[fortitude]

Has anyone with the 880 tried the velour pads vs the stock pleather and it's sonic differences?

 

[designbykai]

Interesting... <3 Ultrasone
 
The 880 sounds very promising..
How's the comfort and clamp compared to the Signature series?
Literally the only thing I'm iffy about with my SigDJs otherwise they're perfect. I love the fact that these performance series are detailed, isolating and portable like the Signature series. No other closed headphones come close IMO.
 
Also, any consensus yet on whether the 880 or 840 has better bass (bigger? detailed + freq range?) ? Are the 860 are the most neutral of the 3? If the 840 are a fun Vshape signature like the SigDJs they sound like a winner (esp at $300), but if they are piercing or mids are SUPER recessed like Pro900 then 880s sound better for me.

 

[pietcux]

Could anyone who ownes one headphone of this line please remove the pads and give us all a naked baffle board photo? I am very curious about the construction changes that Ultrasone implemented. i am surpised that noone did this up to now. Or are the pads glued on?

 

[gelocks]

  Interesting... <3 Ultrasone
 
The 880 sounds very promising..
How's the comfort and clamp compared to the Signature series?
Literally the only thing I'm iffy about with my SigDJs otherwise they're perfect. I love the fact that these performance series are detailed, isolating and portable like the Signature series. No other closed headphones come close IMO.
 
Also, any consensus yet on whether the 880 or 840 has better bass (bigger? detailed + freq range?) ? Are the 860 are the most neutral of the 3? If the 840 are a fun Vshape signature like the SigDJs they sound like a winner (esp at $300), but if they are piercing or mids are SUPER recessed like Pro900 then 880s sound better for me.

 
The comfort to me as a bit better than the Sig DJs/Pro. The pads are just roomier. Do note that your ear is basically resting on the driver...
 
To my ears, both the 880 and 840 are pretty close but the 840s are a tiny bit bumped in the mid-bass and up top. But again, pretty pretty close... Still prefer the Sig DJs over these... they sound more controlled and less annoying in the higher frequencies.
 
My Sig DJs and 840s are already packed and will pack the 880s tonight or tomorrow (using them right now) to send them for measurements. Hopefully I can send these Friday or Saturday morning.
 

  Could anyone who ownes one headphone of this line please remove the pads and give us all a naked baffle board photo? I am very curious about the construction changes that Ultrasone implemented. i am surpised that noone did this up to now. Or are the pads glued on?

 
Seems the pads are actually glued... the extra velour pads that come with the 880s have a "3m" logo on the border sticker...

 

[designbykai]

   
The comfort to me as a bit better than the Sig DJs/Pro. The pads are just roomier. Do note that your ear is basically resting on the driver...
 
To my ears, both the 880 and 840 are pretty close but the 840s are a tiny bit bumped in the mid-bass and up top. But again, pretty pretty close... Still prefer the Sig DJs over these... they sound more controlled and less annoying in the higher frequencies.
 
My Sig DJs and 840s are already packed and will pack the 880s tonight or tomorrow (using them right now) to send them for measurements. Hopefully I can send these Friday or Saturday morning.
 
 
Seems the pads are actually glued... the extra velour pads that come with the 880s have a "3m" logo on the border sticker...

Interesting, thanks for the info.
 
Hmm, though better comfort would be nice, if its only marginal then not so sure.. I'd assumed/hoped the Signatures would still be better SQ-wise. Looks like if anything I might want to try the Sony Z7's for a bit of a different sound signature (complimentary) and comfort, or Pandora Hope VI.. 

 

[Sorrodje]

  Could anyone who ownes one headphone of this line please remove the pads and give us all a naked baffle board photo? I am very curious about the construction changes that Ultrasone implemented. i am surpised that noone did this up to now. Or are the pads glued on?

 
Until now, i haven't changed the pads on the 800 I've on Loan but maybe I'll be allowed to swap the pads a bit later.  they're fixed with a double sided adhesive in fact.  i'm curious about any sound change with velours pads.

 

[Reinhard62]

For three days now I'm listening to the Performance 860 headphones. I ordered those because I prefer linear sound.
The second reason are the (supposedly) extremely reduced magnetic fields (this ULE-technology  thing ...).
 
Now, what can I say? I'm somewhat disappointed. The sound is really quite linear, especially no dominant bass. 
But ... the overall sound is also quite cold and metallic (adjectives which have been used before in this thread).
This is especially noticeable with voices (in all kinds of music) and instruments like strings in classical music.
 
Since I absolutely want to stay with ULE-headphones I would accept more bass under the condition that the sound is warmer.
So my question is: Which model has the warmer sound? 840 or 880?

