[Kernmac]

equinox zero-I mostly listen to rock, house contemporary pop, I wasn't referring to classical at all. When it comes to music I am a beer drinker not a wine buff. What I was referring to in regards to instrument separation (inability) in complex/busy music, is simply that when multiple instruments are competing/complementing at the same time that the pro 550 has trouble expressing the differences, the music becomes a bit blended, mushy not as distinct as it should be. The different instruments do not stand out, the sound frequency responce seems to not be able to cope with the speed and variation.
I hope this makes sense, describing what you hear is difficult. From a visual analogy perspective, you should be able to see a separate yellow and a separate blue, not simply see green. I am being fairly critical, I don't want to paint the picture that the 550s are significantly deficient in this regard, it is simply an area where the MS2i for instance, performs better. The MS2i has better instrument separation to the pro 550 especially when the music is busy as oppossed to being simple, accoustic - guitar and vocal only.

 

[REB]

Hi Kernmac, thanks for the detailed answer. Sounds like the 550's are worth the purchase. I think I might have had a similar 'problem' with the instrument separation with my Prolines 2500. When I drove them from my Voyager portable amp, separation wasn't great and they had some troubles in busy passages. But at home from my dedicated amp, I had no such problems. So maybe it's just the amount of juice the 550's sometimes need.

As for the sound sig, I needed some time to adjust to it. Now I love my HFI 680's to dead (they' re my portable cans) and although I like them from the beginning, they definitely grew on me (probably both burn-in and my adjustment to the sig).

Thanks again for the great impressions and I will be curious to hear from you in say a hundred (or more) hours headtime.

 

[Kernmac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REB /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi Kernmac, thanks for the detailed answer. Sounds like the 550's are worth the purchase. I think I might have had a similar 'problem' with the instrument separation with my Prolines 2500. When I drove them from my Voyager portable amp, separation wasn't great and they had some troubles in busy passages. But at home from my dedicated amp, I had no such problems. So maybe it's just the amount of juice the 550's sometimes need.

I think they are well worth the purchase. Absolutely brilliant for watching movies, almost sub woofer theatre system substitute. If you don't need isolation or non leaking sound, then I would always choose an open fon over a similar priced closed headphone, however if you need closed, then I think these represent great bang for the buck and are a more than average can.

iQEM, you have had ultrasone DJ and now have the 580, I doubt there would be much difference in the 550s. The advantage of the quick replacement pads and detachable cords with the Pro(line) does add to the deal though. I'm sure your Ultrasones would be very similar to my 550. I would like to hear some opinions from Headfiers who have spent time with Ultrasone family in comparing the HFI 780 and/or Pro 750 to the Pro 550 or HFI 580. Significant diminishing returns or worth the step up?

 

[iQEM]

agree, the house sound of Ultrasone's most likely are all the same (just like Grado, with their soundsig)...only the material pads & housing, shape (width/height/diametre) and the driver used, with a lil' bit offset on the driver placement, that would make so much different on the character of each type...i used to tested on PL750 and Edition 9 too...well, the diminishing return still exist here, but the higher step up, the higher setup requirement too...

oh yeaa, 1 more thing...
can i request some of photo's of your PL550, please...along with one pads open, i wanna see what's under the pad...i'm curious about if it's have offset driver or not, or how is the shape of the grill too...thx, Kernmac !

 

[Kernmac]

iQEM- I'm not much of a photographer, so here are some shots (off the net, not mine) one displays the offsetting of the driver position.

Cheers

 

[iQEM]

wow, so it does using an offsetting driver too ? and using gold driver as well as PL650 ? nice...

thx Kernmac !

 

[Kernmac]

Hi iQEM,

Your reply prompted me to take the pads off my 550s to check that they were inded the same as the ones I posted. The pics obviously came from The Tech Lounge, I stated they were not mine. The position of the drivers is exactly the same, however the drivers are not gold as in the pic posted, they appear silver/white with a ring of gold. I then checked the Tech lounge site, and the pics are indeed of the 650. Sorry about that, being lazy caused me to be inaccurate. So the position is correct, but the drivers are a different colour.

Cheers

 

[iQEM]

oh, i c...that's why i shocked before, look at the gold-plated driver there at the picture... lol
so two picts from the tech lounge are PL650 & only the last one are PL550 ?

PL550 still using mylar driver, same as HFI580/DJ1/DJ1pro, i guess, cmiiw...

 

[Kernmac]

Absolutely. Specs state Mylar driver for Proline and Pro 550, no change there. Same driver as fons named in your post. Sorry about the pic mix up. When I was researching for the purchase I downloaded pics from a variety of places, and I came accross the pic with the offset driver, which is what I had read about. I forgot it was of the Proline 650 not the proline 550. I have actually read that the actual driver is not offset, just the position of the grill; However the drivers look central to the grill position to me, which indicates that it is the drivers that are actually offset. They certainly do sound more airy, have more sound stage than most closed fons, so I suppose the S Logic theory works in practice. They are growing on me more and more, and I really do believe that Headfiers should look at the "other" Ultrasone units beside the HFI 780 and Pro 750 which seem to get most of the spotlight here. I haven't heard the DT770 or many other rep closed fons, however I wouldn't be surprised that the Ultrasones would give most of them a run for their money.

 

[alan_g]

i got a pair of proline 650 yesterday,have about 20hours on them and they sound really good.
careful positioning on the ears is a must for the 650 as the driver is offset as mentioned by peter pinna in another thread.

 

[Jonothon]

very helpful review. anyone know how these compare to the denon d2000s?

 

[pimped_her_out]

I got the proline550 a few days ago anf they are still burning in. I have only spent a couple hours listening to them and they sounded very good with some songs and not so good with others. It might be that they need more burning in or that my ears just are not accustomed to the sound yet. They are packing some serious heat when it come to the bass department tho!

 

[AL23]

My Ultrasone proline 550 will coming this week, thanks for your review.
Do you think the S-Logic good for music ? Would it heard farther in space ? I do like the bass part of music  by the way.

 

[Ouspensky]

very helpful, thanks a lot

.

 

[Ouspensky]

I've been reading that the dj1pro and the pro550 are the same. Is this true for a fact? (kind of like the looks of the dj1pro better

).