Cons: Coloration, some fit elements, grossly overinflated price
This review is mostly a reprint of a pm that I sent ikelito.
Let me start off by saying that I think I got one of the best deals ever on these. I bought them for 800$ with a great ALO recable job. At that price, it was a much better deal. But my comments about price to performance ratio are about its retail price/anything over 1000$.
Firstly, I really did not experience a lot of the problems that others on head-fi had had with this headphone:
A) fit. Lots of people said this pressed painfully on their upper ear and required a mod where you put a power cord into the cup. I did not have this problem and thus never performed the mod
B) Coloration. that is, many said this had far from a neutral sound. While I definitely found a little coloration/warmth, I found that it made me enjoy the music more. If you are OCD about neutrality like many on this site, (or if you use it in the studio) then I would suggest something like AKG's K1000 or the Sennheiser HD800 (from impressions not firsthand knowledge.)
C) S-Logic. I felt the presentation of the instruments coming from different locations if I concentrated. This was a pleasant surprise coming from my Denon D5000's "wall of sound" effect. But compared to something like the JH13 Pros, the separation of instruments is comical. (I have found my JH13's to have much more transperency, speed, detail, overall soundstage, etc. The only things the Ultrasones did better in my opinion is they had more bass slam, although the jh13's had more bass extension and detail, ie I heard specific bass notes like I never had before.)
So if I didn't have other's problems were they perfect? No. Here were my own problems:
A)Low listening levels. I often listen at very low volume, and the Ultrasones didn't start sounding great until mid volume in my opinion.
B) Genre synergy. The ultrasones punchiness was incredible for rock and some harder bop/jazz, but for strings, classical and smoother jazz, the punchiness took away. My denons had the smoothness that really gave me a euphoric experience, especially with jazz.
C) Portability. This was my biggest problem. I'm going to be travelling a lot by bus and plane over the next few years, and needed something I could take with me. The ultrasones are only portable with their stock cable, which I hear sounds much worse. So since you basically have to go with the ALO recable, its not portable enough for me. So I went with the JH13 pro IEM's, which I'm really enjoying. But I still keep my Denon's for classical music and jazz.
D) Smudgability. This really annoyed me, although it does not affect sound or comfort. The chrome/ruthenium insignia plates would get really smudged looking from the oils on your hands. It was easy enough to clean, but meant you couldn't touch the shiny thing... and everybody wants to touch the shiny thing!
E) Value. I have heard different things about what the differences between these and, say, the pro900 are. Having not listened to Ultrasones other models, I cannot weigh in on that debate although the specs alone make one suspect. But I can say that in my experience they were not worth the tag, unless fancy headphones validate you as a person, in which case go for them. Otherwise, there are better cheaper headphones out there, both closed and open. Even ultrasone's newest edition headphone is supposed to be better, and the palladium version would match my macbook pro. (In that they inflate the price because they can. And the aluminium thing too I guess.)
Moral of the story: At the price I bought them for (with the recable,) I might buy them again. Otherwise, it was the crazy experiences you tell your kids about, but you'd never do it again now that you've settled down with Mom and found real happiness.
Edit on 10/30/11
In the 2 and a half years since I wrote this review, I have had a chance to hear a much wider variety of headphones, amps, and gear. While I stand by the brunt of my review (that they were pretty fun nice at the time for a portable,) I would say add that at this point I am not interested in buying this or any Ultrasone product in the future. I don't think I realized just how colored and sub-par in general they were until I tried JH13s for a significant period and subsequently the HD800s, Audeze and Stax. If this was $400 I might buy it to work out with. Thats about it. I'd change my audio quality to 2.75 stars and the value to 2.
