[bmichels]

  Hi all,
Im the happy owner of an ultrasone edition 5 and love it as well as my PS1000.
 
Im looking for teh ultimate dac to work with these beast, any recommendation for 3000 Euros 
I currently use the Audio-gd reference 10.32, and would like to have both dac / network reader integrated but looking at the price of Lumin / Linn its way too much for me at the moment, any good alternative for a cheaper price?
 
Cheers
 
Vincent

I am very happy with my  HUGO + ED5.   Very good pairing since booth are very precise while still "musical"

 

[vincentm66]

Thanks Bmichels,
 
Ill have to try the Hugo, I believe if they drive the Ultrasone, they will easily drive the PS1000 that are more demanding...
 
 
Cheers
 
Vincent

 

[bmichels]

  Further connector issues ending in tragedy:
 
I ordered the Wywires for the Ed5's. After abit of delay, I finally received them.
They used a pronged MMCX connector that fit extremely poorly into the headphones. They were lose and after plugging them into the player, the right side stopped working after a few seconds.
 
I removed the cable and replaced it with the stock cable and the right channel was completely dead.
 
Upon closer inspection it seems the WyWire cable had snapped off the center contact on the female side in the headphone.
 
Fairly disappointing Ultrasone chose these crappy connectors for the ED5/ also disappointing that the MMCX connectors hadnt been tested for compatibility by wywires beforehand.

 
As I said I has the exact same problem with my RED Wywires cable. After using it I got also dead channel, even with the original Ultrasone cable back. The WyWire MMCX connector destroyed something in my Headphone's plug .
 
So, WyWire was kind enough to send me for free a new cable with what they called a" much better quality" MMCX cable.
 
but... with my first experience with 3rd party cable for my Ultrasone, I hesitate to plug in the new cable 

 

 
Left : ORIGINAL Ultrasone cable,  Center: first WyWires cable,  Right: latest "better" WyWires cable

 

[ShanghaiT]

The right one is the pronged ones which I mentioned in my post that broke the center connector.
 
If they are their latest, be prepared to be disappointed.
I would not plug them in. They do not fit at all.
 
I contacted Alex @ Wywires, and they said they would take the wires back. However, looks like Im going to be stuck with shipping charges to send the wires back as well as sending my headphones back.

 

[bmichels]

  The right one is the pronged ones which I mentioned in my post that broke the center connector.
 
If they are their latest, be prepared to be disappointed.
I would not plug them in. They do not fit at all.
 
I contacted Alex @ Wywires, and they said they would take the wires back. However, looks like Im going to be stuck with shipping charges to send the wires back as well as sending my headphones back.

 
Thanks for the advice.  You saved my headphone... 

 
So I will either ask Alex @ Wywires to find a solution, or... I will get the Wywires cable hardwired to the headphone (one less connector should be good for the SQ
 
--> What Alex @ Wywires proposed to do ?  Will you ship also your headphone to him so that he can fix it and also find the correct MMCX connector ?

 

[CantScareMe]

  Even after how much I loved the sound of my Edition 9 the sound fiasco of the Edition 10 has kept me away from Ultrasone. I was starting to consider them again and maybe buy the Edition 5 Unlimited but you guys just made me confirm my decision to stay away from them..... 

 
 
My Sig Pro's perform really well on the SQ front. Reliable and well built too.
I was looking for something on the side, perhaps a flashier portable that sounds as good/better.  
 
But like you I'm staying away from the Ed5 unlimited. No brainer really.
Thanks to the guys here for documenting the issues. 

 

[plakat]

Aren't those connectors the same used in PCMCIA WIFI cards and some battery-powered GSM access points for connecting an external antenna? If so... I always found them to be quite flimsy and maybe not the best choice for a headphone at a point where force might be exercised, making a harmless connector meet hard reality...

 

[ShanghaiT]

   
Thanks for the advice.  You saved my headphone... 

 
So I will either ask Alex @ Wywires to find a solution, or... I will get the Wywires cable hardwired to the headphone (one less connector should be good for the SQ
 
--> What Alex @ Wywires proposed to do ?  Will you ship also your headphone to him so that he can fix it and also find the correct MMCX connector ?

Alex was kind enough to reply to me and told me he'd cover the shipping costs back to him. He said he has some ideas on how to remedy the problem.
It appears the main difference between the stock cable is the flat surface on the perimeter of the connector that keeps the connector somewhat straight. Its still not ideal as most of the force from movement will get transferred to the connector and eventually loosen. Over time as plastics and connectors start to wear, who knows what will happen.
 
