Home > Consumer Reviews > Ultimate Ears Triple.fi 10 Pro Earphones Gun Metal Blue

I just received the product, i love the sound. But the audio jack fell off (or rather, stayed stuck in my ipod and the cable snapped off) on day two. I wouldn't necessarily use this as a deciding criterion, but do be aware.

Trust the reviewers here, and spend the 3 1/2 bills. Quick, don't think about it, just do it. Wow. A night and day experience. Be prepared to burn a few days re-listening to your music.

Edit: After living with these for several days, and wasting hours when I should have been doing something productive . . . my opinion is totally . . . the same. Wow. The spectrum of music I played went from NIN to Maria Callas, ambient to metal, and everything sounded great. Fingers could be heard squeaking on strings from Nick Drake's quietest songs to Kurt Cobain's loudest. They roar and they whisper equally well. I had no conception something this small could sound like that. And there are even better (more expensive) earphones than this? Jeez.

PS: The foam inserts are great for physical work, they stick very well. You may have to secure the foam to the inner sleeve with a drop of glue (not while on the phones needless to say). Anyway, it appears UE has dropped them, and two outside suppliers show them as out of stock. Therefore, if you like them too, you might track some down if you can and load up.

PPS: Who's the guy dissing all the positive reviews? A competitor?

I would rate these excellent in every aspect. They provide near perfect isolation, phenomenal sound quality (the amount of bass is perfect - not too much, not too little), and are very comfortable to wear (they come with different ear plugs to suit your ear canal's size). Their design is very elegant and discreet, and their compact size is very convenient.

I have a very large music collection on my computer and on an external hard drive, and I'm in the process of cleaning out lower quality duplicates of songs and leaving the high quality ones. With these earphones, you can really hear the difference. I also use them for my 3rd gen iPod nano, and the sound quality is excellent (because it's really only as good as the files that you put on it).

The only cons to these earphones that I can think of (they will seem trifling to most people) are that you shouldn't eat any kind of crunchy food while you have these earphones in - it will sound ridiculously loud! You should also take breaks every hour or so and take them out of your ears to let your ears breathe. There will also be a certain amount of ear wax buildup on the silicone plugs, so you should take them off and clean them every so often.

I will probably use these earphones exclusively until they stop working. I've been searching for the perfect pair of headphones for EVER, and I think I've found them. I think you'll think so too.

Like I said, Wow! I was going to wait a few more days before I rated these unbelievable headphones, but they are rocking my socks off and I thought I'd share my thoughts now. I have had many different headphones and as I was at one time an "audiophile," (for you pod-heads that's someone who avidly listened to vinyl - figure that one out on your own), and argued about tube amps vs newer micro electronic gizmos and have discussed the merits of digital vs analog. Pretty nerdy, huh? Well, I have to admit that these headphones perform so well, that I'm actually thinking that the digital age isn't so bad after all. I was looking for a pair of "buds" that would not require batteries and provide noise reduction. I was also looking for headphones that would travel well and sound great. Well these are all that, plus they sound unbelievable. Try anything by Alan Parsons or the soundtrack to Amelie (you can hear the bellows of the acccordions!) or older Santana, or Abbey Road and tell me you can't hear new stuff. I'm thoroughly amazed! They fit great, the sound fantastic, and the heavy price was worth it. Don't look any further, buy these, you'll be happy. Oh, one caution, I rip most of my music and if you have lousey downloads, you'll hear how lousey they are. Again, I'm an audiophile (converted), and I have a Creative Labs MP3 player (much better signal-to-noise ratios than a pod - see I told you I was a nerd), so the better the recording, the better the sound. And make sure you fit them in your ears correctly - check out Ultimate's website before buying them on Amazon for an awesome discount so you know what you're buying. Oh, did I mention I'm currently riding a train and I'm listening to these and man, no battery, no noise, just great, great sound. Nice job you groovey guys at Ultimate Ears, I love you man!

Rock on!

Pros: Everything...but most importantly a balanced tonal quality.

Bass: Thumping and deep. (Excellent)
Mids: Very detailed (Very Very Good)
Highs: Best out there (Excellent)
Stylish color
Detachable cord
Decent accessories

Cons: Its was not a problem for me but they protrude a bit out of the ear (albeit stylishly).

The foam tips provided are of bad construction, wished UE didnt cut corners with foam tips and provided quaity tips like Shure.

Summary: Where do I begin...I have been using tonnes of headphones Grado RS1 and 2, Ultrasone HFI700, Senn HD280, Ety ER6i and most relevant to this review the Shure SE530 PTH.

Let me categorically state the after my Grado RS2 I love UE Triple.fi the best. I dont understand why would any reviewer who claim to be audiopihle would rate SE530 above triple.fi

Basically a transducer should replicate the sound as close as possible to the input. Shure basically amplifies the lower-mids and reduces the highs. The mids have more punch but the lack of highs is a very glaring negative in my book. It takes all the fun out of the music.

UE TF10, offers perfect balance of lows and highs. Highs are not harsh, they are just right and presented in awesome detail.

Bass: Punchy, strong and goes low but doesnot have the same detailed as you would get from a top of the line Grado or Senn. Dont get me wrong, its excellent but if you compare it to top of the line open cans you can make out some difference. It is almost as good as Shure SE530, with Shure being just a tad more detailed and goes a little more low.

Mid: Perfect. Mids are done as they should be. Vocals are clear and female vocals come out really strong. Listening to Amy Winehouse in Rehab makes you feel that you are sitting right next to her. All the organs and strings are very present and feel part of a coherent whole. Take note...UE are not your "analytical" IEMs. They are "music should be fun" IEM. So if you want to look for whether there is perfect instrument separation probably they are not the best bet (which is not to say that instrument separation is bad...no far from it..its just not as good as top of the line cans)

Highs: Oh what can I say about the highs..they are orgasmic...and especially if you compare them to shure SE530 which are rolled off and sound tepid. For me most of the details in percussion and guitars lie in mids and highs. The interplay of rimshots with high hats, the gasp for breath after a full bodied rendition of Kobain;s lyrics...it is here that highs are important...and it is here that TF10 is a million times better than SE530. For some reason Shure designers thought that highs are not important and rolled them off..which I think is going against everything that a music lover and audiophile wants in their transducer.

Comfort: I use the foam tips and find them to be very comfortable. Some say that the size is very large, for me that is not a problem, and the supplied universal fit kit offers solution for practically every ear size. I wear them at work for hours at stretch without any discomfort. They donot dislodge when moving. Before TF10 I used to wear SE530 which were a tad more discreet but there is no difference as far as comfort is concerned.

Style: The gun metal blue is soo cool that even if they protrude a bit from the ears they do so stylishly.

Construction: Solid...and like a true professional grade can, the cords are detachable. Only bad part was the suplied foam tips which are sub-standard. I had to glue the foam to the plastic.

Accessories: Good set of accessories. The default jack, fits an iPhone 1 gen, so its an added benefit as I can use it on the go with my iPhone. There is a plug that converts from 1/4 to 1/8 so that you can plug it in to the favorite headphone amp or dac (Benchmark DAC1 in my case)

Recommendation: Buy this over Shure SE530 PTH anyday and you wont regret the decision. Trust me..reading all the rave reviews about the Shure you would thing that they are the way to go..but if you want complete tonal clarity, Shure are the worst thing you can do to your music (considering you would spend 400 bucks on shures).

I have tried and own both and right now I am looking for buyers for my Shure...so there you have it...dont give in to uninformed reviews which give UE TF10s a lower rating because "they stick out of the ear" as if that had anything to do with the sound quality

A++++++++++++++++++++++++++ recommended.