HEDD TYPE 05 A-CORE Monitor Review

[Ktacos]

Not bad, pretty stiff competition around this price point though. 8030c not a lot more and has some grills for protection. I loud precision 5 is cheaper than both and has DSP with pretty nice wavecor drivers but not really any data on them. Of course there's the ascilab stuff as well. Good time to be in the market for a set of monitors.

 

[kemmler3D]

Not bad, pretty stiff competition around this price point though. 8030c not a lot more and has some grills for protection. I loud precision 5 is cheaper than both and has DSP with pretty nice wavecor drivers but not really any data on them. Of course there's the ascilab stuff as well. Good time to be in the market for a set of monitors.

8030 is really hanging in there and I think if you can use subs it's a better bet than this. (That's my setup and no complaints.)

I think this HEDD speaker is smart in that it prioritizes a difficult thing that most consumers value highly (and I've literally done my own research on this when I was in the industry) lots of bass in a small package. Outside of real nerds like us, this tends to move units, because it's a facet of sound quality everyone understands.

 

[yo!]

Not bad, but not a fan of the tweeter at all.
Relative high x-over freq, frequency amplitude pronounced around 5k (+2.5dB!), tends to be sibilant.

 

[ruinevil]

Whats wrong with ADAM? I thought they were rather like Neumann, just not quite as good. They're another very measurement-centric company.

HEDD was founded by the founder of ADAM and his son. ADAM had some liquidity issues, and eventually lost control of the company to their investors. Think HEDD focuses on a more upscale market than ADAM.

Not sure if the technology made it to their speakers, but their headphones AMT drivers have variable folds, which allows for extension of their frequency range.

 

[Ilkless]

8030 is really hanging in there and I think if you can use subs it's a better bet than this. (That's my setup and no complaints.)

I think this HEDD speaker is smart in that it prioritizes a difficult thing that most consumers value highly (and I've literally done my own research on this when I was in the industry) lots of bass in a small package. Outside of real nerds like us, this tends to move units, because it's a facet of sound quality everyone understands.

It says everything that 8030 still looks advanced now when the basic design is coming on to 2 decades old.

 

[tomtoo]

Btw. How much are tarrifs on them?

 

[jean-benoit]

there is also a 7-inch woofer version coming out and its barely more expensive than the 5-inch model. if 7-inch model sounds a bit bigger with more spl and bass extension, it would be an incredible option for slightly bigger rooms. i wonder if the type 20 model comes along aswell sometime in the future...

 

[PristineSound]

$600 more, you get a significantly better monitor with the Neumann KH-120II DSP.

 

[Petr Srakyn]

there is also a 7-inch woofer version coming out and its barely more expensive than the 5-inch model. if 7-inch model sounds a bit bigger with more spl and bass extension, it would be an incredible option for slightly bigger rooms. i wonder if the type 20 model comes along aswell sometime in the future...

There is an adam a7v for 700$

 

[Maiky76]

This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the HEDD TYPE-05 A-CORE powered studio speaker (monitor). It was sent to me by the company and costs US $700 each.
View attachment 458652
Speaker sports the company trademark AMT tweeter. It eschews the DSP in the more expensive model for a pure, analog audio path, eliminating latency (and lowering cost). Back panel shows consumer friendly input in the form of RCA connection (although I highly recommend balanced):
View attachment 458653
Continuous bass and treble controls are better than simple dip switches. The large level control knob is appreciated as well.

Overall build is solid as you expect from a professional brand/product.

EDIT: I ran the CEA-2034 measurements by the company and they said it correlates with their anechoic measurements.

HEDD TYPE 05 A-CORE Monitor Measurements
As usual, we start with our family of frequency response measurements using Klippel Near-field Scanner:
View attachment 458654

Overall on-axis response is flat but with a noticeable bass boost and slight treble lift -- both of which likely can be adjusted to some extend using the controls provided. There are some resonances that you can see the cause of in near-field driver responses (shown later). What is impressive for this little speaker is its bass extension, going as low as 35 Hz despite having just a 5 inch woofer in a small enclosure! Flat response is provided down to 50 Hz.

