Austrian Audio Hi-X60

[IAtaman]

Hi-X60 is one of the best measuring closed back headphones. It gets recommended quite often and so I wanted to give it a try.

It is a quite hard to source where I live unfortunately, however thanks to a very kind member, I was able to get my hands on one.

Solderdude reviewed this almost a year ago which you can find here.
Oratory also measured these headphones as well, which is available here.

Error curve slope is pretty flat, indicating a well balanced headphone out of the box. And it sounds as such as well. Nothing sounds wrong without EQ. If you are looking for a closed back that sounds good and has correct tonality out of the box, these are one such headphones.

It is also a good looking pair of cans in my opinion - I like the industrial design both in photos and in real life.

For my big head, the clamp force is a bit on the higher side, but left it stretched overnight one night and its all fine now.

Its hard to tell from the photos but the caps are quite large inside so my ears fit in well without being deformed. I did not have any seal issues, but then again I refuse to wear glasses so your mileage might vary.

I did measure them on my head with in-ear mics to try and match them to HD600 but all I got was comb filtering so I gave up and used Oratory's measurements for eyeballing an EQ.

This is what I have been using for a while now and am quite happy with if you are interested. Oratory has better EQ settings, so you might as well use those.

Preamp: -3dB
Filter 1: ON PK Fc 70 Hz Gain 3 dB Q 0.7
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 180 Hz Gain -2 dB Q 1.4
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 950 Hz Gain -1 dB Q 0.5
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 2000 Hz Gain 4.5 dB Q 2
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 3500 Hz Gain 2.5 dB Q 3
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 6000 Hz Gain -1.5 dB Q 0.7

Overall, I think these are great. If you need a closed back pair that sounds good out of the box, think these should be on the shortlist, probably on the top.

Solderdude has a lot more details about it, so check out his reviews before you make up your mind.

 

[jhaider]

I recently picked up a pair of these, looking for something with similar performance as AKG N700NC M2 but with less sound leakage. But very good sound for a passive full range driver transducer. They’re almost “it” - do not throw sound as widely as N700 (before or after Oratory’s EQ) and that treble peak definitely needs some EQ even though the rest is pretty good. Build quality covers the price premium over AKG K371.

 

[sharock]

Are they comfortable after reducing the clamp? Do they make your ears really hot?

I've got K371 and Shure SRH440 (non-A) and I'm still not fully satisfied with comfort and to some degree, sound.

Want a nice portable for office use since IEMs are not practical.

 

[solderdude]

Pleather pads and closed so over time heat will build up.
Depending on ambient temperature your ears will still get hot.
There might be some difference as the pads are quite roomy.

 

[markanini]

Are they comfortable after reducing the clamp? Do they make your ears really hot?

I've got K371 and Shure SRH440 (non-A) and I'm still not fully satisfied with comfort and to some degree, sound.

Want a nice portable for office use since IEMs are not practical.

I'm in the same situation, in practice I've given up and focused on IEMs, but JBL Tune 710 might be another option to consider.

 

[Jimbob54]

I'm in the same situation, in practice I've given up and focused on IEMs, but JBL Tune 710 might be another option to consider.

@sharock the jbl have tiny ear cups apparently, making them more on ear than over ear for those of us with big lugs.

 

[markanini]

@sharock the jbl have tiny ear cups apparently, making them more on ear than over ear for those of us with big lugs.

I demoed the outwardly identical JBL 760 on my medium-large ears. Fit was comfortable, seal was somewhat challenged by my thick rimmed glasses I wore at the time but easier than K371. Comfort of longer sessions is hard to assess. A safer recommendation for comfort would be Beyerdynamic DT770. Sadly I've haven't gotten a chance to demo AA headphones.

 

[Jimbob54]

I demoed the outwardly identical JBL 760 on my medium-large ears. Fit was comfortable, seal was somewhat challenged by my thick rimmed glasses I wore at the time but easier than K371. Comfort of longer sessions is hard to assess. A safer recommendation for comfort would be Beyerdynamic DT770. Sadly I've haven't gotten a chance to demo AA headphones.

If one is in an amazon territory those jbl are a no brainer for an easy return trial though. Esp if there is an offer on.

 

[sharock]

I demoed the outwardly identical JBL 760 on my medium-large ears. Fit was comfortable, seal was somewhat challenged by my thick rimmed glasses I wore at the time but easier than K371. Comfort of longer sessions is hard to assess. A safer recommendation for comfort would be Beyerdynamic DT770. Sadly I've haven't gotten a chance to demo AA headphones.

I was also look at DT700 Pro X since Beyer are meant to be comfortable, but that 4KHz dip on both the DT700 and DT770.

 

[RosalieTheDog]

Are they comfortable after reducing the clamp? Do they make your ears really hot?

I've got K371 and Shure SRH440 (non-A) and I'm still not fully satisfied with comfort and to some degree, sound.

