[Dramlin]

The Sig Pro's have a slightly cavernous sound to them as well. It's noticeable when you put the headphones on, but disappears after 30 seconds or so once your brain gets adjusted to the sound. Once the brain adjusts everything sounds fine/correct. The Sig DJ's and DXP do not have that cavernous or cuppy sound, so maybe it has something to do with the 40mm driver used in the Sig Pro/Studio/Sp-5.

On a side note, I've been listening to the DXP and DJ's daily over the last few weeks.The DXP is now my favorite by a decent margin. Every song & genre just sounds correct and fun at the same time. The DXP makes all music enjoyable.

 

[Dobrescu George]

The Sig Pro's have a slightly cavernous sound to them as well. It's noticeable when you put the headphones on, but disappears after 30 seconds or so once your brain gets adjusted to the sound. Once the brain adjusts everything sounds fine/correct. The Sig DJ's and DXP do not have that cavernous or cuppy sound, so maybe it has something to do with the 40mm driver used in the Sig Pro/Studio/Sp-5.

On a side note, I've been listening to the DXP and DJ's daily over the last few weeks.The DXP is now my favorite by a decent margin. Every song & genre just sounds correct and fun at the same time. The DXP makes all music enjoyable.

Agreed.

I can hear the slight boomyness / cupiness with Studio and Adam SP-5, but it is really slight.

I'd say that DXP is the best all-rounder from all their headphones right now.

About the fact that we don't all hear them the same - this is actually because of the tech used in Signature series, they are made with the S-Logic tech that simply sounds different to some ears, most headphones sound pretty much the same to most listeners.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Okay, so I made an in-depth review about Adam Pro SP-5, which si basically a finely re-tuned Ultrasone Signature Studio. I'm around to talk about it and how it compares to other headphones

https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2019/04/bleeding-edge-precision-adam-audio-pro-sp5-headphones.html

 

[Blinxat]

Which has more sparkly treble and extension the DXP or the DJ? I want to get one of the two next to get a feeling for the 50mm versions, I liked the bass on Studio and SP-5, but mids were too forwad for me, but I am scared that DJ and DXP has treble too rolled off?

I am confsued, in dobrescu George comparison he hays the DJ has more extension, and Dramlin says the DXP has more edge to the treble? So what is it

 

[Dobrescu George]

Which has more sparkly treble and extension the DXP or the DJ? I want to get one of the two next to get a feeling for the 50mm versions, I liked the bass on Studio and SP-5, but mids were too forwad for me, but I am scared that DJ and DXP has treble too rolled off?

I am confsued, in dobrescu George comparison he hays the DJ has more extension, and Dramlin says the DXP has more edge to the treble? So what is it

DXP is brighter, but DJ extends a bit more.

Basically, DXP extends until about 14 kHz or so, while DJ about 17 kHz or so

But DXP has more energy and sparkle. DJ is a bit rolled off overall, feels a bit too smooth. DXP feels just right

 

[Blinxat]

Ok I ordered DXP and looking forward to hear it.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Ok I ordered DXP and looking forward to hear it.

Please share with us how you feel about it!

Looking forward to your impressions!!

 

[Blinxat]

Got the DXP today.


these are not too far off the sig studio and sp-5 in my opinion, the bass does not have the same fast texture, but texture is still good, but it has more body and hits with more slam than studio and sp-5 (from memory, cannot AB anymore).

Overall the sound is slightly less sharp than the 40mm titanium driver version. Overall I agree with what was being said here that they are somewhat smoother. But the edges in the treble are still there, so it is just snappy enough.

It is also fairly clean, and separated. I hear them as mostly neutral, they are not V-shaped in my opinion, unforuntelay for me the low mids are a touch thick.... They are not congested but a dip in the mids could help to let them breath a little more. (I think this is why the DJ is reported to have the best soundstage here).

Imaging is good, but Soundstage for me is a bit small.. It does not compare to DT770 or Denon AH-D5200. (but the Signature series is a flat, fairly small headphone, for an over-ear)

For portable use I would recommend getting the short mic cable, looks nice, and ultrasone sends you a keychain as well as a catalogue with it, which I thought was nice:

 

[Dramlin]

On the topic of cables I have gone through a dozen or so of them in order to find the right one (based on sound only). Below are my rankings for anyone who is interested. All cables work with any Signature Ultrasone:

1) Oyaide hpc-35hd598. This is neutral perfection. Wide sound stage, great bass, extremely detailed. However, it can be a bit hard to find since it was discontinued years ago (it's PCOCC-A wire which is no longer made). I got mine most recently from a French website. This cable is so good I got 3 of them for all of my Ultrasones as I want for nothing more.

2) Oyaide HPSC-35HD500. Same sound as #1, but with less bass and the cable is a bit microphonic. Much more readily available and still fantastic. Highly recommended if you don't mind a microphonic cable.

3) Lunashops PCOCC-A cable. A thinner less detailed sound from #2. Either this isn't actual PCOCC-A, or the connectors are much cheaper. Still better sound than most other cables though.

