ultrasone edition 9 vs edition 8 - Page 7

I have owned both. Prefere the sound of the 8's. Sound is faster, more detailed a bit too much bass but I'd rather have more than less. 9's had way too much bass and would actually interfere with the mids. 9's were nice and portable 8's are made to be portable but do not fold the way the 9's did

I have also owned both the HD-800 and T-1's and prefer the 8's YMMV

I only listen to Rock

8's are very amp friendly in that you do not require a uber expensive amp to get great sound unlike the HD-800's and T-1's which are very amp dependent

Jalo, remember that my Edition 9 are recabled with Apuresound V2 cable.
IMO the Edition 8 midrange is more like in the 10th row and the Edition 9 5th row. To me the Edition 8 sound curve is more like a "V" shape with a deeper void in the middle and the Edition 9 more like a softer "U" shape.

I agree with John2e, I think the Edition 8 are faster than the Edition 9. The bass on my Edition 9 is not as big as it used to be due to the new cable so the sound is more balanced. The owner of the Edition 8 listens to Electronic music so I think the Edition 8 are perfect for him. I listen to more Pop/Rock so I prefer my recabled Edition 9.

As John2e I also have the T1 and the HD800. I also as him prefer the HD800 but don't get me wrong the T1 are great cans too just a little too bright to my taste that's why a recable is in their future.

john preferred the ED 8 over the HD 800 for rock as I interpreted it. 8´s should be ED 8.

Interesting that the ED 8 have more of a recessed mid range compared to the ED 9... How is it possible if the ED 9 drown the mid range some and the ED 8 never do? From what I read the ED 9 it seemed to have more in common with the Pro 900 then the ED 8?
Or are you referring to ambients?

As for speed the ED 8 are the same speed as the Pro 900 from what I can tell. But less low bass make it appear to be faster

Musicman, I looked up in the Headroom website, in the ED8 location where one of the headfier, Aimlink, wrote a review that is almost opposite from yours. How can it be so different when both people are listening to the same type of music "Rock". As he characterized the mid as "This great bass response never seems to intrude on mids that are a bit forward in a Grado-like way, though never harsh." Very confusing. I can understand if both agree that the mid are forward or recessed but differ on degree. But here you are saying mid is recessed and he says it is a bit forward. Which is it?

Aimlink stated in his review "In terms of sound, I can only say Wow!!. I cannot believe the big sound that comes from such a small form factor. It's a full-bodied sound with great representation across all the sound spectra without one part of the spectrum intruding on the other. They are also fast leading to the rendering of a lot of details. I have been very impressed with the bass response and highly recommend these to anyone who likes good bass representation in their music. The bass is very deep and extended, though not overbearing with most recordings. However, it will become a bit so with recordings that aren't well done and which feature a lot of bass. This great bass response never seems to intrude on mids that are a bit forward in a Grado-like way, though never harsh. I find them to be great cans for rock of all flavours and quite frankly, great all-rounders since I enjoy listening to them with a wide cross-section of genres."

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I agree with Aimlink-ED8 mids are forward, not that much different to my RS1, although all round I prefer the ED8 (most of the time) and it is a class above IMO. Musicman is listening to a different headphone than me, and Aimlink by the sounds of it.

Turn up the volume and you'll get more recessed mids. Turn the volume down and you'll get more forward mids.
Fletcher-Munson. It goes for all headphones and speakers.
The difference in preference for optimum volume may account for a lot of discrepancies in opinion on the SQ....

The only thing I can tell you is that we all have different senitivity in our ears so we hear different in addition to that my Edition 9 are recabled with APS V3 which changed the sound fo rhte better in my opinion.

I was thinking in replacing the Edition 9 with the Editon 8 mainly becuase of comfort but after the A/B comparison I did the Edition 9 are staying.

The best you can do is to listen to them and be the judge.

Excellent post. I auditioned the Ed 9's several times, and never liked them enough to pull the trigger. I think the Ed 8's are outstanding headphones. I marginally prefer the T1 over the Ed 8, but like you I prefer the Ed 8 over the HD800.

The Ed 8 is, to me, the best current-production closed headphone. And I own a lot of high-end closed headphones

Yep. I still stand by my view on the mids being a bit forward. This makes switching from the Ed8 to my RS2i sound not requiring too much adjustment.

This may well have something to do with it. I usually listen at quite low volumes.

I see that they're growing on you.

And had them long enough now to really get full measure of them.

I'll agree that I like the Edition 8 more than the Edition 9, just based on what I heard with the Ed 8 at a couple of meets, and at one point I owned two pair of Ed 9 myself (stock and APS V3 cable with sequential serial numbers).

To me, the improvement I heard switching from my APS v3 cabled Ed 9 to my LA7000 is bigger than what I heard switching from a stock pair of Ed 9 to a stock pair of Ed 8. I thought the Edition 9 sounded a little darker, with more forward mids and boomier bass than both the Ed 8 or the LA7000. I never did get to compare Ed 8 to LA7000, but I don't expect to be buying a pair of Ed 8 to run that test either.

I agree with you HeadphoneAddict. I actually prefer my Markl moded with JMoney pads D7000 over the Edtion 9 even with the APS V3 cable.