Personalization
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 is the face plates. The shell colour is fixed (clear). This is not the case with their higher-end options.
For the Switch system, I chose the following limited-edition options for the face plates:
- 311 | Music
- 311 | Sound System
- 311 | Transistor
If you wonder what or who “311” is, then you can check out this page.
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 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.
Do note that UE calls this cable the “UE Earloop”. So when configuring your monitor, you may not see a “SuperBax” name, but that shouldn’t confuse you. That is indeed a Linum SuperBax.
We already know that the SuperBax cable is excellent 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 around 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 the place where you set it.
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.
Price & Accessories
The UE 5 Pro’s price starts at $549. Depending on your choices, the Switch system with 2 extra sets of faceplates sets you back at least another $199. Add your custom artwork to it, and the price goes up another $200 to 400D. The final price of my set was $749.
For this price I got the following in a pretty and compact box:
- 1 set of custom UE 5 PRO monitors with the Switch system
- 1 SuperBax cable
- 1 pre-installed faceplate
- 2 extra Switch faceplates, in their own leather “case”
- A tiny squared and personalized protection box
- A cleaning tool
- A soft pouch
- Instruction manuals for the monitors and the Switch system
All in all, it’s a nice delivery and a good set of accessories for the price. However, I would’ve liked the case to be from full aluminium. The inside is plastic so that takes away from the premium feeling a bit.
Sound
The UE 5 Pro is one of those monitors that remind us the driver count doesn’t matter, just like the P-EAR-S SH3 from Switzerland. The 2BA drivers combine for a very well-balanced and coherent sound which is correct in timbre and technically sound enough to please a lot of audiophiles.
So even though UE claims that this is for live performance or studio monitoring, I think it’s a very good CIEM for listening to music as well. I’m surprised by that since my experience with pro monitors often is not so positive when it comes to actual listening.
Overall, I find the UE 5 a successful monitor for the price. If you don’t go for the swappable faceplate feature, the base price is 549$ which includes the Linum SuperBax cable which sells for around 199$ directly from Linum. You also get the most durable IEM connection type, the T2, which I find better than 2-pin and MMCX.
Page 1: Ultimate Ears, Switch, UE 5 PRO, Specs
Page 3: Sound Pt2, Comparisons, Conclusion
Page 4: Technical Performance, Comparisons, Conclusion
