[Roachpuffs]

I have owned them for over a year. They have a slightly u-shaped sound signature, one that I am postitve you will like based on what you are looking for.

Look them up, you will enjoy what you read

Thank you! More research

 

[Roachpuffs]

I see, thanks for the info this is what I wanted to know and I might go with the 990's after all   Good luck on your purchase 

No problem. Glad I could help. I think you will be very pleased.

 

[Change is Good]

S-Loigc isn't 'surround' on'. It's just a strategic driver placement that sort of enhances soundstage. Not really surround. I don't mind what it does, with the excepetio of placing things further away, and needing a good ear placement. By contrast, the X2 sounds the same rergardless of ear position.
Send me your addy. Not sure why you'd want to though, short of curiosity. I checked my review, and I feel I hit verything I needed to say, so there shouldnt be any surprised. It's warm, bassy, good soundstage and positional cues. Like a poor man's on ear X1, but warmer.

Oh, they're sending me a replacement, and I have 20 days to return my old X2 once I get it. I don't need the 15G.

If any of the regulars (trust issues with people online otherwise) from the last loaners wants, pm me. I'll give Change first dibs of course. I think if you guys want a cheapish, comfortable beater, the 15G will impress you. Oh make sure you guys have an extension cable ready. I can't find the ridiculous one that came with the 15G, and since I use the Mixamp 5.8, I'm perfectly fine with the 3 footer cable.

I've used the 15G wit the E17 and Vali, and I believe the Asgard 2 as well.

You WILL want to amp these, due to Ultrasone mitigating it's volume by default. Not hard to drive in general, just low volume by design.

^Read bold print, please.

Well if he wants to try them out later, I'd be happy to give them a try meanwhile. I want to see what volume you consider moderate, as I do wish to use them on a phone and on a PC. I'm assuming the lower volume design is their "Safer Hearing" feature which they cleverly call it that and also add "while still producing same perceived loudness" not to scare buyers away.

I'd like the opportunity to try these Ultrasone 15G's out, these would be the first pair of highly recommended headphones I would try on.

 

[Roachpuffs]

You probably already have an amp, correct? Do yourself a favor and try a planar like the MrSpeaker's Mad Dog or HifiMan HE400i. Those are both phenominal for immersion.

Or, if you feel like saving up 250$, I'm almost positive someone is selling a LCD 2.2 for that cheap.

Thanks for the recommendations. I have an Asus sound card for my pc but for my ps4 I will be hooking up directly to my Denon receiver. I am actually in the process of returning a magni/modi uber 2 stack. I was using it for my ps4 setup with my 990s but the volume was good but the amp was almost maxed out and on the hi gain setting. When using the 990s plugged into my receiver I could push them much further and the sound quality was not that much different. I didn't see $300 worth of improved sound. Not even close.

Is there a big difference between the HE 400 and HE 400i? I was looking into the HE 400s awhile back but when I demoed them the bass was not impressive. Although I hear that swapping out the velour pads makes a huge difference. I look forward to reading up on your other recommendations.

 

[PacoTaco]

Thanks for the recommendations. I have an Asus sound card for my pc but for my ps4 I will be hooking up directly to my Denon receiver. I am actually in the process of returning a magni/modi uber 2 stack. I was using it for my ps4 setup with my 990s but the volume was good but the amp was almost maxed out and on the hi gain setting. When using the 990s plugged into my receiver I could push them much further and the sound quality was not that much different. I didn't see $300 worth of improved sound. Not even close.

Is there a big difference between the HE 400 and HE 400i? I was looking into the HE 400s awhile back but when I demoed them the bass was not impressive. Although I hear that swapping out the velour pads makes a huge difference. I look forward to reading up on your other recommendations.

If you get the HE400 or any other planar in the future, you may want to consider keeping the schiit stack, as your soundcard doesn't really give much headroom for planars.
 
Before I go into the differences (I have owned both at once before,) the bass on the HE400 is actually incredibly impressive for its price point. It can go very very low with pretty good quantity. If you've come from a DT990, it may make you think "eh, this isn't that great," but what you're use to is more mid-bass. The HE400 provides sub-bass AND mid-bass in spades...but not as much mid-bass (which most people refer to as quantity) as the DT990 or other dynamic drivers. 
 
