[m2man]

All of the above, yes. I am going to buy a sound level meter tonight and test it with both of my headphones and both of my amps. I suspect the problem may be my ears. I just realized last night that for the past year (at Office Depot) I have been wearing an earpiece on my right ear. It might have affected me without realizing it, and the punch of the SP's is what alerted me. We'll know for sure after my tests. (I went back and listened to my PRO 900's and the HE 500 demos, and I DID notice a similar issue; the SP is more visceral than both, which could be why I noticed it.)

If you have them recabled they could out of phase. Then the sound stage is totally off, but they are about the same volume if you listen individually. Happened to me recently....

 

[Ahzari]

Quote:

Yes, although I auditioned the Sig Pro some time ago, so this is from memory.  I am a bit of a basshead, but I don't want to sacrifice quality in the mids and highs, particularly vocals.  When I auditioned the Sig Pro, they were the best sounding closed headphone I had heard.  While I enjoyed their bass presentation as well, I remember thinking these headphones would be perfect for my taste if there was a bit more bass punch and presence.  The Sig DJ fills that need with such fantastic powerful bass, yet they are still as ideal for multiple genres to me as the Sig Pro.  Overall SQ is comparable.  I believe the Sig DJ is also more spacious with a larger soundstage.  They both seem to use an identical housing, so fit and comfort is identical to me.  If you want to have a good idea of the signature, tone and character of the Sig DJ, I would recommend trying the V-Moda M-100 which is my other favorite pair of closed headphones.

Thanks for the impressions - I too felt the Sig Pros had a small'ish soundstage, glad to hear the Sig DJ improves on that, looking forward to demo'ing them in the future.

 

[Levaix]

The girl at Fry's neglected to mention they were out of stock on the cheaper meter, so that fell through. But I did convert some sound files to mono in Audacity, and it definitely seems to be my Aune T1. My FiiO E17 is fine (in fact it seems a TINY bit stronger in the right ear, but probably only in comparison). Also, it seems that if I use only the amp (using my PC or FiiO for the DAC), there's no imbalance. It's annoying, but at least it's not my headphones.

The balance is fixed if I leave the right ear at 100 and set the left to 92-94. If it were you guys, would this be acceptable? I'm thinking I might get it sent in for warranty, but shipping to China will be a huge pain. Thoughts?

 

[Speedv1]

Sorry to the disturb the thread, however I thought I'd mention that my Edition 8s are for sale. Simply going back to IEMs; better for my purposes. Incredible phones, I just live a more mobile life and the fear of breaking $1000+ headphones hurts me inside lol.

Here's the link.

 

[obobskivich]

I am listening to my brand new Ultrasone Signature DJs and am blown away.  Glad to be in the club!

 

Welcome!

Same exact thing happened with my and my Pro2900s... I thought I was crazy because putting them on backwards sounded even. At the time I thought it was the S-Logic and/or maybe how the driver vents are situated on that specific headphone. Either way it was a annoying problem; but since I didn't have the problem with the pro900s or the Signature Pros it may have been a defect.

Probably a driver mis-match; it happens. It isn't supposed to happen, but it does.

The girl at Fry's neglected to mention they were out of stock on the cheaper meter, so that fell through. But I did convert some sound files to mono in Audacity, and it definitely seems to be my Aune T1. My FiiO E17 is fine (in fact it seems a TINY bit stronger in the right ear, but probably only in comparison). Also, it seems that if I use only the amp (using my PC or FiiO for the DAC), there's no imbalance. It's annoying, but at least it's not my headphones.


The balance is fixed if I leave the right ear at 100 and set the left to 92-94. If it were you guys, would this be acceptable? I'm thinking I might get it sent in for warranty, but shipping to China will be a huge pain. Thoughts?

Not surprising - it's probably the result of a cheap pot or other lackluster QA (I'm not trying to rip on Chinese products, but it's usually the "cheap Chinese hi-fi" stuff that embodies these problems); personally I'd find it unacceptable, but as you said, the warranty claim is probably a hassle (if they'll even honor it). Glad it's not your headphones (or even worse, your hearing!). Out of curiosity though, is whatever you're feeding the Aune with able to adjust its output level? If you drag that down, and run the volume level on the Aune up, does it resolve? (Usually pots that don't track together, also don't carry the off-set evenly across their band).

Unrelated to the above quotes:

Curiosity got the better of me, and I picked up a pair of PRO900s. I'm impressed by the bass impact (but think it's been massively oversold), but more impressed by them as an overall headphone - yet another case of type-casting run amock. Sure, they're bassy, but that isn't their *only* quality, and they certainly are not in the same category as the mud-blaster "Bass Boost" headphones you can pick up elsewhere. Actually listening to Tony Bennett on them right now, and it's perfectly enjoyable; certainly not "basshead" music.

