The coolest looking headphones

Q: What do you think the coolest looking headphones are?

A: From a "look ma, I'm in a sci-fi movie" perspective, the Sennheiser HD800, which is certainly the most distinctive headphone out there today.

from an "old world cool" perspective, the Audio Technica ATH-ESW9 has always reminded me of the New Yankee Workshop, except for headphones.

From a "wow that craftsmanship is incredible" perspective = the Fostex TH900. Unless you have seen it IRL you will not fully realize how awesome the urushi is.

But for sheer luxury, you have to go with the Ultrasone Edition 10, with its zebrano wood and lambskin it looks like something you would find in an art deco museum in Miami.

Review: Ultrasone Edition 10

"The best headphones ever!" I read recently online. The Ultrasone Edition 10 headphones certainly meet the criteria for audiophile goodness. Huge price tag (over $2000!), limited to only 2010 pieces (each of which has its own serial number), extraordinary level of hype when they were introduce, glowing reviews from the few who were fortunate enough to listen to one.....they must sound absolutely fabulous, right?

Well, these headphones look gorgeous. They will certainly make you feel cool as you roll in your 1936 Ford down Ocean Drive in South Beach, Miami, but a critical issue will reduce your overall level of enjoyment, despite the "butterfly-inspired design", the Zebrano wood, and the Ethiopian sheepskin leather earcup covers (I "kid" you not!) that are featured in these headphones.

And the problem, simply put, is this: The S-Logic technology kills the sound more thoroughly than a Klingon warrior with a bat'leth.

The drivers are positioned weirdly, somewhere waaay below where my ears are, and I have normal size ears positioned where normal humans grow ears (I can confidently say that if you were Abe Sapien from "Hellboy" the Edition 10 would fit you just right). And even if it did fit (or probably because it did not), the S-logic just makes everything sound so weird. It just plain sounds wrong.

You must be either [a] mad or [b] have more money to throw around than Warren Buffet to buy the Ultrasone Edition 10, no matter how gorgeous they look, and no matter how high the hype level is. I mean, you could do better by buying a used Ford Festiva for the same kind of money. You wouldn't look as cool driving down a busy Miami street, but you would certainly sound better.

The moral of the story: just because they are expensive and are finely crafted using exotic materials by  dwarves in Moria, does not necessarily mean that they sound as fantastic as they look.