Update: Sept 11, 2015 - My Ultimate Ears 600vi finally died to me. Actually, only one ear sort of died. I think the wire inside got cut so I can't hear music on the right side of the earphone unless I hold it a certain way. It's too bad. It's probably the earphone that lasted the longest for me. I had it for almost 2 years and used it daily. For CAD$79.99, it's not bad.
I tried to look for a replacement, but I think Ultimate Ears has discontinued selling low end earphones and only see speakers and high end earphones on their website. Oh well, try to see what else is out there. I'm considering some other brands and see if I can find something as good as the UE 600vi.
I just got myself the
Logitech UE 600vi noise-isolating earphones yesterday. If you read by previous review on the
Logitech UE 350vi, I mentioned that those earphones died on me when one ear lost all sound and I was looking for a replacement.
After doing my research, I almost bought the
Klipsch S4i until I saw the UE 600vi on sale for CAD$79.99 (regular $129.99).
The Logitech UE 600vi is from Ultimate Ears which makes earphones for professional musicians. The consumer division has been rebranded at Logitech UE and the professional division and speakers uses the Ultimate Ears brand.
I was quite satisfied with my old UE 350vi so I was happy to see the
Logitech UE 600vi go on sale. It actually cost less than the UE350vi when I first bought it.
When my UE 350vi broke, I switched to using the Apple Earpods.
I never used Apple Earphones even when new, I always used third party earphones and was not expecting a lot from it after
my UE 350vi broke. Imagine my surprise when the Apple Earpods were actually pleasant to use and does not fall off my ear at all.
The sound across the board from low to high was very very good. However, the reason I use earphones is because I take transit and I want to reduce the noise I hear from the train. I know the Apple Earpods were not noise isolating earphones so I can forgive them for that. But since the train is noisy, I don't see any point in using the Apple Earpods other than in a quiet environment.
Anyway, this is a review for the Logitech UE 600vi so here goes.
The Logitech UE 600vi comes in a nice package with 5 silicon tips ranging from xxs to L and 2 Comply foam tips from M to L. It also comes with a hard plastic carrying case.
Before I head on to the review, here's the Tech Specs:
EARPHONE TYPE:In-ear
DRIVER TYPE:Single, top-firing armature
IMPEDANCE:13 ohms, 1 kHz
SENSITIVITY:115 dB SPL/mW, 1 kHz
FREQUENCY RESPONSE:20 Hz - 20 kHz
NOISE ISOLATION:26 dB
INPUT:3.5 mm (1/8 inch), angled
CABLE LENGTH:48 inch (121.9 cm)
I just started using it and I'm just started to get use to it. One thing I noticed immediately on the Logitech UE 600vi is the lack of bass. Compared to the 350vi, the bass seems to be completely lacking on the UE 600vi. But this could be the result of me getting used to the Apple Earpods.
I played around with different tip sizes and I found one that works best for me. As with any earphones, since they go in your ear, if you do not fit them or wear them properly, you will never get the right sound on your earphones and you will be severely disappointed.
The UE 600vi can be worn two ways, with the cord dangling down or with the cord going up and around your ear like this.
The UE 600vi has two colors, red for the right ear and black for the left ear. You can wear them with the cord down for casual listening. But you have to wear them up and around your ear if you want to hear the full experience.
Once you wear them properly, the difference is significant. When worn loosely down there is hardly any bass that you can hear. But worn up and around the ear and into your ear canal, you start hearing more bass. Not as much as the Apple Earpods minds you, but still a lot more.
What is significantly better that I noticed though is the mid-range and highs (tweeter) on these earphones. They are very clear and quite powerful. The music comes through very well and every voice is crystal clear.
Logitech also markets these earphones as having "a noise-isolating, 3D soundstage experience so real it feels live". I didn't read about this part on the box so I was quite surprise when I first used them that I immediately noticed that the sound seems to be coming further away than from the earphones and from behind me which was surprising. I only ever heard something like this on a headphone that completely covers your ears. Only when I read the box did I see that it was a feature of this earphone to have 3D sound.
