[Skrying]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VR6ofpain I swear Ultrasone seems to have almost as bad a rep around here as Bose. I am still curious about the HFI-2200 ULE, but I cannot swallow the $300 price for the generic plastic headband, used on much cheaper cans.

Besides the headband and the small ear cups (or that my HUGE ears) I really did like my HFi-550. It had a lot of nice things about it.

I think Ultrasone gets knocked a lot of for the headband, but the actual sound quality is unique and really good once you give it a real shot. I wouldnt say they're amazing, but easily handle their own in the price bracket they fall in for the most part.

 

[saturnine]

Bump

These 750s are awesome, and have lasted longer than the MS-1, MS-2, 325i, HD-600, DT-880 and DT-770 in my rig(s). I still can't write a good comparison of these compared to the RS-1/HD-650/etc (I'm a horrible writer and a noob audiophile), but the Ultrasone 750 does kick ass. Demo a pair if you ever get a chance

 

[wnmnkh]

Hmmm, did anyone try Proline 2500?

 

[benjamind]

I still like my Proline 750s. My friend listened to them, and he went and bought the 2500 open version and handed my 750s back. He preferred the open version, so I ended up keeping them.

It's the visceral impact of the bass and the stereo imaging that I like. With a Xin SuperMini-3 with cross-feed turned on they sound truly amazing. I've listened to some Pink Floyd and also some of Projection Latine CDs (Pasionara and Evasion) and the imaging really shows on these headphones. Much better than most headphones I've heard - including the HD650 and CD3000.

They can be top-heavy on some recordings and do have a lot of bass but they are otherwise very neutral headphones. The critical midrange between 200 and 3khz is pretty much spot on. I could mix on them, because the panning is so good, but I'd have to work out how they sound on reference material before I could really mix on them. I will likely end up using them with a curve phase-linear equaliser to get the top-end and bottom-end to be flat. Once I could do that mixing on these would be a breeze.

 

[superman's ears]

x

 

[plainsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer Looks are where it ends, I'm afraid. It sounded rather poor, and was difficult to keep on my head.

Agreed. I was supposed to review these for a website, but I ended up terminating that relationship before the review was released. It wouldn't have been good. The S-logic ain't workin' in those cans. Put tiny speakers in some empty aluminum cans, put those cans up to your ears, and there you have the sound of the icans. There's a picture of them next to the term "recessed midrange."

They fail on all counts from ease-of-use, comfort, and sound.

I liked the trackmaster when I had them, but hated them when I heard them at a head-fi meet. Not sure what the real answer is there. Probably something in the middle.

I wanted to get the 700's but sadly there's no coiled cable option and the cable is about 1.5 feet longer than it needs to be for me.

 

[Jeff.h]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SonicDawg I have read it somewhere that they require professional amps to fully perform. Is this true? I am actually quite curious about this one, being compared to near field monitors and all

Currently I use my PROline 750 out of a Sony Micro Hi-Fi-whatever system with my computer as a source (M-Audio 192) and they sound just superb. I was debating to get a Dr.Meier Corda amp or something but everytime I get around to thinking about this I quickly forget about it because I am enjoying them so much already as is.

Now having said that though, I wouldn't recommend trying to drive these out of your ipod or computer soundcard directly, but from an average stereo component they should be just fine. Obviously an amp would help them do better, but IMO it isn't really necessary if your equipment is somewhat decent.

Anyways it is great to see some love here for this otherwise shunned (undiscovered more like it

) brand. I think this may just be because there is far too much attention on these boards for Sennheiser, AKG, Beyer, Grado, etc.. products.
Nothing wrong with that, it's just people don't read/hear enough about these Ultrasone's to want to take a chance with them. And I think some of the few impressions posted or made at meets have been hasty ones, and these can's definitely take a little time to grow on you. As well these can be absolutely brutal unless burned in, anyone who has posted an impression of these cans pre-200 hours is not hearing them as they should be heard.