The main difference between the two is the fact that the HE400 has a fun (almost V) signature, while the HE400i has a more...linear to dark sound signature. The HE400i has a little more mid-bass and a punchier bass all around, but it isn't the same quality subbass as the HE400. However, the i makes up for it by making a more intimate midrange that is incredibly linear (from the tip of the sub-bass to the ends of the mids) until it hits pretty smooth, but dark, high end. The HE400, on the otherhand, is very....sibilant. The HE400i is also a lot more comfortable, has a better soundstage pre-grill mod, and just looks better in general.
 
You have to get use to the kind of bass the HifiMan's present, but once you do, you'll start to notice things feel more cinematic as opposed to sounding cinematic, if that makes any sense. You're trading a lot of substance for the actual clarity of that substance. You'll be able to tell what kind of sound the explosion is actually making, and feel it, as opposed to just hearing a thick mass of boom. It's really more of the "realistic" kind of immersion that (as far as I can tell anyway...Might be a coincidental pattern) MLE experiences in the headphones he rates pretty high up there in fun. 
 
If you want to get down to it, there's very few headphones until the Audeze LCD 2.2 and TH600 that outdo the HE400 in overall bass quality. The HE400i is a close second to it in this price-range, but it makes up for it by having a thicker mid-range that makes you feel like you're in that world.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting Creative.

We are sorry to inform you that the information about the headphones outputs are unavailable.
The Sound Blaster X7 power adapter upgrade kit (24V 6A) is meant for the passive speakers, which delivers up to 100W of power (2 x50W @4ohms).

So basically, the Limited Edition X7 is really only worth it if you MUST have 1ohm output impedance vs 2.2ohm. Since 2.2ohm is good for any headphone that isn't an IEM, i don't see any reason to get the LE X7 unless you're certain you want the extra power for passive speakers, and if you really want the best output for IEMs. And even so, you can always buy the power adapter for the standard X7 if you ever get passive speakers down the line.

So if the X7 goes down in price again, I recommend just getting the regular.

I prefer not overdamping my headphones, which I feel will make the LE sound thinner than the standard, if subtly so, so 2.2ohm is more ideal to me.

Quite disappointing that some damn engineers can't get the power output specs. Ridiculous.

 

[PacoTaco]

So basically, the Limited Edition X7 is really only worth it if you MUST have 1ohm output impedance vs 2.2ohm. Since 2.2ohm is good for any headphone that isn't an IEM, i don't see any reason to get the LE X7 unless you're certain you want the extra power for passive speakers, and if you really want the best output for IEMs.

So if the X7 goes down in price again, I recommend just getting the regular.

I prefer not overdamping my headphones, which I feel will make the LE sound thinner than the standard, if subtly so, so 2.2ohm is more ideal to me.

Yah, the X7 can power anything short of giving planars headroom and the most demanding dynamics (like the HD800.) With low output impedance already and the lack of increased power, there really isn't reason to get the LE X7.
 
That said, the bass on my HE560's were a tad thinner their the amp than I would have liked, but that's easily solved with an external amp.
 
I debated it for awhile, but reached the same conclusion you did when I bought the normal one. Anyone reading this should note that they need to buy directly from creative as Amazon sent me one that was already opened and cords were missing.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Yeah, FWIR, the specs for the internals wasn't all that impressive power-wise, particularly when powering 600ohm cans (less power than the E9K which was already lacking headroom for 600ohms). Paired up with a very low ouput impedance, won't do it's musicality any favors, I'm assuming.

If I was making an amp, my output impedance would be no less than 3ohms. 3 x 8 = 24 (which would be like Denon D7000 type impedance). Or I'd just be like the Garage amps with manual switch for different output impedances. 3, 37, 75. For good damping factors for 24ohm, 300ohm, and 600ohm.

 

[PacoTaco]

I honestly just bought it for the DAC/DSP anyway. A great DAC that trades some of the performance of a Schiit Bifrost for a lot more functionality and features for a hundred and fifty dollars less? Hell yah. Besides, you can't really tell the difference between two DACs of similar performance (or at all in most cases) until you A) hit really expensive DACs that either use tubes or filters or B) really expensive and sensitive headphones.

 

[malla1ml]

  I honestly just bought it for the DAC/DSP anyway. A great DAC that trades some of the performance of a Schiit Bifrost for a lot more functionality and features for a hundred and fifty dollars less? Hell yah. Besides, you can't really tell the difference between two DACs of similar performance (or at all in most cases) until you A) hit really expensive DACs that either use tubes or filters or B) really expensive and sensitive headphones.

