[SchneiderStudios]

There is one track from the Dark Night soundtrack that has a massive low bass that made my ears itch! lol i almost couldnt stand it because it was so strong! hehehehehe using my d2000

 

[dontstopthemusic]

If you like low deep bass (slow) check out Bela Fleck & the Flecktones on Fight of the cosmic Hippo. It makes a good test song for checking out subwoofers.

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dontstopthemusic /img/forum/go_quote.gif Your signature mentions D2000s. The Ultrasones are much better than the 2000's then? How would you compare the two in a nutshell - I'm trying to decide between the two. Thanks!

Yes personally I find the Ultrasones a lot more entertaining, while the Denons being neutral are rather boring. A big factor I take into consideration is how energetic a headphone is, I love the speed and incredible detail of the HFI-780s, perhaps only surpassed by Sony SA 3/5000 series and even then owners that have had both prefer the Ultrasones.

I agree with FallenAngel, the Denons have a larger soundstage, that being from left to right and they are most certainly very comfortable headphones. They're more natural sounding so in theory acoustic music and... folk should sound better, however I preferred my HD580s for that genre, or the PK3 I currently own. The 780s soundstage is different, with the Denons your sat in front of the band/orchestra/group listening to them, the 780s place you in the middle of it, left and right is then replaced by forwards, backwards, up, down, left, right... you get the idea.

Another factor for the Denons is they are extremely source revealing, the better the source/amp/dac the better they will sound. Plugging the Denons directly into my Zune and turning the volume up will create distortion, this is not the case with the Ultrasones, therefor the Denons require more juice.

I suppose it would ultimately come down to what you listen too, then again I read on the ALO website; "The new HFI-780 (formerly the HFI-700) was created to be one of the all-around best headphones ever made."

 

[dontstopthemusic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes personally I find the Ultrasones a lot more entertaining, while the Denons being neutral are rather boring. A big factor I take into consideration is how energetic a headphone is, I love the speed and incredible detail of the HFI-780s, perhaps only surpassed by Sony SA 3/5000 series and even then owners that have had both prefer the Ultrasones. I agree with FallenAngel, the Denons have a larger soundstage, that being from left to right and they are most certainly very comfortable headphones. They're more natural sounding so in theory acoustic music and... folk should sound better, however I preferred my HD580s for that genre, or the PK3 I currently own. The 780s soundstage is different, with the Denons your sat in front of the band/orchestra/group listening to them, the 780s place you in the middle of it, left and right is then replaced by forwards, backwards, up, down, left, right... you get the idea. Another factor for the Denons is they are extremely source revealing, the better the source/amp/dac the better they will sound. Plugging the Denons directly into my Zune and turning the volume up will create distortion, this is not the case with the Ultrasones, therefor the Denons require more juice. I suppose it would ultimately come down to what you listen too, then again I read on the ALO website; "The new HFI-780 (formerly the HFI-700) was created to be one of the all-around best headphones ever made."

Well my playlist is a lot of classical rock (Rolling Stones, Dire Straits, Deep Purple, Sabbath). I also like the really hard stuff like Metallica, Black Label Society, Alice in Chains etc. I'm not a big classical music fan but I will listen enthusiastically to anything performed by Perlman or Yo-Yo Ma. I do love violin & cello a lot. Middle Eastern has to sound good too. I'm a big fan of Azam Ali and all her bands. Sometimes I like listening to Enigma, whatever genre that is. They have a sound that needs good bass to really appreciate in my opinion.

Whatever I buy will be used only at home. They'll be plugged into a very nice Denon rig. They need to sound good for home theater.

I'm replacing a pair of ATH-AD700s that I can barely tolerate because of their anemic bass that sounds muddy and confused in action scenes.

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dontstopthemusic /img/forum/go_quote.gif Whatever I buy will be used only at home. They'll be plugged into a very nice Denon rig. They need to sound good for home theater. I'm replacing a pair of ATH-AD700s that I can barely tolerate because of their anemic bass that sounds muddy and confused in action scenes.

Oh that's right I thought your name sounded familiar, I remember replying to your first port, still looking I take it. Honestly if a friend of mine asked me what headphones to get to replicate his home theater I would without question tell him to go Ultrasones. One member here comparing the HFI-780s to Denons D7000 said if you want the Dark Knight soundtrack to sound like it did in the IMAX cinema go with the Ultrasones... if that isn't a testament to how good these things sound I don't know what is.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter how good or expensive your Denon amplifier is, the headphone port is likely nothing more than that on a $99 HTIB picked up from Walmart. I would heartily suggest picking up a headphone Amp/DAC like the ZERO ($150) which I have or the Compass ($300) if you want to invest a little more. Simply run an optical cable from your Denon amplifier to the DAC and plug your headphones in there.

Of the music you mentioned I only really listen to Mark Knopfler and even then I personally find it sounds better on speakers because of the noise on these older recordings. Brothers in arms is one of my most played but the noise just kills it for headphone listening.

 

[12thgear]

Graphicism, what is it about the 780s that you specifically find appealing? I'm just curious because Ultrasone's marketing copy seems to indicate that this model is biased towards movie listening and gaming.

Part two of the question is if they do excel at movies and gaming (and they seem to based on a lot of comments) do you find that they still work with music, and if so, what type?

