Ultrasone 900 - diary of a beginner

You can't. Only a Moderator or an Administrator can delete one. 

btw, great read. waiting for more

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarquin1234 

They are not really very enjoyable to listen to, which is kind of fair seeing as they are "pro" headphones rather than the HFI line targetted for leisure. I have read others say they are neutral, however to me they are far from neutral: the mid is nasal and recessed, treble is unpredictable, and the bass often overpowering; in fact they seem like an unfinished product a lot of the time.

I owned a few headphones, and I felt the same for every single one of them when i first bought them. burn-in will definitely help(especially for Ultrasones). 

Thanks for posting your impressions! I think the verdict here on Head-fi is that you have to burn them in for three hundred hours before they really tart to sound good. Then if you still do not  lik the stock sound (many people do not) you can do a thing called the Kees mod, which is where you open the earcups and stick some felt on the inside of the earcup and put a thin layer of cotton over that. There is also an easier mod which involves just taking the pads off and not opening the headphones and just sticking little pieces of the aforesaid felt (the kind that they sell to put under chair legs) on the outside of the metal plate which almost touches your ear through the pad. You can also experiment with taking off some of the tape Ultrasone covered some holes with on that metal plate. The instructions for Kees Mod is in a thread called "How bright is an Ultrasone Pro 900." I will put up the link later.

reading your post and being familiar with there intended use I am suggesting you try the b&W P5's   there Quite nice 

I don't think they are in the same league. The Pro 900s were $550 when they came out and manufactured just for audio, with the B&Ws you are getting their advertising and name brand. I am not saying they are not good, (I have listened to a pair and they sound nice) but they are a grade below the Pro 900s.

Quote:

Originally Posted by power 

reading your post and being familiar with there intended use I am suggesting you try the b&W P5's   there Quite nice 

Either they need more burn in, or they're being underpowered. From what i've read the Pro 900's are quite hard to drive, at least compared to other Ultrasones like the HFI780.

have you played them on your digital piano? all of those negitives you mentioned will be remedied, that is if you want help. 

@power,

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarquin1234 

I22/11/2010 - 50 hours burn in

I receive the headphones, and quickly rip open the package and get them on my head!

 

I plug them into my digital piano and am instantly disappointed. The mids (especially around the middle C) have a horrific nasal quality which sound better from my girlfriends £10 microphone headset, the bass is powerful though seems a little imbalanced compared to the mids, and there is nothing about the treble which is worthy of note here. In short they are worth £30 to me, not £300. These perform roughly the same with digital piano as a previous pair of £20 AKG K44.

I was looking for a headphone that would enhance the sound to make it more pleasurable, but first impressions indicate that these are too analytical and dry.

 

Tarquin, I didn't understand the sentence either, which is why I quoted that part of your post tio make it clear.

As Aizura mentioned, they might need a bit more power than the piano is giving. I have a keyboard, and the headphone out is absolutely horrendous. It is not the headphones, it is the keyboard that cannot make sound correctly out of its headphone out. You should test this by using some other headphones with the piano and seeing how they sound. If the piano sounds good and the 900s still disappoint you, remember that you might need a cheap amp for them and there are many inexpensive options available, and there ore mods for them that others have had great success with.

I was saying to try the B&W p5 's at home on your piano. they will fix those problems you mentioned in your post Tarquin1234.