For clarification, Amir measured the headphones with the sheepskin pads that are now the stock pad. I purchased this headphone last year when the pads were made from a protein leather, but then upgraded them to the sheepskin myself. If you were to buy a HiveX today, you'd receive the pads that were tested here. That said, I am sort of curious to see measurements for the older, pleather pads too.
And since we've waded into more subjective waters here, I'll offer my opinion of these cans. I currently have a stable of fairly high-end headphones (HEKv2, Verite Open, Z1R, STAX 007mkII, HE6-O'rama, Aurorus Borealis, DCA Aeon 2C, to name a few), and have gotten rid of some other equally impressive (read: expensive) cans over the last few years (HD800S, LCD-4, LCD-X, Arya, STAX L300 Ltd, Focal Clear, etc). Anyway, this isn't meant to be a dick-measuring comment, and in some respects I'm embarrassed to admit how much cash I've thrown at this hobby, but I've heard a lot of headphones that are widely acclaimed and of decent repute. Take it FWIW, but I think the Hive is bested only by the 007 in the aforementioned list. I find it to be along the lines of the (admittedly bright sounding) HEKv2 in terms of instrument separation, layering, soundstage, imaging, tonality and timbre. It is a very impressive technical performer, IMO.
I'm willing to take a few slings and arrows here by the hard-core objectivists that will assert that these terms "have no meaning" because you can't point to their manifestations on a graph, and that's cool. But for the folks that might... just might... be interested in hearing the Hive before making a snap judgement about it, I invite you to do so. If you think it sucks, then don't heckin' buy it. Nobody's opinion of any headphone is more or less valid than anybody else's, whether backed by a graph or their subjective evaluation.
Oh, and one more thing. I saw that the Verum One was recommended here, and the point was raised that it didn't really conform to the target all that well without EQ, yadda yadda. I think this illustrates my point pretty well, actually. How many of you have heard the Verum? I owned it for a while, and actually thought it was a pretty good headphone on the whole, and a fantastic value. As with a lot of these grass-roots, independent makers I really applaud the effort and try to support them where possible. The Verum has impressive bass response, pretty lush midrange, and sounds pretty detailed. It also has the narrowest soundstage I've ever heard in any headphone. It couldn't have sounded any more "inside your head". It was for this reason that I got rid of it. I'm just curious how many people might have smashed that golfing panther button in response to their interpretation of the graph, but wouldn't be able to listen to it because of this one inconvenient attribute?