I am writing this thread because of the vast amount of misinformation that currently exists. It is redundant for me to include pictures, as they exist everywhere. This is my experience with closed headphones.
I tested the headphones with the headphone out of a Maverick D1 DAC. I purchased this DAC for my desktop as I could plug everything I needed into it and It was also relatively cheap. My source material consists of FLAC files played from Foobar via ASIO4ALL on Windows XP. The DAC is connected to my PC via a USB cable and to my XBOX 360 via toslink. The FLAC files were also converted to 320 bitrate mp3’s and placed on an 2nd generation iPod Nano. The Nano was connected to a cmoyBB via LOD. Everything was bought used and super burnt in. This comparison was conducted with the following songs:
“Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton from the “Unplugged” album
“I Will Remember You (Original Version)” by Sarah McLachlan
“Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z
“Popular Demand (Popeyes)” by the Clipse
“Falling Slowly” from the Once OST
“YYZ” by Rush
I began my search for a headphone when my partner and I moved into the same home office. As graduate students, we do a fair amount of work from home. I prefer music while I work, she does not. As a result, I began searching for a somewhat affordable solution. I required an isolating headphone that not only performed well with an eclectic variety of music but would also work with my xbox360. I had previously owned a pair of Sennheiser HD 580 headphones which I remembered enjoying and a pair of Shure e3c IEMSs, both of which had been used until malfunction. I do not find universal IEM’s comfortable enough to use eight hours a day and knew that an open headphone would leak too much, so I decided upon a closed headphone and began to do some forum research.
After a couple of weeks, I purchased a pair of used Ultrasone HFI- 780 headphones complete with velour Beyerdynamic headphone pads and a custom leather headband. My initial impression was positive; however, after a couple hours of listening I developed a headache. Not thinking much of it, I ‘took a break’ and continued working. After a week or so of use, I noticed that some songs I had previously enjoyed were almost instinctively being skipped over on my playlist. While I was not fond of Jay-Z’s “Blueprint 3,” I did enjoy the songs “A star is Born” and “Already Home.” With the 780s, I no-longer listened to either on my “current hip hop” playlist. On the other hand, Sarah McLachlan sounded very involving, I noticed myself becoming drawn into the emotionality of the vocal performance. I found myself listening to more acoustic music and listened to the Once soundtrack for the first time. I also went into my library and dug out Clapton’s “Unplugged Album” and Massive Attacks “Collected” compilation. It is with the later that I first experienced the terrible sibilance of the 780s. Furthermore, I realized that my headaches were being caused by an overt bass and ridiculously sharp treble. The first few bars of “Popular Demand” by The Clipse felt like I was being punched in the head while the vocals on “Empire State of Mind” made me want to claw my eyes out.
Becoming dissatisfied, I scoured the internet for answers. Being relatively inexperienced with headphones, and having spent the last year exclusively using JVC Marshmellows, I was unsure of my impressions. Was I doing it wrong? These things were expensive, other people seemed to enjoy them, and they appeared popular. After a couple of days, I began to realize that a majority of people probably had not heard the 780s and were recommending them on hearsay. More so, people who listed many headphones in their profile and boasted high post counts offered neutral or better opinions. Yet, there was a group of users who appeared to voice an opinion once and then retreat from the conversation. I suppose people who haven’t burned through a wad of cash on the headphones, realized they were trash, failed to admit they were wrong and purchased a plethora of aftermarket upgrades had little reason to justify a terrible product. One very-respected poster in particular called the 780s trash and instead recommended the SRH840 headphones by Shure.
I began to research the product from Shure and found they had achieved a similar “flavor of the month status” that had erroneously convinced me to purchase the 780s. Weary, I came to realize that the favorable impressions of 840s came from people who had well formed opinions and did not seem to be swayed by overhyped and overpriced doodads. Somewhat hesitant, I tracked down a used pair and ordered. Upon their arrival, I listened for a few minutes and was instantly soothed. I made a playlist of the songs that stood out for a variety of reasons with the HFI 780s and listened to them side by side. These are my impressions:
Empire State of Mind:I felt that 780s were aggressive sounding. There was brilliance to the treble that not only emphasized the high-hat but made Alicia Keys sound as if she was killing a cat while singing. The harsh sound grated at my nerves while a tight but over pronounced bass pounded my eardrums. Mids were lost completely, made evident by a listen on the 840s. Alicia Keys sounded human again. There was a lush sound that was missing in the shrillness through the 780s. The Bass was weighty without being overtly boomy. It was not as full, but I preferred it .
