Ultimate Ears UE200 Earphones (Playback 52)

Few people upgrade overnight from the free earbuds that came with their MP3 players to $1000+ premium performance earphones. Most work their way, incrementally, up the audio food chain. But for the journey to begin there must be a first step. Priced under $30, the Ultimate Ears UE200 in-ear earphones are positioned to be any future audiophile’s first up-market purchase. They are Ultimate Ears’ second least expensive in-ears earphones, and for $30 the UE200 will clue you in on why anyone would bother using ear-buds that you must actually buy.

FEATURES

Ultimate Ears UE200, technical highlights:

•Earphone Type: In-ear
•Driver type: Moving-Coil/Diaphragm
•Accessories: Five sizes of soft silicon ear tips, plastic carrying case
•Frequency response: 20Hz – 20 kHz
•Impedance: 16 ohms
•Sensitivity: 107 dB/mW, 1 kHz
•Noise isolation: -26 dB
•Weight: 11 g
•Warranty: 2 years
•Cable length: 45 inches (115 cm)
•Input type: Angled
•Input connector: 1/8 inch (3.5mm)
•Colors: Purple, blue, or gray

SONIC CHARACTER

The sound: The most important part of the musical spectrum is the midrange, (from 500 to 5000 Hz approximately) because that’s where most music resides. Sure, the bass and treble regions are important too. But if the midrange is wrong, no amount of extra tiss and boom will make the sound you hear more musical. Ultimate Ears earphones designers realized this and made a heroic decision; they would create an entry-level in-ear headphone that concentrated on getting the midrange right. This flies in the face of the current and unfortunate trend in “premium” earphones toward maximizing the bass and treble and letting the midrange fall as it may.

Thus, the UE200’s sound is all about the midrange. Compared to Sennheiser CX500 ear-bud earphones (which have a similar street price), the UE200s have a far more natural presentation with a smoother, less peaky midrange and better low-level definition. While the CX500s have substantially more bass energy, their low frequencies are not as distinct as those of the UE200s, with the CX500’s bass quantity outweighing quality. Note, too, that the bass of the CX500s overwhelms the lower midrange, making it slightly muddy and thick. The UE200’s midrange is reminiscent of what I’m used to hearing through the Ultimate Ears In-Ear Reference Monitor custom-fit in-ear monitors (which sell at a much higher $999 price point). In short, the UE200’s midrange frequencies are clear, well defined, and make it easy to listen deep into the mix without having to strain.

Even when the UE200s are perfectly fitted with a complete seal from external noise for maximum bass output, the bass extension and intensity will be less than what many headphone users have come to expect from accessory earphones. In many ways the UE200s remind me of a decent limited-frequency desktop monitor—they give you some impression of bass, but they lack the impact, extension, and dynamic drive of a more full-frequency transducer. But like a good monitor, the UE200’s bass rolls off smoothly with no attempt to enhance the bass with a bump around 100 Hz.

For optimal bass through the UE200s, they must fit right. When they are seated properly the bass on the UE200s may not be overwhelming, but it is certainly sufficient to deliver fundamental harmonics and an even harmonic balance. It may seem counter-intuitive that earphones with less bass can sound more harmonically balanced than ones with more bass. But when you listen to them by themselves, the UE200’s harmonic balance comes across as remarkably neutral.

On the treble side the UE200s gently roll off, which robs the music of some air and openness. But on the positive side the UE200s always remain listenable, even with rude-sounding MP3 sources. Once more, Ultimate Ear’s designers have chosen a course that preserves most of the music, sacrificing only the last bit of sparkle in exchange for a more neutral and less obtrusive frequency response. Even after a long listening session, the UE200s generated a low amount of listener fatigue.

Ease of use/comfort and fit: Ultimate Ears UE200s come with multiple ear tips as well as a plastic carrying case. The case broke the first time I tried to open it; I guess I don’t know my own strength. For most people, one of the five different-sized soft silicon ear cushions should fit them fine. But because of my narrow ear canals coupled with a fairly large outer cavity, finding the right fit among the five choices proved to be problematic. After working my way through all five cushion sizes, I looked through my ear-tip stash where I found a pair of Etymotic Research gray double–flange ER6i-18C ear-tips that fit the UE200s and my ears perfectly. Even during an hour-plus workout I only had to reseat the UE200s twice. The downside is that you can only buy these tips by the pack for $14, which (for me at any rate) would effectively increases the cost of the UE200 earphones by 30%. But for most users with typical ears, one of the supplied ear cushions should work nicely. I tried the largest UE200 ear cushions with a pair of Sennheiser CX 500 earphones and found they made these earphones fit far better than with the double flange ear cushions that originally came with those earphones.

