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Author Topic: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)  (Read 1700 times)

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Hands

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Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« on: January 14, 2014, 04:56:20 PM »
Lately, I've been looking for comfortable and light, laid-back, good closed headphones. The UE6000 crossed my mind, and I noticed you can find them around $85-95 new these days. I had originally heard positive things about these headphones from Tyll's review:

http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/surprisingly-good-logitec-ue6000-and-ue9000

I think "surprisingly good" is apt, especially with their current going price.

First, the UE6000 is one of those headphones that really needs to be given a good 10-20 minutes of time on your head for the ear pads to soften up for the best fit and seal. Without a good seal, they'll sound anywhere between not great and weird. To my ears, they sound more veiled and bassy "cold" than once the pads warm up and you find that good fit.

The UE6000 is on the bassier, warmer, more laid-back and fun side, though I can't say I think they sound as veiled as Tyll's measurements would indicate. And while the transition from bass to mids or mids to treble isn't always perfectly seamless, there is a nice sense of coherency, smoothness, and naturalness to the sound overall despite the sound signature. The headphones sound like they have a pretty clean response (ringing and distortion), so most everything comes through nicely. Occasionally the bass will start to crowd things out a bit, but not terribly so.

They are lacking in air and space but not necessarily in overall clarity. While sounds can easily be differentiated and separated, everything sounds like it's being played inside your head or a very small room, so those looking for a wide, deep, and/or tall sound need not apply.

Comfort is pretty good. They're not too heavy and fit well. Those with very large heads might have trouble with fit, and those with really large ears might find the pads too small. The only real issue I have is that my ears can feel cramped after a while. I do think the headband could use more padding for long listening sessions, but I have a sensitive man-baby head. Build quality is pretty good, not bulletproof, and I do like them looks and them feels of the headphone itself.

Noise cancellation doesn't do a whole lot and makes the headphone sound like shit. Oh well.

For my tastes, I've found them to be a damn good buy for less than $100. I'd try modding them a bit to get that extra bit of sound quality out of them, but the pads are adhered to the baffle. The adhesive material looks replaceable and might even be "reusable," but I just don't feel like messing with it currently. I think Logitech should release a headphone with this driver and a more optimized enclosure. Completely passive, no noise cancellation or any of that BS. Either way, I was happy enough with the UE6000 that it compelled me to bring them up. I've tried them from my phone and more dedicated setups. All worked just fine. The headphones fold up and come with a nice carrying bag/case. The stock cable has the inline controls and mic for smartphones.

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OJneg

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Re: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2014, 05:25:28 PM »
Your blown-up avatar will haunt my dreams tonight.

Thanks for the impressions  :)p2
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Questhate

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Re: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2014, 09:24:09 PM »
I got these when they went on clearance at Best Buy a while back, hoping to supplant my M-80's since they'd be more comfortable since they're full sized. I like the bass tilt for my portables, but there's a sharpness throughout the midrange that made vocals too nasally which was ultimately a dealbreaker for me. I agree the mid-treble transition was a bit wonky, but overall not too bad in coherency all things considered.

But I agree, for under $100, they're not bad at all. I prefer them to the Sennheiser Momentums that I replaced them with which cost about twice as much.
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Re: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2014, 04:10:19 AM »
Hm, a sharpness I have not noticed. They sound fairly smooth and don't bother my ears. Could be an area I'm less sensitive to and/or product variation. But to prefer them over the well-received Momentums is not bad at all.

Edit: BTW, I do have more to my artwork collection that I hope to share in future posts on this site. 8)
« Last Edit: January 15, 2014, 04:35:21 AM by hans030390 »
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Re: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2014, 05:22:21 PM »
What happens when you turn up the volume? How does that affect the sound quality?
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Hands

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Re: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2014, 06:21:26 PM »
Quote from: purrin on January 15, 2014, 05:22:21 PM
What happens when you turn up the volume? How does that affect the sound quality?

OK, I didn't want to comment on this originally because I've often read humans perceive louder as better, but I think these might actually sound better when turned up. Tyll's THD measurements could be indicative of that.

Another point I wanted to clarify is regarding the noise cancellation. One reason it doesn't do much is that they already isolate fairly well in passive mode. It's also just not a super great implementation from what I can tell. Much wub wub. So disappoint. It stays off and I don't have to spend extra on batteries.
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Questhate

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Re: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2014, 06:25:14 PM »
Quote from: hans030390 on January 15, 2014, 04:10:19 AM
Hm, a sharpness I have not noticed. They sound fairly smooth and don't bother my ears. Could be an area I'm less sensitive to and/or product variation. But to prefer them over the well-received Momentums is not bad at all.

Oh sorry, I meant sharpness in timbre -- as in tinny/nasally/metallic quality, rather than any sort of harshness. I remember thinking they were smooth overall as well, though it's been a while since I've heard them.

The Momentums were a bit more resolving if I recall correctly, but insanely boring. Overly smoothed and lacking dynamics. I wonder if people would be interested in a loaner tour for them
« Last Edit: January 15, 2014, 06:46:36 PM by Questhate »
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Hands

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Re: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2014, 06:27:13 PM »
I would like to listen to/borrow the Momentum. Wasn't willing to pay $300, especially after reports they were a bit small.

I will have to take a closer listen to see if I can identify what you heard.
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Re: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2014, 11:02:10 AM »
I think I've identified the issue with the timbre you were referring to. It's slight and, IMO, well within the bounds of being "acceptable." With the help of Tyll's measurements and some EQ, I think this is primarily caused by the depression centered around 400Hz and a tiny spike around 4KHz. That 200-800Hz area contains a lot of spacial information and contributes to a sense of presence with many instruments, I think, so that might explain the nasally quality. The slight peak around 4KHz gives a slight metallic edge to the sound.

At least, EQing these areas to compensate seems to make a positive difference, and the characteristics you mentioned become apparent if you A/B with and without EQ. I'm actually really liking how these sound with EQ, and I think they'd be great for long, relaxing listening sessions (not so much for critical listening). Still, the "stock" sound is quite easy to adapt to and not really annoying. For the price, I'm not going to complain, but I could understand if someone wasn't a fan of it. I would like to re-listen to the M50 and see how these compare, because I want to say I'd take the UE6000 over the M50 even at the same price (this is based on what I remember from owning the M50 a couple years back, and I could have had one of the poorer sounding revisions).

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Re: Logitech UE6000 (Impressions)
« Reply #9 on: January 19, 2014, 05:22:05 AM »
A few updates. First, I didn't notice MuppetFace's UE6000 impressions until very recently (good stuff): http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,1128.msg30104.html#msg30104

Second, I took a risk and peek inside the headphone cups. The ear pads are a pain to get on and off, and there's a good chance removing them even a few times will necessitate replacing the adhesive material (could use double sided tape like with jergpads, so it's more of a hassle and less of a problem). The front baffle has a few ports below the driver with a fairly thin material over them. The driver is enclosed in a relatively small space, and appears to have ports on the backside of that small internal enclosure. Doesn't seem like these have the best modding potential, but it looks like Logitech put much more thought into these tuning these than just throwing some drivers in empty cups. Though, I do think you probably could get the drivers to work really well in a larger cup with the right damping (i.e. good transplant candidate, perhaps).

Third, the odd shape of the cups and ear pads puts some pressure below my ear and on my jaw that can become uncomfortable after long listening sessions. Others might notice this as well. The clamping force isn't terrible overall, though. I'm trying to see if the headphones respond to being stretched out.
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