Polk Audio UltraFocus 6000 review

Accessories include a semihard, zippered travel case, airline adapter, cable shirt clip, and a short female-to-male 3.5mm cable.

The UltraFocus 6000 comes with a one-year parts-and-labor warranty, and you'll an invoice or proof of purchase to initiate a warranty claim.

Performance
The UltraFocus 6000 is a big-sounding in-ear set of headphones. The rich tonal balance is the prime reason for that, and it sounds best when played fairly loud. It's also comfortable to wear for hours at a time, and I used an iPod Classic for all of my listening tests.

As I mentioned, the UltraFocus 6000's noise-canceling prowess was about average for an in-ear noise-canceling design when I tested it on the NYC subway -- it performed slightly better at blocking noise than my Shure SE315 in-ear headphones. The Shure isn't a noise-canceling model; it just depends on a tight ear seal to passively block external noise.

The SE315 is a more accurate-sounding headphone set, but it has less bass, and a clearer, more transparent sound balance with a noticeably present treble "sparkle." The UltraFocus 6000 sounds "heavier" because the deep bass frequencies are boosted higher than they are on most in-ear headphones. Most people enjoy a rich sound balance, and the UltraFocus 6000's bass pitch definition is good, but not great.

The warm balance extends up to midrange frequencies, so vocals like Thom Yorke's on his album "The Eraser" tend to exhibit more body than they do on most in-ear headphones. Stereo imaging also has a pleasant, wide-open quality, but treble detail is subdued.

The overly full bass balance seems a little out of place for classical and jazz, so I wouldn't recommend the UltraFocus 6000 to folks who listen to a lot of acoustic music.

Conclusion
While the Polk UltraFocus 6000's noise-canceling abilities aren't great, they do exceed noise-isolating (battery-free) in-ear headphones. Buyers seeking the best possible noise-canceling should seriously consider purchasing full-size, over-the-ear noise-canceling headphones; the UltraFocus 6000 will appeal more to buyers craving lots of bass in a smaller, more travel-friendly design.