Ultrasone Edition 15 Veritas

The facts

This is a closed, wired dynamic over-ear headphone based on an elaborate gold foil membrane with an integrated, centred titanium dome. The gold-plated part of the Mylar diaphragm is responsible for the reproduction of the low and mid frequencies, while the extremely stiff and lightweight titanium covers the high-frequency range.

Ultrasone’s patented S-Logic EX driver capsule arrangement is used to provide a natural hearing experience. This is accompanied by an improved loudness response, which protects the hearing by reducing the sound pressure level.

Only the best is good enough when it comes to the case, too. The headphones use micro velour padding attached via magnets with an outer shell made of soft Merino leather, while the outside of the drivers is trimmed with cherry wood and engraved aluminium.

The headphones are packed in a stylish, leather-covered slipcase. It contains two connection cables that are connected on both sides of the driver, screwed to the Lemo connector and are prepared for symmetrical operation. The shorter cable has a gold-plated 3.5 mm mini-jack plug, while the longer cable variant also works with a mini-jack, but with a 6.3 mm screw attachment. Cushions and cables are, of course, interchangeable.

Practice

The wearing comfort is high due to the strong padding around the auricles and the adjustable headband, so they are suitable for long listening sessions. In addition, the closed construction offers a perfectly adequate external insulation. There is not much more to say, because the focus is on the…

Sound

The primary playing device in this test was a MacBook Pro with Ultrasone Panther headphone amplifier/DA converter, which fed the Edition 15 Veritas via the 3.5 mm jack output with a wide variety of titles.

The demand for headphones of this price class is high and the listening impression is indeed impressive. The present range of the middle and high frequencies and the fantastic detail resolution are immediately noticeable. Acoustic instruments, voices and central frequencies in the mix are clearly defined according to the production. The headphones themselves don’t have any harshness or “mid-noises” unless they’re already part of the mix. At the same time, the limits of harsh recordings are explored in detail rather than being glossed over.

There is also a “silvery” airiness in the heights, which you encounter in this form only in headphones in the upper price range. The fast transient imaging offers emphasis in a positive sense; the snare pops, the acoustic guitar shines and speech is reproduced particularly accurately with regard to consonants and other explosive sounds. The Edition 15 Veritas, therefore, sounds revealingly honest, and mistakes and even small tonal dissonances come to light. However, I would not describe the test device as emphatically analytical, but rather as finely resolved, in the best way, with outstandingly balanced overall tuning. It is not uncommon to stumble over previously unnoticed details with this clarity, even in well-known recordings.

This clearly shows the quality of different mixes: Kraftwerk “The Robots” (The Mix) is flat and bone dry, while Adel Tawil’s “Katsching” from 2019 delivers not only significantly more level, but also massive draft.

These qualities result in an impressive resolution of the entire sound event. Individual instruments and panoramic positions are finely separated from each other – in width, in space and in their frequency range. As a result, the listener is literally included in the sound projection and enveloped by it. As with high-quality loudspeakers, the sound image is detached from the reproducing driver units, which is actually the objective of the S-Logic technology in the latest EX version. According to the manufacturer, the driver arrangement, which is shifted to the front and down, incorporates the entire ear including the auricle into the listening experience, with the aim of improved interpretability of distances and directions – without additional electronics.

In fact, the Edition 15 Veritas provides not only an outstandingly resolved panorama but also a three-dimensionality that clearly traces spatial components, and even clearly distinguishes them from each other for individual sources of the mixture. The result is an accurate spectrum of images, from the “widescreen” of elaborate electronic productions to the audibility and warmth of orchestral recordings, to the emotional intimacy and closeness of sparsely instrumented singer-songwriter performances.

However, these headphones do not achieve the lofty goal of sound reproduction outside and in front of the head. The comparison headphones Sennheiser HD 660 S stuck much closer to the ear. Like the second, brighter-tuned object of comparison, Ultrasone Pro 900, they were clearly behind in terms of detail resolution and airiness.

Finally, the Edition 15 Veritas deliver a breathtaking bass performance. The drivers are extraordinarily well-controlled, tonally clearly defined down to the lowest registers and the dynamics are always precisely traceable. A real pleasure!

In real low bass, on the other hand, there seems to be a downward limit, although the technical data does not confirm this. This impression results from two reasons – on the one hand, the precise driver guidance avoids superficial oscillations; on the other hand, the ear pads were not close enough to the ear in my case. Only manual pressure on the outer sides promoted the very deepest bass.