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 12thgear /img/forum/go_quote.gif Graphicism, what is it about the 780s that you specifically find appealing? I'm just curious because Ultrasone's marketing copy seems to indicate that this model is biased towards movie listening and gaming. Part two of the question is if they do excel at movies and gaming (and they seem to based on a lot of comments) do you find that they still work with music, and if so, what type?

Best bass I've heard in a headphone... think bass at the movies that no matter how much you spend can't be replicated at home... the kind that resonates through the walls while queuing for popcorn... the kind that you hear emitting from the action flick in the room next door while watching a chick flick with your girl.

It is however not all about the movies, or bass for that matter, I'm not even a bass head. I enjoy the accurate representation of music with enough detail and speed to make even the fastest music a pleasure to listen too. Think The Prodigy or Dark Knight sound track; very fast, lots going on at the same time; only the extreme detail and musical separation of the 780s do it for me.

What music, what type? I would have to say a good 90% of the time it's electronic; that can include anything from Aphex twin to Vangelis, ATB to Zero 7 and everything in between. The rest of the time I enjoy acoustical, Jack Johnson, Ben Harper and 'light rock' like Dire Straights and Coldplay.

 

[Townyj]

The 780's have to be the best all round phone out of any that i have tried!

Hence the reason why i have gone back to them!

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Townyj /img/forum/go_quote.gif The 780's have to be the best all round phone out of any that i have tried! Hence the reason why i have gone back to them!

So perhaps "The new HFI-780 (formerly the HFI-700) was created to be one of the all-around best headphones ever made." isn't far from the truth.

How do you like the ALO cable, big difference?

 

[oqvist]

Best I have heard for electronic bass is either Proline 750 or KeeS modded Pro 900. Nothing comes close. For real instruments some slower headphones give you more time to hear picking bass guitars strings and such. And well listen to jazz and classical and such speed aren´t that important

. Depends on what you are after.

Watching movies the Pro 900 pick upp LFE effects that is totally amiss in another well reknown headphone for bass like the DX 1000. On the other hand it has more power it´s the most sub woofer like. I have had so many headphones that while having lots of mid bass at least just get one tone when the Pro 900 picks up different tones goes considerably lower and is just tighter. And KeeS modded it´s not even bass heavy the slightest. It´s for those that enjoy good bass but not at the cost of a neutral presentation. Headphones that is to bassy or dark just make me depressed and want to kill myself if I listen to much on them. But the key is to Kees mod them. If you are truly a bass head in term of "make my skull vibrate") you may enjoy the mega bass boost though. But then you are better off with the DX 1000 I would assume for maximum impact

I recently got the 8.35D monitors. Not much deep bass but superb tone to it and even though your head doesn´t go bobbing like crazy after a while you get kind of a slow tactful steam boat bob that it takes like 5 minutes to get out of

The best part is that the bass isn´t even one third of what these headphones deliver! They are not for someone that just want bass and don´t want to be distracted by the sweet mid range and treble

 

[Townyj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif So perhaps "The new HFI-780 (formerly the HFI-700) was created to be one of the all-around best headphones ever made." isn't far from the truth. How do you like the ALO cable, big difference?

Well i havent received them yet... Should be at the Post Office on monday, cant wait to get my grimey hands on them and check out the sexy ALO cable

I used to get all excited when i listened to my old 780's so i hope these have the same effect on me!

 

[Enigma3]

Hi all;
After reading all the comments in this thread I see many ppl like the Ultrasone HFI-780. I am thinking about purchasing the Ultrasone PRO-550 (as I love the detachable cable feature as well as the PRO Box inclusion) and I was wondering if the sound quality described by you guys for the Ultrasone HFI-780 is similar to the Ultrasone PRO-550?

I listen to mostly New Age and Indian (India not Native American btw) Instrumental music as well as artists like Enigma and Loreena McKennitt whose music requires the ideal amount of bass to sound great.

I love a lot of bass but I find too much of bass quite painful as it usually leaves me with a bit of a earache / headache afterward

 

[DoYouRight]

Denons are nasty, D7K can be had for $550 and they retail at $1000.

 

[haloxt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 12thgear /img/forum/go_quote.gif Graphicism, what is it about the 780s that you specifically find appealing? I'm just curious because Ultrasone's marketing copy seems to indicate that this model is biased towards movie listening and gaming. Part two of the question is if they do excel at movies and gaming (and they seem to based on a lot of comments) do you find that they still work with music, and if so, what type?

You'd have to ask someone who has tried both HFI-680 and HFI-780. My guess is that the HFI-680 will express emotions better than the HFI-780 but may be too emo/colored for gaming/movies. My HFI-2200 (which has a description similar to the HFI-680) expressed emotions better than my Pro 900 even after I went pretty all-out trying to improve the Pro 900's sentimentality but upgrading improved primarily all other areas

. Don't get me wrong, the Pro 900 trumps the HFI-2200 in every way except emotion, but now I understand that I value emotion very much in music.

Enigma3: the pro 550 is supposed to excel at bass, 650 in normal music, and 750 in detail. HFI-780 should be most like 750, although they do have different types of drivers (gold for 780, titanium for 750).

 

[DoYouRight]

I am really interested in some Ultrasones though, mainly for the S-Logic for movies, would the 780 or Pro900 be better? So many say the 780 is great but not much love for the Pro900. Whats the difference?