So what's the word on the new Ultrasone HFI-780????

[wilashort]

Very good impressions, Congratulations!.
I like very much the Daft Funk music and videos too.
♫One more time...♫ hehehe, the headphones are/seem to Worth the Money!.
Only hoping for the impressions from Mr. Skylab...

Originally Posted by HeadPhoneLU

Hello,new here.

I felt that I should post some of my Impresions on the HFi-780s that I've had for a little over a week. They have over 150hrs of play time on my lap top and Zune 8gb and still climbing.
First off stay away from these headphones...that is for the first 100hrs.
Right out of the box they had no bass and sounded worse than my HD280s.
I was very dissapointed even though I have read every thing about the burn in time for Ultrasone headphones. I was even more dissapointed after reading how much people dislike the HD280s, and I felt that the HD280s were far better in every way compared to the HFI-780s.

Thank god the burn in time helped these phones. I am happy to say that they now out perform my HD280s in all areas be a large margin.
They arent as comfotable as my 280s, even though they are the same headband, they dont have good sound isolation and I wish the headband was better padded, it is very stiff.

I wanna get into the sound quality but all I have to compare it to are my 280s and they are outperformed. Ill just say that the bass is amazing on these things nice full and round. Electronic music shines on these things. I listen to Infected Mushroom, DaftPunk(2007 live) more and I just get a big smile every time I do. If you like Vocals you wont be dissapointed either. For vocals I listen to Celtic Woman and the songs Walking in the air and Orinoco flow just blow me away every time, they sound amazing.<- ima big softy

I know that this realy looks jumbled and randomly put together but there is just so much to write and so little time as I gotta go to work soon. One problem that does bug me more than anything is that the earcups just have so much padding that the driver is a bit far from my ear and I always have to apply more presure on the earcups to get better sound ( someone please mod this).
I'll add more later as I gotta get going now and I'll end it with this is the best $200 I have ever spent .

[slwiser]

Originally Posted by M3NTAL

Does the Edition 9 share this same quibble? As it seems to be my only concern also. I can't point my finger on it as exacting as you have put it, but I feel like there is something missing in the midrange. My 2500's are lacking something that the Senn HD650 has going for it in the midrange.

Remember that this is one persons opinion and the only one here stating it. He apparently has all three for a while to say this with so much authority.

I don't think this way myself.

[Contrastique]

Originally Posted by slwiser

These cans are one of Pink Floyd's best friends...

Absolutely most gorgeous few words in this thread as I know this can be said about the former models.

I went trough this thread interested in the 780 but, as always, no conclusions can be drawn from this read. Interesting they appear to be more close to the ed9 than the 750's. 16th of march will hopefully be the day I'll get to hear them for myself and compare them with my 750's. Looking forward, that's for sure

[MaloS]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

Well, I think the midrange suck-out is worse on my STAX SR-Lambda Pro than my PL2500. As a matter of fact, I think the PL2500 has better mids than Darth Beyers (300 hours), which without a 3-4db boost at 250Hz and 500Hz were not as enjoyable, while I can enjoy the PL2500 without any EQ (over 500 hours). And to me, the Edition 9 correct any of the PL2500 flaws, including providing a great midrange.

-> Yes, Proline 2500 is much better than Darth Beyers in the midrange.
-> SR-Lambda Pro upper midrange is terrifying - the spikes/suck-outs are great enough to produce substantial difference between volume of individual notes (try listening to a flute). Good example of what a bad chassis can do to a majestic driver...
-> Edition 9 does have far more forward midrange than Proline 2500 - that is the most notable difference. Decay is still whacky (not as much, dampening is better), it is troublesome when listening to very percussion oriented pieces (high-pitch percussive effects). It is definitely by far not the worst in the department, but it places the headphone short of perfect. Good example of how well designed a chassis can be - but it does leave most people with high end equipment wishing for a bit more.

If you don't hear this substantially enough to bother you - lucky. Edition 9 is very good, as are the Proline 2500/750, but there are limitations...

[HeadphoneAddict]

Well, I got my HFI780 today.

