[Shahrose]

just wanted to point out that a lot of websites are beginning to post news of the pro900 release.

here's one such article that states that the drivers are different.

The New Ultrasone PRO 900 High-end Headphones - $200 worth of difference? - Softpedia

"...Despite those claiming that the Ultrasone PRO 900 are nothing but a hyped-up version of the PRO 750, we must add that the supposition that these two headphone models share the same drivers is inaccurate, to say the least. Indeed, the PRO 900 and the PRO 750 have 40 mm titanium drivers but the frequency response is different; and if two identical drivers have different frequency responses this means that one must be aided by some sort of DSP, or filtering or crossover technology... which Ultrasone do not use..."

 

[alavan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose /img/forum/go_quote.gif just wanted to point out that a lot of websites are beginning to post news of the pro900 release. here's one such article that states that the drivers are different. The New Ultrasone PRO 900 High-end Headphones - $200 worth of difference? - Softpedia

Get more confused……

 

[peepee-king]

I like this colour scheme a lot more than I do the 750... Looks very sleek.

 

[analogbox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alavan /img/forum/go_quote.gif Get more confused……

There nothing to be confused about. The person who wrote that article clearly didn't have a pair of Pro 900 with him/her so their guess is only as good as ours.

 

[alavan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbox /img/forum/go_quote.gif There nothing to be confused about. The person who wrote that article clearly didn't have a pair of Pro 900 with him/her so their guess is only as good as ours.

 

[subtle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by analogbox /img/forum/go_quote.gif There nothing to be confused about. The person who wrote that article clearly didn't have a pair of Pro 900 with him/her so their guess is only as good as ours.

Spot on. That and the fact that the author obviously reads head-fi considering his "original" reporting, concerning the supposed driver differences, is literally almost a word for word replication of comments Sovkiller already made in this thread.

 

[Sceptre]

I haven't heard them, touched them or see more info than anyone here.

Other than owning Ed9, Pro750 an HFI 780's I think the 900s are as follows.

Same cup mould as Pro750 except for colour.
Same driver as 750 and Ed9 but mounted on the same baffle as the HFI780 (but round!)

The sound will be richer than 750 due to improved damping and lower positioning of driver of the lower pinna.

Now, would I buy them? I find the 750 to be a very exacting replica of recorded sound. I love the Ed9 for their interpretation of teh recording which I enjoy very much. My S2 cabled (inc re-cable of over the head wire to RHS) fit nicely between the two. Do I need another between the 750 and 780 or between the 780 and Ed9? Probably not.

I am interested in the reviews of many respected members here but with my current selection, it is not a obvious choice.

Options might be to move on the 750 for the 900 but as I said - I like the precision of the 750.

Can't wait to here the reviews and be proved wrong.

Regards

Sceptre

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose ...and if two identical drivers have different frequency responses this means that one must be aided by some sort of DSP, or filtering or crossover technology... which Ultrasone do not use..."

Not necessarily so. It's easy to change the FR of a driver by altering its environment. No RC network needed. No DSP needed...

Further, I don't believe Ultrasone actually specifies any bounds/conditions for their stated FR for any of their headphones, so they could use different cutoff points for the bounds of the FR measurement and state totally different FR for the same identical driver!

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwkarth /img/forum/go_quote.gif Not necessarily so. It's easy to change the FR of a driver by altering its environment. No RC network needed. No DSP needed... Further, I don't believe Ultrasone actually specifies any bounds/conditions for their stated FR for any of their headphones, so they could use different cutoff points for the bounds of the FR measurement and state totally different FR for the same identical driver!

How you can increase the high freq modifiying the enviroment? If that is true then the manufacturers are wasting the time creating fancy driver that can go to 120KHz, while indeed they can get any driver, that get to 10KHz and them modifing the environment get 120KHz, right? The difference is not so subtle as to be a result of the environment...sorry, but IMO, something is wrong or they are different drivers...

 

[jpelg]

The likelihood that Ultrasone has developed a brand new driver just for the PRO900 is very, very unlikely, imo.

Wrt the FR specs, several things could be in play here. First, the FR for the 750's could be limited by (at the very least) the outer cup, the inner cup & baffling, and the internal board. Changes to any of these could positively affect the FR output of the same driver.

Also as Kevin wrote, if Ultrasone does not state their tolerances (+/- dB), that alone could account for the different stated specs. Marketing people have been known to bend the truth before.

I'd bet my next paycheck it's the same driver.

In the end, the specs themselves don't really matter so much as the response curve.

 

[tot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg /img/forum/go_quote.gif The likelihood that Ultrasone has developed a brand new driver just for the PRO900 is very, very unlikely, imo.

"New" driver can also mean a modified existing driver that works better with the new enclosure.

 

[kwkarth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller /img/forum/go_quote.gif How you can increase the high freq modifiying the enviroment? If that is true then the manufacturers are wasting the time creating fancy driver that can go to 120KHz, while indeed they can get any driver, that get to 10KHz and them modifing the environment get 120KHz, right? The difference is not so subtle as to be a result of the environment...sorry, but IMO, something is wrong or they are different drivers...

Let's be reasonable about this. I said that since Ultrasone did NOT really FULLY specify FR for any of their cans, they could have chosen to use different measurement criteria. For example; 10-24kHz @ +-5db vs 6-35kHz @ +-10db could be describing the same can. If bounding is not specified with the FR spec, it's not really meaningful.

Opening up the front of the driver by removing more of the baffle obstruction would also potentially increase the high FR.

Do you see what I was getting at? We just don't know because we're all just speculating at this point.

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tot /img/forum/go_quote.gif "New" driver can also mean a modified existing driver that works better with the new enclosure.

Yes, we can get into minutae of what the meaning of "new" is.

How much of a change constitutes a new version? If you take an existing driver and simply tape over a port hole, is that "new"?

To me, no.

 

[jude]

The Ultrasone PRO 900 arrived today. I've only just started listening to it. Here are some photos, including a couple that sort of show the driver. (Don't ask me to dismantle anything further, as the functionality of a thing tends to have an inverse relationship with the extent that I dismantle it.)

Click on any of the following photos to see a larger version of it.

NOTE: The protective clear plastic is still covering the earpieces, and I'm assuming I'm supposed to try to leave it on. (Again, I only have this pre-production PRO 900 for a few days.)


[size=xx-small]

The Ultrasone PRO 900 headphone. Also in the photo: Travagan's 2-Inch Mini Speaker; a bottle of CablePro's "Ted's Crystal Clear" contact cleaner and enhancer; Apple iPod Classic 160GB; CablePro Earcandy Lite EL Dock iPod Dock CableEarcandy Lite EL Dock iPod Dock Cable; Ray Samuels Audio Predator amp/DAC; Sennheiser MX W1 KLEER transmitter.


The PRO 900 mark on the top of the headband.


The S-LOGIC Plus mark on the side of the headband.


Closeup photo of earpieces, sans pads/covers.


Closeup photo of driver.

[/size]

 

[yepyep_]

Very nice, thanks.