OLLO S5X Headphone Review

[khensu]

That pair belongs to me, and I probably put less than 20 hours on them before sending them to Amir to test. I did also notice one of the cups seemed to have a little crushing going on, but they fit well and seemed to create a good seal (as good as is possible anyway; I do wear glasses for reading/computer work).

I thought they sounded very well balanced. Sure, not “exciting” in any way, but that isn’t their goal, nor is it what I was looking for.

Ollo includes a sheet that shows their own FR graph.. I think I included it when I sent them. I’d be curious to see how their graph looks compared to Amir’s.

I can’t say I remember noticing any distortion, but I don’t tend to listen at very high levels… probably typically in the 85-90 dBSPL range.

 

[vkvedam]

Thanks @amirm, missing your little insights into gardening this year as part of the review

 

[markanini]

I voted "fine". Ultimately I'm more of a closed back guy. Nevertheless I'm glad to see what looks like a well thought out dynamic driver design. The reduced upper mids follows a personal trend, when done moderately it makes playback even more speaker like than Harman, and you can listen for very long session without fatigue. But listening in person is required to know if the deviations are excessive. Though soemone I trust like @solderdude commented in the past the set does sound balanced. Although he also does some moddig to tame the treble, so beware if you are treble sensitive.

Sonarworks is pretty much ubiquitous for headphone correction in studios.

Their marketing sure says that.

 

[Zensō]

Their marketing sure says that.

Anecdotal evidence backs it up in this case.

 

[markanini]

Anecdotal evidence backs it up in this case.

Speaking of, every audio professional I know ignores the headphone correction part of Sonarworks.

 

[Zensō]

Speaking of, every audio professional I know ignores the headphone correction part of Sonarworks.

I've had the opposite experience. Not sure if you've spent much time on the pro audio forums, but you'll get a different picture there. Audiophiles seem to have an aversion to Sonarworks because they cater to a different audience with different needs.

 

[markanini]

I've had the opposite experience. Not sure if you've spent much time on the pro audio forums, but you'll get a different picture there. Audiophiles seem to have an aversion to Sonarworks because they cater to a different audience with different needs.

The audio pros I know have no time for audiophoolery on hanging out on forums.

 

[Zensō]

The audio pros I know have no time for audiophoolery on hanging out on forums.

OK?

 

[markanini]

OK?

I know, it went against my own expectations, from spending time on Gearspace. I had to finally accept that forums serve a secondary roll as a marketing platform, and real life professionals have different concerns, governed by what helps them pay their bills.

 

[solderdude]

Reply I got from the designer (Rok) regarding the target and explains why it does not confirm to Harman.

Regarding target curve,...we don't use Harman as the reference of flat. It's not, in our opinion. Our own target was developed with capturing Dolby Atmos Music curve (not the x curve) with Kemar 711 setup. Then human A/B testing (similar to what Harman did) and finally weighting everything with measured tolerances of all involved equipment.

HERE is some info about their target curve (what they are working on) for those that are interested.
Note that their target is not published (yet) but the video I linked to gives some clues.

I have checked my measurements at 100dB SPL and did not see a rise in distortion around 250Hz.
I don't think it is a defective driver (I assume both drivers showed the same distortion peak) unless it only happened on one driver but I assume it happened on both.
Channel matching seems a bit off in the one Amir had for testing. Mine was fine (not cherry picked but regular production run).
When it was only on one channel it should be returned under warranty and Rok would gladly investigate that driver and arrange a replacement (@khensu can contact him, OLLO is very responsive)

The strange rise in distortion around 250Hz is kind of weird. Also weird that it shows a bit different in both channels (one dips and the other peaks).
That said.. mine have a small wiggle at 2 different frequencies.

 

[Zensō]

I know, it went against my own expectations, from spending time on Gearspace. I had to finally accept that forums serve a secondary roll as a marketing platform, and real life professionals have different concerns, governed by what helps them pay their bills.

I know quite a few "real life professionals" too, and I've also been in many recording studios; nearly all of the engineers I know are actually quite concerned about accurate reproduction, which simplifies and speeds up their work, helping them pay their bills as you've stated. This is not to be confused with tracking of course, where cheap, uncorrected closed back headphones are the norm.

Obviously, we've had different/opposite anecdotal experiences, neither of which gets us any closer to a definitive answer.

 

[amirm]

On distortion, I found another measurement which shows the same problem:

So the unit @solderdude seems to be the outlier. Maybe they had a product change at some point with this new problem.

 

[solderdude]

On distortion, I found another measurement which shows the same problem:

Ah... Marvin (SBAF)
It seems to be 2nd order only which is a bit weird. Asymmetrical yet not 'clipping alike' otherwise we would see an increase in all even order.
3% at 104dB which is the same as you measured but at 200Hz and 1.5% at around 4kHz where your measurement is 0.5%.
Strange that this does not happen with mine (ser. # 30145648).
Edit: Just went trough all of my S5X measurements, both channels even with all kinds of mod experiments and different pads and no distortion anywhere (in the bass region).

Maybe leakage between pad and baffle ?
Maybe the pressure equalization hole (would not expect this to cause it) ?
Driver production run issue ?

I forwarded the info to Rok... maybe something in the driver production ? (they buy them somewhere)

 

[amirm]

3% at 104dB which is the same as you measured but at 200Hz and 1.5% at around 4kHz where your measurement is 0.5%.

I don't know that he has a level calibrated setup so variations here is to be expected.

 

[ocinn]

Speaking of, every audio professional I know ignores the headphone correction part of Sonarworks.

You are wrong, Sonarworks correction is absolutely the de-facto standard in studios.

But also you are also right, because no competent studio engineer I know would ever mix on headphones, so yes, the correction is actually ignored.

 

[markanini]

You are wrong, Sonarworks correction is absolutely the de-facto standard in studios.

But also you are also right, because no competent studio engineer I know would ever mix on headphones, so yes, the correction is actually ignored.

Speaker correction is very popular.

 

[Zensō]

You are wrong, Sonarworks correction is absolutely the de-facto standard in studios.

But also you are also right, because no competent studio engineer I know would ever mix on headphones, so yes, the correction is actually ignored.

The times, they are a changin’…

 

[vco1]

Although I like and appreciate the reviews on ASR, I'm a bit confused about the headphone reviews. Almost no headphones – except for some exceptionally expensive ones – can get the stamp of approval. It almost seems that no sub $3000 headphone is even decent. With the exception of the K371 and HD650 perhaps. Can't be the rest is really that bad? Or are they?

 

[Zensō]

Although I like and appreciate the reviews on ASR, I'm a bit confused about the headphone reviews. Almost no headphones – except for some exceptionally expensive ones – can get the stamp of approval. It almost seems that no sub $3000 headphone is even decent. With the exception of the K371 and HD650 perhaps. Can't be the rest is really that bad? Or are they?

No correlation between headphone frequency response and retail price

This study quantifies variability of measured headphone response patterns and aims to uncover any correlations between headphone type, retail price, and frequen

pubs.aip.org

 

[bodhi]

Although I like and appreciate the reviews on ASR, I'm a bit confused about the headphone reviews. Almost no headphones – except for some exceptionally expensive ones – can get the stamp of approval. It almost seems that no sub $3000 headphone is even decent. With the exception of the K371 and HD650 perhaps. Can't be the rest is really that bad? Or are they?

How about you check again. There seems to be six in the first page alone, one which is a gaming headphone.