, i'm talking like level 30-35, unbearable for a normal human (however my cousin isn't a normal human, a rap car-bass fiend, he actually went that high but after that it was intolerable even for him). i can't really hear a difference with them plugged into my home setup save for a tiny bit more bass extension at home.

i'll stress again that my cousin definitely does not have normal ears, it's unbelievable how much he can tolerate, and he said that the phones had incredible bass and don't distort at high volumes, so that says something (and yes he had them properly and deeply inserted). my other friends who've tried these phones listen to them at a max volume of 7-8 when properly inserted.

all these volume "levels" are on the cowon d2, which ranges from level 1 to 50.

 

[Matteman]

I don't think the PRO version is going to satisfy you bass-wise, sounds like you demand a lot. If you can live with how the EB's stick out of your ears and the possibility of having fit issues, at least at first, I'd say go for it, cause they are excellent bass-freak IEM's

 

[Ryan Williams]

Off topic, but I'm a little worried that your cousin is setting himself up for tinnitus. Many people who get it originally thought they had higher volume thresholds than most people, which results in putting the volume up to dangerously high levels.

If the exposure is short he'll probably be okay, but if he listens for long periods of time at very high volume he is skating on thin ice. Once you get it there's no turning back.

 

[kuzzz]

these ar great for bass you will like them alot, atleast i do

i got tiny earcanals but they dont stick out that far and i do get a good fit
the eb's wil crush your cx300

btw build quality is also very good

 

[sandys]

I have these too.. and let me also point out Ultimate Ears' excellent customer service. I had a problem with one of the cables (they are detachable!) and they are sending me over a new cable - no questions asked.

As to the earphones, I love the sound.. especially with trance music.

 

[mtd]

I just got these today.

So far id describe them as muddy.

I like the foam tips alot. But theres already hard a sticky from wax

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mtd /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just got these today. So far id describe them as muddy. I like the foam tips alot. But theres already hard a sticky from wax

they sounded atrocious right of the box. after burn-in (took about a week or so of 24/7 use) they started sounding awesome. i eq them slightly too (the lower midrange down).

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan Williams /img/forum/go_quote.gif Off topic, but I'm a little worried that your cousin is setting himself up for tinnitus. Many people who get it originally thought they had higher volume thresholds than most people, which results in putting the volume up to dangerously high levels. If the exposure is short he'll probably be okay, but if he listens for long periods of time at very high volume he is skating on thin ice. Once you get it there's no turning back.

i told him that too. but he's not the only one. there are others out there that listen to music almost as loud as him. all these guys are used to blasting car subs and over-amped speakers to loud distortion levels. there really isn't any helping them, they just won't listen (maybe they can't hear me?

)

luckily, he doesn't always listen *that* loud. but still, even his volume for prolonged sessions is much higher than what i consider listenable.

from my experience, i've found a pattern of general volume for music-listening. audiophiles or those who've been into critical music listening for years (regardless of speaker/headphone use) listen at relatively low/safe volume levels. the exact opposite is true of people who don't care about listening to high quality speakers/headphones and could care less about how bad a recording sounds. these people will blast music to ear-piercing levels quite comfortably.

 

[Del Griffith]

Yeah...give them some burn in time. I have the eb and the super-fi..love them both. The eb's are fantastic for me with alot of my music and the super-fi for the rest. Fit is not an issue for me..(don't care about the frankenstein effect) rarely listen in public.. Fantastic deal on both imho. Give them some time.

 

[jTF2]

I enjoy my eb's as well. Don't listen to the haters. It comes as advertised, heavy bass but still maintains clarity although that may be hard to notice if eq isn't tweaked.

As others have mentioned, UE has excellent customer service. I bought mine from ecost.com and go figure, the right earpiece didn't work. I send it to UE and they replaced it, no questions asked. I also like the quality of the build, significantly better than the new Mylar xBi's I bought recently. It doesn't look like it will experience normal wear and tear anytime soon.