Ultrasone HFI-2200

Summary

The Ultrasone HFI-2200 headphones are a set of home theater over-ears currently available for $300. Their aesthetic is a bit different from the usual monochrome of today’s headphones, but if you want under-stated and different, the HFI-2200s will meet your needs. The HFI-2200 headphones also have an interesting trick: they can fold up into themselves. This is great to minimize their size for travel, and also for DJs who want to mix with one ear.

Frequency Response (3.81)

The HFI-2200 headphones had a pretty good frequency response for the most part, but the high end is dramatically under-emphasized. Things to look out far are long, sharp slopes, either up or down. Such features indicate a large gain or drop in decibel level over a small frequency range. That means an instrument could sound muted at times and normal at others, depending on what note its playing. In this case, as a sound approaches the high end, it will quickly decrease in volume for a bit, then spring back to normal.

Aside from the odd behavior towards the right side of the graph, however, the HFI-2200 performed rather well. The bass receives a bit of a boost, which anyone would notice the second they put these headphones on. We were surprised to see the mid-tones so evenly emphasized, since the bass seemed so boomy. The fallibility of our human ears is exactly why we use HATS and its robot ears.

The HFI-2200’s response curve looked a lot like the Grado SR60s. In both, the bass is slightly emphasized, the mid-section is a bit choppy, and there’s a bit of a drop off towards the high end. Unfortunately for the HFI-2200s, however, the drop off occurs within our scoring limits. The Pioneer SE-A1000 headphones also had a bit of a downward slope at the high end, but again, the valley came in the really high end. The Sennheiser HD 555s have a weaker bass (probably due to their open-backed design) and also have some under-emphasized frequencies towards the higher end, but they response never strays quite as far away as it does on the HFI-2200s. The same goes for the iGrados. The QC2s’ graph looks like it has the flu. It’s under-emphasized, erratic, and the HFI-2200 looks great in comparison.

In terms of all headphones, the HFI-2200s are just slightly below the current average score of 4.08. Not bad, but certainly not great.

Headphones	Score	Frequency Response
Ultrasone HFI-2200	3.81
Pioneer SE-A1000	7.93
Grado Labs SR60	5.37
Sennheiser HD 555	3.44
Bose QuietComfort 2	1.92

Distortion (3.97)

Overall, there wasn’t much distortion on the HFI-2200s. Towards the lower end, there were some issues, with the right channel almost hitting 2% distortion. Once the frequency climbed out of the realm of bass, however, distortion leveled off. There was a small bump towards the high-middle frequencies, but other than that the HFI-2200s did all right.

Other than the Sennheisers, which had virtually no distortion (towards the extreme low end the graph gets choppy, but we’ve since stopped scoring below 100 Hz), most headphones tend to score around what the HFI-2200s did. While a picky audiophile might demand better performance, the HFI-2200s should be fine for most consumers.

Headphones	Score	Distortion
Ultrasone HFI-2200	3.97
Pioneer SE-A1000	2.75
Grado Labs SR60	5.59
Sennheiser HD 555	13.33
Bose QuietComfort 2	6.98

Tracking (8.93)

For the overwhelming majority of the graph, the HFI-2200 was just within a few decibels of even-handed playback. Once it got towards the high-end, however, the tracking gets a bit erratic. This is normal behavior, however. Really, we don’t have any complaints. Unless our pair of HFI-2200s was a fluke, you should never get the sensation that your playback is weighted towards the left or right.

It’s easy to see why a few of the headphones performed worse than the HFI-2200 on this test: the left part of the graph curves upward or downward, indicating it isn’t on an even keel. The Pioneer SE-A1000s also have a flat line initially, but towards the end their spike is far more pronounced than anything the HFI-2200 shows.

Headphones	Score	Tracking
Ultrasone HFI-2200	8.93
Pioneer SE-A1000	6.54
Grado Labs SR60	7.14
Sennheiser HD 555	5.59
Bose QuietComfort 2	5.65

Maximum Usable Volume (6.41)

The Ultrasone HFI-2200 headphones were capable of outputting 104.94 decibels. A good score would fall between closer to 120 decibels. Still, 104.94 decibels isn’t a terrible score. Mainstream users who don’t have to drown out a noisy bus commute should find this level adequate. If you are seriously hell-bent on ruining your hearing, sorry, but the HFI-2200s aren’t the best option.

Isolation (1.37)

The HFI-2200 headphones did poorly on this test. We’re guessing the main reason they weren’t able to block out much noise was because cloth forms a very poor seal with skin. It leaves all sorts of nooks, crannies, and passageways that air and sound can pass through. Cloth-covered headphones are notoriously bad at keeping external sound out.

Compare any of the headphones’ scores and graphs below to the QuietComfort 2s’ score and graph. Don’t even look at the active cancellation curve. See how much better the QC2s are at passive cancellation? They have a faux-leather padding, whereas the others all have cloth or foam padding. Of course, a poor seal isn’t the only culprit here. The SR60s, iGrados, and HD 555s all have open or semi-open backs, so sound can just waft right through your headphones and into your ears.

Compared to other cloth-padded headphones, the HFI-2200s actually didn’t do half bad. If you want isolation, however, cloth is not the way to go.

Headphones	Score	Isolation
Ultrasone HFI-2200	1.37
Pioneer SE-A1000	0.53
Grado Labs SR60	0.07
Sennheiser HD 555	1.18
Bose QuietComfort 2	6.17

Leakage (3.00)

The HFI-2200 headphones tended to leak more sound that we’d like. We attribute this, again, to the cloth padding, and the poor seal cloth makes against skin. A weak seal means noise can easily escape from the miniature soundstage the cups create around your ears. If you’re listening to music at a moderate level, someone next to you on the bus or train will be able to make it out. Forget about taking these to a library.