Pros: Impressive at reproducing a balance of Highs and Lows. Replaceable cord, comes with useful accessories.
Cons: Not suited for active lifestyle/work; the earphone casing are prone to separating.
The bottom line: I would recommend this product. These earphones would enhance your experience with your electronic music devices or video game consoles.
For every portable music player I have owned and used in my life I gave little thought on the earphones that came with them. When I upgraded to Mini Disc players it was the first time I took to paying more attention to the quality of the earphones I was using. I purchased the Bang and Olufsen A8 earphones, they were my first attempt at buying quality earphones. They had that cool factor but sadly it had too much treble and the bass lacked depth, and I went back to using Sony earphones. When I purchased my first iPod the quest to buy a pair of quality earphones was re-ignited. I visited all the music forums and the majority of music lovers said buying a pair of Ultimate Ears Super.fi 5 Pro was the best choice. Naturally every earphone being sold on-line have their base of customers giving their testimony that the earphones they bought were the best. What encouraged me to purchase the UE Super.fi 5 Pro was my visit to Ultimate Ear's website, although they had a lot of endorsements from Hollywood celebrities the listing of professional musicians is what made me consider buying the UE earphones. I believe Professional musicians are very finicky when it comes to their music instruments and the sound equipment that help them play their music for their fans, which is why you see all of them custom making their music instruments. I figure they are not going to endorse a product and use it on their tours if the product doesn't deliver.

A Look at the Hard Facts

I am not an audio expert and I admit I am an average music listeners. But when it came to paying close to $200 for a pair of earphones you have never physically tried, that's when I had to get familiar with the specifications in what makes the UE earphones great.

*Input Sensitivity: 119db/mW- This number is the measurement of the earphone's level of efficiency. Earphones with a sensitivity less than a 100 requires more power to produce the same results than a earphones that has higher rating above 100. So the UE Super.fi 5 Pro more than makes the grade as being a pair of efficient earphones.
*Frequency Response: 20 to 16,000 Hz- The audio range that a human ear can distinguish is from 20 to 20,000 Hz. The lower readings are those deep tones you hear & feel, and the UE earphones was designed have a balance output of low and high frequencies that is hard to beat.
*Impedance: 21 ohms- This number in resistance will not be an importance to the average listener. But would come into play if you were a sound engineer running a bank of earphones. This number is the load it would have on the amplifier.
*Noise Isolation: 26bB- The higher this number is the better it is at shutting out outside noise. It means no need to have noise-canceling technology, less need to turn the volume higher in order to listen to your music over environmental noise, which in turn means less wear on your ears and your earphones.
*Internal Speaker Configuration: Two precision balanced armatures with audio filters and crossovers, allow the UE 5 Pro to deliver your music with a balance of High frequencies and Low frequencies for accurate audio reproduction.

Sound check

I used the Bang and Olufsen A8 as a comparison, and doing so clearly shows why the UE Super.fi 5 Pro out performs all earphones in its class.

The B&O A8 has a Frequency response range of 50 to 20,000 Hz it is almost performs well reproducing the Mids, but when it comes to the reproducing the bass it lacks the deep bass the UE 5 Pro delivers.

When it came to the Highs, the A8 is peaking at its limits making its efforts sounded muffled when compared to the 5 Pro with its ability to produce those frequencies separately. The UE 5 Pro easily produces the crisp clarity you expect to find in higher priced earphones.

The Super.fi 5 Pro and its Accessories

I purchased the Super.fi 5 Pro in the old and new versions. The Old version was in gloss black, while the New version was Metallic Gloss Black. Both came with assortments of eartips: (2)small, (2)medium, (2)Large, (2)dual flange, and (2) Grey foam eartips. This allows the consumer to try out the different style eartips they have, so you can order more because these do lose their ability to stay on the earphones over time. I found the foam eartips poor at providing a good seal. As everyone has discovered it is difficult to read the lettering in telling you which earphones goes in what ear, you have to be in bright lighting to see them. I want to suggest they put the lettering on the butt of the earphones.

The cords that came with the Old and New version were different. The Old version had a black thin cord, while the New version came with a clear thick cord. The cord has a wire embedded in the plugs that connect to the earphones, this wire allows the cord to retain the form of your ear lobe, and these wires are protected by a clear shroud that runs the length of the embedded wire. This shroud protects the cord and the wire from chaffing, and provide some level of comfort. The cord can be disconnected from the earphones that allows the consumer to replace the cord if it becomes damaged or to choose a different color. I found once you have formed the wire around your ear lobe, the shape of the wire is a good indicator that allows you to know which earphone goes in what ear.

The earphones include a metal carrying case. The Old Version came with two cases Aluminum and Leather. The Aluminum case had a liner that allowed you to wind up the cord around a drum and stow the earphones in the center. The liner also stored two jack adapters and the earwax removal tool. In the New version, the case is made of metal and the liner was eliminated because UE discovered when the earphones were wind up and stored in the case this caused the casing on the earphones to crack. In the New version the leather case was removed due to customer feedback that it was never used a lot.

The earphones comes with two adapter jacks, one adapter is the 1/4-inch for connecting to your home audio equipment, while the other is a attenuating adapter. The Attenuator jack protects your earphones from those high sound output systems you would find on an airline in-flight entertainment systems. I have yet to use the earwax removal tool; I am not prone to having a heavy build up of earwax to see how effective this tool is at scraping earwax from out of the earphones. In the New version the tool is smaller (1-inch), while the Old version the tools slightly longer than an inch.

General experience

I didn't find it hard in establishing that "seal" that is essential in the earphone's performance. The eartips that come installed on the earphones fit me fine, but I did try all the eartips just to make sure I had the right eartips for my ear canals.

The earphones doesn't hold up well if you are into outdoor activities. For example I used the earphones at work where I am climbing on jet engines to do inspections or doing a sheet metal repair. I later discovered the earphone casing on one earphone was separating. Fortunately I found a UE distributor that takes trade-ins and they give the UE earphones the highest trade-in credit over the Shure earphones, and I got a new pair.

The earphones does a great job at noise isolation that I use them in place of my foam earplugs at work. I can enjoy my music clearly even when I was standing next to a turbine engine running at idle! If you want the ultimate noise isolation, for a few extra hundred dollars you could upgrade to the Custom UE Super.fi 5 Pro, where a audiologist makes a mold of your ear canals and you send the molds to UE and they make earphones using those molds to fit your ears! That is another review I am planning for the future.

Bottom Line

I would strongly recommend this earphones to everyone, it delivers a balance of crisp clarity and deep tonal bass, and for the price it is a bargain.