[Kurt]

I will paste my PM to digihead:

Quote:

Re: Sensaphonics Hi, > How do you like your sensas? A lot. > Any regrets? No. > Do you find the bass to be overwhelming at times or just rights? The bass is not overwhelming but strong. IMO it does not disturb upper frequencies. > How do you like the soundstage? I have thought it would be bader. For me it is ok. > Is there anything about the sound that you don't like or would change? Not that I would hate it. In some situations(with lots of other noises aka stage situation) and with some music the bass is fine. If it is silent and with some music the bass could be more flat IMO. In this situations I can hear deeper sounds who are outside/under the hump. However this is at home and not with every music, so I can EQ it without a problem. > And lastly, any regrets on not buying the UEs? No, not at all. lindrone described the Sensas really good. Of course I can not be sure how good he described the UEs. But I did read the other UE reviews too. I am quite happy with my Sensas. Hope that helps.

The sounds I described as lower as the bass hump are, in relation to the hump, not loud enough and that is disturbing. Usually I just EQ the hump down.

 

[winty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindrone ... all of a sudden it felt as if everything sounded very crappy... the forward vocal is extremely, extremely unpleasant to me... a very, very congested feel to the overall presentation...

If I'd spent almost $1000 on a pair of headphones and had such negative opinions I'd be furious, or I'd be suspecting them to be faulty.

Have you considered contacting Ultimate Ears and asking them whether this is a normal reaction to their headphones? Perhaps they can do something.

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by winty If I'd spent almost $1000 on a pair of headphones and had such negative opinions I'd be furious, or I'd be suspecting them to be faulty. Have you considered contacting Ultimate Ears and asking them whether this is a normal reaction to their headphones? Perhaps they can do something.

Well, just like what I said in dmt1's UE5c thread... the sound signature is the sound signature... you shouldn't expect the company to change that. UE designed the UE-10 Pro to present the midrange and vocal forward for a reason, and most of the time it isn't a problem, simply a preference anyway.

I just found that with the additional warmth in the new 4th gen iPod, the aforementioned midrange sound, in combination with forwardness + warmth, creates a very congested feel. Some people might actually like that (like.. Grado users?)... but I just personally find it.. very mentally fatiguing and not at all appreciable.

There's no such thing as the perfect headphone, every headphone has its nuisances and flaws as well as its strength. Just this one particular flaw of the UE-10 Pro really bothers me. Also, I don't know if I would recommend anyone using UE-10 Pro alongside the 4th gen iPod either.

 

[winty]

So you're saying that it sounds as good as a $1000 phone should sound, just one you don't like?

I guess I've just never heard anything that expensive that didn't sound great to me.

 

[lindrone]

Hmm.. it's hard to quantify if they should sound the way any $1000 headphone should sound. It's clear that the way they're tuned to sound is what I'm hearing right now. It just that the way they tuned the earphones, I don't think they thought about the possible inconsistency that would be introduced in various playback situations that would occur with a midrange that's pushed forward as it is. In the end, it's about personal preference.

So based on personal preference, the UE-10 Pro is worth like.. nothing to me. I don't like them as much as the 2X-S, which is $200 cheaper anyway... I don't find them technically superior, the sound signature is definitely not to my taste as much as 2X-S.

I suppose, if UE-10 was the only one I owned, I'd probably like it and think it's worth every penny; but in comparison to 2X-S... yeah.. hmm.. yup.

 

[winty]

Why not ask them about trading down to UE5cs? Other people have traded upwards. Perhaps you could find something you preferred.

 

[lindrone]

LOL.. somehow I don't think they're going to refund me the money, besides, I don't think there's a reason for me to get something that's by all indication now, probably not as good as my 2X-S. I won't be using them anyway. Although if they were willing to trade down, I could actually test a UE5c.. hmm... well, don't know what their policy is on that.. hmm...

I think the few of the "trade-up" occured before UE started making the headphone though... I think they changed their order for UE5c into UE10 before the making process started. I don't know if someone actually sent their UE5c back in for a UE10 in return... of course, I didn'd track account of all those events anyway

 

[winty]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindrone I don't think there's a reason for me to get something that's by all indication now, probably not as good as my 2X-S.

Has anyone heard both though?

Some people have come from E5s to the UE5c and like them. I seem to recall you were an E5 kind of guy, or am I getting muddled? (wouldn't be the first time). I also thought the frequency response curves were closer to the 2XS than the UE10s are, so perhaps you might like the signature.

Even if you've written off the UE10s as worthless to you, you still spent $1000 on them. If I was in your position, I'd try to get *some* value out of the exercise.

