[karlgerman]

I don´t know how the ED 5 sound´s but i really cant imagine that any product from Ultrasone is worth that amount of money.
For me, you can call any price, if the product is outstanding in musical quality, but not for just keep it BlingBling-limited!
 
Some of the Ultrasones are not bad Headphones but I would none of them call a High End Product.
For me personally, i prefer the most natural sound i could get.
 
009 Stax, Abyss and maybe the HE1000 are my kind of taste and maybe worth the 3 - 5000 euro.
 
But i know people who like the crispy sound of some dynamic Can´s -- they might like the ED 10 too.

 

[AppleheadMay]

  I don´t know how the ED 5 sound´s but i really cant imagine that any product from Ultrasone is worth that amount of money.
For me, you can call any price, if the product is outstanding in musical quality, but not for just keep it BlingBling-limited!
 
Some of the Ultrasones are not bad Headphones but I would none of them call a High End Product.
For me personally, i prefer the most natural sound i could get.
 
009 Stax, Abyss and maybe the HE1000 are my kind of taste and maybe worth the 3 - 5000 euro.
 
But i know people who like the crispy sound of some dynamic Can´s -- they might like the ED 10 too.

 
 
Yeah, I have the same experience with the Ultrasone Eds.
I pretty much like closed dynamics most of all though I tried orthos and a 007.
Will give them all a new try in August though.

 

[takato14]

  How's the ED5?

Very interested in this too... very few people have it. No one has measured it. Everyone who does have it says its their best headphone.
 
This is probably relative to their headphones only, though, I'd have to speculate. But I would love to be proven wrong.

 

[thomasfdo]

compared to the Ultrasone Ed 10 the Ed 5 is said to be more neutral and different in bass; I might have the chance to compare the Ed 5 to the Ed 10 by the end of this or beginning of next week

 

[AppleheadMay]

Well, since the Pioneer is gonna be limited to 1000 I bit the bullet and ordered them from my local Pioneer/Marantz dealer.
He can still get a pair from Pioneer and I will have them by the end of the month.
At the price I hope they will be really good for classical music.

 

[takato14]

  Well, since the Pioneer is gonna be limited to 1000 I bit the bullet and ordered them from my local Pioneer/Marantz dealer.
He can still get a pair from Pioneer and I will have them by the end of the month.
At the price I hope they will be really good for classical music.

Wait, 1000 for the first production run or 1000 pairs period???

 

[AppleheadMay]

Wait, 1000 for the first production run or 1000 pairs period???

As far as I understood it's 1000 period.
Here's an article from What-Hifi.

http://www.whathifi.com/news/pioneer-announces-se-master1-flagship-headphones

 

[PhilW]

Okay.....finally I can comment.....These are really, really good! I didn't want to make a rush judgement on these as they need a serious amount of run in. Now the treble has settled and we have a lovely amount of textured bass. They sound really open and really fast......I would say a warmer sounding HD800 with more texture in the mid-range. They seem to be an easy listen and everything is delivered with speed and accuracy....We were using the Invicta to test it out.

 

[AppleheadMay]

  Okay.....finally I can comment.....These are really, really good! I didn't want to make a rush judgement on these as they need a serious amount of run in. Now the treble has settled and we have a lovely amount of textured bass. They sound really open and really fast......I would say a warmer sounding HD800 with more texture in the mid-range. They seem to be an easy listen and everything is delivered with speed and accuracy....We were using the Invicta to test it out.

 
 
Good to hear some more nice feedback about these since I just ordered them.
I ordered the balanced cable as well. Tried to push the dealer into arranging me a cable for free seen the price of these phones but he couldn't do that, the price of the cable is €380 here. Got it at half price though.

 

[FiveYears]

I would take that "less than 1000 planned" with a big grain of salt.
 
If there is sufficient demand after the first run sells out, I would not be the least bit surprised if Pioneer planned to make a second run.
 
Alternatively, if there are a few hundred units that the retailers can't move, then Pioneer will not plan a second run.     
 
Its Pioneer, a large Japanese electronics company; not the Franklin Mint.
 
Peace from Japan. 

 

[arnaud]

I may be a bit sarcastic but I wonder if Pioneer is either 1) playing the unobtemium game to justify the rather high price of the product (from my little experience well above it's playing field, a la Ultrasone) and / or 2) testing the waters with this repeated venture into high end phones (they might already understand it's a rather steep price for what it gives).
 
 
Now, reports from Europe are 180 degrees out of phase with what I heard in Tokyo, so perhaps I just heard a completely undercooked sample / or otherwise it does not play wall with smallish heads.
 
arnaud

 

[AppleheadMay]

Strange thing is I could simply order them while I read in this thread they've all shipped out to dealers.
The distributor here doesn't have it yet but he will in 3 weeks and I'm the first person even asking for it.

 

[gurus]

If the manufacturing capacity is only 4-5 a day, I doubt it that all 1000 have been produced and sold.

 

[AppleheadMay]

  If the manufacturing capacity is only 4-5 a day, I doubt it that all 1000 have been produced and sold.

 
Was posted in this thread a few pages ago.

 

[gurus]

My serial number is in two digits so it is a long way to reach 1000 at 4-5 a day.