Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO Review

Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO

Build quality & Comfort

 

This is my third set of Ultimate Ears custom monitor and the build quality and on all of them is excellent. With this latest version however, it is more complicated as it has the Switch system for the faceplates. That means the closure isn’t as perfect and sealed as it is with classical CIEMs. Especially my left side is suffering from this, and you can maybe spot in the pictures that there are some small cracks and fractures near the closing plate of the switch system. Once the face plate is installed, the imperfections aren’t noticeable though, and they certainly don’t impact the sound quality of the monitors.

For the rest there are no complaints, the nozzle termination is soft and round and the cable connecters sits perfectly flush in the housing. The insides of the UE 11 PRO are also very clean, tight and symmetric. UE’s craftmanship in this regard is excellent.

As the UE 11 PRO is only using 4 BA drivers, the earpieces size wise are quite small and they don’t stick out of your ears too much. The nozzle is average in length and diameter (2 bore design), and that makes the insertion depth pretty on par with most of my other customs. I have CIEMs with both longer and shorter nozzles, so I think these will perfectly fit like 99% of all ears. In total size, the UE 11 PRO isn’t the smallest monitor, especially for a 4-driver one, but it’s not overly huge either.

Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO

I sent in my ear impressions for the very first CIEM years ago already and since then they have been using the digital scans from those. With UE’s knowledge and experience they build/print the earpieces to perfectly fit your ear. That means you get superb comfort and an excellent seal with a high level of isolation.

Personalization

As you can see in the pictures of the 18+PRO and LIVE models, a lot can be done to customize and personalize your monitors. The one thing to note here is that UE for this version doesn’t offer any shell customisation. The only personalisation you can do here are the face plates.

I absolutely love the design of my LIVE and 18+PRO and for the UE 11 PRO I wanted something more normal. As I got to try out the Switch system, I chose the following 3 options for the face plates: car camouflage, jeans and solid green with the UE logo. Simple but nice.

Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO

Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO

Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO

Cable

As we have reported before, the Ultimate Ears monitors now come with a waterproof connection system and SuperBax cable.

A top level monitor deserves a good cable, and most of the popular CIEM companies nowadays are working together with a boutique cable maker.” Ultimate Ears clearly agrees as they’re working with Estron/Linum from Denmark. The SuperBax cable is now being offered with the full UE line-up and they even developed the IPX connector together.

We already know that the SuperBax cable is an excellent cable in both sound and comfort and the SuperBax also won our Best Value Cable award in the past! The SuperBax doesn’t tangle, is light, comfy and hardly noticeable. You can perfectly wear it above the ear and it won’t bother you a single bit as it’s light and soft. This UE SuperBax cable does come with a special cable tie where the cable splits left and right. With this splitter you can lock the mechanism and that way the splitter will always stay perfectly in place where you set it (for me that’s under my chin). That way the cable never gets in the way, it won’t snag the monitors and it won’t bother you at all.

Cable-wise, UE from me gets a double thumbs up. The Superbax only comes in a 3.5mm termination and it of course can only be used with T2 and IPX connectors. The Ultimate Ears SuperBax is a road-worthy cable, strong enough to hold a 12-pound barbell, yet so lightweight and transparent that it becomes virtually invisible. With significant reliability improvement, this new system can handle thousands of cycles of connect-disconnects.

Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO

Linum/Estron and the SuperBax cable aren’t new to the portable audio scene and we’ve reviewed and approved their cables on several occasions already:

In fact, we’ve already reviewed the SuperBax cable as well and you can find that review here:

Price & Accessories

The UE 11 Pro’s price starts at $1,199 USD. The Switch system with 2 extra sets of faceplates, depending on your choices sets you back at least another $199 USD. Add your custom artwork to it, and the price goes up another $200 to $400 USD. The final price of my set was $1,598 USD.

