plainsong
Headphoneus Supremus: Untie!
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2002
- Posts
- 6,453
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- 26
This morning I finally got the package notice for the Ultrasones, so I raced down to the Post Office, came back, and ripped the box open. I believe that most headphones benefit from a good breaking-in, but I also believe that you can tell a lot about the signature sound from a first listen. And let's face it, first impressions are almost always fun.
What's in the package:
The Ultrasones are well packaged, giving you that feeling of confidence that it's a good product. Included is even a sampler cd which I haven't used yet, but will. Definately a nice touch.
The headphones themselves are very solidly built. Now I'm sure many people probably don't like the DJ-ish look, but even through that, you can tell they're classy. They fold up into a relatively small size for such big headphones, and they also swivel to so that the earpeices lay flat. The plastic swivel mechanism looks solid. The headband is a similar shape to my Senn HD500s except more solid. In comparison to the HD280, I'm not sure, since I've never seen the 280 in person. The earpeices are big and well padded. The cord is straight and the 1/4th adapter screws off, similar to the dt990s. The cord is long, and fairly thick (not as thick as a Grado cord) - great for home use, but portable could be an annoyance.
General Use:
The earpeices have no problem enclosing my ears adjusted two clicks down on either side. The headband looks a bit silly, but is it HD280 silly? Maybe it depends on the size of your head, but the headband does not extend that far out on mine. As far as looks go, it's passable for portable use.
As for comfort, I don't know what all the fuss is about. They have to press against your head in order to isolate, but it's certainly no more than any other headphone. There also seems to be enough breathing space for the ears.
Isolation:
Better than ety er6s with Silicone tips. I don't have the 4p/s or Shures to compare them to. Listening at low volume levels on my noisy Apple keyboard, I can barely hear myself typing this. I also barely heard my dog go to the door and bark. If a Dachshund's bark can barely be heard, isolation is good. They are known for their barking skills.
Now on to sound -
Unable to control myself, I plugged these into the headphone out on our Sony Vega tv - and the sound was good. I could hear a little backround hiss that sounded like the tv itself, but this wasn't surprising. Highs were hi and lows were low. It made the tv-watching experience very pleasent.. but on to the real test..
Listening to the Gladiator soundatrack with the Grundig 4100 PCDP, and Porta Corda II -
These cans are revealing! Extension of the highs and mids are excellent. The lows are awesome, but a bit runaway in a few passages. Well, they're not broken in - but it's a fun ride. I can hear a bit of that sound-in-a-can sound of closed headphones in the mids, but I'll forgive that until they're broken in. The soundstage... it seems to be all around you, but at the same time very intimate, which I suppose is what S-logic is after. It's definately forward, but in no way fatiguing.
Possible Gotcha - These headphones, unlike the dt990s, don't lie to me about the fact that there's a slight line out hiss coming from the Grundig. The etys didn't lie about it either. Luckily you can only hear it during the silent bits, but the Trackmasters don't lie.
These headphones are love at first sound and worth more than 145 Euros. Consider me a member of team Ultrasone! I'll be posting pictures to my website hopefully before the end of the week.
What's in the package:
The Ultrasones are well packaged, giving you that feeling of confidence that it's a good product. Included is even a sampler cd which I haven't used yet, but will. Definately a nice touch.
The headphones themselves are very solidly built. Now I'm sure many people probably don't like the DJ-ish look, but even through that, you can tell they're classy. They fold up into a relatively small size for such big headphones, and they also swivel to so that the earpeices lay flat. The plastic swivel mechanism looks solid. The headband is a similar shape to my Senn HD500s except more solid. In comparison to the HD280, I'm not sure, since I've never seen the 280 in person. The earpeices are big and well padded. The cord is straight and the 1/4th adapter screws off, similar to the dt990s. The cord is long, and fairly thick (not as thick as a Grado cord) - great for home use, but portable could be an annoyance.
General Use:
The earpeices have no problem enclosing my ears adjusted two clicks down on either side. The headband looks a bit silly, but is it HD280 silly? Maybe it depends on the size of your head, but the headband does not extend that far out on mine. As far as looks go, it's passable for portable use.
As for comfort, I don't know what all the fuss is about. They have to press against your head in order to isolate, but it's certainly no more than any other headphone. There also seems to be enough breathing space for the ears.
Isolation:
Better than ety er6s with Silicone tips. I don't have the 4p/s or Shures to compare them to. Listening at low volume levels on my noisy Apple keyboard, I can barely hear myself typing this. I also barely heard my dog go to the door and bark. If a Dachshund's bark can barely be heard, isolation is good. They are known for their barking skills.
Now on to sound -
Unable to control myself, I plugged these into the headphone out on our Sony Vega tv - and the sound was good. I could hear a little backround hiss that sounded like the tv itself, but this wasn't surprising. Highs were hi and lows were low. It made the tv-watching experience very pleasent.. but on to the real test..
Listening to the Gladiator soundatrack with the Grundig 4100 PCDP, and Porta Corda II -
These cans are revealing! Extension of the highs and mids are excellent. The lows are awesome, but a bit runaway in a few passages. Well, they're not broken in - but it's a fun ride. I can hear a bit of that sound-in-a-can sound of closed headphones in the mids, but I'll forgive that until they're broken in. The soundstage... it seems to be all around you, but at the same time very intimate, which I suppose is what S-logic is after. It's definately forward, but in no way fatiguing.
Possible Gotcha - These headphones, unlike the dt990s, don't lie to me about the fact that there's a slight line out hiss coming from the Grundig. The etys didn't lie about it either. Luckily you can only hear it during the silent bits, but the Trackmasters don't lie.
These headphones are love at first sound and worth more than 145 Euros. Consider me a member of team Ultrasone! I'll be posting pictures to my website hopefully before the end of the week.
