Ultrasone iCans Headphones

Reviews: Multimedia

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Mark Korff
Kurtis
Ultrasone
Dec. 17, 2006

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Testing

For the audio testing portion of this review, I hooked the iCans up to my PC in order to provide the best audio source possible and maintain consistency with my previous reviews. It's worth mentioning before we go any further however that the iCans are definitely not intended for this kind of home use since they only come with a 4' cord which won't be long enough to reach the soundcard in many situations. The shorter cord length is very welcome when used with a portable media player however, so you really can't fault Ultrasone for that design decision.

Once I rearranged my PC so it was close enough to get the iCans plugged in, I sat back and listened to a variety of familiar music and games. While I certainly wasn't expecting the same kind of quality I had enjoyed from the iCans big brother, the PROLine 650, I couldn't help but be at least slightly disappointed with what I heard. Not surprisingly, the largest difference was the lack of the low, growling bass that was a strong point of the 650. The iCans felt more than a little anemic in comparison.

The mid and high tones weren't as drastically different as the bass, but still not nearly as compelling as the same tones played by the 650. I know it's not fair to just compare a portable pair of headphones that can be found online for approximately $120 shipped (as of 12/2006) to the PROLine 650 which sells for over twice that price (even if they are made by the same company), which is why I also compared them to an el-cheapo pair of Jensen behind-the-head portable headphones I use at work, and bought at Blockbuster for $15 on a whim. To be honest, the difference in overall audio quality between the pair of Jensens and the iCans was embarrassingly small. The iCans provided slightly better bass, and more accurate tones across all tonal frequencies, but not by nearly as much as I would've expected considering they cost eight times as much.

The biggest claim to fame the iCans can boast is that they deliver the same unique features as Ultrasones PROLine series, specifically the S-Logic™ Natural Surround Sound technology, and reduced low frequency electromagnetic radiation that I've mentioned previously and covered in greater detail in the PROLine 650 review. The S-Logic™ technology in particular was quite noticeable in the iCans in that they provide a more "open" sound than most conventional headphones. In my testing of the PROLine 650 I felt that this technology was a nice enhancement to the product, but perhaps due mostly to the differences in physical design, the iCans didn't seem to benefit quite as much from S-Logic™ technology although it was still noticeable.

While the 650 completely encloses both ears, the iCans ear pads rest directly on the outer ear, and do nothing to provide any sound isolation of their own. In retrospect, it seems as though the benefits of S-Logic™ with the PROLine 650 were significantly enhanced due to their closed back design, but since the iCans lack that design feature, the sense of "openness" also ends up coming across more washed out and muddied, especially if there is any background noise present whatsoever because the iCans don't block any external sounds.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Impressions
Page 3: Testing
Page 4: Conclusion

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