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For a little over a month now, I have been dragging my toes in publishing this review because I knew that as soon as I was finished, I would have to return the loaner pair of headphones that Ultrasone sent me. I’m still hoping that I can figure out a way soon to call a pair of these beauties my own. Yes, that’s right. I am hooked.

I was really excited when I found out that Ultrasone, the German based headphone manufacturer, had agreed to send us a pair of their premium HFI-580 S-Logic headphones. I had been reading about their Natural Surround Sound technology online and became intrigued. “How can you simulate surround sound in a pair of headphones?” you may ask (because I did). Well, by tilting the driver at an angle to your ear instead of driving sound waves directly at your poor little eardrums, Ultrasone’s S-Logic technology actually lets your ears do most of the work. The audio is bounced off of your pinnae (look it up if you need to but it means outer ear) much like natural occurring sounds. This helps your full ear do its job in perceiving where sound is coming from, just like it does as your are walking down the street.

The HFI-580 is a circumaural set of beyond full range drivers (10HZ-22kHZ) that come housed in a ridiculously comfortable shell. The semi-flexible headpiece creates a good seal between your head and the cans without squeezing your head and is fully height adjustable as well. The headphones are also fully collapsible so as to be able to be transported without the need for too much space.

Upon first listen I was really taken by surprise. Everything sounded different, and also quite a bit quieter than my regular pair of Sennheisers. It only took me a few different test listens before I figured out what it was that was sounding so strange. My normal perception of audio when listing thru headphones was that the sound was being played inside of my skull. Things could still be panned and placed, but they always seemed to emanate from just behind my eyes. With the Ultrasone’s on, it opens up the whole world around you for potential placement of origin. It actually sounds like a left panned snare drum is being played somewhere down by your left hand. It was a striking thing to realize that I was hearing more of the space between all the sounds origins than I had ever heard before thru headphones. With more space to play with and the astounding clarity of the drivers, I quickly became hooked and have even shunned my normal pair of phones for these in regular day-to-day activity.

I have also found that I can listen to louder signals and to signals for longer periods of time without the fatigue normal headphones give me. The indirect sound waves decrease the sound pressure by up to 40% according to the manual and this lets your crank up the signal another 3-4db and really hear all the little subtleties of your audio.

No matter what your audio listening need, The Ultrasone S-Logic Headphones are a winning selection. I’ve heard audio in a completely new way, and I’m not sure just how I’m going to be able to go back.

Ultrasone headphones come in three different lines, the Pro line for Audio Engineers, the DJ line for DJ’s obviously, and the HFI line for general audiophiles. Pricing and availability can be accessed thru the Ultrasone website.