I took a quick listen right out of the box and liked them already, then set them aside to burn-in and do some other tasks. Out of the box they did not have the micro-details of my Denon D2000 but they have more bass, like that of the Edition 9.

I have been burning in my HFI780 since 6pm (6 hours), while I finished up a cable review, and I'm just now listening to the HFI780 again and they sound even better. This is after spending 5 hours with HD600's on my head, and enjoying those the whole time, but the two cans are different. The HFI780 are certainly more efficient than my HD600. I could play them at full volume low gain on my predator, and have to go to medium gain on the HD600 at almost full volume to match these. I've still not heard a can that demands the high gain on the Predator.

The HFI780 reproduce the 16Hz note on the Bink's audio test CD better than any of my other cans except my Edition 9. I have also listened to parts of Handel's Messiah, Diana Krall, Guinea Pig, Sibelius, The Eagles and a few more, and it leaves me feeling "like wow". Sound stage is pretty good for a closed can, at least as good as the Denon D2000, and besting the Darth Beyers.

I am not going to do a detailed comparo between HFI780 and my Proline 2500 or Edition 9 right now, as it's too early to say. But, I will say they DO NOT leave a "metallic taste" in my ears (bad pun). The 780 are not missing anything so far, but might still have a slightly tipped up treble which HAS changed for the better over just 6 hours. I think my 2500 finally have a smooth treble now, at 450 hours, but the mild "missing mids" never totally filled in - so already the HFI780 are more balanced. The Edition 9 NEVER had a tipped up treble, even out of the box, and have always had full mids and a gargantuan bass.

So, just from my 6 hour listen, I am probably going to be selling off my Proline 2500 soon - they are great cans but don't anything that the HFI780 can't, except leak sound when listening in my bedroom at night. I can't say the same about my APS V2 re-cabled D2000 yet, but after the 780 finish burning-in I might find them redundant too...

[slwiser]

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict

So, just from my 6 hour listen, I am probably going to be selling off my Proline 2500 soon - they are great cans but don't anything that the HFI780 can't, except leak sound when listening in my bedroom at night. I can't say the same about my APS V2 re-cabled D2000 yet, but after the 780 finish burning-in I might find them redundant too...

I see a re-cabled 780 in your future...great impressions, keep them coming. It seems odd to say "great impressions" since I know I agree with 'em so much. I guess you can say that I am biased by my owning the HFI-780.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Originally Posted by slwiser

I see a re-cabled 780 in your future...great impressions, keep them coming. It seems odd to say "great impressions" since I know I agree with 'em so much. I guess you can say that I am biased by my owning the HFI-780.

Nahhh. It would be more cost effective to re-cable my Edition 9 than my budget toss around cans.

[HeadphoneAddict]

Well, something just happened to me that made me come here to post this right now. slswiser will understand this one.

I have 30 hours on the HFI780, and they still have a ways to go with burn-in. But, they are becoming more transparent, and less like closed cans with time. The highs are still a little up-turned, but not metallic, and the deep bass with John Serrie space music kinda stuff is amazingly deep and extended. It was almost visceral, like car sick kinda way, stirring the insides.

But I was listening through my Macbook and Predator to a lossless rip of Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio playing, and "Misty" came up and I realized I was sitting there totally absorbed in the music, and the screen blanker had kicked-in, and I wasn't moving, just listening.

This happened while typing a post here on head-fi, and I almost forgot what I was doing. That was almost like one of those Edition 9 mesmerizing moments. Granted, these are not just like my Edition 9, but a moment like that doesn't come up as often as I would like. These headphones make that happen more easily.

With many other headphones I often find myself analyzing the recording instead of disappearing into the music, sometimes hitting "skip" to the next track to look for something else to hear. With these 780's, on this recording, at this moment, I am finding it difficult to hit the "skip" and can't move, almost like it's hypnotic. I get that "I know I can move if I have the willpower", but I don't have to, so I don't. The Edition 9 are the only other headphones that pulled that Jedi Mind Trick on me like this. Except Obi Wan is not saying, "these are not the headphones you are looking for", because they are.

Peace!

[jamato8]

Well they are heavily modeled after the Ed9 so I can understand your enjoyment. It appears they did their job well.