So if anyone is thinking to 'take a chance' with these I'd recommend they start with the HFI-650. This is similar to recommending someone to start with an SR-80 or something in the grado line, and with that I'll say that if you have the money, it's a better idea to just go right for the PROline 750 or 2500 series (RS-1/RS-2

)

It would be great to see some more members here discover these. It's sad to see people who don't know anything about headphones come here asking for suggestions and these enver get mentioned. I've a feeling there would be quite a few people unhappy with their Sennheiser/Grado/etc.. purchase had they heard these. Anyways to each their own, obviously I love mine

 

[plainsong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff.h It would be great to see some more members here discover these. It's sad to see people who don't know anything about headphones come here asking for suggestions and these enver get mentioned. I've a feeling there would be quite a few people unhappy with their Sennheiser/Grado/etc.. purchase had they heard these. Anyways to each their own, obviously I love mine

I agree. I you can't judge the Ultrasone sound from the iCans. It's a pity that these are expensive as they are, and sound so so horrible (they sound like they come with the ipod as some kind of punishment). But if you want to judge the house sound, judge more from Trackmasters than from iCans.

I haven't had a chance to sample anything past the the trackmasters, but I admire what they're (mostly) doing on the principle that it's different. The soundstaging isn't what everyone else is trying to do, and that's got to count for something.

I think if they were more competitive on price, you'd see more headfiers queueing up, but that's just me.

/sadly, they dropped the coiled cable from the newer trackmasters and hifi 700's, otherwise I'd have snapped up a pair. As it is, the only coiled cable options are with the proline, which sonically don't sound like they'd be my cup of tea. The dj1 has a coiled cable, but looking Jan's description, they don't look like they differ much sonically from the Beyer djx1.

 

[miroslav]

[size=xx-small]photos by PeterDLai[/size]

Three and a half years later I still love my HFI-650 Trackmasters the same. Yes - the headband has cracked in the meantime (but still holding together tightly), yes - my ears are all sweat and ache 30min after putting them on, but I have long quit giving a damn about it because of that big, exciting and engaging sound that I have fallen in love with years ago. If this is the accomplishment of the S-Logic system, then I guess that it works for me, but I really wouldn`t know since I have never heard any other higher quality headphones.

These 650s have provided me with thousands of hours of enjoyment while listening to music and movie soundtracks and I simply don`t feel the need to upgrade. Mine have always been unamped, but able to sound so nice regardless of being plugged directly into my Yamaha receiver, Pana PCDP or a smallish Creative flash mp3 player.

Back in the year 2003 these were newcomers on the market and there were few Headfiers who could help me out with first hand information on these cans, so once again - thanx GTecX, Rizumu, halcyon and, of course, Jan M. I was looking for the best sounding fully sized closed-back headphones that would work fine without an amp and these guys helped me make the choice which I had never regreted. If I ever decide to replace the Trackmasters, or if they die on me for whatever reason, I think I`ll stick with the family, only I`ll probably take a small step further up the line and pick the 650 PROline (I wonder how much of an improvement they are over the HFI model??).

Ultrasone have stopped using the name `Trackmaster` a while ago, so I like to think that owning a pair of headphones with this label nowdays is like owning a piece of headphones` industry history.

Respect to their makers.

 

[Viktor Bout]

I love my proline 650's!!!

I've a BIG head, and they were a bit tight in the beginning, but now it's ok. The HIFI 750's were unbearable.

 

[Dexdexter]

So very nice to see some Ultrasonistas coming out of the woodwork here!

Keep 'em coming...

 

[Beagle]

Had a chance to briefly demo the 2500 on Saturday. Didn't like it. Top end sounded grey and the bass was, well, like the LOUDNESS button was engaged on the amp.

But again, this was only about 1/2 hours worth. And I am supposed to hate them upon first listening, so I'm encouraged. In my experience, every phone that sounded great initially was exaggerating something in the long run. I will go back and give them more time on Monday.

 

[miroslav]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dexdexter /img/forum/go_quote.gif So very nice to see some Ultrasonistas coming out of the woodwork here!

That`s because we are creatures of the underworld, where we can freely practice our S-Logic black magic.

p.s.
I love the `Ultrasonista` dub. Sounds like we are conspiring to start a revolution or something.

 

[Dexdexter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by miroslav /img/forum/go_quote.gif I love the `Ultrasonista` dub. Sounds like we are conspiring to start a revolution or something.

miroslav, I do believe that we are!

 

[smartins]

Wrong post location.