HiFiMAN Edition S
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NickleCo
This is the reason why ive avoided all hifiman products. It still boggles my mind that people don't know of the qc issues on hifiman
Hello to all Head-Fiers!
As a long-time audiophile equipment hobbyist, I probably used more than 60 headphones from different brands after 2001, ranging from open / closed to on-ears / full sized over-ears ; and from dynamics to planar magnetics. I enjoyed using lots and lots of different headphones during these 16 years.
Very much.
And I should say that HIFIMAN Edition S with its "convertibility" claim is quite unique among those.
There are quite a number of extensive reviews of this widely known headphone, so I'll try to be as brief as possible and I am going to do my best to present the readers of these lines my general impressions about this highly interesting headphone.
I will put my emphasis on describing especially the sound of Edition S, and at the end I am going to state my own rating for the headphones' overall performance and try to evaluate how much of my findings reflect HIFIMAN’s claims about Edition S.
In short, I’ll try to assess this headphones value on it’s current street price of $129 on the conditions of June 2018, after nearly two years following it’s release.
The Edition S unit was sent to me in purpose of a Turkey review tour, and following the end of the tour I believe it would be beneficial to write an additional (and fresh!) review here of these cans.
So, that’s why I’m here.
From here, I want to thank Mark from HIFIMAN for sending me a review unit of Edition S and thus making this review possible.
Burn-in & Source Equipment
Hifiman recommended a period of 100 hours for Edition S to reach its optimal performance. And I gave up to 250 hours of play intermittently, just to be sure.
Whether you find the effect of burn-in process real or only "a listeners myth", I can suggest people to take a closer look at Edition S.
Out of the box, there was some stridency in the treble section of the phones, which was open to causing a bit of a fatigue after some extended listening sessions.
After giving the headphone some play time, the upper frequencies became more relaxed.
So believe in burn-in or not, I suggest you to give a listen to the wisdom of Shia LaBeouf and :
For testing, I used various different players with Edition S like Sony ZX2, WM1A, A35, A45, Aune M1S, Fiio X3 Mark III, Hifiman's own little wonder SuperMini and half a bunch of smartphones.
I also gave a listen through Objective2 as one of my trustworthy desktop amplifiers, and that $100 amp squeezed the most from Edition S. (will talk more of this later)
And I had the chance to compare the sound performance of Edition S with headphones like Grado HF-1, PS500e, half a bunch of closed Sony headphones ranging from $150 to $2200 flagship Z1R, Meze 99 Neo and Sennheiser HD600 & 650.
Design & Build (4 stars over 5)
I find the design of Edition S highly authentic. Having a medium-sized head, the headphones take the shape of my head with its padding and distribute the clamping force quite evenly.
I never felt discomfort during my listens that sometimes lasted for some couple of hours.
Good job on that.
However, I should state that though the headband does its job decently in distributing pressure over a large area, it feels quite plasticky and of average build quality.
This is an issue HIFIMAN should address in their future designs.
On the other hand, the cups seemed to have near perfect build. The shiny gray frames in the cups are made of sturdy metal, the logo caps are decent, and the pleather pads with velour surface are very comfortable as well as being of high quality.
The covers with "H" logo can easily be taken out, and they stick well with the frame of the cups after being sealed. Shortly, they do not fall down in any case unless you want to take them off.
The cable is quite soft and doesn't look very sturdy ; but it is easily replacable (for $30) and it has volume / play - pause controls on it for Android and IOS devices.
And as another nice thing, if your digital audio player supports remotes and in-line controls, you would be able to use these buttons also for your DAP. (For example, the buttons work beautifully with Fiio X3 3rd Generation)
The outer box of Hifiman is quite a big one, whispering "hey buddy, you'll see some serious headphone inside".
In fact, Edition S looks a bit small on photos over web ; it is actually a relatively large set of headphones. (Keep in mind that the cups of Edition S houses two very large 50 mm sized drivers. I mean, how small can it be?)
The carrying box that came with Edition S is a highly minimalistic one (it doesn't even have any "Hifiman" name on it). Yet it does an excellent job in protecting the phones, and it has a very small footprint.
