Newcomer to the Ultrasone club!
My DJ1's arrived yesterday and I'm quite fond of them. I bought them to compliment my sr225i's, I use them to listen to Hip Hop and Electronic music whilst my Grados tackle Metal and Progressive. Build is very sturdy, they look snazzy and isolate pretty good. I was initially disappointed with the bass quantity out of the box but I figured out why. I'm running them out of my Little Dot 1+ which is an excellent match for my Grados but they simply don't do the sub-bass potential of the DJ1's justice. I plugged them into my Galaxy S -> Fiio E5 and there was quite a difference. The sub-bass was actually there now, I also felt like the treble was a bit more controlled. They're not as bright as my 225i's yet the Treble somehow seems more in-your-face and fatiguing, maybe because they're closed and the Grados are open and airy. The big difference with the bass was how much more controlled it was. The more liquid, organic nature of the little dot, once again, suits the Grados well. However, the unrealistic and artificial bass of electronic doesn't lend itself well to the Little Dot. The quick fluctuations of the deep sub-bass is much more pronounced on the e5. Then I tried the bass boost. A noticeable bit of extra umph, and at max volume I get some fairly formidable vibration going on. People weren't lying when they said these EQ amazingly well. MASSIVE bass potential.
Since I don't believe the Little Dot is good for this headphone (Even if there was a better tube for them than the M8100, I'm not going to want to tube roll everytime I switch headphones) I decided I would invest in a second amp, this one for the DJ1's. I'm strongly considering the Fiio E09k and e17 combo. I want to upgrade my DAC from the Xonar DG anyway, and I want a solid state amp for the DJ1's so I think it would be a good choice. I can use the line-out on the E09k to feed my Little Dot too, so it's all nice and a neat. Anyone got any thoughts on that amp for ultrasone phones? Would it be a good match?
One other thing, I was a little surprised by how firm the headband padding felt at first, but even after the first 24 hours it's starting to soften up. Overall they're more comfy than the Grados, even with my leather headband installed.
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