OLLO S5X Headphone Review

[Robbo99999]

My thoughts on this headphone & review: I've seen this headphone touted around quite a bit as one to watch & a good headphone, but I'm not impressed by the measurements. The frequency response is a quite a mess above 3kHz, with a sharp & deep dip spanning from 6-8kHz being totally unEQ'able (yes the measurements are less accurate up here, but I don't see this as a positive sign). Then you've got that weird distortion at 230Hz. It's not a super expensive headphone but it's far from a budget headphone, and I'll be marking this down in the vote, it's not Fine & it's not Poor, ha!

 

[Robbo99999]

OLLO's own measurements:

View attachment 296898

From here: https://olloaudio.com/pages/measurements

Am I right in thinking that's a compatible GRAS rig, of the ilk of Oratory's & Amir's? (I'm not up to speed on all the model numbers re IEC....)

 

[ROOSKIE]

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?

There are quite a few positive reviews, especially if you allow for PEQ.

I think there are even more if 'decent' is the threshold. Technical accuracy might not be spot on but 'decent' applies to many.

Some are affordable and others not.

I think the big take away is there are some really overpriced cans and buds out there.

Plus the Harman published research, while very comprehensive, doesn't mean good sound has to match 100% to a single curve. I don't think that was ever the point of it. There will be deviations and there will be designs that have qualities that are important for a given listener. Similar to something like wide vs narrow dispersion in loudspeakers.

Plus factor X factors such as how dependent bass responce is on fit and seal in most designs and how much variation there is in preference there.

 

[Robbo99999]

For some reason the frequency response looks closer to what I measured with felt mod. (stock)

Note that my preference nor target is Harman in the bass. While impressive I belong to the 25% that desires a few dB less bass elevation.

Below stock.

No smoothing applied.

Note the wiggle right channel only at 250Hz, left at 300Hz.
The light 'bump' in the lower mids gives the sound some 'body/warmth'.
I get no distortion at 92dB (400Hz) it actually dips at that resonance frequency.

Also I see no compression even at 100dB.

Group Delay:

R shows a small resonance at 250Hz and L at 350Hz and a small short lived one at 3.8kHz. This is around a frequency where the ear 'resonates' as well.

The 250/350Hz resonance also shows up in the step response.

Been using it as my main headphones (but with a small modification)
sounds very similar to a nearfield monitor which actually is its purpose. It is designed for studio usage.
I like it a lot but needs the felt (just like the DCA headphones with inserts need it not to sound too sharp).

I don't listen at high SPL and sounds distortion free and 'smooth' (with felt) to me.



That is because this is a semi-open headphone. As such it needs a perfect seal to extend well.

My main concern is comfort and fit.
While the headband and tilt/swivel system is improved over the S4R and S4X in order to get a good and comfortable fit I had to resort to bending the headband in strategic places otherwise it would have too little pressure on the bottom side and too much on the top side due to the too small 'tilt' range of the cup design.

The distortion measurement comparisons are interesting, that you didn't get the distortion problems seen in Amir's sample on Amir's rig. I think I'm right in thinking that distortion measurements on rigs other than GRAS can still be valid (eg your Flat Plate, my miniDSP EARS, probably some other rigs too).

 

[Robbo99999]

I don't have a definitive answer for you. I do know that a speaker in a room generates far warmer bass response than a headphone with flat response.

One of the neat things about headphones is that to go way down in frequency, down to 10 Hz and even lower! Use flat response though and almost all of that goes to waste. Boost it per Harman curve and it comes alive, beating any speaker I have heard in how clean and deep the bass becomes! You won't feel it in your gut but what plays in the ear is incredible.

(+1, my experience too)

 

[Robbo99999]

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.

One of the pads was crushed you mean, slightly deformed in comparison to the other one? In what way would you say, as in what does it look like?

 

[ROOSKIE]

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.

Thank for sending them in. They have an interesting company story.

Not familiar with the brand, but my first impressions don’t yet convince me that they’re a brand worth fOLLOwing.

Well, they are putting a lot of effort into these cans.
Bummer on the HD spike, beyond that their research is motivating their design.
@least they are actually doing research and not just slapping names and prices on stuff.
They seem to really be putting effort in to the design. And effort toward measured transparency, far more on that then almost all other vendors.

Be interesting to see what led them to feeling&finding that 'nuetral' in their view is quite a bit different from the Harman variation of 'neutral'.

 

[GaryH]

Am I right in thinking that's a compatible GRAS rig, of the ilk of Oratory's & Amir's? (I'm not up to speed on all the model numbers re IEC....)

Yeah it's a GRAS 45BC KEMAR (as seen from the pic at the top left and stated in their measurements pdf I linked to, and as Oratory uses), with 711 (IEC60318-4 was previously called IEC60711) coupler and anthropometric pinnae. Oh and if you're interested, they also have measurements of the K702 in that pdf.

 

[amirm]

One of the pads was crushed you mean, slightly deformed in comparison to the other one? In what way would you say, as in what does it look like?

When I put it on my fixture, looking from above where the headband attaches, the left channel was crushed to half its width compared to the right channel which had little deformity. I actually measured with the right cup much looser and it still was crushed. it could be it is the way it is packed. I don't know..

 

[khensu]

I noticed that as well. It may have come that way, and if it didn't, it happened only after a handful of hours on my head. I will take @solderdude (I think it was him) advice and contact their support to see about getting a replacement for that pad. They still seemed to fit me fine, but it doesn't bode well for future use.

 

[solderdude]

One pad being different might as well explain the channel imbalance.
I suggest to contact OLLO, address it to Rok, mention your headphone is the one measured at ASR and mention me.

