Ultrasone HFI-780 S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones

 "Surprising clarity and bass for a closed headphone" 2010-05-29
By Baltimore (San Francisco, CA)
Coming from owning a great deal of headphones (grado sr60, 80, 225, alessandro ms1, ms2. sennheiser hd 595, 580, px100, px200, yuin pk2, ok2, koss ksc35, portapro, ultimate ears ue5, livewires T1) my experience of headphones have been the lower line of open cans or in ear monitors. So when I picked up the ultrasone hfi-780, I did not have that high of expectations, even though they cost more - they are still closed. It has been a long debate in the audiophile community about what type of headphone offers the best sound, but the general consensus is that open headphones offer just quality and clarity that you cannot get with the closed kind. With the closed you get some kind of "tin can" effect as they say..and that means exactly what you think.

What is in the box: Headphone, velvet carrying bag, 8ft extension. I bought mine from another source used (for about $130 - so consider other sources before buying new). At any rate, there may be other things that are included that I am not listing.

Construction: In audiophile communities, there have been polls to ask which is the best looking pair of headphones. The hfi-780 is a big winner a lot of the times. The headband is solid plastic, and has padding to make it comfortable. The Cups swivel to go flat, so it is an easy pack, and for DJ's out there, the cups flip around for you to monitor your sources on the fly at gigs. The cups appear to be metal - but no - they are plastic. Just shiney nice looking plastic. Definitely one of the nicer looking cans out there. The cable is a nice length for me since I use these sitting at a computer...just enough (around 3ft) I love not having excess cable. Even though they are shorter, they come with an 8ft extension. Great compromise in my eyes.

Sound Quality: Putting on the hfi-780, I was instantly surprised of the force of the sound coming to my ears. Great bass. The soundstage is a bit lacking - I feel like the band is coming from just one spot, instead of surrounding me. Highs are a little lacking, mids are very present, lows are very present. Clarity is surprising. There is limited muddyness coming from these headphones, which is a good thing since these are closed. Compared to the grado sound - I like my grados more because of the "rock" factor but these are between the grados and the senns for my tastes. I could never get used to the senns because they were so laid back. I would say that these ultrasons are the middle ground.

Comfort: This is where i have a problem. If you have a bigger head - good luck. These things will clamp on your head. I can't use these for more than an hour at a time which is okay to me, since I use these primarily for music production. The pleather headphone pads are alright but I had an extra pair of beyerdynamic velour pads for the DT250, and they fit perfectly to add on comfort. Velour > fake pleather.

Final thoughts: These are solid headphones with the above caveats. They look good, sound good...but comfort might be an issue. I would recommend these to anyone though.

Ultrasone PRO 750 S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones

 "Nice!" 2010-03-30
By Eric Mars (San Francisco, CA)
Bought the 580's and loved 'em so much I wanted more. These are more! Maybe not worth all the extra money unless you're an insane audiophile like me; same basic sound but more refined. I actually find the bass better on these even tho the 580's have 50mm drivers. Actually a lesson I learned a long time ago - cleaner high freq response will give the attacks on your bass sounds more definition and give them a lot more impact. If you love the Ultrasone sound you'll love these and won't look back.

Ultrasone HFI-450 S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones - Black

 "Great Fidelity, Great construction" 2010-02-17
By T. Andrews
Bear in mind this is a first impression after getting them and testing them out, and I paid considerably less than the current $87.

I picked these up to use as a FOH monitor headset. All I was looking for was reasonable quality and portability. I've just tested them out and was pleasantly surprised.

Pros: relatively inexpensive, Folding and rotating circum-aural (around the ear) cups, Sturdy construction, flat audio response, good isolating fit.

Cons: isolating fit is leather (maybe fake leather, I'm not sure) so it does get a bit sweaty in there. And the rugged construction means they're a bit on the heavy side.

I have a few songs I listen to just to check out sound systems and here's what I found. One of the songs has a 13khz hiss that these headphones recreated accurately, another song has a 35hz pedal tone that runs through most of the song. Again these headphones did just fine (I've worked with PA systems that can't do that.

I tried to test they're claim to 3-D sound, even to the extent of listening to some binaural recordings from the FreeSoundProject. I can't say as I hear any difference than with the pair of Sony MDR-CD180s I had to compare them to.

Overall these headphones are great at playing back just what you put into them, and nothing else. That's just what I want, headphones that don't color the sound with their own EQ curve. They're sturdy, compact when folded, and priced just about right for a cheapskate like me. I'm not going to wear them for an 8 hour flight, but I'll grab them every time I'm doing a gig.

I'd be happy to buy them again.

