Great Ultrasone Edition 8 review

Thanks for the link.  It is certainly an interesting read.  Just a bit surprised that the reviewer uses the Headroom Bithead as one of the equipment.  Nothing wrong with the Bithead, it's just that there are other better gears out there to do the job better.  For the past few months, the headphone and headfi forums have clearly been enamored with the Orthos (LCD2, He-6) etc, it's good to read about other phones like the ed8.  I also purchased an ED8LE a week ago and is in the burn in phase.  By the way, what is the needed time to burn this phone to maturity?  I remembered it took a looong time for my HFI 780 to open up or settle down (something like 250 to 300 hours).  Right now, it still sound a little rough, but after listening to my LCD2 for the past three months, its hard to switch over to something new.

Listening to my Ed8 LE right now, just wonderful.

There you go, Dallan, I'm driving the ED8LE fully balanced through the Boomslang and SR71b from a 1:1 direct cut from a master track.  Really nice.  Cheers.

Massively underrated and under appreciated headphone, IMHO.  The Edition 8 is a terrific can, and the best current-production sealed can there is.  My only beef with the sound is the very bottom octave rolls off a bit too steeply compared to the best high end cans, although a slightly rich mid-bass counterbalances that effectively most of the time.  My only other beef is that the cable is too short.

I'm constantly reminded of how good the Ed 8 are whenever I listen to them, in that I deeply enjoy listening to music when they are on my head.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab 

Massively underrated and under appreciated headphone, IMHO.  The Edition 8 is a terrific can, and the best current-production sealed can there is.  My only beef with the sound is the very bottom octave rolls off a bit too steeply compared to the best high end cans, although a slightly rich mid-bass counterbalances that effectively most of the time.  My only other beef is that the cable is too short.

 

I'm constantly reminded of how good the Ed 8 are whenever I listen to them, in that I deeply enjoy listening to music when they are on my head.

Sky, how do you compare this rich mid-bass to your R-10? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by monsieurguzel 

Yeah, I do feel that they are pretty underrated.  Just searching on this forum, I can't find the last post/thread related to the Edition 8...people just don't talk about it very much.

 

As of right now they are still feeling a little thick on the bottom end, but it might be due to the cheap dac i'm using.  I'm at an office and need something that just runs off usb and isn't too big.  I decided to get a udac-2 which isn't very neutral in my opinion, thus making the sound signature of the Ed8 a little too warm for my liking.  I just recently purchased a Dacport, hoping it will be a better job (in terms of the dac and amplification).

 

Otherwise I'm still playing around with placement of the headphones on my head and can't quite decide what I like the most.  Sinec these are extremely finicky with placement on the head, how are all you other owners wearing them?

Don't you think the ED8 needs a Dac/amp on the warm side to control the ED8's slightly bright nature?  The RSA SR71b with its RSA warmer house sound but with the added balance openness seems work well with my ED8.

I find the bass very full.  The headphone sounds warmer than my DX1000s if i recall.  I am using a warm amp with it though, the Violectric v200.

I had the ED8 in my possession for a brief amount of time but I was definitely impressed by its capabilities and found it to be a very good all rounder headphones for a wide variety of music. And the position of the headphones on your head could make drastic differences in bass. One thing I noticed was that if I tilted my head slightly to the left the bass in that channel would become thick and full, enjoyable only for a few minutes though. At first I thought it was because of a faulty driver because it did not have the effect when I tilted my head to the right side. I turned the headphone around and the same thing happened when tilting to the left side, so it must be the way my head and ears are shaped and the way it interacts with the headphone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jalo 

Sky, how do you compare this rich mid-bass to your R-10? 

Hmmmm...different   I'm not sure how to describe it.  Compared to the R10, occasionally the mid-bass on the Ed 8 seems a bit fatter.  But the midbass on the Ed 8 never seems to ruin the lower mids, which is key, and is also very much the case with the R10.  The R10 has the far better mids, but you could say this about the R10 versus any headphone, IMO.

My ED 8 is more on the bright side of life. I do much preferr it on my tube amp which is a bit softer and warmer. It´s not bad on the GHP. Not bad on the V200 either but still not close to my Head One. It´s really snakeoil on my Ipod. Head One also helps to at least create an illusion the ED 8 do have a bottom end. May be just harmonic distortion and enhances the soundstage of it even further, so it´s just about only pros for the ED 8 on my tube. Only minus is the detail but on the ED 8 I am generally just loosing what I don´t want to hear ;)

DX 1000 is always warmer and also the LCD-2 more often then not at least with the copper cable. Both have a much fuller bottom end that goes lower just like the 900. Was surprised reading in the review that the ED 8 had more bottom then  the 2500 and 2900. Doesn´t open variants generally go a bit lower then the closed counterparts? Reading the specs the 2500 is supposed to go a bit lower then the 750. Perhaps it´s the tactile feel the reviewer go by they can rumble.

Will try to play along with the fit. Though I really can´t do much with my big ears. Not really looking for more bass or warmth though it´s just right on the tube.