[Sasaki]

Sorry I had a personal booth and I was fairly busy. So I had no time to walk around other booth, this was a shame.
I will update some so please have a look on my head-fi blog later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yaluen /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hey Sasaki, anything else getting released or showcased at the headphone festival? We would love a thread on it in the impressions forum!

 

[ZephyrSapphire]

This is the perfect portable headphones for me IMHO. Circumaural yet portable. BUT. The price tag. Dammit. Ultrasone! Make a budget version of these damn things!

 

[ClieOS]

That explains the high price tag....

Price of Ruthenium per Ounce (in USD)

 

[mark_h]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif I understand that in the case of AT, as a side note, that happen to me with the R-10, with the CD-3K, with the Orpheus system, and with a couple of others, but the Ultrasones are a little different in that regard, they have an unusual presentation, that requires a little bit of time to get used to, nothing else. The S-Logic or whatever they call it, displacing the drivers, create a weird sensation at the beginning...of course if you do not like the overall presentation of the sound, or if you dislike a particular characteristic of their sound, you will never like them, and time will not change that...

If the Edition 9 takes some getting used to then perhaps so do the UE-11? Did you spend the same amount of time listening to them at the meet as it took for you to regard the E9's so highly? It took me 4 months before my UE11 settled into their incredible rhythm, at first I thought I had wasted my money and was seriously p****d off; now it would take a seriously hardcore pare of full size headphones for me to even consider parting with them, because all I have tried thus far don't come close and I am moving up the price/quality ladder rapidly.

I would love to try the edition 9 but they are hard to get in the UK I am convinced from all the reviews on headfi I have read that they are incredible, but I will reserve judgment until I have heard with my own ears. As for the Edition 8, I would not buy them because they look like Bose or B+A designed them for Barbarella's space ship! And yes aesthetics are incredibly important to me in high end high-fi! But then I also think the ER4S are a design classic so nofigure...

 

[ZephyrSapphire]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClieOS /img/forum/go_quote.gif That explains the high price tag.... Price of Ruthenium per Ounce (in USD)

Very smart of them to choose Ruthenium too since..
Ruthenium plays no biological role but does strongly stain human skin, may be carcinogenic and bio-accumulates in bone

 

[bizkid]

US stepped into the wrong direction. These are just too ugly. And i mean in a Jecklin float way. They shouldnt let their engineers do the design work

 

[athenaesword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZephyrSapphire /img/forum/go_quote.gif This is Head-fi. Price isn't everything. That's all I can say about what I bolded there.

sure. probably could have worded it better, but i typed that out in haste and with a pinch of overzealous annoyance. however, i'm pretty sure that the vast majority of actual owners of the UE11 wouldn't find what he claimed true. anyway, I'm done with the rant; don't intend to spoil the thread anymore than it has already been.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by athenaesword /img/forum/go_quote.gif i've read through the UE11 impressions thread. and frankly, you seem a little too eager to diss them. yeah they're expensive, but saying they sound worse than dynamic phones less than 5 times their price has just got to be BS. you defend the edition x with the "it's not love at first sight" line, yet you merely heard the UE11s at a meet, and not even the actual version at that. that's hardly what I'd call quality time, or quantity for that matter, yet your conclusions leave no room for the possibility of taste maturing. the universal and custom may not sound worlds apart, but still, you're giving a fairly definite and harsh critique here; the LEAST you could do is include in your post dissing them that you ONLY listened to the universal. calling them a joke while not even having heard the real thing, frankly, just makes you the joke. personally, i'd hardly take your comments on the UE11 into consideration for purchase because they're far too negatively polarized to be realistic, but some other new member who has not read your gazillion other posts slamming them, and assumes your 12k+ posts is a representation of your matured opinion on audio, might, and I feel sorry for the guy. sure, you can say what you want. but is that the kind of attitude this forum's supposed to cultivate? fire off your mouth with baseless comments and say you don't care about your reputation? c'mon man. grow up.

Are you telling me to grow up because you can stand the truth!!! Who needs to grow up, me?...

Let's be clear, to see if for one time you and many others can understand my point...
UE11 as well as any other IEM use armature drivers, all of them cut the high freq around 16KHz, I have not heard a single armature driver yet, that gives a realistic high freq performance, that includes all the armature drivers, even the ones I like, which cost far less than those. And that is a limitation of the armature drivers, not the brand, nor the price, not the research they do, nor the care they put into the manufacture. What means that any driver that could go to 20KHz could offer, and indeed most of them do, a lot more realistic high freq performance than the best armature based IEM, regardless of being custom or universal, and regardless of being expensive or cheap...That is unless you can not hear those differences due to limitation in your hearing on the high freq perception, but as I do not have that problem, I do noticed that in all of them...
That is what I mean while I do not see why they cost so much period...their freq can not be better than others costing five times less, as they simply use the same type of drivers with the same limitation as the others...Now on top of that, their bass is overpowered on top of the whole spectrum, and details-wise they are not better than any other neither...could the custom fit will improve that, I can bet they will, but to the point of making it cost 5 times more, I doubt that...period...Having said that I do not see myself paying for a mutilated performance more than a grand while I could get the same mutilated performance from any 200ish IEM...