 
+1 I've had the X7 since it came out and I thought it sounded great, with no issues. I tried running the output to my Magi 2 uber and just didn't hear much of a difference, so I stuck with what was easier. I also own the original Mixamp and also have the TB DSS1 which I've been using for years.  However, I received my Woo Audio WA7 + WA7tp from Massdrop and gamed all weekend long with the PS4 -> X7 (optical) -> WA7 (RCA) and man it sounded good.  

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Where do you hear that it has some of the performance of the bifrost? That sounds implausible. Though DACs don't sound all too diffferent from one another anyways. Judging by cost, I'd believe it more if the DAC was Modi level, not Bifrost.

 

[PacoTaco]

Just something cool to try, but you can also set the X7 to do the processing through optical out and have it go into the DAC of the WA7.

 

[malla1ml]

Interesting thought but I didn't get the WA7d with optical in.  For the extra money it cost, I decided to spend the money elsewhere.  But I finally caught up on Tomb Raider and it sounded magnificent with the X7 + WA7/WA7tp.  The X7 is a great product compared to what I've used over the years.  My mixamp just didn't have enough power to give my Beyer DT880's the low end I was looking for to be fully immersed.  

 

[Roachpuffs]

If you get the HE400 or any other planar in the future, you may want to consider keeping the schiit stack, as your soundcard doesn't really give much headroom for planars.

Before I go into the differences (I have owned both at once before,) the bass on the HE400 is actually incredibly impressive for its price point. It can go very very low with pretty good quantity. If you've come from a DT990, it may make you think "eh, this isn't that great," but what you're use to is more mid-bass. The HE400 provides sub-bass AND mid-bass in spades...but not as much mid-bass (which most people refer to as quantity) as the DT990 or other dynamic drivers. 

The main difference between the two is the fact that the HE400 has a fun (almost V) signature, while the HE400i has a more...linear to dark sound signature. The HE400i has a little more mid-bass and a punchier bass all around, but it isn't the same quality subbass as the HE400. However, the i makes up for it by making a more intimate midrange that is incredibly linear (from the tip of the sub-bass to the ends of the mids) until it hits pretty smooth, but dark, high end. The HE400, on the otherhand, is very....sibilant. The HE400i is also a lot more comfortable, has a better soundstage pre-grill mod, and just looks better in general.

You have to get use to the kind of bass the HifiMan's present, but once you do, you'll start to notice things feel more cinematic as opposed to sounding cinematic, if that makes any sense. You're trading a lot of substance for the actual clarity of that substance. You'll be able to tell what kind of sound the explosion is actually making, and feel it, as opposed to just hearing a thick mass of boom. It's really more of the "realistic" kind of immersion that (as far as I can tell anyway...Might be a coincidental pattern) MLE experiences in the headphones he rates pretty high up there in fun. 

If you want to get down to it, there's very few headphones until the Audeze LCD 2.2 and TH600 that outdo the HE400 in overall bass quality. The HE400i is a close second to it in this price-range, but it makes up for it by having a thicker mid-range that makes you feel like you're in that world.

Thanks for the detailed explanation. What you said makes complete sense. Your last statement about, " being in that world," sums up the experience I am looking for. Based on your opinion, it sounds like the HE 400i would be the better choice for what I am looking for in my gaming? The HE400 is not aesthetically pleasing but, damn, the HE 400i is sexy as hell! It seems like HifiMan really put some thought into upgrading the HE 400.

As far as my sound card...it has no problems driving my Dt990 (600 ohm) headphones leaving plenty of headroom. When I want to crank it up, I only go about 75%. And I can't listen too long at that level either. Based on this, do you think the HE 400i is going to need more power? When I hooked up the Schiit stack, the volume was identical to my sound card. Also, do you think an amp that will add a little warmth be a good match for them? Thanks again.

 

[PacoTaco]

Ah, I was actually mistaken. I was thinking it was using the same chip as the Conductor SL uses, but I was one number off. That one is actually filtered to be warm, this one isn't. So, yah, you're right. It is more like modi-level, not that it's a bad thing. Until you get to DACs with filters, tubes, or the really expensive ones that delve outside the realm of normal delta-sigma-whatevers, there's almost 0 difference. I could tell the difference between my soundblaster and the Bifrost, but the modi and Bifrost were 99% the same, and that was only on the more revealing headphones (like the HE560 as opposed to my HE400.)