review: Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10vi

If you’ve never heard music through $400 earbuds, there’s no real reference point; the best way I can paint the picture is to say that none of the usual superlatives like “incredible” or “pristine” have any hope of being sufficiently accurate. You’ll hear new intricacies in your favorite music that you’ve never previously noticed, and the overall audio experience is so expansive it’ll leave you so spoiled that any subsequent attempt to listen to less expensive earbuds will leave the music suddenly sounding oddly two-dimensional.

In that sense the 10vi fully lives up to its billing. And while the inclusion of what probably amounts to a few cents worth of iPhone-specific functionality may not sound like a deal-maker (even some $20 earbuds come with those same built-in controls), my tests with the 10vi were the first time in my 2.5 years as an iPhone user where I could actually take a phone call while listening to my music with earbuds this good (without having to frantically unplug everything so I could hold up the iPhone to my ear or put it on speakerphone). So this product changes the entire equation for iPhone users who value the built-in controls as much as I do, as from our standpoint there simply is no usable competition at this price point (in fairness there are third party mic/button adapters available for use with any earbuds, but they place the mic too far away from your mouth, make the cables too long, and typically make the whole thing too heavy – I’ve used such adapters and I don’t recommend them as anything other than a last resort).

That having been said, from an audio standpoint, the 10vi needs to be compared to other earbuds at its price point whether the competition is iPhone compatible or not. At $419, that means we’re looking at Westone’s competing 3, which sells for a similar $399 and is presently our highest-rated earbud product at that price point. After having spent time with both products, if I were choosing based solely on audio quality, it would be a close call – but I’d have to go with the Westone 3. When the audio sounds this amazing, you can only make comparisons in terms of degrees of magic, and the 3 audio experience is just a tad even more magical than the 10vi audio experience. But if I were to arbitrarily assign a percentage based on my perception of the audio quality, I’d end up pegging the Westone 3 as being five to ten percent better-sounding than the 10vi. In other words, unless it psychologically eats at you that there’s a similarly priced competing product out there that sounds slightly better than the one you’re using, there’s no harm in choosing the 10vi due to the fact that it has iPhone controls and the 3 doesn’t.

Strangely enough, where the 10vi falls down a little is in its physical design. As you can see in the photos, the earbud casings are larger than than what you’d find on less expensive (lesser-sounding) earbuds, and that’s to be expected. But I’ve used various Ultimate Ears earbuds priced anywhere from $60 to $250, and they’ve all managed to be plenty comfortable – yet the 10vi is actually a bit less comfortable than other Ultimate Ears earbuds. The problem appears to be that the rubber/foam buds end up right next to the casings, with no space, so those of us with smaller ears have no breathing room even when we do use the smallest included rubber buds.

In the included accessories category, the 10vi delivers the kitchen sink as you’d expect. In the box you’ll find four different sized rubber earbud tips, plus two sets of foam earbuds tips (which I’ve found consistently improve the audio experience of almost any set of in-ear earbuds), a splitter, a quarter-inch stereo plug adapter, a low-profile port adapter that turns ninety degrees, a cleaning brush, and a hard metal case. The idea of protecting a product this expensive inside of a steel compartment sounds like a good idea, and it is, although the included metal case is about thirty percent larger than the hard plastic carrying case that comes with less expensive Ultimate Ears earbuds and thus doesn’t fit into your pocket as easily.

The TripleFi 10vi isn’t perfect, which is a shame because at this price you have a right to expect it to be. But based on the fact that it’s the only product that can give me this kind of audio quality with built-in iPhone controls, I’ll take it. Even though it’s not even the best earbud product at its price point, nor is it as comfortable as most other earbuds the 10vi is still my new favorite set of iPhone earbuds. Just don’t ask me to give it any more than four stars out of five.

It’s worth pointing out that with Apple’s move toward three-button volume and voice controls for newer iPhone and iPod models, it’s probably just a matter of time before most major earbud manufacturers offer three-button versions of your favorite earbuds (we saw quite a bit of this at CES this month, although nothing in this price range). But as of today, these are the best-sounding iPhone-enabled earbuds at any price – and by a million miles.

As a side note, although I wasn’t able to separately test them, Ultimate Ears also offers this product in a non-iPhone “TripleFi 10” version for $399, which appears to be physically identical to the 10vi but without any iPhone controls.