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OLLO S5X Headphone Review

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 33 25.4%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 60 46.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 26 20.0%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 11 8.5%

  • Total voters
    130
I found the Dolby Atmos Target curve which has been discussed and plotted it against a few others for interest (source, pg9).

Targets.jpg


Not sure if it tells us much, but if the S5X is designed around the Atmos target then shouldn't it still be within 1dB of the Harman Target between about 200Hz and 4kHz, which it doesn't seem to be from amir's measurement?

(please point out if I'm misguided here or based this on the wrong information)
 
Its the kind of flat that youd see w/ most conventional mixing headphones since your rolling off the bass & subbass which is desired to EQ into the mix.
Mixing headphones are deficient in bass due to the general limitations of open-backed headphones, not by design.

For mixing, convention says you want a headphone that closely mimics flat monitors in a well treated room, which makes moving between headphones and monitors less problematic and ensures better translation across a variety of listening devices. In my experience, mixing on headphones with rolled off bass results in a bloated mix due to compensating for the deficient bass in the headphone.
 
Its the kind of flat that youd see w/ most conventional mixing headphones since your rolling off the bass & subbass which is desired to EQ into the mix.
The research into listening spaces shows a natural buildup of standing waves that reinforce bass frequencies. It's no different for studio control rooms, they might be acoustically treated to control these effects. But, not to eradicate, that's neither practical nor desired.

It's no surprise that a representative bass boost showed up Harmans headphone research.

Summary: "Flat" is better described as bass-defficient, or subject for EQ correction.
 
For mixing, convention says you want a headphone that closely mimics flat monitors in a well treated room, which makes moving between headphones and monitors less problematic and ensures better translation across a variety of listening devices.
Yep, and that's what the S5X seem to do and are designed for. When in a studio the headphones and monitors should sound very similar.
To me the S5X sounds tonally very similar to my calibrated 'flat' nearfield monitors. Not exactly the same but close to it without having to use EQ.
Flat monitors in a well treated room sound different from flat speakers in a living room. In the latter there generally is a bass boost under these conditions. A bit similar to Harman which is what Harman is based on, flat speaker in a 'standard' listening room.
 
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but not used nearfield.
 
Nope. The room used for the speaker measurements the Harman target was based on was well-treated.
Correct.

"As in most untreated small rooms, the interior environment’s modal behavior typically results in the uneven spacing of Eigen tones (commonly called standing waves). By re-ordering these modes (specifically controlling their relative amplitudes) with topical treatments, we were able to maximize the successful linear reproduction of sound from advanced systems such as the Mark Levinson audio components and the Revel Ultima 2 Speakers in the Harman room,” he explains. “Both the rear wall perforated wood / Helmholtz Resonator design and the suspended ceiling clouds contribute to low frequency control. We applied additional broadband absorption to the front wall to compliment the existing carpet and, to slightly reduce the room’s broadband / mid-frequency reverb time (decay rate)."

I recall elsewhere RT60 specs where quoted, in line with IEC and EBU standards for control rooms, but that's basically the purpose of treatments they used.
 
but not used nearfield.
Bass is omnidirectional, so nearfield listening wont cancel standing waves in a room. Some nearfield setups will bass boost more, when placed close to the front wall. This is to linearize the bass.
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Not to say that it must be a bad headphone. It will just have a recessed bass until corrected with EQ. Common to many openback designs.
 
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Also nearfield if anything reduces how much the treble rolls off. The S5X are even below Harman there, so the nearfield excuse doesn't work in that regard either.
 
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Also nearfield if anything reduces how much the treble rolls off. The S5X are even below Harman there, so the nearfield excuse doesn't work in that regard either.
But those are not equal statements
1. Some bass boost is needed.
2. Granular adherence to Harman is a must.

=/=
 
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7.5-10 dB below Harman in the treble is not a granular difference.
It must be a moot point too because the set needs EQ.

You are too granular because the nulls are narrow, mostly above 6KHz where individiual HRTF goes crazy, but if true to the eardrum response it's less reactive to the auditory system than peaks or broad recesses. First you have to take into account that Amirs "HR" coupler will have less treble energy than what was used in Harman research. Notice that Amir didn't correct above the upper mids, which he would have if it was needed.

Also, there's evidence that smooth lines on a graph wont necessarily be smooth to the eardrum, maybe in fact the opposite for around-ears and on-ears:
1688733368184.png
 
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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.
Out of curiosity, which Harman tuned headphone you listened to and found highly bright and fatiguing?
 
Hi, I folow forum from a few years but I'm not active.
A few weeks ago I was looking for headphones with no V- characteristic, no boom -tzz. Natural, detailed, linear. That's why I had for testing S5x, everything was perfect with jazz music without bass but eg. Mali, or other songs with bass din't sound as I was expected, as I know them from my stereo. I knew FS for S5x before and but stiil I had a hope that it will be a little more bass. At the same time I had Denon 7200 and Sennheiser HD600. DH600 compare to S5x sounds like cheep toy, denon has similar lever of detailed , much more bass, for me tooooo much. Next day I decided to call Ollo company, because I really liked sound signature bof S5x but I wanted to find a solution without EQ. I had a long conversation with one of engineer about S5x and S4x, differences etc. I checked FS for these two HP and other HP from below file. https://olloaudio.com/pages/measurements
I decided to try S4x which are designed more for Stereo , with more quantity of lower freq. For me it was very good decision.

I'm an owner of S4x. I have sound was looking for, with very comfortamble pads for many hours of listening. Simple way to repair what for me is important as well because it is my "travel set" for hand lugage.

I have tested it with Toppiing DX5+, chord mojo 2 and Fiio K7. K7 staied with me. I have not seen any difference with SQ compare with 2x more expensive DX5+ and mojo.

S5x:

1688734300567.png



S4x
1688734365844.png
 

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@Lobo_M Surely you can accomidate light EQ into your setup. The one in Spotify may be enough for the task. But if you must have something with a stock response, assuming you like the Ollos mids and treble, there is DCA Aeon Closed RT/X, though that might need some extra EQ in the upper-mids to treble...
 
Spotify and SQ does not match at all. I have done plenty of blind tests, where my wife was a test judge and performer. Spotify and Tidal for me sounds the same and are even not close to apple music.
Now S4x for me doesn't need EQ.
 
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Spotify and SQ does not match at all. I have done plenty of blind tests, where my wife was a test judge and performer. Spotify and Tidal for me sounds the same and are even not close to apple music.
Now S4x for me doesn't need EQ.
1688736547001.png

In the mids it looks in line with my personal target. Maybe a better alrounder than S5X? I will probably still prefer closed backs.

vs. Harman
1688736697490.png


S5X vs. my target
1688738465398.png

EDIT: My target is similar to Amir EQ, it turns out, except for 2-3kHz.
index.php

Vs. Harman:
1688738542337.png

Maybe better after EQ than S4X, due to improved treble distribution? Amir left the treble stock, after all.

Based on https://olloaudio.com/pages/measurements
 
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I was considering closed back S4R but they have even less bass on FS. Probably was designed close for better isolation but linear bass because of mastering
 
S5X(1.0) is tonally between S4X(1.1) and S4R(1.1).
I found the S4R to be a bit too lean in the bass and the S4X a bit too 'woolly/warm'

3x-ollo.png


I lowered the treble on my S5X to be closer to that of the S4*
Once lowered a bit in level (acoustically, not so with EQ which clearly does not do the same thing) the treble quality of the S5X is higher than that of the S4* series and good enough for me.
 
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