Find out what anti-earbud, pro-bulky-headphones reviewer David Wilkinson makes of Logitech’s in-ear “UltimateEar” earphones.
I’ve always been slightly biased against in-ear headphones, preferring their bulkier (generally much higher sound quality) cousins, the over-ear headphones.
Despite being no audiophile, I never found in-ear buds to be all that comfortable, and the sound quality generally disappointing. Granted, I’d only ever used the free ones that Apple ship with iPods, but I was pretty much certain that my opinion wasn’t going to change on the basis of just one review.
When Logitech sent over their Ultimate Ears MetroFi 220 ear-buds however, I was eager to try them out and see how they performed. On the basis of several real-world tests, the simple conclusion was drawn that frankly, “awesome” doesn’t do these babies justice. Having used them for more than two months now, I feel I’m in a fairly solid position to make such outlandish claims. 
Marketing hype aside, in short, here’s what the MetroFi 220 *DELIVER* (and deliver well at that):
– Great noise isolation (as in… so effective, you might just not hear the car backing out the drive as it hits you, effective)
– Superb quality sound all round.
– Absolutely killer bass.
– The 220vi version includes an impresive, inline microphone & button for quick-answering calls.
The only slight concern I harbour having used them for so long, were (that at least initially), issues with comfortabilityarose when using the buds for long periods of time.
That said, the earbuds shipped with a pack of different “heads”, allowing people with small, medium, large, and apparently elephantine ears to each have a comfy fit.
Supposedly so, at any rate. None seemed particularly comfy at first – however once “worn in” to a certain degree, things became a lot more bearable.
Considering their price (£35, equivelant to what you’d pay for a substantially crappier pair of supposed “top of the low-end” earphones), the UltimateEars MetroFi 220 offer suprisngly good quality at a thankfully not-wholly unholy pricetag.
Whilst I’d still maintain over-ear headphones are comfier, there was no discernable difference in sound quality from these versus my £100 Sennheiser pair of (incredibly bulky) headphones. Stereotype-smashing complete, I’m proud to bestow my personal recommendation upon the product which, admittedly, proved me wrong. 
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