[RPGWiZaRD]

I don't know about Ultrasone Signature X but the Signature Pulse's are quite similar to the Q40's (but after EQ-ing. The Pulse's need less EQ). I consider the Pulse's to be a direct upgrade to the Q40's (better comfort and isolation, better mids and highs but roughly the same bass). I would agree that the Q40's are not worth actively searching for anymore, but the price of the Pulse's or other Signature headphones is much higher than that of the Q40's. You could get three or four Q40's for the price of one Pulse's.

I found Ultrasone Pro 580i to be the closest to the Q40's in terms of the overall sound and price (they're also more comfortable and have better isolation), but the Pulse's have a more consistent mid bass, which is sometimes underwhelming in the Pro 580i's. The Q40's side with the Pulse's in that regard. The Pro 580i's also need more EQ (about the same as the Q40's) to make the bass reach its full potential, so they also need a 10-band EQ. Stay away from the Pro 780i's though, they have poor bass reponse due to different drivers.

Have you had the opportunity to compare the Signature Masters as well? If I decide to give Ultrasone another try higher up in the range (because the creaking especially can be a bit annoying in the Signature X) I will probably either give Signature Pulse or Master a go. I'm not sure if I need that much quantity bass from the headphone, for me it's more important with the dynamics, punch, impact etc. that aren't directly related to the quantity but other factors, probably how much reverberation (the lower the better for me, how the phase response is etc). Ideally the less bass I hear and the more impact I feel, the better and here Q40 does very well which most other headphones I've tried just simple cannot deliver, it's more "hear" but lack of "feel". I literally can feel the cups shaking on the Q40 with bass, Signature X does this as well but with little bit less finesse overall I'd say.

It's a shame the S-Logic doesn't seem to work that great for me, for some it provides very nice soundstaging but to me both Ultrasone Signature DJ and Signature X has a bit of a "closed-in" sound, I really enjoy Q40's more open sounding soundstage that doesn't sound like the sound is packed inside a chamber.

 

[lyon79]

Unfortunately no, I haven't tried anything but the Pulse's. They're supposed to have the most bass of those three so I chose them.

If you want tangible bass that you can feel rather than hear, you should try older Ultrasones (HFI-580 = DJ1, HFI-780 or Pro 900). They have tons more bass than the Q40's and they're your best bet if you can tolerate the sibilance. I had the HFI-580's for a few years and to say that they sound incredible is an understatement. I've been avoiding sibilant headphones since as I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks in addition to music and excessive sibilance gets on my nerves.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Unfortunately no, I haven't tried anything but the Pulse's. They're supposed to have the most bass of those three so I chose them.

If you want tangible bass that you can feel rather than hear, you should try older Ultrasones (HFI-580 = DJ1, HFI-780 or Pro 900). They have tons more bass than the Q40's and they're your best bet if you can tolerate the sibilance. I had the HFI-580's for a few years and to say that they sound incredible is an understatement. I've been avoiding sibilant headphones since as I listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks in addition to music and excessive sibilance gets on my nerves.

I don't like sibilant highs either, I like balanced highs so neither underpresented or overpresented but most importantly, I don't like metallic highs, think Beyerdynamic that I've tried a few in a shop besides the DT770 Pro that I owned for a short while so you can listen at slightly higher volume and still feel comfortable but if the highs are too pushed back it will hurt the punchiness/clarity of the kicks in EDM style music so you need a good balance as I really like the kickdrum to sound sound clear and in your-face. Most open headphones tend to have a softer character to the highs I find more pleasing but sadly open-backs doesn't quite cut it for me with both the bass response and outside isolation (would like to tame the sound of the computer fans a bit). I can dial in EQ quite well on the RME ADI-2 DAC so it's usually more important that it fares well in things I can affect with EQ like low overall reverberation in the cups, ringing frequencies and things like that.