Austrian Audio Hi-X65 open-back announced

[knkkskknk]

I just got them a few weeks ago and was amazed by the vocal detail I could hear out of them. I eq curved them like this

following oratorys.

I feel the highs might need to go down further or so but the sound is amazing compared to my SHP9500.


The headphones are very analytical, I can hear compressors / eqs / 0.5 db changes when mixing. They have a good center image in songs and I can pickout instrument seperation good. Compared to SHP9500, it feels very "clear" "open" "detailed", shp9500 feels "blended" "compressed" "speakerish" like.
If you get these be prepared to hear many badly recorded vocal "sss"'s cutting through mixes of songs. I hadnt noticed it before but after getting these they stick out like a sore thumb, songs mixed by top egineers like serban ghenea / CLA don't have these problems so it's not the headphone lol. going back to my old headphone I also hear them but they're less prominent, kind of masked.


Overall I'd say it's one of the most detailed, crystal clear sounding headphones I've had. My HP history is K240, SHP9500, K701, Slate VSX, and these...

While analytical they also are still very musical, I enjoy listening on them, and the earpads give a slight pressure but its not uncomfortable and I have a big head and big ears, they fit over my whole ear easily.

would love to hear other ppls take on them...

 

[Hark01]

Wonderful, robust build headphone, au pair or second to only DT770. Nice, industrial look. Excellent comfort. Medium weight (at cca. 300g) but comfortable. Soft headband and pads. Robust and flexible mechanism. This is how headphone should be designed. Open back. You'll hear the environment and they will hear you. Bass is almost perfectly neutral. Open back that goes down to 20Hz without roll-off. About 1dB rise in upper bass. Midrange is very good. About 2dB rise in lower mids and big 6dB drop in the upper mids about 1.5kHz. It is a Hifiman style dip that does not disturb the tonal balance. Treble is excellent. 3.5 dB drop at the lower treble and 2dB rise at 6 kHz and 1dB in upper treble and air. Adding air while cutting hard edge on vocals. It can get sibilant, though, but nothing too spicy. I would describe tonality as bright neutral. EQ is not necessary. Also sounds great with Optimum HiFi.

It has hard, fast transients. Fantastic clarity. I think there is no such resolving driver under 1000 EUR. (Maybe LCD-2?) Has good soundstage, precise imaging. Dynamics are fantastic, it has almost Fostex level punch n' slam. As of value, I think it's worth the blind. Best of Hifiman tuning, Focal technicalities, Beyerdynamic build and Sennheiser QC for the price of HD600.

 

[Ilkless]

Wonderful, robust build headphone, au pair or second to only DT770. Nice, industrial look. Excellent comfort. Medium weight (at cca. 300g) but comfortable. Soft headband and pads. Robust and flexible mechanism. This is how headphone should be designed. Open back. You'll hear the environment and they will hear you. Bass is almost perfectly neutral. Open back that goes down to 20Hz without roll-off. About 1dB rise in upper bass. Midrange is very good. About 2dB rise in lower mids and big 6dB drop in the upper mids about 1.5kHz. It is a Hifiman style dip that does not disturb the tonal balance. Treble is excellent. 3.5 dB drop at the lower treble and 2dB rise at 6 kHz and 1dB in upper treble and air. Adding air while cutting hard edge on vocals. It can get sibilant, though, but nothing too spicy. I would describe tonality as bright neutral. EQ is not necessary. Also sounds great with Optimum HiFi.

It has hard, fast transients. Fantastic clarity. I think there is no such resolving driver under 1000 EUR. (Maybe LCD-2?) Has good soundstage, precise imaging. Dynamics are fantastic, it has almost Fostex level punch n' slam. As of value, I think it's worth the blind. Best of Hifiman tuning, Focal technicalities, Beyerdynamic build and Sennheiser QC for the price of HD600.

How are pads? Up there with the good ones on boutique headphones like Audeze/Dan Clark/Focal? It's the one thing that's holding me back right now because i don't want bad flakey powdery pleather one finds in mid-fi headphones. Well, that and the allure of planar bass.

 

[Hark01]

I find them comfortable. About durability, it's too early to say. They look durable, but we shall see...

 

[Ilkless]

I find them comfortable. About durability, it's too early to say. They look durable, but we shall see...

Got it. Do they feel/look plasticky then?

 

[Hark01]

No. They are like soft sponge when pressed. On touch they are like very soft leather.

 

[Somnium]

Wow how are these headphones not popular. The clarity is unbelievable way way better than the HiFiman Edition XS. I’m shocked how good the Clarity is. I mean yeah it’s bright but all that’s holy Tina Turner sounds amazing on this. Sound stage is not the widest but the clarity is astonishing. It just sounds sooo good even without following the harman curve.

 

[Hark01]

Wow how are these headphones not popular. The clarity is unbelievable way way better than the HiFiman Edition XS. I’m shocked how good the Clarity is. I mean yeah it’s bright but all that’s holy Tina Turner sounds amazing on this. Sound stage is not the widest but the clarity is astonishing. It just sounds sooo good even without following the harman curve.