What I said about the Edition, and if you read careful you will notice that, is that the presentation they offer, soundstage, etc...is different given the S-Logic, not the sound, if you do not like the crisp highs they offer, or the bass they offer, spending time with them will do nothing, that applies to any headphone...The fact of getting used to them, doesn't make them the universal headphone, we know better than than...
IEM has not problems with that, they fire the sound directly into the eardrum, and you do not use the outer ear to listen them, as Ultrasone does, so the soundstage is somewhat also limited by that fact...Now if the Ultrasone Edition X is worth or not that price tag, as I said before, is just a very personal point of view, to me they do not, but to me they sound miles better than any IEM, including the UE11...And if I have to choose I prefer to pay the ridiculous price tag for the UE9, or any other full size headphone, and not for the IEM (UE11)...

Now this portable from Ultrasone to me is also expensive, but we have not heard it yet, God knows how it will sound, so to compare it with the UE11 is very premature, and I was not the one who brought the comparison here, BTW...

Having said that, I will let you discuss this hepadhone in peace now, I have better things to do than wasting my time in a discussion that will go to no place...one thing I have learned here is that once you like something, and make up your mind about something is really hard to make anybody change their opinions, specially while the item in question is non returnable...

 

[athenaesword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif Are you telling me to grow up because you can stand the truth!!! Who needs to grow up, me?... Let's be clear, to see if for one time you and many others can understand my point... UE11 as well as any other IEM use armature drivers, all of them cut the high freq around 16KHz, I have not heard a single armature driver yet, that gives a realistic high freq performance, that includes all the armature drivers, even the ones I like, which cost far less than those. And that is a limitation of the armature drivers, not the brand, nor the price, not the research they do, nor the care they put into the manufacture. What means that any driver that could go to 20KHz could offer, and indeed most of them do, a lot more realistic high freq performance than the best armature based IEM, regardless of being custom or universal, and regardless of being expensive or cheap...That is unless you can not hear those differences due to limitation in your hearing on the high freq perception, but as I do not have that problem, I do noticed that in all of them... That is what I mean while I do not see why they cost so much period...their freq can not be better than others costing five times less, as they simply use the same type of drivers with the same limitation as the others...Now on top of that, their bass is overpowered on top of the whole spectrum, and details-wise they are not better than any other neither...could the custom fit will improve that, I can bet they will, but to the point of making it cost 5 times more, I doubt that...period...Having said that I do not see myself paying for a mutilated performance more than a grand while I could get the same mutilated performance from any 200ish IEM... What I said about the Edition, and if you read careful you will notice that, is that the presentation they offer, soundstage, etc...is different given the S-Logic, not the sound, if you do not like the crisp highs they offer, or the bass they offer, spending time with them will do nothing, that applies to any headphone...The fact of getting used to them, doesn't make them the universal headphone, we know better than than... IEM has not problems with that, they fire the sound directly into the eardrum, and you do not use the outer ear to listen them, as Ultrasone does, so the soundstage is somewhat also limited by that fact...Now if the Ultrasone Edition X is worth or not that price tag, as I said before, is just a very personal point of view, to me they do not, but to me they sound miles better than any IEM, including the UE11...And if I have to choose I prefer to pay the ridiculous price tag for the UE9, or any other full size headphone, and not for the IEM (UE11)... Now this portable from Ultrasone to me is also expensive, but we have not heard it yet, God knows how it will sound, so to compare it with the UE11 is very premature, and I was not the one who brought the comparison here, BTW...

haha can't stand whose truth? yours? you the harbinger of truth now? TRUTH based on a short impression of a piece of equipment that wasn't even the real thing?

first up, let me assure you I have no reason to defend the UE11s. I don't have a pair that I need to justify to myself the value of, so you can discard whatever BS about trying to make myself feel better for paying the big dough. That's also why I'm refusing to even stray into sound description, because I do not have direct access to them to make an informed assessment.