 

[TrollDragon]

Quote:

The balance is fixed if I leave the right ear at 100 and set the left to 92-94. If it were you guys, would this be acceptable? I'm thinking I might get it sent in for warranty, but shipping to China will be a huge pain. Thoughts?

Just a long shot but you have the gain switches on the bottom of the T1 set the same for each channel yes?

 

[Levaix]

Quote:

Not surprising - it's probably the result of a cheap pot or other lackluster QA (I'm not trying to rip on Chinese products, but it's usually the "cheap Chinese hi-fi" stuff that embodies these problems); personally I'd find it unacceptable, but as you said, the warranty claim is probably a hassle (if they'll even honor it). Glad it's not your headphones (or even worse, your hearing!). Out of curiosity though, is whatever you're feeding the Aune with able to adjust its output level? If you drag that down, and run the volume level on the Aune up, does it resolve? (Usually pots that don't track together, also don't carry the off-set evenly across their band).

Unrelated to the above quotes:

Curiosity got the better of me, and I picked up a pair of PRO900s. I'm impressed by the bass impact (but think it's been massively oversold), but more impressed by them as an overall headphone - yet another case of type-casting run amock. Sure, they're bassy, but that isn't their *only* quality, and they certainly are not in the same category as the mud-blaster "Bass Boost" headphones you can pick up elsewhere. Actually listening to Tony Bennett on them right now, and it's perfectly enjoyable; certainly not "basshead" music.

I went to go test what you were describing on the Aune... and I am so fricking confused. The first track I opened up sounded COMPLETELY balanced. I opened another for the heck of it, left ear strong. I'm using all mono here, just to clarify. Left ear sounded strong through ALL of my sources on multiple tracks, including the FiiO which seemed fine yesterday. Plugged in my PRO 900's, they sounded balanced... until the right side seemed much stronger. Adjusted them on my ears, they sound fine... Put the SP's back on my head, now the RIGHT side sounds strong!!! After all of this, both of my headphones sound fine and perfectly balanced. I have several possible explanations.

1.) drivers still breaking in
2.) ears getting used to new S-Logic
3.) some stereo songs are just unbalanced (Audacity confirms this)
4.) dark magic
5.) ghosts
 
Anyways... I'll wait for my decibel meter to make a final statement...
 
+1 on your PRO 900 impressions. They really are excellent headphones, in my opinion. The mids are a little on the light side, but it's a really nice full, wide sound. Give them time to burn in a bit.

EDIT: TrollDragon, yes.

 

[macrocheesium]

Quote:

I went to go test what you were describing on the Aune... and I am so fricking confused. The first track I opened up sounded COMPLETELY balanced. I opened another for the heck of it, left ear strong. I'm using all mono here, just to clarify. Left ear sounded strong through ALL of my sources on multiple tracks, including the FiiO which seemed fine yesterday. Plugged in my PRO 900's, they sounded balanced... until the right side seemed much stronger. Adjusted them on my ears, they sound fine... Put the SP's back on my head, now the RIGHT side sounds strong!!! After all of this, both of my headphones sound fine and perfectly balanced. I have several possible explanations.

1.) drivers still breaking in
2.) ears getting used to new S-Logic
3.) some stereo songs are just unbalanced (Audacity confirms this)
4.) dark magic
5.) ghosts
 
Anyways... I'll wait for my decibel meter to make a final statement...
 
+1 on your PRO 900 impressions. They really are excellent headphones, in my opinion. The mids are a little on the light side, but it's a really nice full, wide sound. Give them time to burn in a bit.

EDIT: TrollDragon, yes.

Is it possible that the headphones are at fault, and the drivers are only imbalanced at certain frequencies? Based on your last test I'm still guessing that it has something to do with S-Logic, though.
 
And you forgot 6.) You just have really weird hearing/it's in your head. 

More likely than black magic, anyway.

 

[obobskivich]

I went to go test what you were describing on the Aune... and I am so fricking confused. The first track I opened up sounded COMPLETELY balanced. I opened another for the heck of it, left ear strong. I'm using all mono here, just to clarify. Left ear sounded strong through ALL of my sources on multiple tracks, including the FiiO which seemed fine yesterday. Plugged in my PRO 900's, they sounded balanced... until the right side seemed much stronger. Adjusted them on my ears, they sound fine... Put the SP's back on my head, now the RIGHT side sounds strong!!! After all of this, both of my headphones sound fine and perfectly balanced. I have several possible explanations.


1.) drivers still breaking in
2.) ears getting used to new S-Logic
3.) some stereo songs are just unbalanced (Audacity confirms this)
4.) dark magic
5.) ghosts

Anyways... I'll wait for my decibel meter to make a final statement...

+1 on your PRO 900 impressions. They really are excellent headphones, in my opinion. The mids are a little on the light side, but it's a really nice full, wide sound. Give them time to burn in a bit.


EDIT: TrollDragon, yes.