Just my thoughts.

 

[dmt1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindrone I think the few of the "trade-up" occured before UE started making the headphone though... I think they changed their order for UE5c into UE10 before the making process started. I don't know if someone actually sent their UE5c back in for a UE10 in return... of course, I didn'd track account of all those events anyway

Yes, that happend. And as much as you contributed to that thread in which it happend in, I'm surprised you don't remember it. It's also the thread where tuning the UE5C's was mentioned (UE presented it as an option), which apparently has been forgotten as well, as my bringing this up as a possibility was written of by someone here as "ludicrous". Do you remember now?

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmt1 Yes, that happend. And as much as you contributed to that thread in which it happend in, I'm surprised you don't remember it. It's also the thread where tuning the UE5C's was mentioned (UE presented it as an option), which apparently has been forgotten as well, as my bringing this up as a possibility was written of by someone here as "ludicrous". Do you remember now?

Rings a bell, sort of.. but I don't remember it much. I still pass it off as "ludicrous". Has UE called you back and said they're going to custom tune your UE5c for you? Other than Wolfen's removal of the notch filter, all other talks of "tuning" has been just talk out of thin air.

Even more of a point is, even if you did get custom tuning, do you guarantee the next person who's getting the UE5c will get the same treatment as well? When will UE finally say, "You know what, we don't have time to put up with all the custom tuning requests". It still should not be an expectation. I'm just being realistic.

 

[nappin]

After reading the posts before I bought the sensa, I remembered that reviewers stated that the vocals are pushed forward (much like on the stage - musician / singer in front and band in the back). Well for electronic music heheh there is usually not much of a singer. Its either a vocal roller hehe or like some lovely lady (justine suissa) hehe singing ocean lab's satellite. Since trance is heavily european, most music is played by DJs in the various dance clubs while radio stations broadcast it. The quality is as good as the person recording it and available on the mp3 format. Given the nature of the music, it would be really odd to have the vocals pushed forward. #1, numero uno, mas importante, mucho grande reason is comfort. You can literally insert the sensa wrong and they wont fit right but usually your ears wont hurt. I probably said all this before. I have my er4p which hurt my ears after 1hr. I wear my sensa's all day and no pain. It is a marvelous product and worth the money. I have not listened to the UE10 or done any research on it but the thought of hard acrylic after I returned the e5c was enough to persuade me to go to with the sensa's.

If anybody would like pictures that are not displayed, just email me and I take more. I would like to help out as much as I can.

 

[Zoide]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lindrone Hmm.. it's hard to quantify if they should sound the way any $1000 headphone should sound. It's clear that the way they're tuned to sound is what I'm hearing right now. It just that the way they tuned the earphones, I don't think they thought about the possible inconsistency that would be introduced in various playback situations that would occur with a midrange that's pushed forward as it is. In the end, it's about personal preference. So based on personal preference, the UE-10 Pro is worth like.. nothing to me. I don't like them as much as the 2X-S, which is $200 cheaper anyway... I don't find them technically superior, the sound signature is definitely not to my taste as much as 2X-S. I suppose, if UE-10 was the only one I owned, I'd probably like it and think it's worth every penny; but in comparison to 2X-S... yeah.. hmm.. yup.

Would you describe de UE 10s as a Grado lover's phone and the 2X-S as a CD3K lover's phone?

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nappin I remembered that reviewers stated that the vocals are pushed forward (much like on the stage - musician / singer in front and band in the back).

That's what I said about the UE-10.. not the 2X-S, that's what you meant, right?


Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide Would you describe de UE 10s as a Grado lover's phone and the 2X-S as a CD3K lover's phone?

Nope, not at all. It's only the soundstage aspect that makes UE-10 similar to Grado. Otherwise, the rest of the sound signature is not quite alike. Same with 2X-S, just the soundstage aspect.

Basically, 2X-S's soundstage feels more like a perfect sphere around you. Where UE-10's soundstage feels like a sphere with a bubble in the center that's bulging towards your face. CD3000's soundstage is an even bigger sphere, and Grado's soundstage is almost like a flat oval that extends only left and right.

 

[Zoide]

Thanks. So that's in terms of soundstage.

In terms of other sound signature elements, what (non iem or canal-) cans would you compare the 2x-s and ue 10pro to?

 

[lindrone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zoide Thanks. So that's in terms of soundstage. In terms of other sound signature elements, what (non iem or canal-) cans would you compare the 2x-s and ue 10pro to?

Hmm.. haven't we covered this topic before?

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=70159

http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=79354

That should have enough info.. hmm..