Want a nice portable for office use since IEMs are not practical.

I use them on the train and at work, or in the house if I don't want to bother others. I find them very comfortable for long use, they also isolate quite well.

 

[IAtaman]

Are they comfortable after reducing the clamp? Do they make your ears really hot?

I've got K371 and Shure SRH440 (non-A) and I'm still not fully satisfied with comfort and to some degree, sound.

Want a nice portable for office use since IEMs are not practical.

They get hot over time, but not as much as other closed backs like DT770 or K371. They are better than some "open backs" even like Edition XS, which, makes my ears super hot for a reason. It is not as airy as open backs, but it is definitely better than most closed backs I tried at least and Edition XS.

 

[IAtaman]

I demoed the outwardly identical JBL 760 on my medium-large ears. Fit was comfortable, seal was somewhat challenged by my thick rimmed glasses I wore at the time but easier than K371. Comfort of longer sessions is hard to assess. A safer recommendation for comfort would be Beyerdynamic DT770. Sadly I've haven't gotten a chance to demo AA headphones.

They are much more comfortable to me than the DT770s in terms of heat build-up.

Cups are really big - here they are with an Airpods Pro fully inside the ear cups for reference

Cups also have a "lip" that wraps around the pinna - diameter of the cups are actually larger inside than the entrance, and inside the cups there is also some sort of "venting".

 

[sharock]

Where did you get them from? Best price I can see is his place: https://www.thediscdjstore.com/austrian-audio-hi-x65.html

 

[IAtaman]

Where did you get them from? Best price I can see is his place: https://www.thediscdjstore.com/austrian-audio-hi-x65.html

Where I live, It was impossible to source them . I got it second hand from a fellow ASR member. The link you shared is not X60 btw - not sure if you noticed. I was not able to find X60 on that site.

If you are in the UK, check out amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Austrian-Audio-Professional-Closed-back-Headphones/dp/B09Q2XHK86

Its GBP208 for used very good directly from Amazon.

 

[sharock]

Where I live, It was impossible to source them . I got it second hand from a fellow ASR member. The link you shared is not X60 btw - not sure if you noticed. I was not able to find X60 on that site.

If you are in the UK, check out amazon

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Austrian-Audio-Professional-Closed-back-Headphones/dp/B09Q2XHK86

Its GBP208 for used very good directly from Amazon.

Oh you are right!

Google shopping seems to have gotten worse recently when it comes to showing good results. Doesn't help the models look very similar.

 

[LeShog]

hmmm this headphone is so beautiful. Her open back sister from the same line also.. It’s been three days now in which I think when and where I could use such a product, but I really don’t need it. Wouldn’t use it. At the same time I’d like to have it, seems really beautiful. If at one time in my future I’ll find myself needing a headphone I’ll remember Austrian Audio

 

[sushi2020]

hmmm this headphone is so beautiful. Her open back sister from the same line also.. It’s been three days now in which I think when and where I could use such a product, but I really don’t need it. Wouldn’t use it. At the same time I’d like to have it, seems really beautiful. If at one time in my future I’ll find myself needing a headphone I’ll remember Austrian Audio

I recently purchased the Hi-X60.
They are actually very good headphones, but I don't use them much because I use TWS with ANC in noisy places and at home I tend to use open back headphones these days.
I am wondering if I should sell them.

 

[jhaider]

Where did you get them from? Best price I can see is his place: https://www.thediscdjstore.com/austrian-audio-hi-x65.html

I bought mine from Thomann. Shipping to the US took 2 business days (plus a weekend).

PS those are X65, the open back variant.

 

[solderdude]

IMO only the X60 is a good sounding AA out of the box (but still needs some help) the other models not so much.
Have no experience with the the 'composer' yet which may also sound well it seems to sound a bit warmer/fuller.
It better well should sound good as the composer is almost 10x the price of an X60.
In FR it looks a bit like the S5X so these do not have Harman bass but similar to most planars in that aspect.

 

[LeShog]

IMO only the X60 is a good sounding AA out of the box (but still needs some help) the other models not so much.
Have no experience with the the 'composer' yet which may also sound well it seems to sound a bit warmer/fuller.
It better well should sound good as the composer is almost 10x the price of an X60.
In FR it looks a bit like the S5X so these do not have Harman bass but similar to most planars in that aspect.

It would be interesting to see some measurements of the x65 though, it could be an alternative to Audeze LCD-1.. I don’t like “The Composer” (at least from stock photos) and am not interested at that price point, you have to deliver outstanding quality to be competitive in that price price bracket and preferably so without eq. I just feel that in the 800-1500 EUR there already are endgame headphones, I don’t know if and how much sound can be better. Maybe I never experienced transparency, I don’t know.. Over 1500 EUR only Dan Clark and some electrostatics tingle my curiosity.