Proline 750/2500 or better amp for HD650?

[analogbox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose /img/forum/go_quote.gif that means your recordings aren't too great. i listen to many genres of music so i know that the ultrasone pros reproduce exactly what the recording has in it. in some songs i was surprised to hear incredibly tight bass and in others i heard very boomy sloppy bass and i immediately realized that none of my other headphones revealed that the 2 recordings had different quality bass. i went back to the dt990s and found that the difference was there but a lot more subtle. so i knew it was in fact the recording. a lot of rock recordings suck unfortunately, as well as old trance tracks. try listening to some vibrasphere, new tiesto stuff, new armin ASOT radio shows for good quality trance.

I don't have any other Ultrasone cans so I don't know what they're supposed to sound like but I think it's more of a burn-in issue. It's just not burned-in enough yet. I rip all my tunes cafully thru EAC and they sound fine on my other phones.

Yesterday I was listening to Nirvana's "Nevermind" and Sarah Chang's "Four Season" and some Armin van Buren's tunes. All of them ripped in high bit rate and they sound fantastic on my HD650/K701. But out of the box, after I figured out the whole cable thingy, the 750 sounded very raw on all of them. The bass was going at all directions and uneven, the violin was shreking and the mid was so thin that Kurt Cobain's voice sounded hollow and empty.

However, this morning, after about 15 hours of burn-in, I could definitely notice a slightly tighten, even bass. Harsh treble seemed to tamed down a little bit too and the violins don't scream anymore. I'm going to see how the sound will change for the next couple of days but so far I'm pretty happy with the changes.

 

[pbirkett]

Another update...

Despite being somewhat sceptical about claims of burn in, I really do think that these headphones are really starting to change a bit now. They are definitely starting to sound better and more balanced, less muddy and a bit less dark. I'd still like it a little brighter, but whos to say they wont get there now.

I'm also quite shocked at how ruthless they can be on bad recordings. Somehow although I can still listen and enjoy it, they really do rub it in your face.

 

[pbirkett]

Latest update to this thread, things have really took a turn for the better today with these things.

I was really starting to think they were a bit over-rated around here, as I just couldnt listen to them without the Behringer in the loop, and yet, at the same time, they starting to become a bit sibilant.

To be honest, I'd virtually given up with them, and I just left them on my headphone stand, with the volume on, in case they did need more burn in, but I have to say it had entered my mind to sell them.

Today, I bought a new computer, and said computer had a digital coax output. I decided to rig the computer up to one of my 2 DACs, a Beresford DAC, which I regard as the lesser sounding of the 2 DACs I have, but its a much more flexible beast than the Digilog, which is very transport sensitive.

For a laugh, I decided to install Foobar like in the good old days and use that through the Beresford instead of the Squeezebox through the Digilog.

I put the headphones on, and took the Exciter out of the loop just to see if there was any change.

Well, I dont know what happened there, but all of a sudden these headphones are sounding like I imagined them to sound, that is, a lot brighter, more detailed and more exciting, with a lot more midrange. No sibilance either. These have all of a sudden become virtually completely unrecognisable from the last time I listened.

Now, this leads me to one of two conclusions. Either they are now well and truly starting to break-in (people did talk about a LONG break-in time with these), or my cheapy Beresford DAC with Foobar feeding the tunes is a better match (or maybe just better) than my Digilog. Now, I need to rig up the Digilog to compare it, because the last time I did I felt the Digilog was superior, but now I am starting to wonder.

I think I am now at the stage where I would be more comfortable to recommend these to people, whereas I wasnt before. However, I'm now wondering if they are just extremely picky about the electronics that power them, and by that I mean not neccesarily mega expensive, just that they have to be right.

