Ultrasone Proline 750 closed-back headphones. opinions?

[loco]

dear all, and especially Scott Dorsey -

did you have any experience with Ultrasone headphones? specifically,
Ultrasone Proline 750 closed-back model? i am looking for headphones
that i could use both for recording on location and making sure
everything sounds right with my portable setup (Tascam HD-P2 + Lunatec
V3). basically, i want to get the real picture without colouration!
and i am looking for pro headphones that will give me the true picture
with my current location audio setup. please, please, give me your
opinions anyone!

has anyone, who also had experience with other pro headphones, test
the Ultrasone Proline 750 headphones and it's s-logic sound? what
are your opinions? particularly, for field recording work.

best wishes,

andrejs

[Scott Dorsey]

loco > wrote:
>dear all, and especially Scott Dorsey -
>
>did you have any experience with Ultrasone headphones? specifically,
>Ultrasone Proline 750 closed-back model? i am looking for headphones
>that i could use both for recording on location and making sure
>everything sounds right with my portable setup (Tascam HD-P2 + Lunatec
>V3). basically, i want to get the real picture without colouration!
>and i am looking for pro headphones that will give me the true picture
>with my current location audio setup. please, please, give me your
>opinions anyone!

I have only limited experience with them, but they seemed very colored
in the upper midrange to me. They DID have very good isolation, and
you normally have to pay a lot in other characteristics to get good
isolation. Considering how good the isolation was, a little midrange
coloration would not seem horrible. They would seem like great tracking
phones.

>has anyone, who also had experience with other pro headphones, test
>the Ultrasone Proline 750 headphones and it's s-logic sound? what
>are your opinions? particularly, for field recording work.

Etymotic in-ears with molds, then David Clark hearing protectors over
top of that. You still can't judge low end tonality or anything to do
with imaging, but the isolation is as good as I have heard and the vocal
reproduction is pretty natural.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[loco]

dear Scott,

thank you very much for your feedback! you have already helped me
once by pointing to a pair of Sennheiser MKH-40 microphones when i
asked here about recording ambient sounds in quiet areas (still using
RODE NT4). and now you are helping me again! anyway...

unfortunately or otherwise, Sergei Dovlatov is right -- life outruns
the dream! :) so i couldn't wait and already ordered my pair of
Ultrasone PROline 750 yesterday! i do nature recordings for my
musical projects and i needed closed headphones because i wanted to
concentrate solely on what's exactly being recorded... of course i
wanted to get as best monitoring phones as i can, and i have read many
good reviews about 750's on various forums across internet, however, i
was not able to test them by myself because they simply do not sell
them here. anyway, i have read feedback about long "burn-in" process,
especially with all Ultrasone phones that takes about 200 hours of
"running" time prior to that you can hear everything properly. how
correct can it be? they employ titanium plated drivers, and many say
it's requireed to spend some time with them until you hear descent
improvement in frequency response.. how right this statement can be?

out of curiosity, which model of the in-ear Etymotic headphones would
you personally recommend for critical record monitoring?

thank you very much for your help in the past and present and best
wishes to you and your family!

-andrejs
riga

p.s. do you think i could get a cheaper pair of used mkh-40, along
with accessories, such as the windshield and the pistol grip, say, on
ebay? are you, personally, not selling these by any chance?

Scott Dorsey wrote:
> loco > wrote:
> >dear all, and especially Scott Dorsey -
> >
> >did you have any experience with Ultrasone headphones? specifically,
> >Ultrasone Proline 750 closed-back model? i am looking for headphones
> >that i could use both for recording on location and making sure
> >everything sounds right with my portable setup (Tascam HD-P2 + Lunatec
> >V3). basically, i want to get the real picture without colouration!
> >and i am looking for pro headphones that will give me the true picture
> >with my current location audio setup. please, please, give me your
> >opinions anyone!
>
> I have only limited experience with them, but they seemed very colored
> in the upper midrange to me. They DID have very good isolation, and
> you normally have to pay a lot in other characteristics to get good
> isolation. Considering how good the isolation was, a little midrange
> coloration would not seem horrible. They would seem like great tracking
> phones.
>
> >has anyone, who also had experience with other pro headphones, test
> >the Ultrasone Proline 750 headphones and it's s-logic sound? what
> >are your opinions? particularly, for field recording work.
>
> Etymotic in-ears with molds, then David Clark hearing protectors over
> top of that. You still can't judge low end tonality or anything to do
> with imaging, but the isolation is as good as I have heard and the vocal
> reproduction is pretty natural.
> --scott
>
> --
> "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Ty Ford]

On Thu, 1 Feb 2007 10:47:34 -0500, Scott Dorsey wrote
(in article >):

