So what's the word on the new Ultrasone HFI-780???? - Page 53

No real suck-out. Just the normal need for burn-in. They are a little closed in and too much in my face but I expect this at first. The 750's, which also needed a number of hours for burn-in, are very open throwing a nice soundstage and imaging that is not in your face. The 780's feel ok on my head and the cups start to loosen up and fit better, which again, is all to be expected. They give you plenty of cord, I will say that.

HMM... maybe if these don't do it for me, I'll have to try the Proline 750s LOL *sigh... Head-Fi will make me a hobo one day Still really excited to hear these though, I'm glad that finally some of the "hype" is dying down and varing opinions are starting to surface.

I don't know anyone who hyped them. Skylab and I have both been forthright in what we've heard, and any concerns. Slswiser hasn't said anything I don't agree with, although I haven't read any critisism. Torzwo has been trying to be open to the idea of liking them but never quite could.

I will say that I can't find anything to complain about with the ALO re-cabled ones yet. But, when I do I'll be sure to post it.

Maybe I'm not demanding enough because I like most of what I hear.

I didn't think about the fact that while I typed the previous post, I had well worn SR-60 on my head, listening via an old discontinued Meier HA-1, fed by a 2nd Gen 4Gb Nano with LOD to RCA (albeit the music was in apple lossless).

I could have grabbed any of my other headphones, amps or sources...

Oh, I'm not blaming anyone for the "hype" or anything, I'm just saying these suddenly became wildly popular with almost no negative feedback, so it's refreshing to know that these aren't perfect

Thank you for recognizing that. I've been wanting to try Ultrasone for years so there's no anti-Ultrasone on my part. I will say it again- these are not bad sounding headphones, I believe they're just too forward/aggressive for me.

There really wasn't hype it was pretty much 2 people going back and forth saying that they liked them and they still seem to enjoy them. I just wanted to try something different....I wasn't sucked into some vortex of hype.

For myself I have really nothing to criticize except the ungangly cable and little bit of burn-in issue during some period which is fairly typical of the Ultrasone headphone. I really enjoy the sound that I listen too with both the 780 and UE9.

I noted on thing in a PM to another HeadFi-er....about the 780. On two different web sites (He&Bi and Careless Headphones) each has a frequency curve for the 780. He&Bi just put theirs up this week. If you check them out you will notice that He&Bi is done at a signal level of -40 dB while Careless Headphones is performed at essentially -20 dB. The results are two entirely different profiles.

These suggests to me if I am a listener that uses a very low volume such as 60-64 dB which is the background at my work and would not be useful for me I would hear a different headphone than having my volume set at my normal 75-80 dB values. The first would give me a dynamic range of only about 10-12 dB for my music while the later gives me as much as 30 dB given a standard outside attenuation of a closed phone of about 12 dB.

The two frequency profiles suggests that the driver for the 780 (not knowing how burn-in they were when tested and how burn-in can effect the linear response) is not that linear over a range of volumes. At a lower volume you will find some sucked out mids vs. at the higher volume based on those profiles. There may be some other differences that can also be noted but I will let you check for those.

This analysis may be a bit technical and different from anything you have seen before so take it as a thought experiment by me.

I do have had one issue that bothered me but I think the re-work by Ken will take care of that. I think it was specific to my unit.

And maybe I am more like HeadphoneAddict than others in not being as demanding. Who knows? But I know I like what I like.

Just received them today, and I really like them. They are everything I am looking for in a closed headphone. We'll see how they play out in the next few days.

Glad your out-to-the-box impressions are positive. Let the burn in begin.

Yes it is positive, but I don't agree with people who hear these as too aggressive. My SR60's are way more aggressive than these. I actually find these a bit laid back for my tastes. To each his own.

Yep, I dont find them aggressive either. Certainly nowhere near a grado. They do a lot of things right. I haven't been able to find another closed can in this price range that I've enjoyed so much.

I don't find these aggressive at all. I think that may be more of the amp as I have tried the 780's on a few different amps and what I can say is the sound isn't veiled, which is a good thing.

One thing I am noticing is that these have very, very nice detail and presence.

What do you think of the bass impact?

The first track was quite entertaining. I dont claim to be a soundstage expert and I dont have other cans at the moment to do a relative comparison at this point. Here's a picture that attempts to describe what I heard on the "virtual haircut" track and some perceived distances in feet (very approximate).




Hope this helps a bit.

Very good presentation.