German-based Ultrasone is debuting its newest headphones with a wily concept that's a perfect recipe for success during these economy-crippled times: An elegant, super high-end design that includes interior ear cups covered in Ethiopian sheepskin, an exterior base made out of ruthenium metal, and gold-plated plugs. And a $1500 price tag.
Clearly, this is a serious attempt on the company's behalf to trick buyers into getting their butts kicked on the subway.
Granted, the technology behind Ultrasone's Edition 8 headphones suggests these headphones are more valuable than the regular gadgety street-wear. They feature the company's new proprietary S-Logic Plus tech, which builds natural, full-bodied surround sound, boosting the quality of audio accuracy detail. Its 40mm titanium-plated driver (with a neodymium magnet) feature a frequency range of 6 Hz to 42 kHz.
This means that if you were indeed thinking about investing in these cans, you'd be smart to listen to lossless audio instead of the tight MP3 files you're used to carrying around. And you'd probably want to set-up a nice, quiet room where you can fully appreciate the difference in audio. Chances are, you already have this room if you have that chunk of change to invest in headphones. From the top of my head, for that amount of money, a smarter investment would be a Macbook Pro, a High-end digital camcorder, or a Canon 450D DSLR.
Putting aside economic matters, these headphones have another high-end feature that's interesting, and if proven true through testing, could be quite great. The cans' S-Logic tech reduces 40% of the sound pressure that other headphones in its class use to regularly beat down on the ear drum (its sound pressure level goes to 96 dB).
Considering that the PMP-crappy headphone combo era is nearing the end of its first full decade, it's good to know engineers are trying to figure out how to improve audio quality without blowing our brains off. And that's more important than a pretty mirror-finish surface.
The Ultrasone Edition 8 headphones will be available in March 2009.
Photos: Ultrasone
