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Made for iPhone: Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 4 vi

In the box:

Headset
Case
Cleaning tools
Nozzles (silicone and foam)

In our editorial staff we have a person, who is extremely knowledgeable in earphones and sound in general. His name is Ilya Tarakanov. Incidental acquaintance led to fruitful cooperation. I hope you also like his materials. Very often I enjoy comparing our impressions from one and the same model and on a number of occasions I reviewed a headset while Ilya offered his verdict on the respective earphones. We used this approach with one of the "monsters" and the "triple".

Review Headphone Monster Cable Turbine and Monster Cable Turbine Pro Gold

As you see we arrived at the same conclusions independently. Today I would like to speak about the headset for Apple phones and players designed by Ultimate Ears. Many will award it the top grades just for the brand, though I don't want to be so straightforward.

Design and construction

The box looks traditionally nice. This time it is gray and matches the color of earphones. Unfortunately after unwrapping you don't feel like putting everything back – the plastic blister is extra, to my mind. The plastic case is very useful. It can host not only the headset, but the most frequently used nozzles as well. In the box you can also find a cleaning stick, but it was not necessary during the first week of use.

The earphones are made of metal with the simple and classical design - small cylinders without any ornamentation. At the bottom you see magical letters – UE and symbols L and R on the sides. The cable length is 117 cm, which is not too much. You can use the headset with the phone in the pocket or iPad in the bag.

The parts of the cable with the earphones are symmetrical with the massive plastic plate. There are no controls here. The plug is gilded and has a standard shape. It is protected by a plastic cap, which is convenient.

The cable is black and quite bulky, which is the right thing for ex-military people like me.

Microphone and remote control

Traditionally for Ultimate Ears the right cable features a microphone, while the remote control is below the split. I have to say that this solution is very convenient. Interlocutors will hear you well and you don't have to keep the microphone near the mouth. The button is also in its place, at least it is quite visible. Main operations are standard:

answer and end the call
play and pause of music tracks
move to the next or previous track

Unfortunately, there is no volume control in this model.

Sound with iPhone 3Gs

The phone features the latest firmware. I call it "shrewd" as it expands the signal indicator. It is a truly brilliant solution. During the test we used the tracks stored in the phone memory (no surprises). As I have already mentioned in the review of Triple.Fi I don't like the "foam" so I used ordinary nozzles of silicone.

	Review Headphones Ultimate Ears triple.fi 10 vi
	Made for iPhone / iPod: Ultimate Ears Triple.Fi 10vi

There are two pairs of "foam" nozzles and they look decent. If necessary, additional pairs can be purchased from the official website or e-bay. Midsize nozzles were fine for me. I had a feeling that Super.Fi may fall down into your ears and you will need external help to get them out. The feeling is strange, but the noise insulation is great.

The sound is too dark. If the "triples" were light, acoustic and "kind" Super.Fi 4vi are cold and "mean". They are good for The Prodigy and 50 Cent. You can also use them for Amon Tobin. The Dust Brothers (OST "The Fight Club") with Fatboy Slim were to the point as well. But if you want to listen to light pop music then you need something else.

It is very important for me. My playlist is so varied that the purchase of such a specialized model is not useful. The equalizers in iPhone will not help. I think iPhone 4 will change the situation to the better, but the common idea is quite clear. The sound is dark and low in this headset.

Sound with iPod Classic

iPod Classic changes the status quo dramatically. Super.Fi suddenly becomes light and "kind" to suit all genres of music apart from very dark and bass tracks. At least iPod allows you to play with the equalizer and the sound can be customized. The button works well and the microphone is used to create voice notes. This headset is a good choice for iPod.

Sound with MacBook Pro 17

Why not to use the headset with the notebook – the button controls the playback, the microphone functions well, everything is great. I can say the sound quality is very good and at the maximum volume you cannot listen to the music. At 50% it is more or less comfortable. There is no squeaking sound or general darkness. Especially if you play ALAC files. When I listened to my favorite tracks I heard new shades of sound in some places, which is good.

Conclusions

This headset is very demanding to the sound source and it is not surprising. If you listen to rap or something rather heavy on iPhone you will enjoy it. I think there is no point to buy it for iPod – the quality is good, but that is all. This model is a good solution for laptops and iPad. The price of $130-150 is quite adequate.

I liked the construction, remote control and microphone. It is very convenient for voice communication. The standard kit is decent and the same can be said about the case. There are also two "foam" nozzles in the box.

I recommend it for purchase, but the grade is A- or B+. There is nothing special in this model – it's just a quality headset.

The author is grateful to iCover.ru for Ultimate Ears Super.Fi 4vi provided for the test.

Do you want to talk about this? Please, go to our Forum and let your opinion to be known to the author and everybody else.

Sergei Kuzmin ([email protected])
Twitter Livejournal
Translated by Maxim Antonenko([email protected])