What I'm commenting on, is YOUR similar lack of experience with them, and YOUR failure to bring substantiated critique to the table. Given YOUR harsh comments however, ANYONE would guess that you own a pair yourself. yet YOU don't. YOU haven't even listened to them for what a regular person would deem a decent amount of time to make a critical assessment like that. the most hilarious bit is that YOU haven't actually listened to the CUSTOM UE11PRO that you're so anal about in the first place.

lol so you're now condemning all armature IEMs? see how little you're actually able to comment on the UE11pros specifically? All you can say is muddy bass, which is basically one of the very few complaints that can be heard anywhere, about the UE11. I'll give you soundstage, but again, you're attacking IEMs in general, not the UE11. IF it is physically impossible to reproduce soundstage perfectly due to the proximity of the drivers to the eardrum like you mentioned (I'm sure this will eventually be improved in future models), then it is not exactly a huge fault of the UE11 is it? you're gonna bring up the bit about price here, but just because they don't sound good enough for $1000 doesn't make them sound like the crap like you seem to insinuate.

now your little bit about the edition x's presentation is just completely vague, and I'm not sure you understand what exactly it is you're saying. You say that if one doesn't like the presentation of the Edition X from the start, one is never going to like it. Pray tell what is it then that will make someone magically fall in love with them over time? and how would it be any different for the UE11 than it is for the Eds?

Sure, the UE11pro are obviously not perfect, and rightly so, otherwise we'd all stop buying the in betweens and saving up directly for them. If you'd made some comments about not liking the Universal version of the UE11pro while listening to them at a meet, we would accept that. We'd respect you for speaking the truth and not over-glorifying equipment like so many do around here. But you had to go and bash it around like you bought a pair and hated it. Someone needs to shut you up.

 

[hawat]

Hmm this doesn't look any smaller than an e9 to me or this guy has a very small head.
And the e9 look much better to me as well. If both sound close I wont be going e8.

 

[AudioDwebe]

I really don't see how this is "portable." If this is portable, then so is the ED9, and every other headphone that can be driven by a DAP or (trans)portable amp.

And I apologize in advance for getting in between what appears to be a heated debate a-brewin'.

Let the argument continue...

 

[hawat]

Yes they still have the 2 sided cable and still have that shiny "thief bait" looks. The only argument they would have for them being more portable than the e9 would be their weight I guess.

 

[Lornecherry]

Three comments in an attempt to cut through the egotism that sometimes becomes more prominent then thread's initial intent.

1) Price: if they are indeed the best-sounding portable then, well ..."sorry about your wallet". I've seen portable rigs in excess of $1500 and I too have secretly schemed, although unsuccessfully, of how to stuff my Stax into my coat pocket. There is indeed a market, however small, for this price point.

Now, blurting out or even mentioning "best-sounding" is dangerous fight'in words on head-fi ...but what I really mean is: do they come close to the experience I would enjoy with $1,000 non-portable cans? If so, where do I sign? But until the Ultrasones get into the hands of competent reviewers and we know their synergy with some of the better portable amps, any dis or praise is unfounded. The sonic signature may be completely different from the Ultrasone house sound ...just as G1000s are not your typical Grado. Sorry Pro or Con bandwagon but the jury is out till the evidence is in.

2) Although I dislike wholly IEM's because "there's something in my ear" these Ultrasones, beautiful or horrid are a very delicious target for thieves. I would not wear such niceties on any public transit or other vulnerable place. That said, these are a touch a class, a fashion statement ... and may indeed justify their price on that alone.

3) Size and weight: these portables somewhat push the boundaries of what is "portable". I need to try them for an extended period to further add to that ...as long-term comfort is more important then size and weight.

4) OK, I said three things, but I can't resist a forth: If Sara Palin wore those during the previous month is it possible that we might have had a different election outcome?

 

[davidhunternyc]

Yes, I too think that these headphones are kind of ugly even though the polished metal helps disguise the retro-80's style design. BMW has Chris Bangle to slaughter its designs and I wonder who is behind the designs of Ultrasone. Seems like both BMW and Ultrasone could take a lesson from Jonathan Ive. With that said, I praise a company such as Ultrasone for trying to push the envelope of headphone design. Maybe they are the MBL of headphones and if anyone could replace the R-10 as the king of headphones, I place my bet on Ultrasone. They haven't done it yet but I'm looking over my shoulder.

 

[hawat]

hmm I just found that on google about ruthenium.

Health effects of ruthenium

Ruthenium compounds are encountered relatively rarely by most people. All ruthenium compounds should be regarded as highly toxic and as carcinogenic. Compounds of ruthenium stain the skin very strongly. It seems that ingested ruthenium is retained strongly in bones. Ruthenium oxide, RuO4, is highly toxic and volatile, and to be avoided.

Rhutenium 106 is one of the radionuclides involved in atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, which began in 1945, with a US test, and ended in 1980 with a Chinese test. It is among the long-lived radionuclides that have produced and will continue to produce increased cancers risk for decades and centuries to come.