There is some directivity error which we see in the early window responses:
View attachment 458655

But when mixed with on-axis, it actually smooths out fair bit:
View attachment 458656

Here is the near-field response, showing port/cabinet resonances causing minor midrange/low treble disturbances:
View attachment 458657

Horizontal beam width is good and reasonably wide:
View attachment 458658
View attachment 458659

Vertical is not but that is typical of 2-way, non-coaxial speakers:
View attachment 458660

Recently I have added 91 dBSPL distortion measurements which came in handy here:

View attachment 458661
As noted, all was clean until I reached 96 dBSPL where the woofer started to complain loudly. At the other two SPLs though, it was pleasantly compliant.
View attachment 458662

Waterfall shows the resonances we have already seen:
View attachment 458663

Step response is uneventful:
View attachment 458664

HEDD TYPE 05 A-CORE Listening Tests
I placed the monitor about 4 to 5 feet from me with the tweeter at my ear height. First impression was the bass extension, providing warmth. Alas, it also triggered a room mode, causing some amount of excessive bass notes. I tried to dial in filters to back out the bass boost in the measurements but could not find a good solution. I reached in the back and adjusted the bass knob to what you see in the review picture. I lost a bit of bass but clarity and overall balance remained excellent so I stayed with that. Proper solution would involve measuring the room and identifying the cause but good to have a quick solution like this.

I played my sub-bass heavy tracks and was amazed at the ability of TYPE 05 A-CORE to play those notes at fairly loud levels and with minimum distortion! Hard to imagine a little box doing this. Turn up the volume a bit more though and the ports become cool air blowers, pushing your hair back! At that point, distortion is borderline so I backed off.

Partially due to backed off bass level, the highs while delightfully standing out, where a bit above what I like so dialed in a lazy high shelf EQ:
View attachment 458666
Again, proper EQ would call for multiple PEQs but this did the job as would probably the knob in the back.

I experimented with correcting a couple of resonances. As you see the amplitude is quite low so to be sure my perception was correct, I tested their efficacy blind. With the 590 Hz I could not reliably detect that (I had reduced its level by ear). The combination of all three was reliably detected mostly due to that high shelf.

I then sat back and enjoyed track after track. All of my reference music sounded wonderful as long as I kept the volume manageable. Note that my testing is with one speaker. With two, I would have gotten more loudness.

Conclusions
From classical evaluation point of view, the TYPE 05 A-CORE goes 90% toward perfection. There are some resonances and directivity errors. However, it brings a very important thing to the party: deep bass extension in "pocket sized" monitor! Research shows that 30% of our preference is in bass (hence the reason "with sub" preference scores are higher). You basically have a full range speaker here. The trade off is lower playback level although you can reduce the bass and get some of that back. So many people reach out to me for a studio monitor in small spaces: the HEDD TYPE 05 will be a good fit for many.

I am going to recommend HEDD TYPE 05 A-CORE.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Here is my take on the EQ.
Please report your findings, positive or negative!

For the score rational your journey starts here
Explanation for the sub score
The following EQs are “anechoic” EQs to get the speaker right before room integration.
If you able to implement these EQs you must add EQ at LF for room integration, that is usually not optional… see hints there.

The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:

Score no EQ: 5.3
With Sub: 7.2

Spinorama with no EQ:

• Slight peak in the 1kHz region
• Could be smoother
• A bit bright?
• Pretty good
• Good LF
• Not sure if it is the best price/performance proposition

Directivity:
Better stay at tweeter height
Horizontally, better toe-in the speakers by 10/15deg and have the axis crossing in front of the listening location, might help dosing the upper range.

EQ design:
I have generated two EQs. The APO config files are attached.

• The first one, labelled, LW is targeted at making the LW flat
• The second, labelled Score, starts with the first one and adds the score as an optimization variable.
• The EQs are designed in the context of regular stereo use i.e. domestic environment, no warranty is provided for a near field use in a studio environment although the LW might be better suited for this purpose.

Score EQ LW: 6.2
with sub: 8.1

Score EQ Score: 6.3
with sub: 8.1

HEDD 05 A-Core APO EQ LW 96000Hz
June232025-104458

Preamp: -1.10 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 38.2 Hz Gain 0.00 dB Q 1.29
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 64.0 Hz Gain -4.76 dB Q 1.03
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 586.4 Hz Gain 2.07 dB Q 5.96
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 666.7 Hz Gain -1.15 dB Q 2.77
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1048.2 Hz Gain -2.65 dB Q 5.96
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 4036.8 Hz Gain -1.83 dB Q 0.96
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 13368.0 Hz Gain -0.65 dB Q 6.00

HEDD 05 A-Core APO EQ Score 96000Hz
June232025-104458

Preamp: -0.80 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 38.0 Hz Gain 0.00 dB Q 1.30
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 63.7 Hz Gain -4.72 dB Q 0.99
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 579.4 Hz Gain 2.13 dB Q 5.92
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 611.8 Hz Gain -1.10 dB Q 1.35
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1044.2 Hz Gain -2.57 dB Q 6.00
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 4260.8 Hz Gain -2.31 dB Q 0.74
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 13225.3 Hz Gain -1.08 dB Q 4.00

Spinorama EQ LW

Spinorama EQ Score

Zoom PIR-LW-ON

Regression - Tonal

Radar no EQ vs EQ score
Minor improvements?

