I wanted to post this earlier, but I had class, so here is my rant on ultrasone. First off,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L34S4Tt1EuQ for the lulz. All graphs were taken from changstar.com unless noted otherwise. Do not compare graphs taken from different websites, as each website measures their headphones different and use different compensations.
Lets start with the
$1500 Ultrasone Edition8 Palladium.
Take a look at its frequency response.
Aside from the driver mismatch, look at how many peaks and dips there are within the treble region after 5k. The unevenness of the treble region will cause awkward transitions and as a result, the treble can sound piercing. Aside from the treble region, the rest of the FR is quite uneven, and look at that bass! Lets take a look at the Cumulative Decay Spectrum for further proof.
Yikes, very uneven, isn't it? Ideally the treble should decay quickly, or around the same time so that you will not hear resonance, or ringing. Slow decay in the treble region will cause the treble to linger around for longer than it's supposed to, and will thus lead to piercing treble. This isn't as bad as a few other ultrasones but I will get to them later.
Now for comparison, lets take a look at the
hd800's measurements ($1500).
With a simple mod (the anax mod), we get a very clean and even frequency response. No peaks or dips to note of at all. And the CSD? Absolutely clean.
How about something cheaper? Take a look at the
mdr-v6 (usually more around $65)
Even the $65 mdr-v6 pulls off a cleaner FR and CSD than the ultrasone edition 8.
Now perhaps the worst offender in the ultrasone line, the
pro 900.
Just look at the bass (200hz and below). WTF. Theres even more bass on the pro 900 than the Beats. Heck, I'll take a pair of beats studios or pros over these any day. Then look at the rest of the FR. Uneven mids, and a ridiculous treble dip at ~5.3khz, and then a treble spike at 6-7khz. To quote Purrin (founder of changstar.com), "The 5 sec rule is safer than 5 secs listening to these". I've personally tried them at a store, and he's completely right. Don't EVER play any sibilant or treble heavy music on these pair of headphones. Just ridiculous for a $400 pair of headphones.
Now onto the $145
ultrasone DJ1.
Graphs taken from goldenears.net
Now if you can't interpret how they sound like from FR and CSD, lemme tell you how they sound like.
COMPLETE TRASH. Just look at that wonky, uneven frequency response. WTF IS THAT. THen take a look at the CSD. That delicious resonance at 4khz. So basically, from personal experience of trying them out, and from the CSD, every sound that comes out from these pair of headphones sound like they have a cavernous sound to them. All the notes take forever to decay. Your the initial note, and then you hear another second of the note bouncing off the walls of a cave. Disgusting.
TL;DR/Summary
The price that ultrasone charges for their headphones is ludicrous. All you get for your money is ridiculously bad bass, or hearing damage from the treble spikes. Don't waste your money on ultrasones. There are so many headphones out there that cost less than ultrasones, and sound so much better.
If you read through my whole rant and explanation, thank you very much. I hope this was informative, as it took me quite a while to type up.