For this price I got the following in a pretty and compact box:

  • 1 set of custom UE 11 PRO monitors with the Switch system
  • 1 SuperBax cable
  • 1 pre-installed faceplate
  • 2 extra Switch faceplates, in their own leather “case”
  • A tiny squared and personalized aluminum protection box
  • A cleaning tool
  • A soft pouch
  • Instruction manuals for the monitors and the Switch system

Ultimate Ears UE 11 PRO

I absolutely adore the small tough hard case that UE has provided, and I have been using it nonstop for UE and other monitors when on the go. It’s superb. All-in-all a nice deliver and a good set of accessories for the price.

Sound

For this part I used the UE 11 PRO with a multitude of DAPs, but mostly the Astell&Kern SP2000 and the Fiio M17. With its 18Ohm impedance and 119dB sensitivity, this monitor is very easy to drive. It doesn’t require any special source, I only recommend to use a clear one that doesn’t emphasize bass already.

As mentioned earlier in the intro, the UE 11 PRO according to the designers is built for professional drummers and percussionists. This means that the UE 11 PRO’s man features are clarity and extra bass impact. This so you can hear every detail of the mix and feel the impact of every hit.

UE really focuses on the bass and the “feeling” of it, but it at the same time is not overly present in this monitor either. The LIVE in example is much heavier and denser than the UE 11 PRO, but more on that later.

The part on sound continues on the third page. Simply click here or below.

Page 1: Ultimate Ears, Switch, UE 11 PRO, Specs

Page 2: Build Quality & comfort, Perso, Cable, Price & accessories, Sound pt1

Page 3: Sound Pt2, Comparisons, Conclusion

3.9/5 - (92 votes)
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Lieven is living in Europe and he's the leader of the gang. He's running Headfonia as a side project next to his full time day job in Digital Marketing & Consultancy. He's a big fan of tube amps and custom inear monitors and has published hundreds of product reviews over the years.

4 Comments

  • Reply February 15, 2022

    MhtLion

    Great review! I wish UE will start to offer balanced cables. It has nothing to do with the topology of the balanced circuit, etc. It’s because otherwise the return paths are physicalled shorted when using a singled ended headphone socket. There is absolutely no reason what-so-ever to short two wires – never. Some people spend over 3,000 USD for premium wires then unknowingly short the wires together by using a SE headphone socket. That’s not a very smart thing to do in my humble opinion. The SE headphone socket was plain lazy engineering from the get-go. It needs to go away.

  • Reply February 19, 2022

    Ryan Jordan

    Great review! How would you compare this to the 64 audio u6t that your reviewed? I am a singer in a rock and roll band and I’m looking for a good CIEM for that usage. I’ll use them for causal listening as well but i slinky need them for the performing. I have a set of the UE11s ordered but I have been told that they may not be the best choice. I ordered them because of the “feel” and “high energy rock” terms that they use in the marketing but I am a bit concerned about the sound and bass as a singer. My next choice would be the A6t because I have read and been told they’re great for singers and all musicians for stage use and casual use. It’s been challenging trying to figure out what to buy blindly and any advice would be awesome. Thank you!!

  • Reply January 18, 2024

    the Colonel MC

    Fantastic review. I’m a jungle MC, and fight to hear my voice against a wall of the most manic, bass-heavy dance music on Earth. At the same time, the energy is in the bass, so I need to feel it. Based on your review and other input, I’m awaiting a set of UE11s right now, I can’t wait to try them out.

  • Reply January 31, 2024

    Michael

    My experience was just the opposite of this review. I had terrible customer service from the jump (UE’s representative David Gutierrez should be avoided at all costs), when I finally got the monitors they didn’t fit, it was an enormous hassle to try and get them fixed, and, ultimately, the sound in the left monitor was distorted. When I tried to return them under the 30-day guarantee, I was told there was a $300 “customization fee”–e.g., they would not return my full purchase price.

    A total scam. I’m glad you had a good experience, but I would advise people to avoid at all costs.

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