Ultrasone HFI-780 S-Logic Professional Headphones Review
I’m traditionally a day to day user of the rather excellent Sennheiser HD-280 Pro
At first appearances the Ultrasone HFI-780s look rather nice with a rugged looking head and solid brushed chrome ear pieces, they are a fully foldable model and so can be made quite compact for storage but not quite small enough to put in your pockets. I dont think you can really get away with wearing these cans outside, but they are quite comfortable for long periods of time connected to a hi fi or computer, though they did occasionally make my ears sweat a bit. They have a solid and professional feel and certainly give you the impression that they are in the game for the long haul. If the internal components are as rugged as the headphones themselves then they should last a careful user many many years.
The HFI-780s have several Ultrasone developed technologies such as S-Logic Plus, ULE and safer hearing. Lets dig deeper into each of these in turn. The S-Logic Plus functionality according to the Ultrasone website “S-Logicâ„¢ Plus is the newest advancement in the S-Logicâ„¢ Natural Surround System…. The acoustically redesigned ear-cups of these new models and their tonal fine-tuning result in a most neutral sound impression with more vivid perception of voices and instruments.”
Now to you and me that might sound like an unmitigated load of marketing spiel but to be honest I really do believe that I could perceive a far greater width of soundstage and and almost 3 dimensional surround experience on some passages of music. I also found that HFI-780s added a lot to my spacial awareness when playing Far Cry 2 and Left 4 Dead. So a good result as regards their claimed surround enhancements.
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ULE, Ultrasone explain is a system to shield the wearer from the inevitable magnetic and other radiation that occurs in the headphones due to the operation of the headphone coils. They claim a reduction of up to 98% of the relevant radiation. Up to this point I’ll admit I’ve never thought of it as being a problem, all I can say is my head didn’t feel like it was being irradiated when I was using these cans 
The 780s also claim they give the user a safer hearing experience by using superior components to allow a reduction of sound pressure on the ears by up to 40% at a set perceived listening volume. I certainly felt that these phones lived to that claim having excellent long session comfort. I definitely experienced a very low amount of ear fatigue during extended sessions with the Ultrasone headphones.
As regards general sound qualities of the HFI-780 headphones. They are what you would expect from a set of pro headphones in this price range. Excellent overall dynamics and audio frequency range (an exceptional 10-26,000Hz). I found the highs on these phones particularly crisp and very clear but again without actually being hard on the ears. This is no mean feat. The bottom end is very well defined and have quite a kick. Boom lovers will find these headphones more than a match for anything they care to throw at them. Needless to say I am very impressed with the sonic characteristics of these cans. I cant off the top of my head think of a better pair for anywhere near this price.
Manufacturers Specifications
- S-Logicâ„¢ Natural Surround Sound Plus
- Dynamic principle
- Frequency range 10-26.000 Hz
- Impedance 35 Ohm
- Sound pressure level 96 dB
- Reduced field emissions in accordance with ULE (=Ultra Low Emission) standard
- Driver 40 mm gold-plated
- Weight 285 g (without cord)
- Straight cord (length ca 3m)
- 3,5/6,3 mm screwable gold-plated plug
- Come with Transportation bag, Demo CD, Instruction manual
- Spare parts are available on a long term basis
- RRP: $279.00 (Check Current Pricing on Amazon
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Tags: Headphones, Ultrasone HFI-780 Posted in: Headphones
One Response
Thanks for the review. It sounded simple and honest. I definitely would like to purchase these. Now, if only I had some money. <_<
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