[sokolov91]

Okay, first things first:

Equipment Used:
Asus Xonar STX soundcard
LittleDot MKV - Solid State
Ultrasone Proline 750/ Sony MDR-XB700
Quick comments about usage on my iPod.

Yes I do love my Ultrasone 750 very much. So I perhaps have a bias. Just putting that out there.

Secondly, I am well aware of the price differences in these headphones, but I am doing this purely to compare bass.

Thirdly, I own both, and all of my equipment is in my sig. The only other source I can compare my Asus STX to is my iPod. While my asus xonar does have a built in amp, I find the line out to the MK5 much better so I won't review using it.

This is a mini review, focusing mainly on the bass performance of these headphones. The genre used, just because it is easy, is dubstep. This will ensure the neutrality of the review because well... dubstep is dubstep... pure electronically generated bass... no real place for subtleties and other subjective things.

Aesthetics/Comfort: I think both headphones look very nice. I actually quite enjoy the rather unique look of the XB700 and the pads are extremely comfy when worn. The pro 750 looks a bit generic but the silver logo on the side and the sturdiness of the headphone is very rewarding. They may be a bit generic but they are much more impressive the in the flesh than in photos. They are also very comfy, perhaps a tad more over all because the XB700 lacks cushioning on the headband. If i get time I will post photos... but please don't count on it -sorry.

Packaging/accessories: The Ultrasone wins hands down for packaging and accessories. 2 cables, 2 pairs of pads, and an awesome case to boot. XB700 comes in a lame sealed plastic container that you would expect to see at bestbuy or whatever... comes with a 1/4 inch adaptor and a faux leather bag to protect it... nice touch I suppose. The cable on the XB700 is overly short. it is clearly meant to be used with a portable.. but I would not consider them portable headphones at all.

Sound: Ok here we go. I will split both headphones up to make it easier to read.

PRO 750: Bass reacts very quickly and goes VERY deep. It is punchy, but not boomy. The bass hits hard, and decays very quicky... quite a feat for a closed headphone. There is no sluggish boom or fat bass that lingers -zero bloating. Overall the bass his highly responsive, very detailed, and has a nice mass. It is quite present on this headphone, but I would not consider it a bass only headphone. It is just a headphone with outstanding bass. Let it be clear, the bottom end of this headphone is rock solid, but it is also dependable. So, other frequencies are able to rest on top of it and still have a fair chance at being heard.Soundstage is very impressive for a closed headphone, but rather unique. It emphasizes macro detail and imaging over individual detail, but the individual detail is not bad at all. Excellent.

XB700: The bass is a tad sluggish, and VERY boomy... much more so than it punches. Not my cup of tea. This is a BASS only headphone, and I would argue that is not a good thing. The highs are rather tinny and congested. The midrange gets eaten away at by the overwhelming low end and tinny highs.

Now, it may seem like I am about to take a pee on this headphones parade, but I am not. This headphone excels at what it was designed to do -reproduce the sound of a night club or rave. But, it does not do much else well.

The bass lingers a bit longer than it should, its is boomy and it does drown out a bit of everything else... much like it would actually do at a small venue concert or rave. The headphone are nowhere near the best, but they are also not overly bad.

The soundstage is limited, but not horrendous. It does always have a top bottom feel though because the bass is so big, and the highs seem to float above it.

Listening Levels:The XB700 really need to be played louder than I would like to get the most out of its bass performance. So be wary of that as you may unintentionally be doing damage. I found myself consistently wanting to turn the volume up.. then noticing it was much louder than it should be and I would then turn it down.

The pro 750 has much better bass at low-moderate listening levels. At mid high-to high it is very nice but does not have the jump the XB700. It performs well at all levels.

The XB700 does have a very low impedance so I do not know why I have experienced this issue.

I find this something very important to consider.

