Ultimate Ears 400vi review

A noise-isolating headset such as the Ultimate Ears 400vi is ideal for commuters that don’t want the outside world to interrupt their music. We loved their ability to completely deaden the noise of a train carriage, but it helps that the sound quality is pretty good too.

Our test tracks sounded great thanks to punchy mid-range and crisp high-end notes. Bass tones were satisfyingly warm when playing rock and electronica, but we could still pick out the details in acoustic tracks. Sound quality stayed the same across the volume range, although bass-heavy tracks sounded best at higher volumes.

The four interchangeable rubber tips are all fairly large, which may be a problem for anyone with a very small ear canal; we found that pushing them only slightly too far into our ears would muffle music to the point that we had to take them out and reposition them. We also would have preferred the in-line remote to be lower down the cable, but we at least sounded clear when using it with a smartphone to make calls.

If you can put up with occasionally needing to reposition the ear buds for the best audio, this is a comfortable headset that doesn’t cost the earth.