Ultimate Ears MetroFi 220vi

Posted by Bill on December 13th, 2009 at 02:56pm Comments

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Ultimate Ears MetroFi 220vi
Reviewed by: Bill Henderson
Ultimate Ears MetroFi 220vi - Store - Ultimate Ears Earphones Headphones Personal Monitors
Price: $89.99

Ultimate Ears is a company famous for offering one of the most expensive in-ear monitors you can buy. Musicians will swear that the custom fit UE 11 Pro models are one of the best on-stage monitors, period. And UE has a big chunk of that market to prove it.

But they also make consumer models of universal fit earphones for those of us non-musicians with thinner wallets. Among the many models UE makes is the MetroFi line of earphones. These models are designed for the urban commuter who lives in a city with a lot of background noise. The 220vi model is light and easy to insert/remove for an active person. These aren’t really made for sitting down in a quiet room to do critical listening. That’s not to dismiss these as audible lightweights. UE has put a lot of their expertise in making these sound good. And they do. Being an in-ear design makes for some decent noise isolation in a noisy world. While they won’t block out the world completely - in this environment - the 220vi model does pretty well. In fact, they were designed to let you still be aware of your surroundings while commuting (I would imagine for safety’s sake).

However, I have an issue with the eartips. It one of my biggest complaints with many earphones I’ve reviewed. Getting good sound is largely dependent on a good seal and the MetroFis don’t seal in my ears that well. I think a company that makes custom-fit earphones could do better in this department.

But all is not bad. Once again, I have used eartips from another brand and the sound quality became much better. And it is using these tips that I am basing this review. Having taken care of that, I began to listen to some reference recordings made for headphones as well as some popular music.

One thing immediately apparent on the 220vi model is the strong mid-range. Vocals come across as intimate and warm. Bass is not as strong as I have heard elsewhere, but it rounds out well. The weakest part is the higher frequencies. When pushed hard, I can hear distortion on the high notes, but this is rare. I couldn’t detect any brittleness, though.

Bob Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody”  has a homey feel, like some friends came over to your living room and plugged in. His vocals sound aged, but smooth. Dean Can Dance’s Ullyses kicks in with some throbbing dulcimer, but the singers backing up lead singer Brendan Perry sound too far away. And this is the remastered version. However, Perry’s vocals in their echo effects sound as good as I’ve heard them.

The MetroFis are sparse in included accessories. The 220vi model comes with three sizes of ear tips (that don’t seal very well) and a cheap looking plastic case, which is actually pretty tough and crush proof. The exterior of the earphone is a pretty chrome with color-coded left and right indicators. The cord feels thin and tends to tangle. The vi on the 220 name means that this is a headset version which allows you to make and receive calls on your iPhone. Otherwise, they are identical to the regular 220s. The call quality was right where you would expect it to be in this price range. The separate play/call button is lower on the cord from the mic itself which makes it a little easier to find without looking.

The MetroFi 220vi is a relatively inexpensive model to get you through your work day. While not the best sounding earphones around; for the price, they more than sound good and if you happen to accidently leave them on the train or lose them, it will not cause you to have to refinance your life to replace them. And because of that, they should make your daily commute worry-free.

Score:
7/10

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(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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