Bass
Let's talk about Bass since this is what most casual listeners judge their earphones on.
I was listening to a few songs and like I said, there wasn't as much bass than what I got used to hearing on other earphones. But that is both good and bad depending on the type of music you like to listen to.
After listening to a few more songs in my library, it seems like this lack of bass is deliberate. If you listen to Rock and Roll music a lot like I do, you won't hear a lot of bass as old rock and roll music typically does not feature deep bass. This is because music in the 1950 and 1960 didn't really emphasize on the bass. The voices, guitar and drums though come out really really clear and you can actually hear the scratches made on the string by the guitarist as he moves around the guitar. Songs from the Beatles, The Zombies and Santana sounds like you are listening right there at the recording studio.
Soft and mellow music from Nicolette Larson and Linda Ronstadt sounds beautiful, like they are signing in front of you on the stage.
Music with deep bass like songs from Michael Jackson's Beat it, songs from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Police's Every Breath You Take sounds the way they were meant to be. Deep and heavy and soft and mellow when it's supposed to be.
The other earphones I tried seems to emphasize on the bass so you almost always notice the bass on every song. The UE 600vi seems to let the music play the way it's supposed to be and not emphasize any part of the frequency unless it was originally meant by the artist.
This is surprising because it is very rare to hear music as it was meant to be played now since most equipment emphasize bass most of the time.
The UE 600vi keeps the music to its true form and let you decide if you want to change it. I have my iPhone set up with the equalizer off. But changing it to Bass Booster increases the bass on the music.
Most music nowadays also increases the loudness of the music from the studio to make it sound good on cheap earphones. I have all my music recordings copied as Lossless and converted to AAC 192 or 256K to my iPhone to keep it as true to the original CD as possible.
So if I wanted to increase the bass, I just turn up the volume on my iPhone. And it does make the bass deeper and sound better.
Mind you, the UE 600vi does not have heart thumping bass sound. I found the bass to be solid and soft, like the edge is rounded instead of sharp and heavy like other earphones. If you listen to a lot of hip hop or music with a lot of heavy and deep bass, this is not the earphones for you.
Mid-range
The mid-range of the UE 600vi is the best feature of this earphones. Every voice is crystal clear and it always seems like the singer is singing at a stage in front of you or you're listening at the studio while the song is being recorded. I have used some really good earphones like Shure, Bose and Bower and Wilkins, but this is the first time I have heard this nice of a mid-range on a sub $100 earphones (it was on sale by the way).
Voice calls are also crystal clear and I think this was deliberate since this is an earphone meant to be use on an iPhone to listen to music and answer calls. Human voices is mostly on the mid-range so this is probably why the mid-range sound so nice on this earphones.
Vocals from Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Diana Krall and Simply Red's rendition of "You make me feel brand new" is lovely to listen to. You can hear the full vocal range of the artist.
High
As with the mid-range, the high end of the music also sounds crystal clear on the UE 600vi. The high hat of the drums, violins from orchestral music, flutes and triangles can be heard clearly without being lost in the mid-range and bass.
Construction
Another thing that I noticed is that on my old UE 350vi, the notch to hold the silicon tips to the earphones were quite small so the silicon tips keep falling off when I take them off my ear. On the UE 600vi, the notch extends further out so it looks like it will hold the silicon tips better.
So for now, it looks like it's better constructed.
The plug to your equipment is L shaped, which I think works better than the straight one on the Apple Earpods. The cord seems to be made from the same material as the US 350vi so I hope it's sturdy enough to last daily use. The earpiece itself is better made than the UE 350vi. It's slightly curve to fit your ear worn upwards than downwards.
Conclusion
The
Logitech UE 600vi is probably the best earphones you can buy for under $100. As I mentioned, not everyone hears the same thing or likes the same music. But if you're like me and you like different eras of music and different genres, this is probably the best general purpose earphones you can get.
Pro: Noise isolation is excellent, well balanced speakers across the board from bass to high end.
Cons: Hard to fit to ear sometimes and does not have deep bass if you are not listening to music with a lot of bass. Which may disappoint some people who are used to hearing a lot of bass on any music.
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