Ultrasone HFI780 ALO Mod

[pfillion]

Thanks for the great review

[musicmaker]

Nice writeup and comparisons. How much does the ALO 780 mod cost ?

[KB]

Originally Posted by vandread

There are two question: how much this HFI-780 ALO mods cost? and then what is a different between 18G cryo wire (JenaLabs) or a 20AWG vampire wire?

Firstly I want to thank Headphone Addict Larry for taking the time to author that assessment. I did not give him much info before sending the phones because I wanted to get an unbiased opinion on the headphone mod, no preconceived judgments etc. I don’t like to write up descriptions of the builds I make usually because I think the work should speak for it self through happy customers. I have been getting a lot of inquires as to the price the sound of the JenaLabs 18G vs. the more affordable 20AWG Vampire wire. I sent Larry a 18g JL headphone cable that he compared to the Vampire wire and he pretty much had a good picture of the compare and contrast of that and if he would like to post that here it would be helpful. I have found the JL 18G Cryo wire to be tighter and have a refinement that the Vampire wire does not. The JL Cryo wire also exhibits that certain sparkle that I have difficulty in pinpointing. Moreover the 18G JL Cryo wire is mechanically superior, with less resonance and soft to the bend. That being said the Vampire stuff is still a remarkable cable and vastly superior to the stock cable.

I just replied to an email asking about the mod, price and cable options. For the sake of not having to repeat this over and over again I thought I would just post this. The prices are subject to change.

Dear Sir,

I can sell you the cable but the other half of the modification is the internal alterations, and interior structural dampening. The install is also not what I would call a walk in the park, as it requires drilling on of the cups and delicate soldering that if done improperly can fry the driver or damage the micro thin voice coil.

I have 2 cable types that I am offering.

1. A Vampire wire cable, Vampire Cast Copper Wire: Extremely high purity (exceeding 6/9) copper wire, cast as opposed to drawn, single crystal (125 meters per crystal) copper. 20AWG stranded (41 strands x 0.13mm) with polyethylene insulation. The headphone cable is a 4 wire weave terminated to a Switchcraft mini plug or Canare F12 with has a slightly larger handle, both are Nickel plated. 4 to 6 foot length $295 for the modification and instillation of the cable done by me here at ALO.

2. The larger 18G JenaLabs Cryo wire. 18 gauge JenaLabs Cryo Ultra Wire. Each UW strand is an ultra high purity 99.9999%, linear crystal, stress-free, super annealed, micro-polished, ultra fine stranded copper conductor. It is jacked in modified PE dielectric which offers dissipation and dielectric constant figures similar to Teflon, but without its mechanical resonance problems. Moreover a special extrusion process allows the insulation to exert and tremendous inward redial force on the wire strands, thus reducing audio smearing micro-vibrations. UW is Immersion CRYO treated by JenaLabs proprietary process. Termination to a Canare mini plug, Switchcraft 1/4, Canare 1/4 or Cardas 1/4 plug. 4 to 6 foot length $395 for the modification and instillation of the cable. Add $20 for the Furutech 1/4 plugs.

Additionally I am selling the Ultrasone HFI-780s new with the mod and re cable complete for $450 with the Vampire wire and $595 with the JL 18G Cryo cable installed.

I will be sure to post some photos of the ALO-780 Mod with the JL 18G Cryo cable soon.

If anyone has any questions that you would rather not post please email me (audiolineout@gmail.com)

Balanced cables are available, and again the above prices can and might change. Modification times will vary depending on work load volume but typically is on its way back to you from the time I receive them, one week or less.

Thanks

Ken

[kiwirugby]

Here's list of some comparisons I would find helpful and, hopefully, others.

ESW9 stock
ALO re-cabled ESW9
HFI 780 stock
ALO re-cabled HFI 780

Needless to say right after the HFI thread started I had just sent in my ESW9s for re-cabling! So, I am re-thinking portable with some isolation.

Thoughts? There may be few who have heard all four of these, but some may have heard 2-3 of these.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I have been getting a lot of inquires as to the price the sound of the JenaLabs 18G vs. the more affordable 20AWG Vampire wire. I sent Larry a 18g JL headphone cable that he compared to the Vampire wire and he pretty much had a good picture of the compare and contrast of that and if he would like to post that here it would be helpful. I have found the JL 18G Cryo wire to be tighter and have a refinement that the Vampire wire does not. The JL Cryo wire also exhibits that certain sparkle that I have difficulty in pinpointing. Moreover the 18G JL Cryo wire is mechanically superior, with less resonance and soft to the bend. That being said the Vampire stuff is still a remarkable cable and vastly superior to the stock cable.

