Hey
@e-dub,
@TWerk ,
@RPGWiZaRD ,
@PopZeus ,
@Dramlin , and anyone else watching this thread, great news!!! The warehouse is back up and running, and nearly all in-stock orders are shipped now! There was a bit of lag with the Ultrasone X because they arrived at the warehouse while the system was down (so they couldn't be receipted into the system), but even those should be going out or are already on their way!!! Looking forward to reading impressions from others here!
More good news, after playing with a bunch of pads I had on hand (the Fostex TH-900 pads sounded pretty good with their small opening and angled foam, but they were too big to keep from slipping around and off the mount; T50RP pads, Beyers, and a bunch of others are just too big), I think I've settled on
@DekoniAudio Shure SRH pads being a good fit for these. They stay on stable, their oval shape gives much more room for the ears (and air for bass, more on that in a bit), the memory foam is a bit more squish to mold to the contours of your ears and head, and give more contact area to spread out the clamp pressure. The particular example I have is their
Choice Leather... it's a vegan option of synthetic leather, but it's more soft and almost fabric-like compared to normal leather. From experience, I know this pad usually adds a fair bit of darkness/bass to headphones, so I might recommend a protein leather option to most people... I think the
M50x / MDR7506 Platinum pads would be a fit, and they might slightly bring the mids out a bit more than the Choice Leather, but I didn't have any on hand to test. I was able to streeeetch some prototype
Dekoni Momentum 2 pads to fit... but stock Sennheiser sheepskin M2 pads from Sennheiser are way too small to fit. The smaller size did reign in the bass a bit, and may be the best choice for people who like the stock pad sound but just want a little bit bigger ear opening. With the choice leather Shure SRH pads, the sound does add a touch of rumble and wetness compared to stock... but not as much as you might expect, because your ears are still close to the drivers, and the Ultrasone's baffles and S-logic design seem to decrease the change in sound. And I don't mind it! Though I may be more of an HD 800S/AKG K612 kind of sound signature guy, the Signature X creates the kind of bass that can trick you to thinking you're feeling the bass on the surface of your body, and I'm finding that fun!
https://songwhip.com/massive-attack/babel really has an immediate "wow!" factor, but then follow that with the amazing sense of stage in
https://songwhip.com/gazpacho/death-room-pt-1 that shows soundstage wasn't sacrificed.
I also noticed that the HD 599/560S cables work in the Signature X. I admit I can't see the pinout inside the earcups... the HD 560S and 599 are wired TRRS with a balanced pinout, and this cable is working in the Signature X as I type, but I don't know if the Signature X is actually wired for balanced. I don't think it should work with the HD 599 cable if it wasn't, but I suggest you let me test this before you do, haha. I ordered a silver-plated OFC cable for $19, and that should arrive mid-February.
As you might guess from trying out pads (I'm not going to tell everyone to buy $45 pads, though it looks like Dekoni has a
few of those M50x Platinum pads on
B-Stock for $25) , even buying a cable for a headphone I'm not sure if Drop is lending or giving me (at least the cable will work with my HD 560S, lol), I'm actively spending time with this headphone and quite like it. OF course, I won't recommend that it's the ticket for everyone, because it's definitely a "seasoned" flavor like turning up the subwoofer volume in your car or home theater. If you listen to many bass-heavy songs in a row, you might get tired, but mix in something more normal like "Slabo Day" and non bass-heavy songs every once in awhile, and you won't be fatigued listening to poorly mastered songs like "Rockstar" (nothing can save "Demons" by Imagine Dragons, the Signature X is plenty able to show that the drums and effects sound like 96 kbps MP3). This may not be a studio headphone at all... but it's definitely got a special dose of fun factor.