Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercuttio
I have only one word, National Meet folks.
That word is "Pain."
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Heh! That was my old pair. Mine were sold to Nik on behalf of another unnamed Head-Fi member who was new at the time (also an Italian) and apparently thought it would be better if Nik negotiated on his behalf (since Nik and I had done some transactions prior to that). I always thought this mystery person might have been Rudi, and sure enough, there at the national meet was my old pair of Edition 7's! I had them recabled by Larry at Headphile, so there was no mistaking them. That, and they are a numbered, limited edition.
Unfortunately, I didn't have chance to give them a listen that day, but really enjoyed getting the chance to meet Rudi, whose work I have a lot of respect for. The Egmont Signature amp, which I bought form Nik way back when, is still one of my favorite peices of audio gear.
As for the Edition 7's, well, an extended break-in period helped quite a bit, and the cable replacement that I had done helped even more. By the time I sold them, their sound signature really was starting to grow on me and I had mixed feelings about letting them go. They had become my favorite cans for certain types of music, such as some of the punchy roadhouse blues I listen to.
Yet, unless Ultrasone has made some fundamental changes in their design work (relative to the Edition 7's), then I wouldn't expect the Edition 9's to win me over instantly. From the looks of them, it would seem that they have kept the same small chamber size that the Edition 7's had. Sadly, that was one of the fundamental problems I had with the Edition 7's; they hugged my ears tightly and it seemed as though they needed much more 'air space' to allow the soundstage to really open up. There was this odd sort of reverb thing going on that never did fully settle down (although break-in and the cable replacement helped considerably).
I'd have to hear the Editon 9's to know for sure, but color me cautious at this point in terms of their claim of "the world's best headphones"... seems like I've heard that before, and the lesson I learned certainly wasn't a cheap one.