Like a combination of 3 and bad amp build. S-LOGIC is a nice catch-all to blame everything on, but isn't usually the culprit; if it isn't meshing with you, you will know instantly and you won't be doing prolonged listening tests.

Is it possible that the headphones are at fault, and the drivers are only imbalanced at certain frequencies?

Yes that's possible. More likely than one driver being uniformly less sensitive than the other too. h34r:

 

[Coq de Combat]

Quote:

Curiosity got the better of me, and I picked up a pair of PRO900s. I'm impressed by the bass impact (but think it's been massively oversold), but more impressed by them as an overall headphone - yet another case of type-casting run amock. Sure, they're bassy, but that isn't their *only* quality, and they certainly are not in the same category as the mud-blaster "Bass Boost" headphones you can pick up elsewhere. Actually listening to Tony Bennett on them right now, and it's perfectly enjoyable; certainly not "basshead" music.

Yeah, I've been trying to say this for quite a while now. I think the bass is overhyped on the Pro 900, and I think it's actually the sound as a whole that makes it a very good headphone IMO.

 

[obobskivich]

So I got curious, and tried switching the pads between the 900 and the 2900 (seriously though - they're the same size, and have the easiest mounting system of any earpad; who wouldn't?). The 2900 pads tame the bass and bring the mids up (on the 900), the 900 pads add bass and push the mids back (on the 2900). I don't know why Ultrasone changed the pads between the two; I like the 900 and the 2900's signatures (and I'm fine leaving them stock), but if they both had the same pads (wouldn't matter which), they'd be much more similar headphones (the brochure leads me to believe this is the intention).

Anyone else played around with this?

 

[pietcux]

Quote:

So I got curious, and tried switching the pads between the 900 and the 2900 (seriously though - they're the same size, and have the easiest mounting system of any ear pad; who wouldn't?). The 2900 pads tame the bass and bring the mids up (on the 900), the 900 pads add bass and push the mids back (on the 2900). I don't know why Ultrasone changed the pads between the two; I like the 900 and the 2900's signatures (and I'm fine leaving them stock), but if they both had the same pads (wouldn't matter which), they'd be much more similar headphones (the brochure leads me to believe this is the intention).

Anyone else played around with this?

I cold repeat your experience Yes the bass gets tamed and the mids are less veiled when using the PRO 2900 as on the PRO 900. My PRO 2900 has two sets of ear pads that differ in depth and outer diameter. The smaller ones have less bass on both cans. I prefer the bigger PRO 2900 pads. When using the exact same set of pads on both cans , both sound very similar. So similar that I can no longer tell which s which. Very interesting finding.

 

[SkitZ0]

OK, after playing some songs through my DJ1's, I see what people are talking about.  For me, it's like the song is playing from the left and the bass comes from the right :'(  Some songs are a lot more balanced than others, though, so I'm going to try to find my best files and see if I notice a difference.
 
....OK, on my better songs bass is pretty much even but the song still sounds like it's coming from the left more.  Funny, it was almost the complete opposite when I had a Macbook.

 

[Levaix]

I got my sound level meter today. I tested sine waves of 110 hz, 220, 440, and 880. Initial tests with the pads clamped around the meter suggested that the RIGHT side is actually the louder one on the FiiO and the Aune. I tried this with multiple positions. The largest discrepancy was a few decibels, and the smallest was one tenth of a decibel. Laying the headphones flat and inserting the microphone into the ear cup revealed the importance of S-Logic placement. Depending on angle and position, the difference in each individual cup could be over 12% or so. Fiddling with the position on my head confirms this measurement with my ears. Depending on the specific voice (instrument) in the song, repositioning the headphones can completely change the dominant ear.

Yeah... I have no clue. But I have noticed the balance and soundstage are MUCH more enjoyable when I'm not analyzing them.

It is also worth mentioning that a quick view in Audacity shows that many of the songs I noticed the initial problem in are mixed favoring the left side, so that couldn't have helped.

EDIT:

Yes that's possible. More likely than one driver being uniformly less sensitive than the other too. 

 


Is this something that would resolve itself eventually with burn-in? I did do a couple tests involving higher frequencies, and those were the only ones that the left was louder than the right...

 

[obobskivich]

Tyll's data says that it probably won't fix itself (or fix itself enough) with burnin. But that was done with AKGs. I know (or at least think I know) that the 900 got a bit tighter after 2-3 hours, but the voicing didn't chane much until I swapped pads. One thing to consider as well, because I know all of my nicer cans are guilty of it - they will key you into imbalance in the mix and you start to dicover there is a lot of so-so mastered stuff out there.

I went through a similar "my cans are borked" when I first got my SA-5000, and after some time with a tone generator I realized it wasn't the cans. If your cans have a slight imbalance it can exacerbate that kind of issue I'm sure. Also with dB measurements, remember its a log scale, 2 dB is usually where you'll start to notice a difference consistently/significantly, 10 dB is a BIG difference though.