For Rok build quality is very important so he really wants to know if something slipped past quality control.
The good part is that EVERY part can be ordered separately and is replaceable.

 

[PeteL]

When I put it on my fixture, looking from above where the headband attaches, the left channel was crushed to half its width compared to the right channel which had little deformity. I actually measured with the right cup much looser and it still was crushed. it could be it is the way it is packed. I don't know..

Ha, get it now. Crushed Pad. In the review I read crushed cup I was like why even measure it ;-)

 

[Robbo99999]

Ha, get it now. Crushed Pad. In the review I read crushed cup I was like why even measure it ;-)

Yup, that's how I read it first, and then I thought no way would that be measured by Amir, and hence why I asked if they meant "pads".

 

[Mulder]

I have used this headphone for a while and when I first listened to it, it quickly became a favorite. As a matter of fact, I bought it after I had read @solderdude review, and as far as I can tell his review (and measurements) was spot on, ie it sounded just as expected according the review. I use it without any EQ, but with some crossfeed. This headphone however is probably not for everyone. At least not without eq. It is after all desiged to be used as a studio tool. As far as I can tell by listening to it almost every day the last months, I have not noticed any distorted sound. On the contrary, I think it is very clean and clear in it’s sound signature.

 

[Robbo99999]

Yeah it's a GRAS 45BC KEMAR (as seen from the pic at the top left and stated in their measurements pdf I linked to, and as Oratory uses), with 711 (IEC60318-4 was previously called IEC60711) coupler and anthropometric pinnae. Oh and if you're interested, they also have measurements of the K702 in that pdf.

Ah, thanks very much for letting me know they measured the K702, because as you know I have some interest in that headphone! Having checked it out (K702) vs Oratory measurements it seems to measure very similar if you take the 1/3 octave smoothing into account. For instance it measures closer to Oratory's than Crinacle's (and also again Sean Olive's recent measurement of K702 also seems to be an outlier then), for some reason Crinacle's K702 measurements don't show the second peak in the treble. But yes, I'm getting off topic to the thread.

Back on topic.....thanks, right, Ollo are using the same compatible GRAS rig.

 

[restorer-john]

Note that my preference nor target is Harman in the bass. While impressive I belong to the 25% that desires a few dB less bass elevation.

The so-called 'Harman target/curve' is just the circle of confusion on steroids.

The H/P manufacturers think they need to adhere to this arbitrary Boom-Tizz curve, which is the absolute antithesis of accurate, high fidelity presentation, or else their products won't get 'recommended' by sites like ASR. So they reluctantly do it, knowing it's utter BS, but they are in business to sell headphones...

Punters buy this stuff and wonder why they get fatigued ears, so they buy some other headphones (with the same flaws) and before you know it, they have a collection of equally poor sounding, overpriced headphones and they are sadly, no closer to audio nirvana, but their wallets are empty. Capitalism at work.

 

[GaryH]

It was 21%, not 25%. And it's not '21% think less bass than the Harman target is better, all else equal' as is often the implicit misinterpretation; it's 'a cluster of 21% generally preferred headphone frequency responses that happened to have less bass than Harman, among the specific predefined sample of headphones tested and their particular differing frequency responses'. These are not equivalent statements. And the highest rated headphone FR by this cluster actually had Harman-level bass, only dropping below in the sub-bass (plus higher than Harman treble, and the cluster was composed of mostly those aged 50+...so much for the fallacious boom and tizz argument against Harman from those more often than not in that age bracket). That listener segmentation paper really doesn't show what the anti-Harman target crowd think it does.

 

[lewdish]

I actually dont think its too bad, Ollo as far as I understand is an Audiophile brand that tries to cater toward the studio monitoring and pro demographic so it's response shouldn't cater toward harman. I actually think its measures pretty decent. I am curious though if there are distortion are because its in a wooden enclosure, ive never quite understood why people used wood to build headphones other than that its cheap to mill and reasonably strong but inconsistent as far as materials.

I think the flat bass is fine, i like that in audio mixing esp since most headphones are bass boosted out of the box these days, but for the price i think you'd get much better value, comfort, build, & performance out of the Austian Audio X65 which should be somewhat similarly tuned.

 

[PeteL]

I actually dont think its too bad, Ollo as far as I understand is an Audiophile brand that tries to cater toward the studio monitoring and pro demographic so it's response shouldn't cater toward harman. I actually think its measures pretty decent. I am curious though if there are distortion are because its in a wooden enclosure, ive never quite understood why people used wood to build headphones other than that its cheap to mill and reasonably strong but inconsistent as far as materials.

I think the flat bass is fine, i like that in audio mixing esp since most headphones are bass boosted out of the box these days, but for the price i think you'd get much better value, comfort, build, & performance out of the Austian Audio X65 which should be somewhat similarly tuned.

They both looks quite well constructed and confortable, it does sound like a quire arbitrary judgment, do you own the X65 or seen measurments? Or you just don’t like wood?

 

[ROOSKIE]

They both looks quite well constructed and confortable, it does sound like a quire arbitrary judgment, do you own the X65 or seen measurments? Or you just don’t like wood?

I like wood and like the look, that said, maybe you are not a woodworker?
Solid wood/real regular wood is compartively inconsistent and resonant vs some other choices.
This is main reason manufactured wood products are used in cabinet construction.

It also strips easily when using small screws, so any one of those screws could be stripped and causing the issue.

I don't know the exact methods they used in the construction, however the issue could have something to do with assemby and materials.
Wood is certainly popular in headphones but I do think the inexpensive costs(@least I am guessing the costs are low) to the manufacturer are a big reason it is used.

Who knows? It is shame though that spike appeared on the pair being tested here.