Ultrasone Zino S-Logic Natural Surround Sound Portable Headphone

 "Shrill sound" 2010-05-15
By Pavel S. (Massachusetts, USA)
The headphones are comfortable, the collapsible design is a nice touch, and the finish is spiffy (if you can keep fingerprints off it). BUT the sound is simply unacceptable. I don't know if the set I received was defective, but the sound wasn't just mediocre or have one or two minor flaws, it was simply the worst sounding headphones I've ever listened to. The high frequencies were jacked up so much, and the mid and low frequencies so seriously attenuated, that everything sounded painfully shrill and screechy. I'm well acquainted with headphones that emphasize the high frequencies a little to give the sound a shimmery/silvery quality, but this went way beyond that. It was so unpleasant to listen to that I couldn't even listen to a single song all the way through. The frequency response was so distorted that timbres were obviously off. Human voices, especially solos, sounded metallic and robotic. Genres of music that involve many high notes at a fast tempo, like trance, resulted in a wall of screaming noise. My $10 earbuds produce a more natural sound than these!

Ultrasone PRO 650 S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones

 "Some of the best out there" 2009-08-11
By Michael J Dory (The nice parts of New Jersey)
I can't say enough good these about these headphones. I have a small music studio and I've got somewhere between ten and fifteen pairs of headphones around at any given time, but these are the best I've used yet. I've had mine for about four years, and they sound just as brilliant as they did after I'd first burned them in.

They don't sound like most headphones -- the drivers are meant to simulate the way your ears were meant to handle incoming audio, so they're actually off-center, shifted towards the front of your head, so it's more like wearing perfectly-aimed speakers. They sound big and open and aren't nearly as fatiguing as many larger sets, and they're light enough to wear for hours without much notice.

All in all, an incredible investment -- would absolutely buy again if ever damaged or lost.

Ultrasone PRO 900 S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones - Black

 "Excellent sound" 2009-04-19
By L. Topper
The Ultrasone headphone appears to be made of a very high quality plastic. This is pretty common among headphones made in Germany. My AKG 601 and 701 are made of plastic. I believe that the Beyerdynamic 990, 880, and 770 also have large amounts of plastic in the construction. The Sennheiser 600 and 650 also appear to be made of plastic too. All of these headphones originate from Germany or Austria. They may not look as "expensive" without more metal parts, but if you look on the inside of most loudspeakers, you will see that they are also constructed of some inert, dense kind of plastic or resin. It seems to be less likely to cause unwanted vibrations that effect the quality of sound.

The packaging on the new models comes with a hardshell case that allows plenty of room for the headphones and two sets of detachable cords--one is straight and the other is like a pig-tail. They screw into the headphone. If you are going to use an adapter to change the plug from 1/4" to 1/8" for an Ipod or portable headphone amplifier (always recommended), I suggest the Grado adapter because it has a longer wire that allows the leverage pressure to be off the Ipod jack or headphone jack. The headphones come with an adaptor, but it is the straight kind that puts a kind of pressure on the jack. The headphones also come with another set of earpads.

The sound is really great. The sound is very forward. You get a good sound stage with a real sense of separation of instruments and/or vocals. It sounds like the instruments are placed in different locations (which they are of course). I especially like the sound of live performance recordings. The bass is sometimes so strong that it can be overpowering. However, I have heard a pair that has been broken in. The bass is still very strong, but not overpowering. The first pair of the Pro 900's were straight out of the box with no breakin. I am not sure that I would call these headphones "nuetral." If you want nuetral, check out the Sennheiser 600 or 650 or a number of the Audio-Technica (open backed headphones) earphones which present a very balanced sound. These headphones make a statement--like the so wonderful Grado headphones.

These are really lively and fun, but the bass can be heavy. However, on repeated hearing--especially in jazz, I like the firm, strong bass. In modern jazz (bebop and later), the time is kept on the bass. The bass is critical.

I find myself returning to these headphones frequently. By the way, I also really like the Ultrasone 2500 which has a more balanced presentation, but not quite as exciting as the 900's. I believe that open ended headphones usually do make for a more open, airy, less bassy sound.

All in all, I have to say that I really enjoy listening to them.

Ultrasone HFI-580 S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones

 "Ultimate Value" 2009-02-15
By Evan Dowling (Fort Myers, FL)
Just bought two pairs of these babies as monitors for live performance. They sound incredible. Great bass, smooth highs and full mids. The sound guy at the venue guessed that I paid three times as much when he heard them. Not the biggest soundstage in the world, but they are great and very listenable. After three straight hours of listening, my ears still felt great.

Ultrasone PRO 2500 S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones

Ultrasone HFI-15G S-Logic Surround Sound Professional Headphones - Black

 "Best so far" 2009-09-28
By Kolz
I've owned at least a dozen headphones over the years, and these are the ones I now use all of the time. Ive tried the Koss porta pro's, sporta pro's, and just recently the titanium model. They all wear well as far as comfort goes, except for the titanium's, which began to hurt my left ear after a few hours, and they all sound great. The Ultrasone HFI-15G has a distinctly clearer sound and actually sound better than the Sennheiser HD 595 also. I can wear them all day, and they just have one cord (which is 3.5 ft. long)to the left side, which is more convenient for me. I use them on an old Archos 20G. recorder, and I am able to adjust the treble and bass with quite a large range. They handle all the bass I can comfortably stand. These phones sound very good.

Ultrasone Edition 8 S-Logic Plus Natural Surround Sound Professional Headphone