It's relatively new, people aren't noticing it yet. This is currently one of the best under $1000 open backs, IMO.

 

[Somnium]

It's relatively new, people aren't noticing it yet. This is currently one of the best under $1000 open backs, IMO.

Agreed, I was blown away. HiFiman XS is really good but this was unexpected.

 

[Angel II]

Wow how are these headphones not popular. The clarity is unbelievable way way better than the HiFiman Edition XS. I’m shocked how good the Clarity is. I mean yeah it’s bright but all that’s holy Tina Turner sounds amazing on this. Sound stage is not the widest but the clarity is astonishing. It just sounds sooo good even without following the harman curve.

This headphone is amazing for the honest price.. excellent reference audio in headphone. They deserve the long success of the HD650/600. I await your impressions with equalizer.

 

[paudio]

I ordered a pair of X60. I have been using Meze 99 Noirs but for some reason I decided to try these. The X65 graphs didn't seem to have enough subbass but I love the design.

 

[paudio]

Got em. Seemed really bass light at first. Filled out quite a bit though and thoroughly enjoying them with all kinds of music. Seal is strong with driver flex that dissipates quickly. Very comfortable on the head. Haven't noticed any fatigue from them. Catch myself closing my eyes sitting there just listening with these on regularly.

 

[usersky]

Hi guys! I just noticed the oratory's presets on reddit for Austrian Audio Hi-X65 are not available anymore (the rest of AA are still there). Does it happen for someone here to still have the PDF or was is something wrong with measurements perhaps? Thanks!

 

[MayaTlab]

Hi guys! I just noticed the oratory's presets on reddit for Austrian Audio Hi-X65 are not available anymore (the rest of AA are still there). Does it happen for someone here to still have the PDF or was is something wrong with measurements perhaps? Thanks!

IDK why it no longer is available, but I have one of the PDFs Oratory published, although I don't recall if it is the latest or not.
Don't hesitate to send him a PM .

 

[usersky]

Thank you @MayaTlab !

 

[lewdish]

I posted my review of them on reddit, I'd send em in to Amir to formally measure and review, but I use them almost on a daily basis, and dont have anything to replace them while they're under review. They're very comfy, very sturdy build, fairly detailed. I'm not sure I have a very good ear for things like distortion, but I'd like to think these have very little distortion and would measure fairly well in that aspect. Seems to be a thing that AA is marketing in their supposed "Hi-X (high excursion)" technology as well.

 

[lewdish]

Got it. Do they feel/look plasticky then?

A lil late, but imo they do not feel plasticy at all. For the cups I cant even tell if they're plastic or metal. If its plastic its the most well built plastic cup i've ever felt. They feel extremely sturdy and almost all parts are made out of metal i'm pretty sure. I literally treat them like trash every day and they held up well for the last year. I wouldn't do this to any other headphone I own.

 

[bkdc]

Aside from the known issue of the headband cracking with use, I have no reservations recommending these headphones over anything in its price range. I hope Austrian Audio has addressed the headband in newer production now that the issue is known. To me, the 2800Hz dip is barely noticeable and I can easily run this without EQ although EQ does help. Fantastic detail retrieval. Fantastic clarity. Good soundstage. Good dynamics. Fantastic comfort.

I unequivocally prefer the sound and comfort of the Hi-X65 to Sundara, HD600’s, Aeon 2s and even the Monoprice M1570. This applies even when EQ is used with the other phones. There is no need to own the HD600 when you own these phones unless you want to use OTL and other distortion devices which mate well with Sennheisers.

I can’t believe these phones aren’t more popular. I think more people need to audition this headphone. Once the headphone build issue is taken care of, it’s a no brainer as I think I’m listening to 1000 dollars cans. Also, the ear pads are known to wear pretty quickly. I hope AA becomes popular enough that Dekoni starts making lambskin pads.

I have the oratory presets but I had to turn down the bass at the 105Hz low shelf filter because it seems unusually bass heavy.

 

[usersky]

Aside from the known issue of the headphone cracking with use, I have no reservations recommending these headphones over anything in its price range. I hope Austrian Audio has addressed the headband in newer production now that the issue is known. To me, the 2800Hz dip is barely noticeable and I can easily run this without EQ although EQ does help. Fantastic detail retrieval. Good soundstage. Good dynamics. Fantastic comfort.

I unequivocally prefer the sound and comfort of the Hi-X65 to Sundara, HD600’s, Aeon 2s and even the Monoprice M1570. This applies even when EQ is used with the other phones.

I can’t believe these phones aren’t more popular. I think more people need to audition this headphone. Once the headphone build issue is taken care of, it’s a no brainer as I think I’m listening to 1000 dollars cans.

What cracking issue? Indeed they sound very well and comfort is above a lot i tried. Believe it or not, AA HiX-25 (bluetooth) is even more comfortable (thicker pads).

 

[LearningToSmile]

Believe it or not, AA HiX-25 (bluetooth) is even more comfortable (thicker pads).

I didn't realize they had so many headphones out by now. The X60 looks quite interesting, I'd love to hear it:

Wonder how their cheaper models fare, I wasn't able to find measurements for them.