There's Something About Ultrasone… - Page 9

Right then, moving onward from our fascinating interlude into the whys and wherefores of proprietary crossfeed circuitry (note to self: run appropriate searches and investigate further), those among us who still have some vague recollection of my recent adventures into the PROline 2500 will recall that after they had been serenely running-in for awhile, I was planning to bring them in to my local hi-fi dealer's for my first critical listening session through a decent set-up.

(The PROlines have been burning-in through the headphone-out of my Njoe Tjoeb CD player; I'm expecting my very first headphone amp in a few weeks time)

So it finally came to pass that yesterday I brought the 2500s (now with better than 200 hours under their headband) into Pink Noise, the finest independent audio emporium in Brussels.

But since the shop has recently moved into a larger space, Alexandre hasn't quite gotten round to filling in his stock as he hopes to. Consequently, the only headphone amp he currently has on offer in the diminutive Pro-Ject Head Box, sort of an afterthought product from a lower-end turntable specialist manufacturer and looking for all the world as if its output couldn't punch its way through a paper bag, not exactly what I had in mind for my first serious listen post-run-in:



But turned out that Alexandre had an ace up his sleeve and he led me in to the rear listening salon where all the heavy-hitting gear resides. There he had assembled these bad boys:


The Rega Saturn CD player


The Accuphase E-530 pure Class A integrated with dedicated headphone section

Turns out I needn't have worried!

Well done, lolos! (lolos smilie)

Those 2200s not only look swell, they are a super-fun listen!

Be sure to let us know how you get on with them...enjoy!

Dex

Meanwhile, back at Pink Noise...

I had heard the Rega Saturn on a couple of other occasions, but only with loudspeakers. It has the most detailed and fluid top-end I have heard from any CD player, along with a midrange warmth and taut bass presentation that closely approaches a top-notch vinyl rig. And it is the first Rega player to equal, if not surpass, Naim CD spinners at better than twice the price in terms of pace, rhythm and timing. I'm hoping that the Saturn will be my next CD player, in the not-too-distant future.

The Accuphase is a veritable beast of an integrated, with the fit and finish that screams exacting high-end Japanese quality unchanged since the 1970s; just rotating its massive volume knob is, dare I say, a rather sensual experience. And don't get me started on those VU meters...

Once situated, Alexandre handed me a clutch of his favorite demonstration CDs (mainly classical, female vocals and acoustic jazz), all of which I am quite familiar with having been a regular customer of his for the past three years.

I cued-up Patricia Barber's cover of the Bill Withers classic "Use Me", from the album Companion and from the moment I pressed "play" I found myself figuratively scrambling about the floor in search of my jaw!

The intimacy of her voice, the smacking of her tongue upon the roof of her mouth countering the syncopated shuffling of the rhythm section amidst that infamous slithering guitar vamp were all delivered effortlessly and realistically by the PROline 2500s.

Up next was the title cut from acoustic guitar wizard Antonio Forcione's Tears Of Joy, a real rhythmic torture-test that mercilessly reveals timing flaws in pretty much any system.

Forcione's flamenco-esque figures begin softly vying for attention against spare hand-percussion that pans languidly back and forth across the soundstage. A cello enters to hold down the bottom-end drone as the guitar playing becomes progressively faster and evermore complex, as does the percussion, peaking to an ecstatic crescendo punctuated by a lone cymbal crash only to start all over again.

Impressively, the 2500s manage to keep up every step of the way, capturing the enormous body and tone of Forcione's acoustic without losing sight of the intricate percussion patterns as they float across the channels. And those singular cymbal splashes are delivered with a lifelike sheening metallic sustain in real space as opposed to the unconvincing and claustrophobic "clank" I've heard through a few less adept loudspeakers.

I was quite happily ensconced in my little corner there, feeding CDs into the Rega and really just enjoying my new cans for the first time since I bought them. But I wanted Alexandre's opinion, so once the customer traffic for the afternoon had diminished, I invited him to have a listen.

I handed over the 2500s and went out to get us some sodas. When I returned about 15 minutes later, Alexandre was still hunched forward in the chair with a very serious look on his face. When he saw that I was back, he removed the cans and cracked a half-smile. I asked what he thought.

"I don't like the look and I could never sell them. They are too much plastic-looking. But the sound is special. The soundstage is bigger than it should be from headphones. The tone is correct, the bass is very good, the midrange is slightly shy in comparison to the treble, which is a little more forward than I like."

When I told him that his assessment of the PROlines sounded exactly like his critique of the Rega Saturn itself (he prefers the Naim sound), he replied, "Yes, that's entirely possible."

So just that's a brief taste of what I heard the 2500s do in combination with the Saturn / Accuphase pairing. Looking back on my initial demo through the Marantz CD player, impressive as that was to me at the time, it really only hinted at what these Ultrasones are truly capable of with proper source and amplification.

Unfortunately, the wait for my first dedicated headphone amplifier will not be an easy one!

Best, Dex