Ultrasone headphones
 

I was all set to buy a pair of Sony MDR-7506 for live monitoring on shoots and then came across the Ultrasone, which I had never heard of before. And it really must be a close guarded secret because unless the search button betrayed me, there's not one single mention of those on these boards.

link to the Ultrasone at Trew Audio
link to the Ultrasone Web Site

Apparently, they use a technology that substantially reduces audio fatigue and potential hearing damage by orienting the sound toward the outer ear instead of directly into the ear canal, thus at the same time recreating more accurately the natural hearing experience of the human ear.

That's for the mumbo jumbo from Ultrasone, what I'm really interested in is if they are any good for live monitoring and if they are worth the steep price increase over the 7506 (HFI-700 are around $250 while the Proline 750 are about $400).

Anybody here has heard a bit more about those supposedly revolutionary headphones and can comment on their use in the field?

The Ultrasone is a very high end product, keep in mind no one ever said the Sony's are the best. They are just the standard. Standards rarely are the best....
I've had about 15 mins with these cans on my head, they are very nice, and probably easy to leave on for a long time. Frank Molstad (writer) over on the DMN raves about them; he bought a set.

A lot of people on the RAMPS newsgroup for major cinema audio mixers are going to them. Be aware that there are significant differences between the different Ultrasone models, and they just changed some of their model numbers. In other words you need to know exactly which ones you want and why before you spend that extra dough.

Douglas, although I'm often looking for the best, more than anything, I'm looking for the best bang for the buck. The Sony's at just under $100 seem to hit the sweet spot, but never would I assume they would compete with much higher end products. But there comes a time where any better/higher seems like overkill (according to needs of course). So I'm trying to know if the Ultrasone are indeed overkill for live monitoring on set.

Jay, finding out the "what" and "why" about those phones is exactly what I'm trying to do. ;)

A Lot? What's a lot? While interesting, I don't like them as much as the 7506. I tried the 650 and 750.

I like them but I found their sound indirect to the degree that I found it difficult to feel comfortable.

I did see some phones at Edirol that reminded me a lot of the 7506. They seemed not to have quite the edge of the 7506, but it was end of several long days at NAB.

Regards,

Ty Ford

The Sony MDR-V6 is the cheaper "consumer" version of the MDR-7506. I believe the only differences is that the plug is not gold-plated and the sticker doesn't say "PROFESSIONAL". (As far as I know) the connector plating only matters if it's dirty and has higher than normal resistance... gold doesn't corrode, although it causes some other metals to corrode faster. Essentially the same thing from what I've read. If you do a google search, you should be able to find information on the V6s.

You can also search the forums at http://www.head-fi.org/... lots of people recommend those phones (although for listening). Some people also recommend modding the phones with Beyerdynamic pads for better comfort, although I don't know if that affects things for film/video.

The V6s are discontinued but you can find them at online vendors (try froogle.com) and with online vendors on eBay.

headphones
 

I just bought a pair of AKG K240 Studio (55ohms) after listening many brands/models.

http://www.akg.com/products/powersla...nguage,EN.html

I wanted very flat frequency response as well as good comfort. There is no midrange peak as you can find in some headphones out there... Maybe not as good as high-end Grado stuff, but very near.