[WaveRider69]

I'm ready to dive, I imagine driver size wouldn't change sound quality that much, but I was just getting the impression a larger driver is going to produce bigger sound and be able to take those same deep bass notes and play them louder where smaller drivers would start giving out, sort of in the same way in the car/home/club audio world.  The 550's and 580's had 50mm while the others were 40mm.
 
Basically what I'm after is the quality liquid/silky/sparkly/energetic Ultrasone sound sig with big deep powerful quality heavy slamming bass that shakes my skull, the 680s couldn't do this with any amount of EQ tweaking I did coupled with an E9, where the ATH-AD700 just destroyed them, the only reasoning I can come up with is because of the larger 50mm driver, since (their magnificent soundstage aside) they are otherwise inferior cans.  For example with both pairs of cans hooked up to the E9 the HFI-680 produced much better punchy sounding bass but it didn't shake my skull and wasn't able to handle heavy EQ tweaking, where the ATH I am able to go as much as +25dB+/- in the lower freqs and it shakes my ears for sure (not quite my skull, but I can feel the pounding in my brain and all over the sides of my face), but of course they just don't sound as good concerning the rest of the spectrum.
 
Of course any of you guys that see any holes in what I've come up with so far feel free to offer constructive criticism.
 

 
 

 

[Roller]

Well, the HFI-680 are kind of the slimmer bass Ultrasones of the series, namely from the HFI series, with HFI-780 being bassier and HFI-580 even further. Then you have the Pro series that seem to shift a V signature, with the Pro 750 having more bass presence than the HFI-780 but slightly less natural, and the Pro 900 having an increased bass presence over the previous. It should be noted that the bassiest Ultrasones have 40mm drivers, this still refering to the driver size issue. Though, there is one thing you should keep in mind about the Pro series, specially Pro 750 and Pro 900, which is the fact that they aren't forgiving headphones, meaning that if you have bad recordings or some underpowered/low quality hardware on your sound chain, they will make it more evident instead of disguising it behind the sound.
 
From what I've experienced, the Pro 900 can quite easily give you that club sound experience if you want them to Also, they can handle and even improve from EQing, with quite some clipping resistance, something that's also dependant on source, player, EQ, etc, and the changes made to its sound don't smear the rest of the spectrum if you're careful.

 

[priest]

DJ1 PRO

 

[h1a8]

hfi580 is the most fun and engaging of them all.

 

[ramintop]

Another vote for the hfi-580, although I have the hfi-780 I remember enjoying the hfi-580 more. I ordered the hfi-780 thinking I was getting the same sound signature but with better sound quality, I was wrong; it definitely delivers technically better sound quality but the sound signature is more analytical and not as fun.

 

[wind016]

 
Quote:

Ultrasone HFI 580 is the most fun and engaging

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DJ1 PRO

Quote:

hfi580 is the most fun and engaging of them all.

Quote:

Another vote for the hfi-580, although I have the hfi-780 I remember enjoying the hfi-580 more. I ordered the hfi-780 thinking I was getting the same sound signature but with better sound quality, I was wrong; it definitely delivers technically better sound quality but the sound signature is more analytical and not as fun.

=)
 
 
 
 
I actually quite liked the PRO 550 after a bit of EQ on my Cowon.
 
Quote:

Driver size doesn't equate quality or, for instance, bass quantity. The Pro 900 have 40mm drivers and are the Ultrasone model with the most bass presence.
 
The Pro 550 are somewhat equivalent to the DJ1 Pro, and curiously harder to drive.
 
If you're not willing to dive straight away into deep waters, I'll have to agree with suggestions already made for the HFI-580, or if you want to jump straight away, I'd suggest going for the Pro 900. It's a matter of you deciding your budget
 
BTW, the FUN should be an interesting match with Ultrasones.
 

 

[WaveRider69]

Alright you guys sold me  
 
Audio-GD FUN on the way with the PRO 900s and the 580s for comparison.  I didn't realize the good deals around on 900s, it made them impossible to pass up.
 
It's gonna be hard but I'm just going to let them burn in for a week and let the drivers loosen up before giving them a good go around. 
 
I'll toss up a nice review after a few weeks. 
 
This is exciting! 

 

[WaveRider69]

I look forward to having this higher quality stuff so I can lower the volume.

 

[alv4426]

How good was the deal for the pro900?

 

[Reticuli2]

The Pro 550 and DJ1 Pro are exactly the same headphone in different colors according to Ultrasone, right?  Maybe you just noticed variation within the model.
 
Quote:

Driver size doesn't equate quality or, for instance, bass quantity. The Pro 900 have 40mm drivers and are the Ultrasone model with the most bass presence.
 
The Pro 550 are somewhat equivalent to the DJ1 Pro, and curiously harder to drive.
 
If you're not willing to dive straight away into deep waters, I'll have to agree with suggestions already made for the HFI-580, or if you want to jump straight away, I'd suggest going for the Pro 900. It's a matter of you deciding your budget
 
BTW, the FUN should be an interesting match with Ultrasones.