4) Lunashops Pure Silver cable. More detailed than #3, but also much brighter. I wouldn't recommend it due to the brightness, but it's detail and bass are impressive.

5) Ultrasone stock Signature DJ cable (silver looking wire pictured above). Better sound than the stock DXP or Sig PRO cables. I swear this cable is silver plated as it sounds slightly brighter and more detailed than the Sig DXP/PRO stock cables. Unlike other silver plated cables I've tried it's not overly bright though.

6) Lunashops OCC cable. Thinner sounding, but still a decent sound stage. Better than most of the generic OFC cables I've tried.

7) Stock DXP/PRO cable. Slightly canny, reduced sound stage.

8) Any of the 10 or so cheap amazon sub $30 cables. All have variations of a canny sound and reduced sound stage. I could find plenty that were similar to the stock cable sound, but none that were better.

 

[jhog]

Reluctantly got m DXPs up for sale or trade, in case anyone looking

 

[Dramlin]

Ah that's too bad, but I'm sure there's a great reason! Hopefully you found something that you enjoy even more .

It's been awhile since I've posted about the DXP, so a quick update after having them for 6 months is that they are still my top headphone. They actually survived being my favorite despite having received the Hifiman Ananda's as part of a loaner tour, and finding that I really like the Ananda's (they are now my #2, besting the Sig PRO's and DJ's by a fair amount). The Ananda's are so good that I've since purchased them, but the DXP's are still the more complete headphone to me. Someone said earlier that the DXP's have just the right amount of everything, and I find that to be especially true now. Definitely a special headphone, one that has an X factor that is hard to describe with the type of balance they achieve. It's nice to have a headphone that sounds great no matter what you are listening to, and can be used anywhere with being a closed design.

No one asked for this, but I can now give a quick comparison between the Ananda's and DXP:

• Lows: Ananda's have better texture, definition, and linearity. DXP's have better quantity while not being bad in any area. Which is better will be down to the type of music/media you are listening to.
• Mids: DXP's have more warmth, balance, and musicality in this region, but the Ananda's strike a more natural tone.
  
• Highs: DXP's are smooth yet sparkly, whereas the Ananda's are more prominent and sharp without being harsh.
• Soundstage: Ananda's offer a more 3D soundspace which is much wider and taller. DXP's aren't bad here by any means, but are definitely a tier below the Ananda's in creating a holographic stage.
  
• Speed: Ananda's are much faster, but the DXP really can't be said to be slow either.
• Detail: Ananda's are a full tier above in their detail. If there is any huge gap between the DXP's and Ananda's, it's how much perceived detail they give off. That said, the DXP's are detailed enough that I don't find that they ever lack detail, just that the Ananda's take it to the next level in being able to hear everything clearer.
  
• Overall tone: DXP's are balanced and full/warm, whereas the Ananda's sound somewhat thin in overall ambience. The thinness of the Ananda's isn't bad, it just takes a bit of getting used to when coming from a thicker sound like the DXP's.

Both are truly great, but for general listening I'll take the DXP's. For critical listening it's hard to beat the Ananda's with their incredible detail while not being bad in any area.

 

[jhog]

truly surprised at how little interest there seems to be in these, given what great cans they are. trying to sell mine, for a pretty silly good price, and almost nothing. I'm only really ditching them for comfort reasons, otherwise they're the best truly portable closed backs I've ever used, but it feels like the rest of the audio world is either unaware or disagrees! Odd....

 

[nlse]

all right

i have one for sale as well

 

[member1982]

Hi all. I've been a proud owner of the DXP for a few months now. However, the low quality of the leatherette ear pads are starting to show. It's starting to "harden" and there are visible small cracks if I look carefully enough. This translates to an increasingly uncomfortable listening experience. Does anyone have any solutions to this? I'm not sure there are any alternate ear pads that are compatible with the DXP currently.

i stopped using them (for long sessions), they hurt my ears. Plus they don't match well (in terms of too much volume) with the ifi Zen Dac.
they are now paired with my rode microphone for monitoring / conference calls, that works okay for short period of time.

looking for more thicker earpads, but haven't found any.

Got the DXP to replace my Pro 900 (the main driver for many years) before the left ear has sound cutting in and out *sigh*, the exact same problem happened to the Pro 750.

 

[Dramlin]

Just a correction from what I said above regarding cables and the DXP. About 6 months ago I found that the following cable transforms these headphones from a little bit on the dark side to neutral perfection:

http://www.lunashops.com/goods.php?id=6520

This cable makes a huge difference, so much so that the DXP is now my reference headphone. Since I found this combination I've largely ignored my other headphones, as the DXP has the perfect tone without any faults. In my opinion this combination sounds far better than anything the Signature DJ or PRO's can produce. The Oyaide hpc-35hd598 is still the best cable I've found for both the Signature DJ and PRO's, but the DXP benefits greatly from a pure silver cable.