> loco > wrote:
>> dear all, and especially Scott Dorsey -
>>
>> did you have any experience with Ultrasone headphones? specifically,
>> Ultrasone Proline 750 closed-back model? i am looking for headphones
>> that i could use both for recording on location and making sure
>> everything sounds right with my portable setup (Tascam HD-P2 + Lunatec
>> V3). basically, i want to get the real picture without colouration!
>> and i am looking for pro headphones that will give me the true picture
>> with my current location audio setup. please, please, give me your
>> opinions anyone!
>
> I have only limited experience with them, but they seemed very colored
> in the upper midrange to me. They DID have very good isolation, and
> you normally have to pay a lot in other characteristics to get good
> isolation. Considering how good the isolation was, a little midrange
> coloration would not seem horrible. They would seem like great tracking
> phones.
>
>> has anyone, who also had experience with other pro headphones, test
>> the Ultrasone Proline 750 headphones and it's s-logic sound? what
>> are your opinions? particularly, for field recording work.
>
> Etymotic in-ears with molds, then David Clark hearing protectors over
> top of that. You still can't judge low end tonality or anything to do
> with imaging, but the isolation is as good as I have heard and the vocal
> reproduction is pretty natural.
> --scott
>
>

Try your head under the Sony MDR7509HD. DON'T expect an MDR 7506 sound.

Regards,

Ty Ford


--Audio Equipment Reviews Audio Production Services
Acting and Voiceover Demos http://www.tyford.com
Guitar player?:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RZJ9MptZmU

[Madguitrst]

anyway, i have read feedback about long "burn-in" process,
especially with all Ultrasone phones that takes about 200 hours of
"running" time prior to that you can hear everything properly.

No, no........

I have Ultrasone Proline 650s.
They seemed a bit hard at first.....accurate but hard.
I was concerned because they would be much too fatiguing for my tastes.

So I contacted Ultrasone.
They did in fact mention a burn-in period, but it was more like 24 hours.
I plugged them into the stereo and left them on over night for a few nights.

Now, after using them a bit I must say they indeed have sorta seated themselves.
Also, they felt really bullky, almost clumsy.
But they have also sorta seated themselves that way too.

I know some of it is just getting acclimated to some of their attributes.
But they definitely have changed just a tad.

Overall, I really, really like them.
They are starkly true.
They aren't too bright and may not have enough low end - if you want thud.
They also are not forward like the Sony 7506, although when I first got them I thought theywould be more fatiguing.....they aren't.

They aren't cheap, but they are made very, very well and come with extras, like extra ear pads. I also like having a removable cord, which BTW locks in very nicely.

I have read reviews where listeners say the mids are a bit hollow, the lows a little lean. I think this may be a a bit due t comparisons to forward, hyped cans. I can say they definitely sound nicely true to me.

I'm not in any way saying they are the best or the best for the money, but they are very good, very solid phones that allow you to hear your sources pretty accurately.

[Scott Dorsey]

loco > wrote:
>
>unfortunately or otherwise, Sergei Dovlatov is right -- life outruns
>the dream! :) so i couldn't wait and already ordered my pair of
>Ultrasone PROline 750 yesterday! i do nature recordings for my
>musical projects and i needed closed headphones because i wanted to
>concentrate solely on what's exactly being recorded... of course i
>wanted to get as best monitoring phones as i can, and i have read many
>good reviews about 750's on various forums across internet, however, i
>was not able to test them by myself because they simply do not sell
>them here.

Well, it's possible for the application that you don't want accurate
phones either. I find the Sony MDR-V6 to be wonderful for field recording
because of the exaggerated top end that makes it easier to hear background
noise and other problems. I can hear tape hiss on the MDR-V6 that disappears
completely on a good system, and that's a good thing for editing too.

> anyway, i have read feedback about long "burn-in" process,
>especially with all Ultrasone phones that takes about 200 hours of
>"running" time prior to that you can hear everything properly. how
>correct can it be? they employ titanium plated drivers, and many say
>it's requireed to spend some time with them until you hear descent
>improvement in frequency response.. how right this statement can be?

I don't know. And if it does take 200 hours, why don't they break them in
at the factory before shipping them to you?

There's no reason you can't just plug them into a radio and leave them
running for a week to break them in yourself.

>out of curiosity, which model of the in-ear Etymotic headphones would
>you personally recommend for critical record monitoring?

When I got mine, they only made one model, the ER-4. Later on they made
an ER-4B with slightly different response, for binaural work. They now
also make some lower cost models but I have not used any of them.

>p.s. do you think i could get a cheaper pair of used mkh-40, along
>with accessories, such as the windshield and the pistol grip, say, on
>ebay? are you, personally, not selling these by any chance?

Try and see. Those mikes, like many good mikes, tend to hold their price
well and I suspect the used price in the US is probably about as high
as the new selling price in Germany. But it would not hurt trying Ebay
and asking folks that sell used motion picture equipment.

If you are on a budget, the older MKH104 and MKH404 microphones have
some of the same character, and are also extremely quiet, but are less
expensive. They use a weird powering scheme. The MKH105/MKH505 is
the same microphone with T-power.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[andrejs eigus]

"Scott Dorsey" > wrote in message
...