Popular Demand: This song lacks a need to reproduce highs. It sounded better on the 780s, in the sense that it is a bass monster. Of course, extended listening is painful. As a one off, it is slightly better. The song was designed for thick bass and car speaker systems. There was some sibilance in Pusha’s rapping with the 780 that sounded more breathy on 840s.
Tears in Heaven: Clapton sounded more emotional on the 780s; however, having listened to this exact CD for years on a variety of systems, it isn’t a natural sound. The 780s signature was evident, as were mushed together sound stage. The vocals are more neutral on the 840s and there was more pronounced separation of instruments on the 840s. Much better imaging (so much for the s-logic LOL).
YYZ: 840. Imaging is everything with this track. While I do not think it sounded particularly good on either headphone, it is better on the 840s. However, I could see how some would prefer the 780 signature with this track, especially if it was for a limited listening session. If I only listened to rock and nothing else, I might consider a different headphone all together.
Falling Slowly: This song emphasized the sibilance and the edgy craptacular reproduction of treble of the 780s. At low volumes the vocals were engaging, on high volumes I actually took the headphones off of my head in pain. The 840s were much more laid back. While I feel this song would do well with an open headphone, I really can’t complain.
Teardrop: Everything was better on the 840. See previous descriptions, take the negative comments for the 780 and magnify them times 1000. My JVC Marshmellows reproduced the soundstage of this track with better clarity than the 780 WITHOUT making me pray for death. I really enjoyed it on the 840. This is the type of the music the 840s excel at.
Conclusions: The 780s are flashy trash. The garbage of the hi-fi world. I would equate them to boss or monster. I hadn’t heard a decent headphone in awhile and was initially happy. After a week or so, I realized how wrong I was. I manned up, admitted a mistake and found a solution. I was able to sell my 780s locally to someone who listened to them first so I could actually sell them without guilt. The 840s were not only 70 dollars cheaper, but sound miles better, and are infinitely more comfortable. While the 840s are uglier, they feel much more solid and I am not terrified of breaking them. They are harder to drive and benefit more from an amp; however, they sound better unamped then the 780s sound amped.
I tested the headphones with the headphone out of a Maverick D1 DAC. I purchased this DAC for my desktop as I could plug everything I needed into it and It was also relatively cheap. My source material consists of FLAC files played from Foobar via ASIO4ALL on Windows XP. The DAC is connected to my PC via a USB cable and to my XBOX 360 via toslink. The FLAC files were also converted to 320 bitrate mp3’s and placed on an 2nd generation iPod Nano. The Nano was connected to a cmoyBB via LOD. Everything was bought used and super burnt in. This comparison was conducted with the following songs:
“Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton from the “Unplugged” album
“I Will Remember You (Original Version)” by Sarah McLachlan
“Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z
“Popular Demand (Popeyes)” by the Clipse
“Falling Slowly” from the Once OST
“YYZ” by Rush
I began my search for a headphone when my partner and I moved into the same home office. As graduate students, we do a fair amount of work from home. I prefer music while I work, she does not. As a result, I began searching for a somewhat affordable solution. I required an isolating headphone that not only performed well with an eclectic variety of music but would also work with my xbox360. I had previously owned a pair of Sennheiser HD 580 headphones which I remembered enjoying and a pair of Shure e3c IEMSs, both of which had been used until malfunction. I do not find universal IEM’s comfortable enough to use eight hours a day and knew that an open headphone would leak too much, so I decided upon a closed headphone and began to do some forum research.
After a couple of weeks, I purchased a pair of used Ultrasone HFI- 780 headphones complete with velour Beyerdynamic headphone pads and a custom leather headband. My initial impression was positive; however, after a couple hours of listening I developed a headache. Not thinking much of it, I ‘took a break’ and continued working. After a week or so of use, I noticed that some songs I had previously enjoyed were almost instinctively being skipped over on my playlist. While I was not fond of Jay-Z’s “Blueprint 3,” I did enjoy the songs “A star is Born” and “Already Home.” With the 780s, I no-longer listened to either on my “current hip hop” playlist. On the other hand, Sarah McLachlan sounded very involving, I noticed myself becoming drawn into the emotionality of the vocal performance. I found myself listening to more acoustic music and listened to the Once soundtrack for the first time. I also went into my library and dug out Clapton’s “Unplugged Album” and Massive Attacks “Collected” compilation. It is with the later that I first experienced the terrible sibilance of the 780s. Furthermore, I realized that my headaches were being caused by an overt bass and ridiculously sharp treble. The first few bars of “Popular Demand” by The Clipse felt like I was being punched in the head while the vocals on “Empire State of Mind” made me want to claw my eyes out.
