[markl]

Quote:

Markl, how many hours do you have on them so far?

I've personally put 350 hours on them, but they were supposedly burned in before I got them.

 

[Contrastique]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl /img/forum/go_quote.gif Man, do these headphones require MASSIVE amounts of burn-in. They are ridiculously STUBBORN. But it's worth it! I'm going to be eating some of the negative initial impressions I had as posted earlier in this thread. But that's OK, as they were what they were, just initial impressions out of the box subject to change. The bass has shaped up nicely, coming into focus (no more "bass cloud", and a vast reduction in "stuttering"). Still, these are positively the *weirdest* (is that a word?) headphones I've ever heard, totally idiosyncratic. They do their own thing and sound like no other, but once you get over it, you can't help but be thoroughly entertained by them. It's weird, but this mental "burn-in" process happens every single time I put them on. At first, there's resistance, but give them 10 minutes and you are beaten into dumb, happy submission. They always make me smile no matter what kind of mood I was in. Hate to keep teasing about all these PF reviews I have yet to write (too much stuff came up recently), but I will be writing them all next week (he said). It's actually a good thing it took so long because it gave me more time to burn in certain cans and to do more listening. Mark

Thanx for the update. Nice to see you enjoy them and they opened up for you. Time needed to do so is extremely long indeed but as said before I'm glad to see you took your time and still looking forward to your extended review! In the mean time: Enjoy the listening

 

[musicman59]

I burn-in mine for 430 hours before listening to them. I have had HD600, HD650 (with Equinox) and right now I also own the D5000. So far these are the most impressive headphones I have ever heard. They are so transparent and clean sounding that they will show the weakest link in your sound either a piece of equipment, cable or recording.

Maybe the differences pageman99 is listening are really recording or mix issues and not the phones.

I have recordings that I have listen to for over 20 years and we I listened to them on the Ed9 is like a brand new recording. I discovered small details in them that I have never heard before.

 

[IPodPJ]

I wonder why, if the consensus seems to be that they sound their best after 300 hours, why Ultrasone doesn't burn them in for 300 hours before sending them out? Unlike other headphones, it seems that everyone thinks the Ed9 require substantial burn-in. After spending that much money on a pair, I'd be so anxious to receive them and listen to their glorious sound... I wouldn't want to have to put them under a pillow for an additional 2 weeks.

 

[coppi]

FWIW, after what Sovkiller & co had to say, I finally broke down and got myself a pair of these... (the wallet wasn't too happy, though, and I'll be selling off other stuff soon)

I would just like to second what everyone else has about break-in being absolutely important before making a judgement on them. When I first got the Edition 9s, I was worried I had made a big, expensive mistake and that the people who complained about bass boom/mid-range suckout/fake string sounds were right. I'm also running balanced HD 650s and except for the bass, they blew the Edition 9 out of the water. The 650s seemed much faster/revealed more details and sounded much more natural. A couple weeks later (maybe 250+ hours), the Edition midrange and treble came out of the wood work, and the Edition 9 completely changed tonality. Interestingly the bass boom/cloud seems to be dissipating too and the HD 650s and Edition 9 now sound pretty similar on a lot of recordings. Right now the Edition 9 still doesn't sound as natural to me as the 650 (as in being live at a performance), although I can now hear more going on with the Edition 9 and I stop caring at some point. I'll probably keep the 650s, though, because I've discovered several of my old LPs have a very hot bass, which the Edition 9 will not hesitate to show you but the HD 650 seems to mask well.

Anyways, based on < 200 hours break-in, I would have had a very hard time calling these one of the best production headphones out there. But they just seem to keep getting better, and now I think I'm finally starting to hear what all the fuss was about ...

Paolo

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by markl /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've personally put 350 hours on them, but they were supposedly burned in before I got them.

Many have reported that after 400 hours they will settle (or your brain will). Even while probably they are burned in already, and while they told you that it was fully burned in, and used a lot, maybe was a week or so, still not enough IMO...but you will experience that for yourself, and that is very important, to have a personal first hand experiences, this is the way to go...

 

[iQEM]

nice impression thread, subsribe as well...

 

[Jap]

[size=medium]So!?! Inquiring minds would like to know: did Sir Markl ever have his review published in Positive Feedback?[/size]

 

[subtle]

After reading through the thread, I'm curious to know as well.

 

[hawat]

I m curious to know if the review is up somewhere or has it been canceled?

Thanks.

 

[Assorted]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IPodPJ /img/forum/go_quote.gif I wonder why, if the consensus seems to be that they sound their best after 300 hours, why Ultrasone doesn't burn them in for 300 hours before sending them out? Unlike other headphones, it seems that everyone thinks the Ed9 require substantial burn-in. After spending that much money on a pair, I'd be so anxious to receive them and listen to their glorious sound... I wouldn't want to have to put them under a pillow for an additional 2 weeks.

I guess advertising that the headphones have been burnt in is implying that Ultrasone believes in burn-in, like taking a political position.

 

[jamato8]

The review didn't make it to press?? Someone has gotta know. Shoot him an email. Get an update, get the latest thoughts, get the latest news, get the latest.

 

[Akabeth]

I'm waiting for teh review :3

Is Markl still doing this?? Surely it wouldn't take more than 7 months to burn-in these headphones

...no?

 

[markl]

Now that I'm a MOT for a headphone product, I'm no longer allowed to comment on other cans.

 

[Richter Di]

I hopefully do not violate any headfi rules by advertising a little interview with the Ultrasone headphone developer: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/ult...6/#post3382730