If anyone can, the Ultrasone Edition 8 cans, er, can

Fwd Tech  Friday 13 February 2009

Ultrasone's durable headphones raise the bar (and price) for sturdy cans

Does anyone else think that over-ear headphones look about as sturdy as a toy boat named the Titanic? Not so with Ultrasone’s Edition 8s. These cans are covered in Ruthenium – a metal that (aside from being unknown to us) is apparently famous for its durable properties!

So the Editon 8s are solid. That doesn’t mean they’re any less comfortable than rivals like the BOSE QuietComfot 3. You see the inner cushion is made from nothing less than Ethiopian sheepskin! Don’t ask us why the sheeps in Ethiopia have softer skin than the rest of Mother Earth’s sheep, just trust us when we say it’s soft on the lobes and provides the most isolation of any leather!

Now we’ve established that these headphones are solid, yet gentle (like a sympathetic wrestler), we can turn to what matters. The sound. The 8s have a 40mm titanium-plated driver and use Ultrasone’s latest S-Logic Plus technology to create an “impartial acoustic feeling”. We’re not too sure what that means, but we like the sound of it.

Happily these headphones also contain a MU-Metal shielding that cuts the amount of radiation directed at the user by up to 98 per cent, compared to conventional cans. Because nobody likes being subject to radiation. Unless it turns you into some sort of stretchy, invisible superhero of course.

With something so high-end, you can expect the Edition 8s to cost upward of £1,000! Expensive, we know, but you’ll probably never need to buy another set of cans again!