December 13, 2010 – I recently received a set of Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10 IEM’s (in ear monitors) and I’ve had a few days to put them through their paces. The TripleFi 10s, as the name suggests, contain 3 drivers, each corresponding to the low, medium, and high frequency ranges.

Many earphones claim to go down to super low frequencies, lower than the normal range of human hearing in fact; in the TripleFi 10s Ultimate Ears says the can get down to 10 hz. While I have no way of objectively measuring if they can back this up, I can say that the amount of bass energy they were able to provide was surprising.

Over the years, I’ve owned dozens of earphones and headphones. I even had several iterations of the Panasonic portable CD players and tape decks (remember those?!) that had a motor in the proprietary headphones to shake them off your head. Honestly though, it was all for show because the bass distorted pretty easily.

I could almost feel the bass in my chest with these IEMs. Will they replace a nice set of speakers? Of course not, but when they are well sealed in the ear cavity, they provide a nice rich bass that’s quite warm. To ensure that you do get the best fit, Ultimate Ears provides 3 sizes of rubber tips, and a couple sets of expanding foam ones. While I use similar rubber ones in my Shure IEMs, the Ultimate Ears foam set is so comfortable, it has me thinking of installing a set on the Shures.

Aesthetically, the TripleFi 10s are beautifully designed. In practice though, I find the earphones a bit awkward. I realize that they must be big enough to support the 3 drivers and the proper porting, but they are about an inch long and don’t sit flush against your outer ear; in fact, they stick out a bit. I’m not sure why they did this as the competing Shure SE530 sits more flush inside the ear and looks better on your head.

But looks aren’t why you’re paying $400 (MSRP but retails for much less), for a set of IEMs; you buy them for the sound. In that department, the TripleFi 10s excel. These IEMs are the best sounding earphones I’ve ever used. At $400 they are a good buy, but if you find them for less, they are a MUST buy.

As I touched on before, the bass is rich and warm, but at the same time not overpowering. There is great detail in the mids and highs, without being overly boosted. The best part of the aural experience is that everything sounds cohesive. When I say this, I mean that everything sounds like it’s playing together in one room rather than all in separate booths and then stuck together.

I used an Apple Lossless file and compared the output to a set of Shures (to be fair, they are less than half the price, and not a class competitor) to see the difference. Formerly the Shures sounded damn good for their price, however when compared to the TripleFis, I found that the frequency range was sharply boosted and cut in certain ranges. This made the instruments seem more isolated from each other.

In contrast, the TripleFi 10s had a very smooth frequency range but still retained great detail across the range. This is not to say that they have have a flat frequency response, but they sounded very pleasant. If I were to fault them aurally, I would say that they show off a bit too much in the low to mid range. In some lusher mixes I found it a little overwhelming.

One thing I might mention is that if you aren’t used to IEM’s, you may find the vocals too far forward. While the vocals sound great on speakers with the appropriate space away from you, IEMs sometimes bring the vocalist into your head spacially. This is not a mark against the TripleFis as all IEMs and earphones suffer from this, but it’s something to keep in mind if you are considering taking the plunge.

While a nice headphone amp would definitely help, I feel that the TripleFi 10s can be used on a daily basis without. They’re quite comfortable (if a bit awkward when putting them in), well constructed, sound great and are well-priced at most retail outlets. If you are in the market for a set of nice earphones, I strongly suggest you check them out. Also, if you work in a noisy office like me, they block out a lot of ambient noise without even being plugged in. You also get the benefit of people not bothering you as much because they think you’re listening to music.