Bonus:
Reduced BQ count for LW (the most likely usage case)
and OTT (Over The Top)

Score no EQ: 5.3
With Sub: 7.2

Score EQ LW: 6.2
with sub: 8.1

Score EQ LW Redux: 6.1
with sub: 7.9

Score EQ Score: 6.3
with sub: 8.1

Score EQ Score OTT: 6.6
with sub: 8.5

HEDD 05 A-Core APO EQ LW Redux 96000Hz
June232025-105441

Preamp: -0.80 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 38.0 Hz Gain 0.00 dB Q 1.30
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 63.5 Hz Gain -4.60 dB Q 0.97
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 579.4 Hz Gain 1.04 dB Q 6.00
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1046.2 Hz Gain -2.65 dB Q 5.03
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 4100.8 Hz Gain -1.81 dB Q 0.90

HEDD 05 A-Core APO EQ Score OTT 96000Hz
June232025-111104

Preamp: -1.00 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 38.0 Hz Gain 0.00 dB Q 1.30
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 63.7 Hz Gain -4.72 dB Q 0.99
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 580.4 Hz Gain 2.67 dB Q 5.92
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 583.3 Hz Gain -1.47 dB Q 1.58
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1044.2 Hz Gain -3.13 dB Q 6.00
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 1344.2 Hz Gain -2.38 dB Q 3.50
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 1262.3 Hz Gain 1.45 dB Q 1.65
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 2205.8 Hz Gain 1.27 dB Q 2.93
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 3695.6 Hz Gain -2.79 dB Q 0.70
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 13220.3 Hz Gain -1.52 dB Q 4.00

The rest of the plots is attached.

 

[amirm]

Btw. How much are tarrifs on them?

The $700 price is from Sweetwater so whatever the tariff is or is not, is included in that.

 

[mig59]

I had a pair of the first generation of this model. Anecdata, but they sounded wonderful. However, to get the best out of them, they were greatly assisted by a lineariser plugin in the computer signal chain. It added too much latency to be convenient for me, but it had a terrific effect on the clarity of the sound. I assume the built in DSP on some of their models achieves the same, possibly with less latency?

 

[tomtoo]

The $700 price is from Sweetwater so whatever the tariff is or is not, is included in that.

HEDD Type 05 A-CORE

HEDD Type 05 A-CORE; aktiver Studiomonitor; 5" Tiefmitteltöner (100Watt); 2" Air Motion Transformer-Hochtöner (100Watt); rein analoger Signalweg; Frequenzgang: 43Hz - 50kHz; Trennfrequenz: 2500Hz; max. SPL: 112dB (Paar, 1m); High-/Low-Shelf-Filter...

www.thomann.de

590 euro at thoman. Mhhh can not be much ??

 

[dfuller]

More likely @VSem is referring to PSI Audio, a Swiss boutique studio monitor manufacturer which staunchly believes in using tedious and expensive analog-based methods for linearising phase and time alignment. These have, believe it or not, even more of a cult of personality than ATC et al

They are, honestly, generally pretty decent though. I quite liked the A25Ms when I demoed them. Were the KH420s better? Yeah, a little, especially in the LF extension department. But I wouldn't be mad about working on the A25Ms.

Anyway, back on topic.

We had the Hedd here , they had their own pitfalls.
Keith

Sure, they're not the lowest distortion things on the planet. The overall tonality was better to me with the Hedds though - I was really not impressed by the S3V but the Type 20 was quite nice.

Whats wrong with ADAM? I thought they were rather like Neumann, just not quite as good. They're another very measurement-centric company.

They've had a lot of trouble with port leakage, and the dispersion is not as even as the Hedds - the waveguides on Hedds are just plain better IMO.

 

[Purité Audio]

Major reliability issues, radio breakthrough, just a complete mess.
Keith

 

[AnalogSteph]

One would hope that this all-analog design would do better in the reliability department at least. The DSP models are rather notorious, which is a shame as they fundamentally seem to be good speakers. I wonder what the problem is.

I would guess the treble distortion is a combination of the usual AMT eccentricities and potentially a pinch of woofer breakup modes. It's not likely to be a major problem as you are rarely hitting the treble with levels anywhere near 90 dB SPL, but still a decent dome will be cleaner. I suppose they're just preferring their homegrown AMTs in terms of supply chain.