 

[Dobrescu George]

  For three days now I'm listening to the Performance 860 headphones. I ordered those because I prefer linear sound.
The second reason are the (supposedly) extremely reduced magnetic fields (this ULE-technology  thing ...).
 
Now, what can I say? I'm somewhat disappointed. The sound is really quite linear, especially no dominant bass. 
But ... the overall sound is also quite cold and metallic (adjectives which have been used before in this thread).
This is especially noticeable with voices (in all kinds of music) and instruments like strings in classical music.
 
Since I absolutely want to stay with ULE-headphones I would accept more bass under the condition that the sound is warmer.
So my question is: Which model has the warmer sound? 840 or 880?

all ultrasone have ULE if you insist. But magnetic emissions from a headphone is almost 0 compared to wifi, mobile phone etc.
 
why not try pro900/sig pro or sig dj? all of these are far from being linear. mostly bright, not warm.

 

[Reinhard62]

  But magnetic emissions from a headphone is almost 0 compared to wifi, mobile phone etc.

Unfortunately this isn't the case.
 
I quote from a German site (translated by Google translator):
 
Numerous epidemiological studies show high health risks by low-frequency electromagnetic radiation. The recommended limit for magnetic radiation (50 Hz) is 200 nanoTesla.
Unlike power lines, halogen lamps, or computer monitors headphones have not been thoroughly examined. Recent comparative measurements have now shown that the mean of the so-called magnetic induction close to the head of 60 examined headphones was at 1034 nanoTesla. So the radiation of many conventional headphones is ten times stronger than the upper limits for PC monitors (TOC 99).
 
Source: http://www.risiko-elektrosmog.de/elektrosmog/kopfhoerer/

 

[pietcux]

all ultrasone have ULE if you insist. But magnetic emissions from a headphone is almost 0 compared to wifi, mobile phone etc.

why not try pro900/sig pro or sig dj? all of these are far from being linear. mostly bright, not warm.

MU metal can only shield electro-magnetic fields. It cannot shield static magnetic fields nor is it able to shield high frequencies which occur when using wifi, Bluetooth or any cellphone communication frequency. That is just physically impossible.

 

[Reinhard62]

MU metal can only shield electro-magnetic fields.

 
Yes, and that is exactly what the Ultrasone headphones do: they shield from low-frequency electromagnetic radiation. With other headphones this radiation reaches such high levels that it is believed to be harmful. See my quote above.

 

[gelocks]

  Since I absolutely want to stay with ULE-headphones I would accept more bass under the condition that the sound is warmer.
So my question is: Which model has the warmer sound? 840 or 880?

 
Ultrasone Signature Pro ...
I think that this 'family' of headphones are too similar and will not provide what you are looking for...
If you have decent amp power, you can just go with something like MrSpeakers Alpha Dogs (warm, linear, good performing, wonky upper-mids/highs but not enough to be distracted, specially if you are coming from the Ultrasone sound ).
 
Good luck!

 

[Reinhard62]

Thank you for your answer, gelocks.
 
After having read this thread, I thought the 840 had a more consumer oriented, pleasing and warmer sound.
Alas, this doesn't seem to be so.
 
The Signature Pro is, to be honest, too expensive for me.
 
And, as I said before, I'd like to stay with Ultrasone because of the ULE technologie.
 
Sigh. Why is life always so complicated...?

 

[Sorrodje]

@Reinhard62 : Go for a used Sig pro .. you won't regret the investment.

 

[GamePat]

  I sold my Ultrasone 880 because of the sibilance

I have the 880s and after reading about this sibilance it became more prominent to me, to that point that I almost regreted that I bought them. But I don't give up easily and searched if there might be a cure. The only thing you can do is to use a EQ when playing music on whatever software you are using (portable player or pc). 
 
I also used a sine tone generator to se which frequencies are boosted by theheadphone.
 
After applying the EQ setting the sibilance is completely gone! And also the bass seems abit more forward. 
 
I use Sony F807 with poweramp pro player connected to FIIO E17 (6db amplified and 2 on each bass and treble) and use the velvet ear pads (maked the sound more warm).
 
I have applied following settings on the 10 band EQ (it's not graded so I don't have the amount on each slide):
4K and 8K slides are down, with 8K a litle more than 4K, but you have to experiment how much to drop each to reduce the sibilance. makes the sound a bit darker.
250 is way down! but not all the way down, that's the mid bass. Drop down as much as you want, it brightens a the sound and compensates for the adjustment above. PLUS the bass comes out more forward and is more prominent, you can say it's more juicy bass. That's because it's not longer overpowered by the mid bass.
 
Also you can if you want use the preamp more or less to suit you or your amplifier, if you use one. I have the preamp just little above 0. 
 
You can find more about poweramp here: powerampapp.com