Comments and Conclusion:

Both headphones improve greatly with a nice source and proper amping. However, the Ultrasones sound better out of an iPod than the xb700 oddly enough. The cable design would leade one to believe it was designed to be used with an iPod, but I would not suggest this at all. My amp did have a tiny amount of hiss with the XB700 -but not enough to change my mind about my review or to make me think it is not valid. I will say the XB700 benefits more than the pro 750 with amping and source because it is not able to perform very well under less than favorable conditions. However, the 750 is in another league all tougher and is able to do more with the better conditions, but is satisfactory without them.

The pro 750 is an outstanding headphone for just about everything, but especially bass. The bass is not overwhelming, it is just more speaker type bass than headphone type -so it is clear to see how it could be greatly appreciated. Do not make the mistake of equating this with overdone and bloated bass. It is not. It is visceral and highly detailed with great mass and punch. A very uncontested phone.

The XB700 is a great headphone for techno, particularly dubstep. I would never want this as my go to headphone, or my only one. DUBSTEP JUNKIES: Chose this headphone with care, it is a good price for around ~100 but it will be very weak in just about any other genre.

So, if you have the cash -Pro 750 is the clear choice. Not only does it win this competition over all, but it is a highly credible headphone on all levels. If you want a high end headphone with credible, speaker like bass, and headphone like detail they are your choice.

If you are going to listen to purely dub or techno and can live with the headphone being junk for all else -get the XB700

This is my first full review. I hope people find this informative.

 

[haloxt]

You have a lot of subsonic headphones, would you ever do a 5hz test tone and tell us which does it better?

 

[swbf2cheater]

I only recently got a set of ultrasone pro 750s, I am not a fan of the S-logic sound, but that bass is immaculate. It's the absolute best I've ever heard on any set I've ever tried. It's near perfection.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haloxt /img/forum/go_quote.gif You have a lot of subsonic headphones, would you ever do a 5hz test tone and tell us which does it better?

Yes I could do that in the near future and add headphones as I get them. I have a pair of DX700 on reserve I will be getting the end of April/Early May.

Do correct me if I am wrong, but as far as I am aware humans can't hear past 20 hz?

Any recommendations as to how I should test the phones? I have a headphone burner app that can do straight tones but I am unsure of how accurate it is. The rest would be running through foobar2000 with WASAPI.

Quote:

Originally Posted by swbf2cheater /img/forum/go_quote.gif I only recently got a set of ultrasone pro 750s, I am not a fan of the S-logic sound, but that bass is immaculate. It's the absolute best I've ever heard on any set I've ever tried. It's near perfection.

Haha I am sure it was me who helped convince you to get them. Yes the bass is astounding, and the sound quite forwarding and rich. The S-Logic is perhaps very subjective, but there is a lot of "documentation" in the Ultrasone started by dex that it does indeed take a while for you to be able to properly perceive the difference S-Logic makes. It is more subtle than the advertising would make you think, but due to the subtleness, I find it very effective. I would recommend using ONLY your pro 750 for 1-2 weeks, if possible, and then see how you feel about them. You may find yourself enlightened .

If you have time please PM me, post here, or in your own thread, how you feel about the pro 750 overall and if you are satisfied with your purchase. I would be very interested to know. I am hoping they are what you were looking for, with bass you didn't even know you could enjoy so much!

 

[haloxt]

If you want, do 5-100hz test tone sweep, and be careful not to damage your headphones. You can't hear 5hz, but you can feel it vibrating your head

.

 

[Graphicism]

I own both Ultrasone HFI-780 and Sony XB500, I auditioned all 3 and while the 500s were still bass forward weren't quite as intrusive as the 700s.

If I understand correctly you are running these out of an iPod; why would you do that when you have a soundcard and amp? The iPod is towards the dark side of neutrality, I can't image the bass of either can running out of this. The LD MKV while leaps and bounds better than the iPod isn't the best for Ultrasone, they improve tenfold on solid state.

