Logitech UE 4000 Review

[Breakdown]

Full Disclosure

 

Three years ago, I bought a pair of Pioneer MJ-51s from Best Buy for $70 CAD. Back then, I knew absolutely nothing about headphones and I thought this was an excellent deal, seeing as it was half the price it used to be. Turns out, it was actually crap. It was flimsy and the sound quality was terrible.

 

Fast forward to four months ago, and the plastic connector that held the right speaker housing to the head band broke. So that was the end of that. I used a cheap pair of in-ear headphones for a while but the cable gave out on that one after 2 weeks.

 

So I bought the Logitech UE 4000.

 

 

In the Box

 

-Headphones

 

 

-Cable

 

 

-Headphone sleeve

 

 

-Headphone splitter

-Setup Guide

-Important information

 

 

 

The packaging is great. The headphone is seated securely in a thin plastic mold, and the splitter is seated in the center of the headphone mold. Beneath this houses the wrapped cable, the sleeve, the setup guide and the important information that no one finds important enough to read.

 

 

Design and Build Quality

 

I opted for the white pair, since most of my devices are black. Only the actual speaker housings are white though. The plastic headband is a glossy extreme fingerprint magnet black. It’s not a black-and-white only affair though; the speaker meshes are blue, and so is the entire cable. Same goes for the rubber attachments between the headband and speaker housing.

 

 

Speaking of the cable, it is removable. Not only that, but it terminates in 3.5mm plugs at both ends, and one of them is right-angled. No proprietary connectors here. The straight end gets stuck in the port on the left speaker pretty good, so you don’t have to worry about that disconnecting by accident anytime soon. The cable is encased in a thick rubber jacket, which supposedly prevents it from tangling.

 

 

There is also an inline mic with remote controls. I have used the mic before, and the persons on the other end said they were hearing me better than normal, so that means the mic is better than the one on the Galaxy S2. The controls give a solid click when pressed, and it’s easy to know which one you pressed since the middle (play/pause) button has a ridge.

 

 

The headband extensions are made of aluminium. Each extends by about 4 cm. They don’t have indicators for how far they're extended though, so you have to rely on some fairly soft, therefore inaccurate, clicks if you like them both to be equal. The inside of headband is lined with a sort of plastic that’s super smooth to the touch. I think this is what people call soft touch plastic.

 

 

 

The insides of both sides are marked with coloured letters, too. That's a plus.

 

 

 

The design has grown on me over the months, and I think it looks wonderful. Also, for a plastic headphone, I must say the build quality is excellent. The pair just feels solid, all round. Plus they are super light, so they’re super-portable. I only have one issue. You can’t fold the headphones…

 

Comfort

 

As an on-ear headphone, I never really expected much in terms of comfort. And I was right in this regard. Regardless of the low weight, soft leather ear pads and the layer of soft foam at the top interior of the headband, I cannot comfortably wear these headphones for more than 1.5 hours, or 2 hours at most. That being said, I do have a slightly large head, so that may have something to do with it.

 

Sound Quality

 

Before I start, know that I do not have an extensive knowledge of all the different parts of music, and what’s not. So this is going to be a fairly simple review, without a lot of jargons and definitely without graphs and the likes. I listen to dubstep/electro, rap, R&B, reggae and dancehall music 99.9% of the time, so all opinions below are based on these genres. I don’t listen these as FLAC or any of the other lossless formats. Just plain old MP3, most of the times.

 

At normal listening volumes (below 65% I would say), these have enough bass. It doesn’t try to deliver so much bass that it sounds distorted, like the headphones can’t handle it. You can even use an EQ to add a bit more bass, and they can handle it. Just don’t add too much, otherwise things get really messy, if you know what I mean. Same thing happens at super high volumes. This is a portable headphone after all. It’s not meant to be driven by amplifier. If anything, overall I’d say the bass stands out just by a hair from the other elements of any song that I listen to with these headphones.

 

The vocals sound better than average to me, but nothing to write home about. They just don’t stand out as much as the bass do. It’s the same for much of the higher frequencies. It’s an okay movie/gaming headphone too.

 

One thing I have noticed though is that when the music gets really ‘crowded’, some elements of the seemingly disappear. But it’s never the bass though; that’s always there. Let me give you an example. If I’m listening a song, and there is a part with vocals but no bassline, as soon as the bass hits, the vocals and everything else just sound recessed. Not sure if this is an intended effect in the songs I listen, or if it’s the headphones themselves. The effect is not really noticeable though, unless you go looking for it.

 

Sound Isolation

 

The best chance you have of blocking noises around you is to crank the volume up to 100% (don’t do that; it’s bad for your ears). And even then, you still hear some outside noises, depending on how loud they are.

 

It’s the same case in reverse as well. The people beside you can hear quite clearly what you’re listening to at volumes about 40%. Any less, and that person would have to be specifically listening with an intent to hear.

That being said, it is an on-ear budget headphone. You can’t seriously expect Bose-level noise isolation, now can you?

 

Value and Conclusion

 

The Logitech UE 4000s had a MSRP or $100. When I bought them though, they were discontinued by then, and Amazon had them for $30. Yes, you read that correctly. $30. The price remains about the same as of this writing (21^st June 2014); $32 for the white, and $25 for the black. Bargain of the year right there.

 

Goes without saying then, it is amazing value for the money. I am absolutely satisfied with this pair of headphones. Need of one of the best headphones $30 can buy? Get the UE 4000.

[ROK]

I got these for $40 CAD in December for my brother. They're very nice with decent sound quality for the money. I really wish they would fold.

 

Although, I ended out buying a pair of V-Moda XS for myself.  I absolutely need folding in a portable headphone.

[79wjd]

I got the UE6000s myself over a year ago, and I've been recommending them to anyone/everyone; especially since they dropped to $100~ USD.

[Breakdown]

I got these for $40 CAD in December for my brother. They're very nice with decent sound quality for the money. I really wish they would fold.

 

Although, I ended out buying a pair of V-Moda XS for myself.  I absolutely need folding in a portable headphone.

 

The V-Modas look beast, and I'd guess they have good sound quality to go along with them looks. I would've been reviewing one of those if it weren't for their price. 

 

I got the UE6000s myself over a year ago, and I've been recommending them to anyone/everyone; especially since they dropped to $100~ USD.

 

I was looking at the UE 6000 too, but after seeing how cheap the 4000s were, I just bought those instead. The 6000s are really nice though, especially since they improve on all the qualities of the 4000s.

[79wjd]

I was looking at the UE 6000 too, but after seeing how cheap the 4000s were, I just bought those instead. The 6000s are really nice though, especially since they improve on all the qualities of the 4000s.

Yes. Plus, on-ear headphones are blegh