Ultrasone and iCans Headphone Reviews

Let's back up some. A few years ago we began reading about headphones from Ultrasone, a German company that was of all things... touting sound quality! You see, in this day and age so many of yesterday's higher quality headphone manufacturers have become so big, they've resorted to typical mass market practices. They seem to rely on packaging, buzzwords, saturation at thousands of retailers, slim margins for retailers, and an endless parade of new models. Heaven forbid they actually pay attention to providing better sound quality?

Enter Ultrasone. I don't know too much about them other than their German origin and they are bragging about their sound quality? First impression... they too seem to be doing the buzzword thing? S-Logic! This is their trade marked term and here is their explanation of it... "S-logic™ creates a natural three-dimensional sound field that gives the listener more depth to their music." Further, they're explanation goes on to say they are aiming the transducers at the pinnea instead of directly down the ear canal. Well, this reviewer off the top of his head could think of at least four companies in the past that had angled transducers and a similar concept, (and I'm talking at least a decade ago... Stax, Sennheiser, Sony, AKG....). I guess those companies just didn't think to patent the concept?

Another angle Ultrasone has taken is EMF shielding. You may recall a few years back some flack cell phone manufacturers were getting concerning magnetic field emissions close to the ears. Apparently, according to Ultrasone, there may be some of this stuff associated with headphones as well? Ultrasone even has two versions of some of their headphones based on EMF shielding. They say their LE headphones limit such emissions to 50% compared to other brands of headphones while their ULE and ProLine series limit it to 98%. I guess this is a good thing? However, the concern with cell phones has seemed to pass and the press no longer seems to be interested? And I don't ever recall seeing anything in print concerning headphones with this issue?

Now the most important subject, how do the the Ultrasone headphones sound? We did obtain four headphones from them a few years back. Yes, they were good headphones. But, to our ears they weren't revolutionary. We did like the "Closed" HFI 550. We've not been impressed with many closed Cans in the past and the 550 seemed to be a good one compared with other closed headphones in the under $200 price range. The HFI 700 was also good for a closed Can. But at it's over $200 price it seemed kind of spendy given it's minimal improvement over the 550? The HFI 15G really didn't impress us at all. It's a portable sized headphone that doesn't fold down and has a super long cord, (i.e. not portable length). Price wise, it cost a little more than a Grado SR80 and sound quality wise didn't even come close to the less expensive Grado SR60. The forth headphone we tested has since been discontinued, but it sold for $250, was a semi-open full sized headphone with pretty good sound quality, but seemed built somewhat cheaply and didn't sit on the ears very well? Bottom line though, Ultrasone's claims of "Natural Surround Sound" didn't even seem to be a factor? To us, their headphones sounded like headphones and were easily comparable to other brands of headphones. To us, some of the models from other brands sounded as good, or better. Don't get me wrong. Ultrasone is obviously using good transducers and getting some good sound quality. But to this Grado affectionado who's been listening to great headphones for over a decade, Ultrasone doesn't appear to have revolutionized the headphone business, but rather, added a new good manufacturer capable of good sound quality.

Ultrasone iCans with Can Ultrasone iCans - What prompted this review is a more recent headphone that was introduced by Ultrasone a year or two ago. The iCan! It is a fairly spendy portable headphone obviously aimed at the ever popular portable music player market, (surely you've heard of the iPod!). It goes for around $130 and like most Ultrasone's, is very rarely discounted. The iCan we are reviewing is finished with a nice combination of chrome and black, (they also come in a couple other colors including obnoxious white). The headphone comes in a nice metal container which at first seemed appropriate for a product with the word "Can" in the name. But quickly I thought about how this product is a portable headphone and the not so small can/container, (approx. 6"x4"x2"), is not something I would want to take through security at an airport? The headphone does fold down fairly small, though not quite as small as the Koss PortaPro or the Sennheiser PX100, (our two favorite portable headphones that both go for around $50 to $60).

Initially, I had difficulties figuring out how to put the headphone on properly? Turned out the earpieces slide down, which was not obvious looking at the headphone. And the sliding was so stiff, it didn't seem like a good thing to force when I didn't know for sure that's what I should be doing, (the limited instructions didn't show this). That said, the stiff sliding probably is a good thing, (might last a while). Once the headphones were properly on, I was somewhat disappointed with the comfort level. They weren't uncomfortable as they are light in weight, but rather they sit a little funny on my head and ears? No amount of adjusting seemed to fix this?

Sound quality: Again, these are good sounding headphones. But they should be given the premium price! Detail is quite good. But still, since they sit flat on the ear, the depth of the sound was no where near as good as my reference Grado SR80's. (FYI, the Grado's are not portable headphones but rather mid-sized Cans that happen to be popular for use with portable players because they're easy to drive.) And though the outside of the headphones are closed, (no grill like open headphones have), sound does leak in and out. I did some comparison with a Koss PortaPro and I did hear a bit more detail from the iCan in all ranges.

Bottom Line: I'm torn! I don't know if I really like this headphone? While it does sound slightly better than the $50 portable headphones, it's $130 price tag makes me want to compare it to a Grado SR60 or SR80 to which it doesn't match up. Yes, I know it's more of a portable headphone, so I guess it's a good headphone for that. But still, the over sized storage can isn't traveler friendly and I wish it was more comfortable and fit my head better, (BTW, the Koss PortaPro is one of the most comfortable pairs of headphones I've ever owned). I'm going to live with this headphone for a little while longer to see if it grows on me?

Ultrasone Headphones and iCans .....

I think I Can. I think iCan?

Is Ultrasone the little company that could?

by Bill Keyser