[Lorspeaker]

have they announced the price?

 

[pietcux]

249 €, 299 €, 399 €

 

[MrTechAgent]

Gotta love the lack of enthusiasm of new Ultrasone headphones on Head-Fi
They look funky !!

 

[Levaix]

249 €, 299 €, 399 €

Oof! Pricey!

 

[Fegefeuer]

So no S-Logic EX yet for lower models it seems. 

 

[pietcux]

So no S-Logic EX yet for lower models it seems. 

EX could be the angled driver array that only the ED 5 has so far.

 

[TWerk]

I'm super excited about these, actually. Pro 900 has always been my favorite headphone, and has remained so after searching low and high for a better EDM can. I just love their sound signature with the great bass impact and crisp highs.
 
Anyways, I'm curious as to how these will sound. Will it be the deep V shaped signature that I'm used to from Ultrasones? I think I'd be cool if they went in a little different direction with the new cans.
 
Well, I'll certainly be keeping my eyes on the reviews for these, and on this thread.

 

[TWerk]

The thing though, is I don't like to buy new headphones that have been just released. If you look at most headphones, within 2-4 years, the price drops pretty steep from when it was first introduced to the market. Look at TH-900. Those used to be $2000 at launch, I think, and now you can get them way under that.
 
I'd probably wait awhile before buying anything very new unless it had some crazy awesome reviews.

 

[pietcux]

Here is the 880 with its case, a neoprene softshell;

 

[goldenSHK]

  Here is the 880 with its case, a neoprene softshell;

Is the headband tightness on these sets of cans adjustable by bending in/out like the Pro/HFI series cans? 

 

[marcswede]

They are listed at Thomann now. Estimated shipping date:10-10-14

Performance 840 €236
Performance 860 €295
Performance 880 €374

From what Ultrasone hints they follow the signatures from the HFI line:

860: gold-plated transducers, linear response (<=HFI-680)
880: titanium-plated membranes, extended frequency range (<=HFI-780)
840: the bassy one? (<=HFI-580)

The 880's specs seem very similar to Edition 9 (Titanium-coated driver, 96dB sound pressure, 7-35000Hz), but Edition 9 had the centered driver à la HFI.

 

[bookaboo]

Ok, just reporting in this thread as I may be one of the first people to have auditioned all three of the new performance series headphones. I dropped into my favourite headphone store here in Melbourne on the off chance that they had received their stock of these and to my surprise they had received all three for display purposes  - they are still awaiting their main stock. They had already had a brief listen to the 840 but the 860 and 880 were still sealed and I was the first person to hear them.......So what did they sound like?? In a word GREAT!! Especially in their respective price points and their position in the pantheon of the Ultrasone range.
 
Firstly I had a brief listen to the 840  - classic bass heavy model along the lines of the hfi580 but smoother overall, much greater comfort and better styling. These will make a lot of bassheads very happy  - a good alternative to the  M100 or DT770
Then came the 860 - a big jump in detail and a much more linear presentation a la the hfi680, same great comfort and styling as the 840 but a clear step up if you like more than just bass heavy genres.
Lastly I grabbed the 880 - wow, another step up again and IMO worth the extra $$ over the 860, especially when you consider that it comes with 2 sets of pads and 2 cable lengths so the accessories alone may justify the increase in price  - but the sound also was clearly more dynamic and rounded while still maintaining a balanced signature, they were a little sibilant out of the box but prior experience with Ultrasone titanium drivers would probably see this calm down with a little playing in.
I was sufficiently impressed by the 880 that I decided to put it up against the 2 Signature models. It was very close in balance to the Signature pro but with a little more space, less thick sound. Next up was the Sig DJ which had a clear elevation in bass from the other 2 but the soundstage was similar to the 880 so it sort of had the balance of the Sig pro with the soundstage of the Sig DJ. Less micro detail than both but not by much and considering the 880 is more than half the retail price of both the signature models it would be expected that it would fall short somewhere. But as I said, not by too much and they were very enjoyable nonetheless.
I only listened to them all directly from my ipod so there is always the assumption that the signature series would probably scale a little better with amplification but you never know, the performance series may improve a bit as well.
Overall, I was very impressed with both the 860 and 880.

They are well worth a listen if you are looking for a mid price closed headphone

 

[pietcux]

How were the treble of the 880 compared to the Sig Pro?

 

[Sorrodje]

That's interesting ! Thks Bookaboo !

 

[bookaboo]

How were the treble of the 880 compared to the Sig Pro?

A bit sharper but no more strident. Still in balance with the mids. I think it would probably calm down a little as they burnt in a little as they were literally just out of the box. The major differnece between them and the sig pro was the depth to the mids. The sig pro had much more micro detail but also felt much more congested - the soundstage of the 880 was more open, more like the sig DJ in that respect.