 

[andibrema]

Here is my take on the EQ.
Please report your findings, positive or negative!

For the score rational your journey starts here
Explanation for the sub score
The following EQs are “anechoic” EQs to get the speaker right before room integration.
If you able to implement these EQs you must add EQ at LF for room integration, that is usually not optional… see hints there.

The raw data with corrected ER and PIR:

Score no EQ: 5.3
With Sub: 7.2

Spinorama with no EQ:

• Slight peak in the 1kHz region
• Could be smoother
• A bit bright?
• Pretty good
• Good LF
• Not sure if it is the best price/performance proposition

View attachment 459102

Directivity:
Better stay at tweeter height
Horizontally, better toe-in the speakers by 10/15deg and have the axis crossing in front of the listening location, might help dosing the upper range.
View attachment 459111View attachment 459118
EQ design:
I have generated two EQs. The APO config files are attached.

• The first one, labelled, LW is targeted at making the LW flat
• The second, labelled Score, starts with the first one and adds the score as an optimization variable.
• The EQs are designed in the context of regular stereo use i.e. domestic environment, no warranty is provided for a near field use in a studio environment although the LW might be better suited for this purpose.

Score EQ LW: 6.2
with sub: 8.1

Score EQ Score: 6.3
with sub: 8.1

HEDD 05 A-Core APO EQ LW 96000Hz
June232025-104458

Preamp: -1.10 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 38.2 Hz Gain 0.00 dB Q 1.29
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 64.0 Hz Gain -4.76 dB Q 1.03
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 586.4 Hz Gain 2.07 dB Q 5.96
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 666.7 Hz Gain -1.15 dB Q 2.77
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1048.2 Hz Gain -2.65 dB Q 5.96
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 4036.8 Hz Gain -1.83 dB Q 0.96
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 13368.0 Hz Gain -0.65 dB Q 6.00

HEDD 05 A-Core APO EQ Score 96000Hz
June232025-104458

Preamp: -0.80 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 38.0 Hz Gain 0.00 dB Q 1.30
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 63.7 Hz Gain -4.72 dB Q 0.99
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 579.4 Hz Gain 2.13 dB Q 5.92
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 611.8 Hz Gain -1.10 dB Q 1.35
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1044.2 Hz Gain -2.57 dB Q 6.00
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 4260.8 Hz Gain -2.31 dB Q 0.74
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 13225.3 Hz Gain -1.08 dB Q 4.00

View attachment 459108
Spinorama EQ LW
View attachment 459103

Spinorama EQ Score
View attachment 459104

Zoom PIR-LW-ON
View attachment 459107

Regression - Tonal
View attachment 459106

Radar no EQ vs EQ score
Minor improvements?
View attachment 459105
Bonus:
Reduced BQ count for LW (the most likely usage case)
and OTT (Over The Top)

Score no EQ: 5.3
With Sub: 7.2

Score EQ LW: 6.2
with sub: 8.1

Score EQ LW Redux: 6.1
with sub: 7.9

Score EQ Score: 6.3
with sub: 8.1

Score EQ Score OTT: 6.6
with sub: 8.5

HEDD 05 A-Core APO EQ LW Redux 96000Hz
June232025-105441

Preamp: -0.80 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 38.0 Hz Gain 0.00 dB Q 1.30
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 63.5 Hz Gain -4.60 dB Q 0.97
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 579.4 Hz Gain 1.04 dB Q 6.00
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 1046.2 Hz Gain -2.65 dB Q 5.03
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 4100.8 Hz Gain -1.81 dB Q 0.90

HEDD 05 A-Core APO EQ Score OTT 96000Hz
June232025-111104

Preamp: -1.00 dB

Filter 1: ON HPQ Fc 38.0 Hz Gain 0.00 dB Q 1.30
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 63.7 Hz Gain -4.72 dB Q 0.99
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 580.4 Hz Gain 2.67 dB Q 5.92
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 583.3 Hz Gain -1.47 dB Q 1.58
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 1044.2 Hz Gain -3.13 dB Q 6.00
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 1344.2 Hz Gain -2.38 dB Q 3.50
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 1262.3 Hz Gain 1.45 dB Q 1.65
Filter 8: ON PK Fc 2205.8 Hz Gain 1.27 dB Q 2.93
Filter 9: ON PK Fc 3695.6 Hz Gain -2.79 dB Q 0.70
Filter 10: ON PK Fc 13220.3 Hz Gain -1.52 dB Q 4.00

View attachment 459133


View attachment 459121
View attachment 459132

View attachment 459138
The rest of the plots is attached.

Question: Would maximising the score of the statistical model from "Test One" (bookshelves only) not yield better results when dealing with bookshelves?