>
> Well, it's possible for the application that you don't want accurate
> phones either. I find the Sony MDR-V6 to be wonderful for field recording
> because of the exaggerated top end that makes it easier to hear background
> noise and other problems. I can hear tape hiss on the MDR-V6 that
> disappears
> completely on a good system, and that's a good thing for editing too.

no, honestly, i'd prefer to hear what is exactly being recorded, so that i
could experiment with microphone placement and signal amplification on my
grace preamp. slight exagaration would not be too harmful, especially
considering good isolation.

> I don't know. And if it does take 200 hours, why don't they break them in
> at the factory before shipping them to you?

i don't know, but apparently they don't. there's a very long discussion
about user experience with ultrasones in general and specifically about
their long burn-in period here:
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=207164 . i have finally
decided to give them a go -- they arrive next week.

> There's no reason you can't just plug them into a radio and leave them
> running for a week to break them in yourself.

yup. i may also listen to music with them on a daily basis, like i normally
do with other phones.

>>p.s. do you think i could get a cheaper pair of used mkh-40, along
>>with accessories, such as the windshield and the pistol grip, say, on
>>ebay? are you, personally, not selling these by any chance?

> Try and see. Those mikes, like many good mikes, tend to hold their price
> well and I suspect the used price in the US is probably about as high
> as the new selling price in Germany. But it would not hurt trying Ebay
> and asking folks that sell used motion picture equipment.

the price for MKH-40 at www.bhphotovideo.com is around 150 Euro cheaper than
at the www.musicstorekoeln.de - the largest europian audio store online...
of course, it only matters if someone brings them over here from the U.S.,
otherwise, i will have to pay import+VAT tax at the local customs.

> If you are on a budget, the older MKH104 and MKH404 microphones have
> some of the same character, and are also extremely quiet, but are less
> expensive. They use a weird powering scheme. The MKH105/MKH505 is
> the same microphone with T-power.

what do you have to say about MKH-800 model? they seem to be more than
twice as expensive, but how is the sound quality with them, considering that
they have extended dynamic range and also feature variable polar patterns!
what really caught my eye is that they are said to be suggested for field
recording and nature recording work as well.. do you have any experience
with this model?

best wishes,

Andrejs

[Edwin Hurwitz]

In article >,
(Scott Dorsey) wrote:

> loco > wrote:
> >
> >unfortunately or otherwise, Sergei Dovlatov is right -- life outruns
> >the dream! :) so i couldn't wait and already ordered my pair of
> >Ultrasone PROline 750 yesterday! i do nature recordings for my
> >musical projects and i needed closed headphones because i wanted to
> >concentrate solely on what's exactly being recorded... of course i
> >wanted to get as best monitoring phones as i can, and i have read many
> >good reviews about 750's on various forums across internet, however, i
> >was not able to test them by myself because they simply do not sell
> >them here.
>
> Well, it's possible for the application that you don't want accurate
> phones either. I find the Sony MDR-V6 to be wonderful for field recording
> because of the exaggerated top end that makes it easier to hear background
> noise and other problems. I can hear tape hiss on the MDR-V6 that disappears
> completely on a good system, and that's a good thing for editing too.
>
> > anyway, i have read feedback about long "burn-in" process,
> >especially with all Ultrasone phones that takes about 200 hours of
> >"running" time prior to that you can hear everything properly. how
> >correct can it be? they employ titanium plated drivers, and many say
> >it's requireed to spend some time with them until you hear descent
> >improvement in frequency response.. how right this statement can be?
>
> I don't know. And if it does take 200 hours, why don't they break them in
> at the factory before shipping them to you?
>
> There's no reason you can't just plug them into a radio and leave them
> running for a week to break them in yourself.
>
> >out of curiosity, which model of the in-ear Etymotic headphones would
> >you personally recommend for critical record monitoring?
>
> When I got mine, they only made one model, the ER-4. Later on they made
> an ER-4B with slightly different response, for binaural work. They now
> also make some lower cost models but I have not used any of them.
>


I have had the ER-6s, which are the lower cost model and I hate them.
Very weak (ie don't use them with less than very very robust amplifiers.
Their sensitivity is way below comparable items) and the low end is
really pretty poor. If you are going to spend that little, get the $100
Westones instead. Even better are the dual driver Ultimate Ears.

I have the Prline 750s and I like them pretty well. They aren't as good
as the Beyer DT770s when it comes to sealing out ambient sound, but they
sound a little more "true" to me. They have some crossfeeding things
going on and different architecture with how the drivers are set up
(they don't hit your ear directly), so comparing them to standard
headphones is a little difficult, but I like them a lot. If you aren't
trying to monitor a loud band in the same room, they work fine.


Enjoy!
Edwin

[Scott Fraser]

<< I find the Sony MDR-V6 to be wonderful for field recording
because of the exaggerated top end that makes it easier to hear
background
noise and other problems. I can hear tape hiss on the MDR-V6 that
disappears
completely on a good system, and that's a good thing for editing too.
>>

Same is true at the low end as well. Good for alerting you to LF
rumble. Just don't set HPF's on these as you'll be cutting a lot more
than you need to. When these came out in the 1980's they became the de
facto standard on film & TV location shoots largely due to the
extended/boosted LF response.

Scott Fraser