[Sine]

Last month I decided I wanted a step up from my old closed cans; the M40s in my signature. I was looking for some warm, bassy and fun cans and settled on the PROLine 650 after a lot of research. Let me preface my thoughts on it by saying that I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to headphones, so take the following with the appropriate amount of salt.

My source is an E-MU 0202 USB fed by Apple Lossless.

Sound: The first thing I noticed was the tight, controlled, and enormous bass. The other headphones I've heard just give you the "bang"; these give you the "growl" and the "wham!" as well. Sorry if that's a bit vague.

The mids sound recessed to me; but the highs are strong and nicely detailed. Detailed enough, in fact, to not be very forgiving to poor quality recordings or MP3s. For me, it was a non-issue.

Imaging and soundstage are a little ambiguous - these cans seem to do well separating instruments, but they only ever sound like they're directly to my left or right. Not bad, but not exactly the 3D soundscape that S-Logic purports to have.

Techno, Alternative, Ambient, New Age, Pop, Rock, Jazz - all of these genres (to my ears) are ones that the 650 really does well in. It sounds exuberant and warm, with a bass quality that's absolutely addictive. The only genres I don't like these for are classical (needs a bigger soundstage) and metal (should be more forward).

But...: There are two things that really bother me about the sound. First, the empty midrange that I already mentioned. Second, they have a tendency to fall apart when there's a lot going on. For example, in Radiohead's "Exit Music (for a film)", it renders the strong bass impact in the second half but lets everything else turn to mush. Perhaps these are consequences of not using an amp - I don't know.

Build Quality: Some people take issue with this, but I haven't had any problems. Sure, it's made of plastic, but it's solidly constructed. My head's on the small side of what these cans can handle, though, so they're not exactly overstressed.

Comfort: I was going to write something here, but I think the following picture does a much better job representing my thoughts...

I don't know if it's the recessed midrange (earstrain?) or the clamping force, but something about these headphones makes them fatiguing to me. I can listen to them for about an hour before I have to take them off and have a break. Maybe it's just me.

As much fun as I've had with these headphones, I'm thinking about swapping them for a pair of midrange closed ATs (A900, W1000, ESW9, etc.) that will give me more midrange and a lot more comfort.

Well, that's a wrap! I hope this noob mini-review wasn't too dull or useless for you. If you have any comments, thoughts, or advice; they would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MaZa]

Some hints.

Try moving the headphones on your head, aswell as angle of them and angle of headband, so the driver shoots to your ears from different directions. Try to find the sweetspot, (people have differently shaped ears, so Ultrasones offset driver placement isnt necessarily universal) this helps the soundstage, and to some extend midrange, though it doesnt completely fix the latter one.

And feel free to bend the headband directly from the middle to ease pressure, it can take it easily.

 

[Cool_Torpedo]

Hi Sine,

And also don't forget that those Ultrasone drivers need a lot of burn-in to settle down and make things coherent and balanced. I needed to really push-up things with my 2200ULE have them sounding with a decent midrange. At first they sounded as you describe your PRO650.
Fitting on your head won't change. If these cans only were more comfortable...

Cheers

 

[Sine]

Thanks guys! I'll give them some more time and fiddle with the headband a bit. An amp would probably be a good idea.

To anyone who knows, what kind of improvements can I expect with amplification?

EDIT: The more I listen, the main component to my "Ultrasone fatigue" feels most like a pressure buildup in my ear canal; something I don't get with my other pair of closed phones. I also find that my 650s need about 40% more volume to sound their best v. my AD700s for a 25% increase in impendance. I'm keeping the 650s on the quiet side for now; better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Gorkle]

Glad to read another person's thoughts on the 650s, Sine, as I purchased these myself two weeks ago.

Your thoughts largely mirror mine, although I found the bass quite overwhelming at first. On my first few listens, the bass was VERY separate in the mix from other instruments, and seemed to 'bleed' a little into the other frequencies. You're also right about the recessed mid-range, although I think this may be a side-effect of the prominent bass.

HOWEVER - I have given these headphones about 100 hours of burn-in now (using pink noise), and they are noticeably more even. The bass is no longer overpowering, the mid-range sounds perfectly fine, and the highs were never an issue. They got even better with a little bit of EQing - I took everything down a couple of decibels at first, then raised the 500Hz mids and the 4KHz highs back to normal. (It's important to do it this way because, for some reason, simply raising the mids and highs caused distortion.)

I would give the cans a good 100 hours of burn-in before making rash decisions on a trade-in, personally. I'm very pleased with them after the initial uncertainty.

I'm afraid I can't comment on amps as I don't use one.