rx7_fan
07-15-2005, 01:36 AM
According to BRBJackson over at head-fi, he's here too but he mostly lurk around. Ultimate Ears will release a $99 headphone called the Super.fi 3. It is single driver and seems to have Shure like quality sound. Here are his words, I'm too lazy to summarize:
"While over at Ultimate Ears today listening to the UE-10 Pro's again (heaven help my wallet... ), I was given the opportunity to try a new Super.fi model. Mike Dias handed me a ubiquitous pair of white IEM's that looked like 5 Pro's, and said "have a listen... I'll be back in a bit". Not about to turn down an offer like that, I fired up the portable rig (see signature, EQ off) and spun a couple minutes of each of the following:
Nils Petter Molvaer - On Stream
Santana - Toussaint L' Overture
Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Thud
I was immediately struck by how different they sounded from the 5 Pro's. If I had to summarize, I'd say the bass impact was less profound, with fairly smooth and inviting mid-high registers, and an overall somewhat more ‘lightweight’ feel to the presentation. Of course, at this point I was thinking these were experimental re-voiced 5 Pro's, and figured the mad scientists at UE were futzing with the recipe just for giggles or something. Nonetheless, I made a concerted effort to keep impressions of my own 5 Pro's out of the picture, and focused on the music at hand. The bass on Nils Petter Molvaer's tune was still pulsing, and the timing/decay sounded very natural, it was just diminished from what I got out of the Pro's. Nils' trumpet was represented well, with the bulk of his characteristic ‘air’ surrounding the notes intact. On the Santana selection, I noted a slight tendency towards brightness, but nothing I would call ‘glare’. In fact, they struck me as being a definite improvement over the treble produced by my Shure E3c’s on the same song. Again, bass presentation was less impactful than I’ve been used to lately (oops, there I go with the 5 Pro comparisons again…), but it was a more involving low-end soundscape than my E3c’s could produce un-EQ’d. The Bruford track was pretty well represented, with a good sense of pace and timing apparent on this rhythmically involving piece, though with less slam than I’d ideally like.
Overall, I was pleased with the sonic characteristics, but intended to tell Mike not to mess with what they already had with the 5 Pro. When he returned, I took the phones out and said “well, THESE have been retuned!”. He then told me that they were an all new model, this time a single armature version. Of course I would have been able to guess that from the single bore design, if I’d not been so anxious to get them out of my hands and into my ears (d'oh!). He then told me the kicker: a retail price of $99… I was pretty surprised, to say the least. The new model is called the Super.fi 3 Studio, and Guitar Center is set to start selling them (with an exclusive clear casing again) in 2 weeks.
Would I trade my 5 Pro’s for them? Not likely. Do I feel they’re a solid value at their price point? Absolutely, although I’d have to listen to them for an extended period of time, along with other single armature IEM’s to draw any more concrete opinions. The world of budget portable ear monitors may have just gotten more interesting."
Quote was taken from Head-fi.org under the thread "Auditioned a New Super.fi Model Today" written by BRBJackson Head-fi member. July 14 2005.
Sorry about the reference note above, I'm a college student and they (the professors) drill it into our heads that we must give credit to people who originially wrote it. Well just thought you guys would like to know about the Super. Fi 3
"While over at Ultimate Ears today listening to the UE-10 Pro's again (heaven help my wallet... ), I was given the opportunity to try a new Super.fi model. Mike Dias handed me a ubiquitous pair of white IEM's that looked like 5 Pro's, and said "have a listen... I'll be back in a bit". Not about to turn down an offer like that, I fired up the portable rig (see signature, EQ off) and spun a couple minutes of each of the following:
Nils Petter Molvaer - On Stream
Santana - Toussaint L' Overture
Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Thud
I was immediately struck by how different they sounded from the 5 Pro's. If I had to summarize, I'd say the bass impact was less profound, with fairly smooth and inviting mid-high registers, and an overall somewhat more ‘lightweight’ feel to the presentation. Of course, at this point I was thinking these were experimental re-voiced 5 Pro's, and figured the mad scientists at UE were futzing with the recipe just for giggles or something. Nonetheless, I made a concerted effort to keep impressions of my own 5 Pro's out of the picture, and focused on the music at hand. The bass on Nils Petter Molvaer's tune was still pulsing, and the timing/decay sounded very natural, it was just diminished from what I got out of the Pro's. Nils' trumpet was represented well, with the bulk of his characteristic ‘air’ surrounding the notes intact. On the Santana selection, I noted a slight tendency towards brightness, but nothing I would call ‘glare’. In fact, they struck me as being a definite improvement over the treble produced by my Shure E3c’s on the same song. Again, bass presentation was less impactful than I’ve been used to lately (oops, there I go with the 5 Pro comparisons again…), but it was a more involving low-end soundscape than my E3c’s could produce un-EQ’d. The Bruford track was pretty well represented, with a good sense of pace and timing apparent on this rhythmically involving piece, though with less slam than I’d ideally like.
Overall, I was pleased with the sonic characteristics, but intended to tell Mike not to mess with what they already had with the 5 Pro. When he returned, I took the phones out and said “well, THESE have been retuned!”. He then told me that they were an all new model, this time a single armature version. Of course I would have been able to guess that from the single bore design, if I’d not been so anxious to get them out of my hands and into my ears (d'oh!). He then told me the kicker: a retail price of $99… I was pretty surprised, to say the least. The new model is called the Super.fi 3 Studio, and Guitar Center is set to start selling them (with an exclusive clear casing again) in 2 weeks.
Would I trade my 5 Pro’s for them? Not likely. Do I feel they’re a solid value at their price point? Absolutely, although I’d have to listen to them for an extended period of time, along with other single armature IEM’s to draw any more concrete opinions. The world of budget portable ear monitors may have just gotten more interesting."
Quote was taken from Head-fi.org under the thread "Auditioned a New Super.fi Model Today" written by BRBJackson Head-fi member. July 14 2005.
Sorry about the reference note above, I'm a college student and they (the professors) drill it into our heads that we must give credit to people who originially wrote it. Well just thought you guys would like to know about the Super. Fi 3