[Dexdexter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Contrastique /img/forum/go_quote.gif Glad to see he left the 2500's behind for you to love (maybe that was his reason, to keep you happy )

If the poor lad comes to his senses, perhaps he'll have another shot at the 2500s, sooner than later!

 

[dw6928]

Dex and Contrastique,
thank you. he is beset with 18 year old guilt, fearing he has snatched the superior headphone. He loves the thick bass of the 650s (which are defined a good deal by the Zu cable) and it seems that they pair well with his newly acquired Xenos amp. I plugged the 2500s into my new Corda Move and it was somewhat magical. Like a long, lost lover rediscovered on a misty beach. I have left him with an open offer of exchange down the road if he should change his mind; something teenagers rarely do.

 

[Dexdexter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dw6928 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Dex and Contrastique, thank you. he is beset with 18 year old guilt, fearing he has snatched the superior headphone...I have left him with an open offer of exchange down the road if he should change his mind; something teenagers rarely do.

Great! Now, just don't hip him to Head-Fi and he should remain a happy bunny!

 

[dw6928]

the young are so astute: he reads our posts frequently and has claimed that my first portable amp was at his suggestion.
imagine the hubris!

 

[Contrastique]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dw6928 /img/forum/go_quote.gif the young are so astute: he reads our posts frequently and has claimed that my first portable amp was at his suggestion. imagine the hubris!

Beware Beware!! Though it would be fun having father and son browsing headfi together haha

 

[Kilane]

I think it might be disaster if my dad found head-fi, he's already looking to upgrade his stereo equipment... although it might be a good way to try and audition an Edition 9... Hmmm.

To Trippy: Glad to see you're enjoying them more, my OEM/750 combo has me enamored, but there are a few recordings I can't even force myself to listen to with them. The shrill high notes might as well be fingernails on a chalkboard.

 

[Contrastique]

Well, upcoming monday I am heading back to Hans to see if the Larocco MKII with ad744 does a better job than the version I have at the moment. Looking forward to what my findings will be like. Sounds kinda unbelievable to my ears it could be better since I already love this one sooooo much...but thought the same thing about the ed9 and yet the differ was HUGE....

Interesting upcoming day in any case and love to hear some of the other hps on a decent rig (including the ed9, ow yeahhhh

)

 

[pataburd]

How does the sound of the re-cabled 750 compare to the Ed.9? I have the RAL re-cable on the 750 (w/which they sound wonderful), and would like to a/b them and the Ed.9 sometime. : )

 

[Arcfan]

On great recordings the recabled 750 sounds much "fuller" than the stock recordings. I still prefer the more forward Ed 9 for all material in general. But., for much less $ it is a nice alternative. There is actually more bass in the recabled 750s than the Ed 9 if that is to your liking

 

[pataburd]

Thanks, ArcFan.

Now I feel less at a loss for not having jumped the gun on the Ed.9. Is there a "full disclosure" report somewhere, detailing the design/material differences between the Ed.9 and the Prolines? Sometimes I think people hear a difference, but it's more linked to the ~$1000 price difference than anything else. : )

With the RAL re-cable, the Prolines sound exceptional. Curiously, too, I've come to prefer the stock K701 to the re-cabled Prolines(!) . . . but don't tell anybody . . . (I also preferred the stock Prolines to the RAL/HD650--as good as the latter did sound.)

With a forthcoming RAL re-cable of the K701, it may be a long, long while before the Ed.9 turn my head again. : ) I'd like to a/b the Ed.9 and the RAL/Proline 750 and find out exactly what I'm missing for the extra $800 or so.

 

[Sovkiller]

In a few words you are missing a lot...any recable you can do to any heapdhone, is considered a tweak. That means that it will not make a great difference, but a subtle one indeed, and the cable Ultrasone uses is not bad at all BTW, it is made by Oelhbach...BTW...
The Edition 9 is a completelly different design around the same driver, the sound is very different more cleaner and more detailed, you have to hear it to beleive it.....there is no other way, nobody can explain how two heapdhones using the same exact drivers, can sound so different...

 

[pataburd]

Hi, Sov.

The RAL re-cable on the Proline 750, IMHO, makes much more than a subtle difference.** Also, I don't think of headphone re-cables--or any audio cables for that matter--as "tweaks"; in my mind they're analogous to good speaker cable feeding loudspeakers. What you get from the source via the speakers is critically connected--literally--to the cable inbetween.

