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Ultrasone HFI-780


Fungi

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Guest DogFish

I heard those Bose about a month ago when a co-worker brought them in (he has since purchased ESW9s and Yuin PK3s). You should like the 780s just fine, and, hopefully, Ken's mods improved them some.

haha, noooo .... I don't own the Bose.... just being silly! :( RS-1's, L3000, and K701s... and had a bunch of other junk.

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Guest DogFish

Then it's doubtful you will like the 780s unless Ken's mods made drastic improvements.

I agree, it's a $600 dollar chance, but I'm sure I can put em in the FS on head-fi and recoup most of my dough ... :(

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I'll probably get the chance to listen to a ALO modded HFI-780 at a meet this week-end. I've never heard a Ultrasone before so I'm quite curious about hearing one. On H-F, a lot of people love them and here it's pretty much the opposite, so I'll try to make myself an objective opinion. Although I have to say my opinion is already a little bit biased because everything ALO makes is very silly IMO. ;D

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Just got back from the meet and I'm really tired so the impressions will be kept somewhat short but I listened to the 780's today and....I don't like them at all. I don't understand the hype about them after listening to them.

The bass is simply toooooo much. The highs feel more pronounced (didn't think that was possible after hearing many people complaining about the Proline-highs, but it is) and at times they even hurt my ears. The headphones were fully burned in, like had 500hrs on them so that's not the problem. I listened to them via the Larocco and Ipod.

The music I listened to was Talkie Walkie from Air, some stuff from Pleymo to check out how they handle the metal-part and to see how they would cope with more 'busy' music. I also listened to Pink Floyd.

With Air, the song was Alone in Kyoto for example, it sounded not too bad except for the bass. Compared to the Proline 750's they are less transparant, have more pronounced mids and highs and because of that I think it's more difficult to listen to each part in the music seperately which is something I really like about the 750's. (I don't know if it's because of that, I'm not knowlegable enough to describe it properly I guess).

I decided to feed them Pleymo which is really heavy stuff, with lots of different things in it to see how they would handle it. Disgusting. The bass went real low but it sounded muddy and absolutely awfull. Way too much there. You have a certain string in one song which was so piercing they hurt my ears. They have absolutely no control when it gets heavier in the music. The 750's are much calmer to listen to and you can focus on everything seperately without losing harmony. Their bass is not bloated and stays very controlled whatever you throw at them. Yes, I am a 750 fangirl, simply because I like them. If you find the 750's to bright or not like fun and because of that you wanna hear/have the 780's please look into the Proline 650's. Much more pleasant to the ears.

I also don't understand why they are being compared with the ED9's, they are totally different animals. Qua presentation of sound, control and transparancy the Prolines resemble them way more.

Oh, one good thing about them, they were really comfy!

P.S. please forgive my noobish way of descibing my impressions, but I hope they make sense and you can catch my drift.

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Guest DogFish

LOL! I was wondering the same thing.

BTW, Indra, I believe it was the alo modded 780s being compared to the Ed. 9s.. I assume you were listening to stock 780s?

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BTW, Indra, I believe it was the alo modded 780s being compared to the Ed. 9s.. I assume you were listening to stock 780s?

That could be. I must have read over that detail. It's the stock one I listened to but I can't imagine a recable will solve their issues and make them sound like an ed9. But ofcourse, hearing is believing and since I haven't I won't debate that.

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Is 20 gauge copper wire with poor solder connections really going to improve the sound?

ALO also changes the internals a bit, I think dampening material? Not sure, but it's not just a recable. But then again if you're not a doofus you should be able to do the mods on your own. Like the markl mod. Maybe the modded HFI-780 can become the world's second finest dynamic headphone with enough Dynamat.

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P.S. please forgive my noobish way of descibing my impressions, but I hope they make sense and you can catch my drift.

Good, non-noobish impressions Indra. Completely consistent with the only other people I know and trust who have heard them.

Oh, and I really like that Talkie Walkie album by Air. One of the few things worthwhile I learned about form a deadbeat French boyfriend of my niece. :laugh:

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ALO also changes the internals a bit, I think dampening material? Not sure, but it's not just a recable. But then again if you're not a doofus you should be able to do the mods on your own. Like the markl mod. Maybe the modded HFI-780 can become the world's second finest dynamic headphone with enough Dynamat.

Group buy on dynamat and cotton balls. Oh yes electrostats don't need mods to sound good :sadcat::police:

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Good, non-noobish impressions Indra. Completely consistent with the only other people I know and trust who have heard them.

Oh, and I really like that Talkie Walkie album by Air. One of the few things worthwhile I learned about form a deadbeat French boyfriend of my niece. :laugh:

Thanx! Talkie Walkie is awesome indeed. The ed9 delivers it perfectly ;)

ALO indeed does more than just a recable, I forgot for a sec. So yes, that should probably alter the sound way more. Would like to hear that for myself to find out how much of a differ it really makes.

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