For everyone reading this - The ALO-780 that I tested has the 20G Vampire Wire, 6 foot, with 1/8" plug. I mentioned in my summary that I would still love to hear the costlier 18G Jenna Labs cable. Actually, I HAVE heard the 18G Jenna Labs cable vs 20G Vampire Wire, just not on the HFI780 is all I was saying.

I agree with Ken that the 18G Jenna Labs wire is ultimately more transparent than the 20G Vampire wire, which is itself an upgrade in transparency to the stock cable. Ken refers to a "sparkle" that it has. This is NOT a treble boost, I hear it as the crystal-clear reproduction of notes, that seem to hang in the air as they decay naturally, with no coloration or any added or subtracted tones. It's a level of transparency that lets the headphones disappear, leaving only the instruments.

The Jenna Labs cable is definitely sturdier, and heavier, but the sound improvement to me would be worth the weight and cost if you really want to have something as close as possible to the Edition 9, for less than half the cost of the Edition 9. Since I already have Edition 9, I will likely opt for the 20G Vampire Wire - but the 18G Jenna Labs cable would be a no-brainer if I didn't have the Edition 9, or if I wanted to make my 780 the flagship of my home and portable headphone collection.

To get a closed can that sounds this good is a rare thing, and many of the closed cans that sound this good are either NO longer in production, will COST as much or more than the ALO-780, or IF they cost less they must be modded to match these and ultimately will cost more (D5000-markl modded-re-cabled for example, which few of us have ever heard yet).

[wilashort]

Very good pre/review HeadPhoneAddict.

[Mr. Tadashi]

See post #7

Ultrasone HFI780 ALO Mod

[frekvens]

headphoneaddict, how is the bass on the alo-780 compared to the proline 2500?. or more comparing overall between these to would be nice.
thinking of getting the best ultrasone and without paying the price for the ed9., so go for the modded alo780 or the pro2500?

[HeadphoneAddict]

Originally Posted by frekvens

headphoneaddict, how is the bass on the alo-780 compared to the proline 2500?. or more comparing overall between these to would be nice.
thinking of getting the best ultrasone and without paying the price for the ed9., so go for the modded alo780 or the pro2500?

The bass on the HFI780 and ALO780 is more powerful than the PL2500.

They both (780/2500) tighten up and become more controlled with more hours, but the PL2500 bass volume decreases more with hours and levels off, and I haven't heard the 780 drop off yet. The ALO780 had more bass control and definition at 50 hours than the HFI780 at 200 hours when I first compared them. With 36 more hours on both the ALO and stock ones, they continue to improve in that area.

Also, the ALO ones never showed the dip in performance during burn in that the stock ones had between 36-75 hours. I suspect that was the diode board. They are at 255 vs 85 hours each, if my math is right, and with the stock ones it seemed most of the changes were in the first 150 hours, after that it was just adding more refinement and control. I am now about to send mine off in an hour or two for Ken to mod, then I'll return these later in the week.

[HeadphoneAddict]

I tried out my PL2500 this morning next to both 780's

The PL2500 are still enjoyable, but the differences I notice which make them less enjoyable than either 780 is the decrease in bass impact, and the withdrawn mids. I still wont call the mids sucked out, because sucked out needs EQ (Darth Beyer shallow cup, Stax Lambda Pro). The 2500 mids are closer to a Super.fi 5 pro while the 780 mids are more like a Triple.fi 10 Pro.

I've had several people ask about the sound signature, is it more like Grado or Sennheiser. The answers to that are in the other HFI780 thread So what's the word on the new Ultrasone HFI-780???? so just read it all, listening to the people who own them, not the speculators and spectators.

In a nutshell, 780 are fast and energetic and forward vs slower and mellower HD600, but they are not the Grado "in your face" nor as "deep" as the HD600. However, the right source, amp and cable can get the HD600 to sound like that (fast and energetic). For instance, my re-cabled HD600 and re-cabled RS-2 actually sound very similar. Yet a stock HD600 vs stock RS-2 is more different, with the more energetic forward sound going to the RS-2. However, you would not mistake a 780 or HD600 or RS-2 for one another if you were blind folded, whether stock or re-cabled.

The 780 have more bass and treble than my re-cabled RS-2, but have a wider soundstage and are less in your face than the RS-2. But my recabled HF-1 have more bass and a deeper sound stage than the RS-2, but not a lot wider. So, even among Grados the sound can be different.