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Ultimate ears Metro.fi 100 Earphones. Pictures and Brief Review

May 14th, 2008 | by |

It’s Another Hit For Ultimate Ears. These Metro.fi 100’s Are Fantastic!!!

What I’m going to do is make this a full review and I’ll add content to it as they burn in.

I’m hoping these will be an alternative to the Sennheiser CX300 earphones. For the price, these should be a good alternative to the JVC Marshmellow’s and the Skullcandy Smokin bud things…if indeed, Skullcandy is part of the competition.

Lets get the pictures over and done with then, we’ll talk.

Before I get too far into this review, I have to say that I’ve left my Metro.fi 2’s in my wife’s car, along with my ipod, so I can’t do a direct comparison right at this minute.

Build Quality, Design and Features

The Metro.fi 100’s feel like they’re above their £19.99 price. That’s not to dam it with faint praise, but the Metro.fi 2’s feel bombproof, and these feel the same, but to a slightly lesser degree, but they feel solid. I like the way the casing around the drivers are transparent, it’s a nice little feature.

The best thing about the Metro.fi 100 is the cable isn’t the same as the Metro.fi 2’s cable, which is stiffer than my Nan’s dead parrot. Because of this the 2’s have a tendency of moving out of position if they’re not screwed in hard enough. I use the smallest ear buds for the 2’s, in order to solve the problem.

The Metro.fi 100’s cable is corded where as the Metro.fi 2 cable is made from industrial strength, quick drying concrete!

I’m not going too say that the Metro.fi 100’s are perfect, because they’re not. The standard ear buds could do with being a touch thicker. They can feel a touch thin and flimsy. I’ve swapped them for the standard size ear buds form the Metro.fi 2 earphones, because they’re slightly thicker, and they provide a better seal.

Metro.fi 100 ear bud left, Metro.fi 2 ear bud right.

How do they sound?

I want to bring you and update when they’re fully burned in, But they are what I expect form Ultimate Ears. Very forward, upfront presentation. What ever you throw at them, they’ll shine. From the fast Shimon - The Shadow knows track, to Big Country’s - Look Away, sound firm, tight and, without loosing the delicate highs. Michael’s - Billie Jean is amazing. The highs don’t pierce your ears and the 100’s can cope with the volume.

Comparing to the more expensive Mylar’s, you get a sense at how forward these are, but the Mylar’s are far more delicate in their approach. But they can’t compare when it comes to the bass, the 100’s dig far deeper.

I’ll bring you an update and a full comparison soon.

Update Friday 16th May 2008

The ipod trial

There’s no easy way of saying this, so I’ll just come out with it. The ipod/ Metro.fi 100 combination probably won’t knock your socks off. You might need some help from a portable headphone amp to even things up. shame, because the Metro’s shine with my iMac. Now I don’t want to place the blame on the ipod, but it seems to be the weak link in the chain. Without the ability to customize the sound, the flat level player just doesn’t do the Metro.fi’s any favors.

With the ipod, the sound is very veiled, the presentation is warm, and any sharp detail is muted. The ipod can drive the 100’s well enough, but they do sound like a pair of cheap earphones, instead of earphones made by a reputable brand.

Fearing that the Go-Vibe V5 amp or the Biosciencegeek CMoy amp would add to the warm rather than neutralize it, I plugged it into the iAsus Mobile Amp. The iAsus amp is good at bringing out the midrange, and you can hear the difference. Although the midrange can be overpowering with this combination, it’s better than the alternative.

So with the ipod/iAsus/UE combo, everything is alright with the world once again, and my faith in Ultimate Ears remains…just as long as you stay away from the 5EB’s. Those who me, know how I feel about them. I’ll save that for another day.

Thanks to Hand Held Audio

handheldaudio.co.uk an official distributor for Ultimate Ears, and they have all the range, plus the accessories, should you need them. I ordered my Metro.fi 100’s yesterday and I got a knock on the door this morning, with a friendly postman, who handed me a small package, containing the 100’s. That’s quick delivery by anyone’s standards. But the best thing is that the offer the real thing, nothing fake here. That’s important, especially with things like the Ultimate Ears replacement ear buds, because the cheap things won’t do you any favours; believe me I’ve tried.

Hand Held Audio have their own store front on amazon, and unlike some sellers, who raise or lower their prices on amazon, the prices are the same as on their website.

First Conclusion

I need to get my hands on a pair of real CX300’s before I can do a comparison test, but the Metro.fi 100’s are a good pair of earphones for the money. I think they will give the CX300’s a run for their money in fact. Can’t wait to test them head to head.

The Metro’s are becoming more widely available, just Google them. amazon, ebay and of course Hand Held Audio are all selling them. They should be easy enough to find. However as yet, they’re not available from UE at this time. This is the reply that I got from UE:

Hello Matthew,

I don’t know if these are released yet, those you see are probably just samples that we have sent out to retailers. They should be released within the next month or so and all the information about them will be on our website.

Thanks

Anyway, they are here, and you can get them now from a small number of sellers on the net. Enjoy!