vvanrij
Headphoneus Supremus
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- Mar 23, 2008
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After looking around for some semi-portable headphones, I ended up with ultrasone. They are foldable, closed back, come in a handy and sturdy carrying case and also had an unpluggable cable. I was looking at the edition 9, but that one didn't came with a portable carrying pouch but with a big metal box, and was also too expensive for me to travel with 2 times a week. Next in line was the Pro900.
After ordering it via eBay where I got it for a very nice price, it was shipped within a week to The Netherlands. I personally like the looks very much. It has a 'professional' look with its black and silver combo, and also looks like it can take a serious beating. The way it is presented in its carrying case is just perfect. The carrying case is really of good quality without being too bulky. It comes with the 2 cables (coiled and straight), which I both use very much (coiled on the go, and straight at home). Also an extra set of ear pads in silver, which I think look not as good on them as the black ones, but it’s still great for people to have the choice, and to already have a spare set of ear pads. They are nicely hidden under a cover, where the ear pads of the headphone rest on.
Furthermore it comes with the Ultrasone cd and booklet (which contains info on all the ultrasone's except the Pro900 and Ed9). And a big to small plug adapter, which is just a simple push-on. The CD is full of binaural recordings which are good for a laugh, but not of serious material.
All listening was done on the equipment you can read in my signature, the music used will be listed on the go. Straight out of the box it was just the basic pre-burned in faults. Screechy treble, muddy bass (and lots of it), very recessed mids. The comfort on these headphones is very very good, some people might need to but it over some books maybe to stretch the headband, but for me it was a near perfect fit straight out of the box. The earcups are wide enough for your ears to stay clear of the edges and not give you any annoying rubs.
After enough burn in (about 100-150hrs), you could definitely hear a difference. Treble's were nice and lush now, mid did come more forward although still a little bit recessed, the bass was very very good, very impactful, though not always definable, the slightest bit overpowering.
Fleetwood Mac - Never Going Back Again
You can really hear all the details of the guitar, without taking away your attention from the music. The sound is overall very organic and realistic. The voice comes in very nice, although here you can hear the slightly recessed mids more. The stereo spread is spot-on for me. Basically the S-Logic thing means for me that I can put the headphones on straight, instead of the fully forward and down on my face, this makes it also more comfortable to listen for longer times. The sounds are definitely not 'in' my head. Of course this is by no means the same of a speaker-presentation, or the K1000's, but it’s more like being in a room with the artist, a small room where the music is around you rather than only in front of you.
Blue October - Congratulations (feat. Imogen Heap)
The opening sounds very real again, the voice is much closer on this recording. This is good news for me, now you can hear that it doesn't have an artificial soundstage where every sound is put on a far distance. This headphone however places the sounds on the 'right' distance, as far as I can know of course, but there it is very easy to hear how far sounds are, thus very good placement. This thing is a detail monster, if you really concentrate on the details, it can almost become annoying to hear some details. Wettening the lips and other saliva sounds, I actually don't want to hear. Putting this on the side (as it is also a recording fault, I hear this on my stax as well), the headphone draws you really into the music, and blocks out the rest of the world very well.
(Handel) The Messiah - Surely he hath borne our grieves
Wow here the placement and soundstage really shine. It begins more and more to feel as if I am actually standing in a Cathedral listening to large choirs, and even now I can still hear all the details if I focus on a instrument. Although the sounds themselves are very easy identifiable, in the big picture you are just listening to the music. Like I wrote before, all the details are there, but don't distract you or take away your attention from the music. The slightly recessed mids are much more noticeable here, also the bass seems to have a too long decay. Although I say slightly, things like these are very much noticeable.
N.E.R.D. - Lapdance
Let’s give that bass a chance to shine. O and shine it does, a very detailed and open bass. The bass line and bass drum never seem to blend, and even the bass takes advantage of the bigger soundstage. The longer decay on the bass is very noticeable here, and comes tiring even halfway the track. Still a slight shrillness in the highs here, but overall still a better performance than I got from most headphones.
Paul Simon - Diamonds in the soles of her shoes
Again excellent placement of the voices (a wah a wah), as soon as Paul Simon sets in, it really creates a full sound. Even though some of the voices seem hard-panned, this doesn't become annoying. As soon as all the instruments set-in it really becomes something special again. You can really pick an instrument to which you are going to listen too, and follow it throughout the whole song without missing a single note. Still the music doesn't let you; it really gives you the urge to start tapping your feet. Slight harshness in the highs of Paul's voice.
Don McLean - Black Sheep Boy
Again here you are just sitting in the room with the musician; it gives a very close and personal feeling. If only the mids weren't slightly recessed, this would just get a 9.5 hands down. Here you can definitely hear more detail than I have ever heard on this track and it really pays off. There are sounds everywhere, and they make for a very interesting listen. This is one of my favorite songs and I am a little extra critical on this one and how it should sound, but this headphone just seems to nail this one. Best headphone I have heard this song on yet!
So to sum it all up, I really love this headphone. Because I can take it with me when I travel in its handy carrying case, and don't have to worry it will break anytime soon (built like a tank). The accessories are a big plus for me, when you spend this much on a headphone, the extras do count. The comfort is of course also very important; no use in a great sounding headphone that you want to put off your head every 15mins (at least not in my book). Then of course, well if you didn't figure it out already from the pieces I wrote per-song,
Treble - very detailed, not too tiring, sometimes still a slight harshness (metallic sound)
Middle - very good, but slightly recessed, really depends on the song how this affects the music
Bass - one of the best I have ever heard, you do hear a longer decay than necessary, and this can become tiring on bass-heavy songs, but only slightly (say after 2hours)
----------------------Modded Pro 900----------------------------
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/how...67/index5.html
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Kees from Head-fi, was kind enough to invite me to his house, and let me listen to his modded Pro 900. He has already posted in another Pro900 thread on the how's and why's.
The difference is actually much more noticeable than I expected, you can really hear it almost instantly. He let me hear some nice jazz-records (a.o. Bill Frisell - East West), and you can really hear that the bass was tighter, the longer decay was gone. The mids weren't recessed anymore at all imo, just the amount I want. The treble lost that slight metallic edge completely, which makes it an even more musical/organic sounding headphone. Also by the tightening of the bass and less metallic sounding treble, the sound isn't tiring anymore at all. I can listen to this all day. Although the mids aren't recessed as much anymore, the treble and bass don't suffer from this at all, which gives for a much more balanced sound.
I highly recommend this mod, the materials required are easily attainable and cheap, the instructions of Kees are very clear, the mod is fully un-doable if necessary, and the results are astounding. I didn't expect a little more vibration dampening to have this much effect, and the more I listen the more I'm starting to enjoy it, I don't have anything to complain about anymore. Of course this isn't the perfect headphone, but it doesn't have anything that annoys me, which is a first for the headphones I tried. The stax I will prefer more with classical pieces and other music that really takes advantage of the 'airiness' of the stax, but this Pro900 has become much more for me than a portable for on the go.
Thank you for taking the time to read through my review of the Pro900, all normal disclaimers apply, if you have any questions you are more than welcome to ask me. I would like to thank Kees very much for inviting me and modding my Pro900, and letting me listen to his extensive collection of beautifull headphones (more on that in another thread later).
Greetings,
Victor van Rij
Ultrasone