To be honest, I think whatever happens the Exciter can probably go the journey as I can now use all manner of plugins and EQs on the PC.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbirkett /img/forum/go_quote.gif Latest update to this thread, things have really took a turn for the better today with these things. I was really starting to think they were a bit over-rated around here, as I just couldnt listen to them without the Behringer in the loop, and yet, at the same time, they starting to become a bit sibilant. To be honest, I'd virtually given up with them, and I just left them on my headphone stand, with the volume on, in case they did need more burn in, but I have to say it had entered my mind to sell them. Today, I bought a new computer, and said computer had a digital coax output. I decided to rig the computer up to one of my 2 DACs, a Beresford DAC, which I regard as the lesser sounding of the 2 DACs I have, but its a much more flexible beast than the Digilog, which is very transport sensitive. For a laugh, I decided to install Foobar like in the good old days and use that through the Beresford instead of the Squeezebox through the Digilog. I put the headphones on, and took the Exciter out of the loop just to see if there was any change. Well, I dont know what happened there, but all of a sudden these headphones are sounding like I imagined them to sound, that is, a lot brighter, more detailed and more exciting, with a lot more midrange. No sibilance either. These have all of a sudden become virtually completely unrecognisable from the last time I listened. Now, this leads me to one of two conclusions. Either they are now well and truly starting to break-in (people did talk about a LONG break-in time with these), or my cheapy Beresford DAC with Foobar feeding the tunes is a better match (or maybe just better) than my Digilog. Now, I need to rig up the Digilog to compare it, because the last time I did I felt the Digilog was superior, but now I am starting to wonder. I think I am now at the stage where I would be more comfortable to recommend these to people, whereas I wasnt before. However, I'm now wondering if they are just extremely picky about the electronics that power them, and by that I mean not neccesarily mega expensive, just that they have to be right. To be honest, I think whatever happens the Exciter can probably go the journey as I can now use all manner of plugins and EQs on the PC.

It's probably a combination of better source AND burn-in. A month ago I wrote the following:

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict One of the things most of my Ultrasones have done is to sound decent right out of the box (albeit as you described and a little unbalanced), then they go flat or dull sounding around 30-80 hours and then start sounding better again by 125 hours, and then smooth out and become more natural by 250-300 hours. So, give them some time to reach their final sound signature.

So, I'm curious how many hours you have on them - it sounds like you got past the "go flat or dull around 30-80 hours" and should be on the 125 hour upswing or longer by now.

 

[analogbox]

Or it could just be the music you were listening to. Some recordings are brighter than the others. Even all Norah Jones' albums sound different and some albums show sibilance while others don't. Maybe you were listening to bright sounding albums when you felt the sibilance and later you tried some darker sounding albums?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbox /img/forum/go_quote.gif Or it could just be the music you were listening to. Some recordings are brighter than the others. Even all Norah Jones' albums sound different and some albums show sibilance while others don't. Maybe you were listening to bright sounding albums when you felt the sibilance and later you tried some darker sounding albums?

I gave him the benefit of assuming he has more intelligence than to make that mistake.

 

[analogbox]

I've said that because that's what I find myself doing all the time without knowing it. I know I shouldn't have slept in psychology class, darn!

 

[pbirkett]

I have a few reference recordings that I use for the purporses of testing.

What I noticed yesterday was that music that had previously sounded flat, dull and muffled (and which should have been anything but) was now full of life, dynamics and detail.

Nothing quite prepared me for my late night listening session to Biosphere (Substrata) though. Absolutely STUNNING quality. I can honesty say that I have never heard such sound from headphones before, something really has just clicked in a big way here. I had stunning silences in tracks, the most uncoloured sound I have ever heard and personally for the first time I got the impression it even beat my speakers into submission. The detail was stunning, the mids were present and the bass was visceral.

What I need to determine is whether the computer rig (onboard digital out into Beresford DAC upscaled to 24/96) is outperforming my Squeezebox / Digilog. It will be a shock if the "lesser rig" is showing this one a clean pair of heals. Or perhaps on the night I was just relaxed, but the difference seems far too marked for it to be that easily explained I feel. It literally is night and day difference.

 

[worldman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbirkett /img/forum/go_quote.gif I have a few reference recordings that I use for the purporses of testing. What I noticed yesterday was that music that had previously sounded flat, dull and muffled (and which should have been anything but) was now full of life, dynamics and detail. Nothing quite prepared me for my late night listening session to Biosphere (Substrata) though. Absolutely STUNNING quality. I can honesty say that I have never heard such sound from headphones before, something really has just clicked in a big way here. I had stunning silences in tracks, the most uncoloured sound I have ever heard and personally for the first time I got the impression it even beat my speakers into submission. The detail was stunning, the mids were present and the bass was visceral.

Let me personally welcome you to the "ULTRAZONE"..... The Final Frontier....

 

[pbirkett]

Thanks.

Am at home now and as such felt compelled to compare the DACs (the digilog and Beresford) to see if it was anything the latter is doing to make it sound better.

Well, I can safely say the Beresford is not better than the Digilog, but having said that, I am actually struggling to notice much difference between them in all reality.

This is a little surprising considering one is touted to be a design classic and has been modded with high quality caps and lots of other mods, and the other was a cheapo box of tricks costing less than half the price new as the "better" one did second hand.