Becoming dissatisfied, I scoured the internet for answers. Being relatively inexperienced with headphones, and having spent the last year exclusively using JVC Marshmellows, I was unsure of my impressions. Was I doing it wrong? These things were expensive, other people seemed to enjoy them, and they appeared popular. After a couple of days, I began to realize that a majority of people probably had not heard the 780s and were recommending them on hearsay. More so, people who listed many headphones in their profile and boasted high post counts offered neutral or better opinions. Yet, there was a group of users who appeared to voice an opinion once and then retreat from the conversation. I suppose people who haven’t burned through a wad of cash on the headphones, realized they were trash, failed to admit they were wrong and purchased a plethora of aftermarket upgrades had little reason to justify a terrible product. One very-respected poster in particular called the 780s trash and instead recommended the SRH840 headphones by Shure.
I began to research the product from Shure and found they had achieved a similar “flavor of the month status” that had erroneously convinced me to purchase the 780s. Weary, I came to realize that the favorable impressions of 840s came from people who had well formed opinions and did not seem to be swayed by overhyped and overpriced doodads. Somewhat hesitant, I tracked down a used pair and ordered. Upon their arrival, I listened for a few minutes and was instantly soothed. I made a playlist of the songs that stood out for a variety of reasons with the HFI 780s and listened to them side by side. These are my impressions:
Empire State of Mind:I felt that 780s were aggressive sounding. There was brilliance to the treble that not only emphasized the high-hat but made Alicia Keys sound as if she was killing a cat while singing. The harsh sound grated at my nerves while a tight but over pronounced bass pounded my eardrums. Mids were lost completely, made evident by a listen on the 840s. Alicia Keys sounded human again. There was a lush sound that was missing in the shrillness through the 780s. The Bass was weighty without being overtly boomy. It was not as full, but I preferred it .
Popular Demand: This song lacks a need to reproduce highs. It sounded better on the 780s, in the sense that it is a bass monster. Of course, extended listening is painful. As a one off, it is slightly better. The song was designed for thick bass and car speaker systems. There was some sibilance in Pusha’s rapping with the 780 that sounded more breathy on 840s.
Tears in Heaven: Clapton sounded more emotional on the 780s; however, having listened to this exact CD for years on a variety of systems, it isn’t a natural sound. The 780s signature was evident, as were mushed together sound stage. The vocals are more neutral on the 840s and there was more pronounced separation of instruments on the 840s. Much better imaging (so much for the s-logic LOL).
YYZ: 840. Imaging is everything with this track. While I do not think it sounded particularly good on either headphone, it is better on the 840s. However, I could see how some would prefer the 780 signature with this track, especially if it was for a limited listening session. If I only listened to rock and nothing else, I might consider a different headphone all together.
Falling Slowly: This song emphasized the sibilance and the edgy craptacular reproduction of treble of the 780s. At low volumes the vocals were engaging, on high volumes I actually took the headphones off of my head in pain. The 840s were much more laid back. While I feel this song would do well with an open headphone, I really can’t complain.
Teardrop: Everything was better on the 840. See previous descriptions, take the negative comments for the 780 and magnify them times 1000. My JVC Marshmellows reproduced the soundstage of this track with better clarity than the 780 WITHOUT making me pray for death. I really enjoyed it on the 840. This is the type of the music the 840s excel at.
Conclusions: The 780s are flashy trash. The garbage of the hi-fi world. I would equate them to boss or monster. I hadn’t heard a decent headphone in awhile and was initially happy. After a week or so, I realized how wrong I was. I manned up, admitted a mistake and found a solution. I was able to sell my 780s locally to someone who listened to them first so I could actually sell them without guilt. The 840s were not only 70 dollars cheaper, but sound miles better, and are infinitely more comfortable. While the 840s are uglier, they feel much more solid and I am not terrified of breaking them. They are harder to drive and benefit more from an amp; however, they sound better unamped then the 780s sound amped.
. I love how high the high frequencies go on the Ultrasone's, how deep and impactful the bass is also 