In a word, I consider cables as audio "components" in their own right.

Regarding two cans using the same driver and sounding very different from each other: simply interchanging the earpads between the Proline 750 and 2500 makes for profound differences in sound (which happen to be mutually deleterious, BTW).

However, if two cans, e.g. the Ed.9 and the Proline 750, use the exact same driver, then I have a very hard time rationalizing paying an extra $1000 for non-driver-related materials and design. Admittedly, although I have not personally auditioned the Ed.9, they may sound leagues better than the Proline(s) but I still can't justify the stilted price for what is left--after the drivers--for Ultrasone to do. After all, it could be something as simple, relatively inexpensive and seemingly minor as the earpads that brings about such a sweeping improvement in the sound (i.e. of the Ed.9 v. the PL750). But then again, I don't think it warrants a $1000 price increase.

I'll be the first to admit that Ultrasone makes very special headphones; these Bavarian folks are obviously good at implementing their design. But they're also pretty good--and quite unabashed--at advertizing, too. : )

More than ever now, I'd like to a/b the RAL/Proline 750 v. Ed.9!!! : ) : ) : ) Until I stand corrected, I don't think I'm missing THAT much by foregoing the Ed.9 for the RAL/Proline 750. . . . at least for the time being . . . That is, if I can spend $200 for a re-cable that gets me, say, 90% of the way to Ed.9, then I'll be happy (and $800 richer).

(And yes, I admit, too, that the last 10% is definitely worth the listen. I think the "high" high end is all about achieving those last few, incremental, single-digit percentage improvements. The plot of % improvement vs. dollars spent becomes logarithmic at this stage of the game.)

**IME, the RAL cable significantly enlarges the headstage; renders more air and detail; produces deeper, punchier and more articulate bass; provides cleaner, better-differentiated highs; overall, a smoother, more organic and engaging listen, while still preserving that "directness" and visceral connectivity of the Proline 750 that got me hooked on Ultrasone in the first place. : )


PAB

 

[ldj325]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pataburd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks, ArcFan. Now I feel less at a loss for not having jumped the gun on the Ed.9. Is there a "full disclosure" report somewhere, detailing the design/material differences between the Ed.9 and the Prolines? Sometimes I think people hear a difference, but it's more linked to the ~$1000 price difference than anything else. : )

Man this kind of statment could only be made by someone who hasn't heard the Edition 9s. It seem to me that you are imagining how you think it must be. But it is only "imagining," and is not based in reality, at least not the reality I know. My reality is that the Edition 9s are much differnet and much better. I say this from the perspective of having owned two 750s and now the Edition 9s.

Sorry but it seems to me that you really jumped out there with a bold statment based upon zero evidence or experience.

 

[stevenkelby]

Yeah I went to a local store and listened to standard but well burned in 750 and 2500 last week and the poorer sound quality compared to the ED9 was honestly noticeable instantly. This was through my iaudio U3 with flac. I didn't take my ED9 with me but as soon as the music played I thought "nope, these are nowhere near as good" with both of them. I also listened to a mates DT 880 last week (used to belong to me) and had a similar reaction. Once you know the ED9, the difference to these other cans is not small. I won't go into the specific differences in the sounds now, if you don't know, I can't explain it to you.

I hate to think normal high end cans must sound to the owner of an Orpheus, R10 or TakeT H2!

 

[Sovkiller]

Pataburd:

I will just answer this long post of yours with a few sentences, and hope this will make it clear for you now. You will either choose to have them or not, but you will not get that sound for less than that, the PROLines have not, and will never have 90% of the sound of the Editons, not even close, trust me on that. I wish we could, we all wish we could, so lets' put it this way:

The same moment you listen an Edition 9, you will think without doubt, in selling the PROLines with the most expensive cable you can possible afford to have on them...Not just the PAL

As per the price jump, well that is their prerrogative, IMO other heapdhones are worth far less of what we indeed pay for them, and the manufacturers IMO had work a lot less in refine them to the point while the Editios get, and we do not see too many complaints about that...You will be really surprised to know how many manufacturers of hepahones uses the same drivers in their hepadhone at different price points...This is a common practice...