There's Something About Ultrasone… - Page 65

NS&L probably gets an inside discount from Ultrasone allowing them to sell a few
points above cost because their Bottom Line cost is lower than your other distributor (quantity discounts abound in retail)

Just got my 2500, impressive build and packaging. The sound initially out of the box is very congested, but I can already tell the bass is gonna be great. I think I have to take some time to adjust to this headphone since there is something about the way they present music. Off to my long burn in process...

Mike

Awesome, someone with DT-990s and 2500s! Just what I needed . Can't wait for your comparisons!

Zoide, YGPM

well, the bass seems to have settled in somewhat. Very very deep and full body, seems deeper than the 990. That maybe an illusion though, the 2500 seems to have alot of vertical headroom so it feels that its going lower. The high is a little distance right now. It sounds like after its fully broken it will not be fatiguing. However, theres something about the way they present the music, I am not that used to it yet, it sounds congested but I think burn in can fix that. So far I am still not decided on the sound.

Mike

Listening Into the Music - "Tilting Your Ears Forward"

Mike,

You have a ways to go with the burn-in, for sure. But if you read my own posts commenting on the sound of the Proline 750s, you'll see that I have found that the source material (the music and its production methods) turns out to be a big factor - a bigger factor with these than with other headphones I've used.

I do have to adjust the cups position, for instance, to compensate for different mic'ing techniques with symphony recordings, that's very obvious to me. But, once I find the "sweet spot", the phase angles of how the music hit the mics fall into their magical place and it is like I'm sitting right there, experiencing it live. Symphony recordings have been the most challenging ones for listening to with these for this reason, but at the same time, now I know why - these things with their S-Logic idea are extremely sensitive to the phase information traveling along with the musical signals! That, as it turns out, is a very, very, very good thing!

Also, the highs at first did not seem as "present" - till I "tilted my ears forward" to listen to the sound the way I do in the real world - in real life (that is, not the same way that I've formerly listened to headphones all my life!) Then it blew me away how much detail I could hear, and how deeply I could "drill down" into a particular instrument's sound to listen to its individual character (...using another head-fier's terminology - that wording expressing the notion of "drilling down" into specific instruments' sound and presence turned out to become an ear opener even for me, raising my appreciation quickly for these headphones, and I've been critically listening for over 35 years as a recording technician and engineer - it gave me a different focus that opened up these headphones' abilities for me quite rapidly! Instruments really do seem to be sitting in "their own air", as I'd put it in an earlier post.)

Terry

Dex. Who else.

tbritton how on earth do you tilt your ears forward

oqvist,

Heh... it was the closest figure of speech I could come up with at the time!

It's like the way you listen into the rustling sound in a bush trying to figure out if it's a bird, a squirrel, or a chipmunk. The way you listen for whether there is any airplane noise before starting an outside recording of a guitarist playing. The way you listen if you think a baby has awakened in the other room, or the cat or dog is into something. The way you listen to tell if that was your mom calling from a mile away as a kid. The way you listen for whether the guests have arrived. The way you listen for how far away a child who is "sneaking up on you" is before you "catch them". The way you listen for whether the guitar is in tune - yet. The way you listen for *your own* mistakes on a recording you just made. The way you listen to hear if the dryer has stopped. The way you might listen to music being played live by someone. The way you listen to your Significant Other when they are "being serious." Or especially when you are making love!

That kind of listening. I call that "tilting your ears forward."

Hearing with these headphones in a similar "attitude" seems to bring out the "truth" that the Ultrasone's have to exhibit. I had to "unlearn" listening as I usually did with headphones, to hear this way with the Proline 750s - and it took over a week AFTER burn-in for it to really start sinking in. It still is sinking in, really!

Terry

[EDIT] NOT listening analytically - but rather, "being there!"

This sounds a bit worrisome. It's not uncommon for very revealing or "analytical" headphones to make you tend to pick out and analyze individual noises/instruments rather than listen to and enjoy the music.

When I find myself doing that, I realize that it *greatly* detracts from the enjoyment of actually listening to the damn song!

Zoide,

Hah! Sorry, I have to laugh. Wayyyy the opposite! I'm talking about being totally involved, not at all being analytical in the light as you're describing it. Total immersion. The delight of being fully alive and involved in your surroundings. Being "there."

But then, you haven't been "through the fire" yet with any Ultrasones. I never had this experience with any other headphones, so I could see how you might think I was describing being "analytical" in the usual sense of listening closely to headphones' details. (I've added a little edit to my original post hoping it clears that up for future readers!)

So, buy them, try them, that's really the only path available to you, my friend. May as well get on with it!

Terry

well, so far I am really liking the presentation. Its very involving and the bass, such full body bass!! For already burned in people when you say the treble setting in will the phones be more detailed? Right now I am loving the sound but they are too muddy for this class of headphone, I guess I am still a good couple days for the detail to come out? I am already used to their sound presentation. If they have the detail that my 990 has right now, I am set!

Thanks,

Mike

Mike:

Thanks for your impressions so far! They're very helpful

What kind of music are you playing through them? How well do they rock? (I'm listening to rock on my RS-1s and they sound great [with reversed bowls of course]... And yet I feel I have to sell one of my headphones! I see you have RS-1s on the way... you won't regret it )

Thanks.