Ultimate Ears UE Fits

[SecretSquirrel]

Now that I've been using these for a while now, I figured it was time to collect my thoughts and finish this write up.

From an ambient noise reduction perspective, they work as good as or better than my MEE M6 Pro IEMs. While on the cheap end of what you would describe as IEMs, rather than earbuds, the M6s do a decent job at blocking ambient noise. The UE Fits do as well. Being noise isolating, rather than noise cancelling, means it's all about the fit in your ears. The UE Fits excel here as one might expect. How much do they reduce ambient sound? My estimate would be in the -10db range -- approximately a 50% reduction in perceived loudness. If I put them in, I can still hear what is going on around me, but the moment I turn on music, the ambient environment disappears and it's all about the music. I haven't had the opportunity to take an plane trip since I got them, so I can 't say how they do in the taxing environment of air travel. I do know that If I have them in, with low to moderate volume music playing and my wife or daughter walk in my office to talk to me (so perhaps 5-6ft away), I cannot tell they are speaking unless I can see their lips moving.

On the comfort front the UE Fits definitely succeed. I find them distinctly more comfortable than my M6 Pros. It's not that I don't feel the UE Fits, as I do. However, the contact is spread across the concha (inside of the external ear), rather than being confined to the ear canal. Because ambient noise reduction depends on a good fit an seal, the M6 Pros could get uncomfortable if I was using tips that provided a better seal as the pressure on my ear canal was enough to be uncomfortable after a couple of hours. For me, the distributed contact area of the UE Fits made it both easier to get good isolation, and much more comfortable for long term use.

So they fit well, but how do they sound? Good. Ok, great! The UE Fits app lets you set set an equalizer profile the the Fits. It is a five point EQ, but you can move the frequency of the adjustment points up or down. With a flat EQ curve, I find the Fits to be a little on the bright side. Not annoyingly so, but on streaming music services where the bit rate is relatively low, this brightness will bring out the high frequency distortion that is inherent in compressed, low bitrate streams. Cymbals crisp and clear, perhaps a bit forward. Vocals seem very even and well represented. Guitar, especially a bluesy electric (think Stevie Ray) will definitely cry and sing (to borrow a line from Dire Straits). Bass, which can be real issue earbuds, is not an issue with the Fits. With the M6 Pros, bass response was entirely dependent on the seal of the tip in my ear canal and I could always tell when one started to come loose as there was a prodigious drop off in bass. The bass response of the Fits is obviously also dependent on the seal with your ear, but being so much easier to achieve means that I don't get sudden drops on bass response at random times because I moved my head the wrong way. On the flat EQ curve, the bass it tight and clean. It stays, unobtrusively in the background, neither calling attention to itself, nor skirting its duties in the arrangement. A slight low frequency boost, in the EQ, really brings the bass alive. Not in a boomy, cheap kind of way though --the kick drum gets a bit more definition and punch, acoustic bass rises to equal billing in a jazz ensemble, electric bass gets an infusion of energy -- all while being controlled and integrated in the overall music. No headphones will ever reproduce the full body punch of the amplified kick drum at a rock concert, but within the limitations of headphones, I find the UE Fits to do a very good job. Obviously, sound is a very personal thing and depends on what kind of music you prefer and how you like sound mix balanced. Prog metal fans are likely going to want a different sound profile than jazz aficionados, who are going to want a different profile than an EDM fan. If I had to sum the Fits up in a sentence or two, I would say they are very clear and a little bright, but not harsh in any way.

I haven't actually figured out what the real battery life is yet as I haven't used them long enough, continuously, to run the batteries out. The one time the batteries ran dead, the Fits had been sitting on my desk, outside their case for a couple of days, getting intermittent use, and then I used them for several hours straight. One of the reasons I haven't really gotten a good idea of battery life is that I tend to put them back in their case when not in use. The case doubles as a the charging station and has a built in battery to charge the Fits even when the case isn't itself plugged in.

Bluetooth range is good, but not excellent, which probably isn't really a surprise, given the size of the Fits and the fact that the antenna options are limited by the form factor. About the only time I notice problems is if I leave my phone on my home office desk and walk into the kitchen. Its about 20ft or so, but when I round the corner into the kitchen and walls are between me and my phone, the connection will start to drop. I don't consider this to be a problem with the Fits, just noting what kind of performance I get.

I'm sure there are all sorts of other things I could comment on, from usability (seems fine) to appearance (yes, you look like a bit like Rosey the Robot), but I think I've done enough typing for now, so I'll sum things up. Am I pleased with my purchase? Yes. Do the UE Fits address the problems I purchased them to handle? Yes, I think so. Do they sound good? Yes. Do they look good? Well, something... something... eye of the beholder. Should you go buy a pair? We are talking about a $250 pair a headphones here. If you can't fathom why someone would spend $100 on a pair of headphones, much less $250, then these aren't for you. If your $10 earbuds sound good to you, then also, no. Do you have a set of mid range on ear or over the ear head phones and want something wireless and in-ear? The yes. I would certainly consider the sound to be on par with my Audio-Technica M40x's and perhaps superior. Yes, the UE Fits are 2.5x more expensive. You are paying for the wireless nature, and their is obviously a price premium for the formable tips, but no, these aren't something the average person can impulse buy. For someone that is looking at them for understood reasons, I don't think they would be disappointed with them in the least.

--SS

[SecretSquirrel]

Next week I will be taking my first work trip since getting my UE Fits. I shall report back how they do at the task for which I originally purchased them.

[Captain Ned]

Haven't had need to bust out the Shure SE515s in over a year. Tips must be crusty at this point.

[SecretSquirrel]

I figured I should come back on post a long overdue update on these.

In general, I liked them. They did well on an airplane. One item I ran into was unequal battery life. After four hours on a plane, one bud would be at 55% battery, and the other would be at 12%. I didn't have the opportunity to dig into what might be causing that. My initial guess was that it was the bud that was the primary connection to my phone. The one problematic oddity I ran into was with the noise cancellation. Under very noisy conditions, generally with wind and other constant background noise -- like on a boat, under way -- the earbuds seemed to cancel voice as the "noise", rather than the actual background noise.

You might notice that I've been talking about them in the past tense. About a month ago, on a work trip, the rental car was broken into and my backpack stolen. Among the things in it were my UE Fits.

The ultimate measure of what I thought of them -- yep, ordered replacements. It helped that the replacements were $169, rather than the $200 that the original pair cost. Unfortunately the replacements won't show up until sometime in January due to... reasons.

--SS