 

[NomC]

This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the HEDD TYPE-05 A-CORE powered studio speaker (monitor). It was sent to me by the company and costs US $700 each.
View attachment 458652
Speaker sports the company trademark AMT tweeter. It eschews the DSP in the more expensive model for a pure, analog audio path, eliminating latency (and lowering cost). Back panel shows consumer friendly input in the form of RCA connection (although I highly recommend balanced):
View attachment 458653
Continuous bass and treble controls are better than simple dip switches. The large level control knob is appreciated as well.

Overall build is solid as you expect from a professional brand/product.

EDIT: I ran the CEA-2034 measurements by the company and they said it correlates with their anechoic measurements.

HEDD TYPE 05 A-CORE Monitor Measurements
As usual, we start with our family of frequency response measurements using Klippel Near-field Scanner:
View attachment 458654

Overall on-axis response is flat but with a noticeable bass boost and slight treble lift -- both of which likely can be adjusted to some extend using the controls provided. There are some resonances that you can see the cause of in near-field driver responses (shown later). What is impressive for this little speaker is its bass extension, going as low as 35 Hz despite having just a 5 inch woofer in a small enclosure! Flat response is provided down to 50 Hz.

There is some directivity error which we see in the early window responses:
View attachment 458655

But when mixed with on-axis, it actually smooths out fair bit:
View attachment 458656

Here is the near-field response, showing port/cabinet resonances causing minor midrange/low treble disturbances:
View attachment 458657

Horizontal beam width is good and reasonably wide:
View attachment 458658
View attachment 458659

Vertical is not but that is typical of 2-way, non-coaxial speakers:
View attachment 458660

Recently I have added 91 dBSPL distortion measurements which came in handy here:

View attachment 458661
As noted, all was clean until I reached 96 dBSPL where the woofer started to complain loudly. At the other two SPLs though, it was pleasantly compliant.
View attachment 458662

Waterfall shows the resonances we have already seen:
View attachment 458663

Step response is uneventful:
View attachment 458664

HEDD TYPE 05 A-CORE Listening Tests
I placed the monitor about 4 to 5 feet from me with the tweeter at my ear height. First impression was the bass extension, providing warmth. Alas, it also triggered a room mode, causing some amount of excessive bass notes. I tried to dial in filters to back out the bass boost in the measurements but could not find a good solution. I reached in the back and adjusted the bass knob to what you see in the review picture. I lost a bit of bass but clarity and overall balance remained excellent so I stayed with that. Proper solution would involve measuring the room and identifying the cause but good to have a quick solution like this.

I played my sub-bass heavy tracks and was amazed at the ability of TYPE 05 A-CORE to play those notes at fairly loud levels and with minimum distortion! Hard to imagine a little box doing this. Turn up the volume a bit more though and the ports become cool air blowers, pushing your hair back! At that point, distortion is borderline so I backed off.

Partially due to backed off bass level, the highs while delightfully standing out, where a bit above what I like so dialed in a lazy high shelf EQ:
View attachment 458666
Again, proper EQ would call for multiple PEQs but this did the job as would probably the knob in the back.

I experimented with correcting a couple of resonances. As you see the amplitude is quite low so to be sure my perception was correct, I tested their efficacy blind. With the 590 Hz I could not reliably detect that (I had reduced its level by ear). The combination of all three was reliably detected mostly due to that high shelf.

I then sat back and enjoyed track after track. All of my reference music sounded wonderful as long as I kept the volume manageable. Note that my testing is with one speaker. With two, I would have gotten more loudness.

Conclusions
From classical evaluation point of view, the TYPE 05 A-CORE goes 90% toward perfection. There are some resonances and directivity errors. However, it brings a very important thing to the party: deep bass extension in "pocket sized" monitor! Research shows that 30% of our preference is in bass (hence the reason "with sub" preference scores are higher). You basically have a full range speaker here. The trade off is lower playback level although you can reduce the bass and get some of that back. So many people reach out to me for a studio monitor in small spaces: the HEDD TYPE 05 will be a good fit for many.

I am going to recommend HEDD TYPE 05 A-CORE.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Thank you for the review!!!For nearfield casual music listening in small treated room this or neumann kh-150 or 120 ii ?

 

[Somafunk]

Thank you for the review!!!For nearfield casual music listening in small treated room this or neumann kh-150 or 120 ii ?

If you can afford Neumann then there’s your choice made for you, 120 ii rather than 150’s

 

[NomC]

If you can afford Neumann then there’s your choice made for you, 120 ii rather than 150’s

Thank you!!!