In search of a good, but not too expensive headphone for the office, I came across the Ultrasone Pro 450. At home, I used a Beyerdynamic MMX300 headset, but a second one just for work was too expensive for me - especially since it's really only about being undisturbed in an open-plan office and not being distracted by the conversation of colleagues. After unpacking, I first noticed that the ear cups are much flatter than those of the MMX300; but you still don't notice any background noise, not even your own typing on the keyboard reaches your ears.
I've been looking at both the MMX300 as also the Ultrasone Pro 450 with different players (once an Astro Mixamp and once an iPhone 4) with different music tracks (from dubstep to rock) - of course I can only give a subjective impression here, everybody will feel differently.
First, for my reference:
Beyerdynamic MMX300
The MMX300 (about 300 Euro at Amazon.de) doesn't have many weaknesses and shows a lot of pressure, especially in the bass range - you have to like it, but it's good for my taste of music, which goes towards techno, trance, electro. You can practically feel it vibrating, even though headphones can never give an impression of real speakers, of course. Trebles, on the other hand, are not quite as brilliant as they might be. Nevertheless, the sound is quite balanced for my untrained ears. The workmanship is also very good, even if it's a pity that the cable and microphone are fixed - if there's a defect, only Beyerdynamic can repair something and it's not enough to simply replace the cable.
Ultrasone Pro 450
Although it didn't even cost a third (admittedly, a microphone is missing), the headphones convince with a rather neutral sound. No frequency range is overmodulated or amplified. The clarity is even slightly better than with the MMX300 - for a price of 75,- Euro I am really pleasantly surprised. Also good: the wearing comfort: if you want to wear a headphone for several hours, your ears shouldn't hurt afterwards. Also here: the workmanship is right, especially considering the price. The cable is screwed and can easily be replaced in case of defects. A pity: due to the fact that the Ultrasone Pro 450 (about 85 Euro at Amazon.de) actually have a cinch plug, they are not suitable for use on the road: the necessary adapter to a 3.5 mm blade results in a very long, inflexible piece directly on the player, e.g. iPhone 5.
My personal conclusion
Overall, the MMX300 even more balanced and "natural" in sound - maybe I just got used to it. But the Ultrasone Pro 450 are really very good headphones, which convince especially with their price-performance ratio. The best thing about headphones is, of course, always to listen to them in rehearsal, because every pair of ears is different.
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