With that said I echo almost everything regarding the sound. The Ultrasones are fast and tight and extend low, the XBs just extend low. In a nutshell if you want a headphone that extends really low, has a lot of depth and don't really care for detail the XB is for you. I don't think they do particularly well with techno, for that you want speed... poor recorded hip hop, D&B, R&B etc sounds alright. Furthermore I've played with the EQ, turning down a lot of that overwhelming XB bass I had something that resembled a D2000; still quite boomy but listenable.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif I own both Ultrasone HFI-780 and Sony XB500, I auditioned all 3 and while the 500s were still bass forward weren't quite as intrusive as the 700s. If I understand correctly you are running these out of an iPod; why would you do that when you have a soundcard and amp? The iPod is towards the dark side of neutrality, I can't image the bass of either can running out of this. The LD MKV while leaps and bounds better than the iPod isn't the best for Ultrasone, they improve tenfold on solid state. With that said I echo almost everything regarding the sound. The Ultrasones are fast and tight and extend low, the XBs just extend low. In a nutshell if you want a headphone that extends really low, has a lot of depth and don't really care for detail the XB is for you. I don't think they do particularly well with techno, for that you want speed... poor recorded hip hop, D&B, R&B etc sounds alright. Furthermore I've played with the EQ, turning down a lot of that overwhelming XB bass I had something that resembled a D2000; still quite boomy but listenable.

No, the review was done with the amp and soundcard, not with the iPod. I realized a lot of people looking into the XB700 most likely would not have a hi-fi set up, so I included small impressions out of an iPod for their sake.

LD MKV IS solid state, and it sounds amazing for what I paid, which was the regular retail price.

I will take a look at my wording and fix it up accordingly... hopefully no one else thinks I am using an iPod to do a review LOL.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haloxt /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you want, do 5-100hz test tone sweep, and be careful not to damage your headphones. You can't hear 5hz, but you can feel it vibrating your head .

Duly noted. I will create a thread when I have time to do this, and PM you.

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sokolov91 /img/forum/go_quote.gif No, the review was done with the amp and soundcard, not with the iPod. I realized a lot of people looking into the XB700 most likely would not have a hi-fi set up, so I included small impressions out of an iPod for their sake. LD MKV IS solid state, and it sounds amazing for what I paid, which was the regular retail price. I will take a look at my wording and fix it up accordingly... hopefully no one else thinks I am using an iPod to do a review LOL.

Yeah the wording 'can't compare on other sources other than an iPod' I read as you're testing them on the iPod. You could just list the equipment used, not everyone does but I find it helpful.

For some reason I thought the LD was a tube amp, shows how much I know.

 

[Peter Pinna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swbf2cheater /img/forum/go_quote.gif I only recently got a set of ultrasone pro 750s, I am not a fan of the S-logic sound, but that bass is immaculate. It's the absolute best I've ever heard on any set I've ever tried. It's near perfection.

Try this: Wear the Pro 750 so that the headband wears straight across the middle top of your head. In the cups make sure your ears are centered. If you have larger ears, it may be necessary for the front of your ears to touch or be very close to touching the inside of the ear pads. When worn correctly (and by "correctly" I mean what is "correct" for the individual so as to better enable the hearing of the best aspects of the sound produced by the headphones) Ultrasones are not positioned on the head same way that it is suggested some other headphones be positioned. When the Pro 750 is positioned "incorrectly" you will miss much of the beauty of it's surround-like sound stage. This sound stage is more apparent on some recordings than others. I suggest listening to some Jazz recorded by a "Big Band" such as the Count Basie Orchestra or some Classical music (Mozart, Bach, Beethoven...) recorded by a Symphonic Orchestra. On these types of recordings, probably partly because of the acoustical environment in which they are recorded, I have found that the S-Logic Surround effect is more pronounced and you will probably find it more easily heard and then you, like many others, will probably become a "fan" of their acoustically life-like, in the midst of the music, sound stage.