I initially had very positive impressions of these headphones, but these connector issues are enough to steer people away from these cans.

 

[bmichels]

 
Alex was kind enough to reply to me and told me he'd cover the shipping costs back to him. He said he has some ideas on how to remedy the problem.
It appears the main difference between the stock cable is the flat surface on the perimeter of the connector that keeps the connector somewhat straight. Its still not ideal as most of the force from movement will get transferred to the connector and eventually loosen. Over time as plastics and connectors start to wear, who knows what will happen.
 
I initially had very positive impressions of these headphones, but these connector issues are enough to steer people away from these cans.
 

 
so, let's hardwire those cable to the headphone.  No more MMCX connectors....

  (I will seriously consider this option if those MMCX get loose again)

 

[ShanghaiT]

@ Bmichels. Hardwiring would not be my first choice =) Hopefully we get this sorted out.

 

[HookedOnAudio]

Hmmm, isn't there anyone close to Ultrasone that can get their voice/comments on why they picked such a fragile (and in this case making headphone not very practically usable) connection interface?  I'd like to hear what they were hoping to achieve or their thoughts on the merits of using such a connection.  I'm sure there must be something good about this type of interface (no sarcasm at all - truly wanting to learn) since they used it in all their high end super expensive headphones of late.

 

[Levaix]

Hmmm, isn't there anyone close to Ultrasone that can get their voice/comments on why they picked such a fragile (and in this case making headphone not very practically usable) connection interface?  I'd like to hear what they were hoping to achieve or their thoughts on the merits of using such a connection.  I'm sure there must be something good about this type of interface (no sarcasm at all - truly wanting to learn) since they used it in all their high end super expensive headphones of late.

Isn't MMCX what the HD800 uses? Hypothetically this shouldn't be such an issue. It seems to me that there have been two main issues.

1.) Build quality issues with a number of lemons being reported, fixed under warranty.

2.) Incompatibility with 3rd party replacement cables, which is unfortunate but not necessarily Ultrasones's fault.

 

[bmichels]

Isn't MMCX what the HD800 uses? Hypothetically this shouldn't be such an issue. It seems to me that there have been two main issues.

1.) Build quality issues with a number of lemons being reported, fixed under warranty.

2.) Incompatibility with 3rd party replacement cables, which is unfortunate but not necessarily Ultrasones's fault.

 
NO, the HD800 do not use MMCX plugs....

 

[Levaix]

NO, the HD800 do not use MMCX plugs....

My mistake. Not sure where I thought I heard that.

It does look like that's what a lot of Shure and Westone use.

 

[CantScareMe]

  Hmmm, isn't there anyone close to Ultrasone that can get their voice/comments on why they picked such a fragile (and in this case making headphone not very practically usable) connection interface?  I'd like to hear what they were hoping to achieve or their thoughts on the merits of using such a connection.  I'm sure there must be something good about this type of interface (no sarcasm at all - truly wanting to learn) since they used it in all their high end super expensive headphones of late.

 
 
I visited the london headphone event yesterday (metropolis studio) and the Edition 5's were there. I asked the ultrasone rep at the stall if he'd heard of this thread or any problems with the connectors - hadn't heard of this thread (and/or headfi?) and hadn't heard of any problems with the connector. 
 
I a/b'd the Ed5 unlimited against my sig pro (oyaide cable) and felt like the Ed5's sounded poor.
Very piercing shrill highs across the board and a scooped out midrange made these hard to listen to. They might be faulty/broken or indeed the real thing. I then heard the ED5 limited and it was much better. But to the rep both ed5's sounded the same (subjective opinion) which is probably ultrasone's official stance. And when it comes to burn-in the unlimited's had the advantage, having ~350 hrs compared to ~50hrs on the limited.
 
These unlimited Ed5's might be like the Ed8's which we all know variate in sound, though ultrasone didn't admit to this variation yesterday either.
 
Anyway, the ED5 limited sounded very good actually. I think the slight peak in the highs would settle with burn in and then these would sound great. 
 
BTW, the rest of the show was really good. I was most impressed with the yamaha MT-220 actually, but it's hard wired cable put me off buying it. A straight hard wired cable would have been okay, but it's a weighty 1/4 inch termination with a coiled section at the end. Not really ideal for pocket mp3 players!
The guy at the stall said he'll definitely give my feedback to yamaha so maybe they'll come up with something.
(Oh, and the AK240 was impressive too....future purchase probably.)