For the best fit, I found the UE200s needed to be positioned so the cables exited upwards and then wrapped around the top and down the back of my ears. Once properly positioned with over-the-ear cable placement the earphones stayed put and delivered the full measure of their potential 26 dB of outside noise attenuation. The earphone cord was relatively non-microphonic. Using the tap test—where you tap the cable with your finger to see if it goes “boom” or remains silent, I found the cord was for the most part sonically inert (once I got more than a centimeter away from where the cable met the driver housing). The provided signal cable was probably long enough for most users, but I would have preferred another six inches to insure no pulling when my MP3 player was in my rear hip pocket.

 MUSICAL EXAMPLES

For the past couple of months I’ve been using tracks from an album by Alexis Harte titled Spoons of Honey [CDBY] as a reference. It’s beautifully produced with scads of low-level detail and an exceedingly natural harmonic palette. Through the UE200s I could hear nearly as much inner detail as with their big brothers, the UE In-Ear Reference Monitors. The UE200’s articulate midrange illuminates Harte’s deft acoustic guitar work. Regardless of how many other instruments or vocal tracks were layered on top of each other, the underlying pulse from his fingerstyle acoustic remained. While it may be odd to talk about soundstage or imaging within the context of headphone listening, the UE200s do an exemplary job of placing each track in space with no smearing or homogenization. Even on dense tracks such as “Hadn’t Met You Yet” the various wind instruments and keening synthesizers retained their own locations in the soundstage.

On my own recordings, such as my recently made high-rez recording of The Deadly Gentlemen playing at the Salina Schoolhouse, the UE200s performance closely approached what I heard from the UE In-Ear Reference Monitor (IERM) custom-fit monitors when I made the recordings. Since I was in the same room as the performers, monitor speakers were verboten, so I used the IERMs to fine-tune my microphone placement and for monitoring throughout the session. Like the UE In-Ear Reference Monitors, it was easy to hear deep into the mix through the UE200s. And also like the Reference Monitors, each player had their own distinct spot in the soundstage with no confusion of muddiness. Amazingly, the UE200s are good enough that I could have used them to monitor the original recording session.

CONCLUSION

Consider this product if:

•You are looking for an inexpensive yet very high-quality earphone.
•Natural harmonic balance is more important to you than bass impact.
•You don’t mind taking the extra time and effort needed to make sure your earphones fit well.
•You are a budget-conscious audiophile and want ideal travel in-ear for listening on the go.

Look further if:

•Big bass and dynamic power are of primary importance to you (this is not an ideal earphone for the urban beatmeister).
•You like to play your music loud and need a very efficient earphone.
•Your ears are difficult to fit with typically shaped ear tips or ear-cushions (you may have to buy third-party ear tips for an optimal fit).

Ratings (relative to comparably-priced earphones)

•Tonal Balance: 9
•Frequency Extremes: 6 (Bass)/7(Treble)
•Clarity: 9
•Dynamics: 7
•Comfort/Fit: 7
•Sensitivity: 6
•Value: 9

BOTTOM LINE:

For $30 you can’t expect much from a headphone, right? Wrong. For less than the cost of a two-disc Blu-Ray box the sound of your MP3 player can take a gigantic leap up the fidelity ladder when coupled to the Ultimate Ears UE200 in-ear earphones.

If you are familiar with the sound of a good pair of loudspeakers or earphones, you will be shocked by how much sonic goodness Ultimate Ears packed into their UE200 ear-buds. Although not as efficient as many earbuds, and lacking anything in the way of big bass, the UE200s possess the most neutral and articulate midrange I’ve heard from anything near its price.

If you are looking for a big, spectacular, bodacious sound, I suggest you look at the Sennheiser CX500 earphones, which have more bass and treble extension than the UE200, but suffer by comparison to the UE200’s smooth midrange and exemplary low-level definition.

While I hesitate to call the UE200’s “an audiophile’s earphone,” it is at its best in those performance areas that audiophiles value most, such as resolution, harmonic balance, and imaging specificity. In short, the UE200 is more closely aligned with audiophile sensibilities than most of its similarly priced competitors. If you are willing to give up some bass impact and spend the time necessary to make sure that the UE200s fit properly, you will be rewarded by more music than any $30 headphone has the right to reproduce.

SPECS & PRICING

Logitech/Ultimate Ears UE200 Earphones
Accessories: Case, five sizes of ear tips or ear cushions
Frequency response: 20Hz – 20 kHz
Weight: 11 g
Sensitivity: 107 dB/mW, 1 kHz
Impedance: 16 ohms
Warranty: two-year limited hardware
Price: $29.95 MSRP, $24.99 street

MANUFACTURER INFORMATION

Logitech/Ultimate Ears
(800) 231-7717
www.logitech.com/en-us/439/8670