Ultrasone PRO900

[Exit Pupil]

i cofess that i did one full 12 hour stint of nasty 90% high current burn in that would have headphone lovers gnashing their teeth and screaming for mercy. i have to say that the trebble is smoothing out and things are integrating more. whoever said these are stubborn phones to burn is not wrong. they need to be ruled with an iron rod.
 
redusing SPL levels to perhaps only 20-30% above my normal listening, i've had Stewart Copeland doing his thing on the high-hat now for a couple of days. very listenable now. it no longer sounds like Copeland's high-hat is two metres away while Sting is two hundred metres away. they're nearly on stage together now so things are moving in the right direction.
 
is it true the pro900 has a protection circuit which will stop them from over cooking?

 

[haloxt]

10 ohm diodes. I read you would blow out your ears before they did anything though.

 

[Exit Pupil]

it wasn't the ears i was worried about, it was the blanket.
 
 
having wound both the DT150  and pro900 right up on the MF amp (as an experiment, not for general listening), i'd have to say the easier to drive pro900 sound starts to flatten out a bit as it sounds overwhelmed. not distorting mind you.
 
the dt150 are terrifying, the bass and clarity just keeps getting bigger and bigger like they're turning into a small loudspeaker.
 
listened to some huge electronic bass rich music and it is a real toss up between the two. the dt150 appears to have an edge due to its razor attack to the beginning of each deep bass note. amazing snap and drive under power. i believe the pro900 may go ultimately lower, also at lower listening levels.
 
i've done my own mod on the pro900. with respect to kees, i've been playing around with dampening drivers and enclosures for years, and  over-dampening can definitely fix some eviils, but nearly always sucks the life and dynamic drive and sparkle out of music for me. so i've just stuck three 15mm square felt pads onto the outer steel plate, covering no holes. sounding good to me. stick them to your jeans five times first so they aren't too tacky and can be removed easily enough.

 

[Exit Pupil]

just an update, this phone has me intrigued, such is its simple ability to be modified with sticky thick felt for the bottom of chairs. the good thing about this phone is that everything that comes out of it is very good. it just needs some tuning and balancing.
 
i've managed to totally get rid of the darts to the ears by doing basically the reverse modification to Kees, if you can imagine it. i've covered 1/2 to 2/3 of the open driver holes on the tin plate with thickish felt, and put 3 pieces of felt a piece around for a bit more dampening. no plate removal. my listening levels have obviously totally changed and i would say i might be able to get these phones on par with the DT150, at least. the mids are just fantastic. the bass has lost no depth whatsoever. due to the darts being subdued i can raise the volume and fully appreciate what the rest of the sound has to offer.
 
depending on your hearing shape and capacity, the mod is easy to divide up the felt into joined small squares over the holes and remove or replace as necessary to allow through what you want/need to hear. that metal plate is brilliant!
 
stick the felt to your jeans 5 times to remove most of its agressive tacky side so they are easily removable and replaced for trial and error on the metal plate. the sky is the limit with this due to the phones inherent quality. i use a strap of felt about a metre long and a couple of inches wide for my loudspeakers and phones and slice it up. its a few mm thick.
 
if your hearing is in good shape, you'll be getting all the smooth detail you like. if not enough detail, just remove one 16sq mm piece of felt pad or amaller etc.
 
the idea of a 'one size sound fits all' phone or loudspeaker is absurd.
 
i'm liking this phone a lot due to its sheer ease of mod.

 

[Rayzilla]

I recall seeing a post about how the Pro900 should be worn but I am not able to find it.  So far I am loving these headphones.  They are definitely on the heavy side compared to my ES10s but they serve a different purpose for me so I can accept this.
 
So what ways do you all like to wear them and what impact does that position make to the sound?  Thanks.

 

[haloxt]

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/204879/there-s-something-about-ultrasone/2895#post_2821957
 
Positioning is very important with ultrasones, holes on the bufferboard must match up well with your ear to work properly. The earcup and holes are meant to fit a "general" hrtf, when everyone has unique hrtf, so it may only be an approximation of ideal, or may not even sound right for some ears. Short hair helps sound quality

.

 

[Exit Pupil]

these phones are fekking stunning. after my substantial tweaks and very nasty burn in, they are clearly number one now. Unbelievable bass and soundstage. truly stunning. they have overtaken the legendary and mysteriously good DT150. for reference, they make my HD650 sound like $3.50 items from K-Mart.
 
i have many sets of phones stashed under the bed, and this one is taken out more than the others. like most good equipment, it did need tweaking though.
 
if phones can't produce this kind of clean, deep snappy bass, they are not worthy of comparison, regardless of their worth, name or reputation...
 
honest truth is that when something is this good.....i can't honestly remember or care about their purchase price. it is totally irrelevant. I stop analyzing with these phones! i listen! I enjoy!

 

[blueyan]

 I can't afford the Pro900 and an amp at the same time, so I've been wondering if Kees modded Pro900s can sound good enough out of my Asus Xonar U1 USB soundcard , it has a built in amp .IF they do, I will get the Pro900s first ,
then start to save up for the amp .

 

[haloxt]

They'll sound okay, but better if you Kees mod it. If you are good at soldering and don't mind seriously voiding the warranty, there is something you can do to make it sound better on weaker amps. Take off the 10 ohm protection diodes and lower the resistance of each driver to 30. Sound will become slightly thinner/hollower, but more even and complete across the freqs when underpowered.

 

[blueyan]

if they sound okay with kees mod , I can consider to get it . Oh no , I have no experience with soldering , I'll stay away from soldering before I got into some serious mess. I just tried the M50s a couple of days ago ,
and the bass couldn't satisfy me , I need STRONGER and more bass ! So I've taken Pro900s into my consideration =).

 

[Exit Pupil]

with respect to kees mod, they dont need this fussing about. they need dampening and covering of a good portion of the sound holes to settle them down a bit. 5 bucks of sticky felt. no soldering required. they sound stunning straight out of an ipod. the easiest hifi product ever to mod due to its steel plate and twisting earcups.

 

[HeatFan12]

Plug them in and just listen.....

 

[haloxt]

blueyan, I heard good things about the M50 bass, even compared to pro 900. Maybe others have better opinions on this, but I say don't get your hopes up on the pro 900 if you need bass much better than M50.

 

[blueyan]

haloxt , are you saying M50s bass is better than Pro 900 ?  Would you mind elaborate in detail ?

 

[i_djoel2000]

i would not go into detail with pro900 bass. i only have experienced with pro 2500 since i just had one, but the sound sig is similar i suppose..
 
m-50 bass quantity is sufficient for me, but lacks the quality. it doesn't possess the solid  bass which makes kick drum sounds not really solid. while pro 2500 and along another proline series, possess this quality. it doesn't lack either the quantity nor quality..
 
all i can say, uls pro series are bass monsters