In the box, there is also a plane adapter, a manual, 3.5 to 6.35 mm adapter and a warranty card. Nothing unusual or lacking here.
Kudos to HIFIMAN here.
So, lets go for the sound.
Sound Signature
In terms of its sound character, Edition S is a fairly neutral headphone having a similar tonality to its pricey (and some VERY pricey!) planar siblings, despite carrying a dynamic driver.
It does not sound dark, nor bright, and it is not a very warm or a "cold sounding" headphone with a sterile feeling coming from analytical emphasis.
Edition S is none of these. (However, some may consider it to have a touch of brightness due to the slightly elevated treble).
In fact, it carries a minimum level of coloration and I believe Edition S is probably the most neutral sounding headphone I've come across in the sub-$150 category.
In terms of balance, the presentation of Edition S can be considered a relatively balanced one.
It - of course - does not carry a reference level, razor-flat frequency response at $129, having some dips and peaks in it’s portrayal of the sound spectrum, but there is no apparent compression of one frequency by another.
(Meze 99 Neo presents a flatter, more reference-like frequency response at $199, only having a slight bloom in the bass).
So far so good.
Bass (4 / 5)
Deep with decent texture and detail. And the frequencies of lows is probably the most severely affected area of the sound spectrum through shifting between open / closed use.
With logo cups off, the bass of Edition S gives the overall sound a very slight amount of warmth while retaining much of its obvious neutral character.
Also in the open mode, the bass reaches its prominency in terms of its amount.
(Like a Grado. Users of Grado cans most probably tried closing the back of the phones with their hands at least once in their lifetimes, and experience a drop in the amount of bass. This rule works also for Edition S, but not to the extent of a Grado.)
It does not extend much to sub-bass (as expected from an open-back dynamic implemetation at this price range) but it provides some nice body and a hefty midbass presence.
(In fact, with some recordings the midbass of Edition S virtually becomes the center of attention among the other frequencies in the open mode.)
The speed of the bass is average ; neither very fast & thick, nor slow & fat. However, bass of Edition S responds well to good amplification, becoming thicker and more controlled.
In open mode, I found Edition S particularly enjoyable especially with pop and electronic music.
In this mode for example (over Sony WM1A) walking in the streets of the city and listening to The Weeknd's "I feel it coming" I found myself to be unintentionally smiling in a quite silly way : )
It was pure joy.
Resolution in the low frequencies is decent, but occassionally the prevalent midbass may show some slight signs of bleed into the lower mids.
In the closed mode with logo cups on, the main difference is the decrease in the presence of the midbass. These frequencies are pulled slightly back, though still being quite present, but not prevalent and towering over other frequencies by any means.
Mids (4.5 / 5)
Nicely detailed and VERY clear (in fact I've never come across a Hifiman phone with veiled sounding mids).
A real highlight of the phone.
In the open mode, the strong presence of midbass recesses the mids very slightly. However, thanks to the increased interaction with air on that mode, the timbre of the midrange instruments became more life-like and organic.
The closed mode brings a slight boost to the midrange clarity by pulling the midbass slightly back, and causing a slight elevation in the upper mids causing some nice attack and liveliness on the portrayal of keyboards.
At the other side of the coin, the cut of air interaction slightly degrades the realism of the timbre of instuments as can be expected in closed phones.
Besides, there is a slight drop in the lower mid frequencies of the sound of Edition S which sometimes cause some instruments to sound thinner than they should normally do.
This is observable both in open and closed use, slightly more apparent in closed mode.
Treble (4 / 5)
Precise, dynamic and nicely detailed, but rolled-off at the extreme top end.
The general neutrality of the headphone continues in here. The treble performance of Edition S is very good for it’s current $129 price level.
In addition to the one’s I mentioned above, it is also quite forgiving and not very open to sounding sibilant or shrill.
Besides, coupled with it’s spacious soundstage, you can hear some lovely “air” between instruments.
However, there is a slight peak on the low to mid treble transition which sounds quite obvious before burn-in at the first listen. This “peak” smoothens through use, but it is always there to a certain degree nonetheless.
It gives the sound of Edition S a nice dynamism, yet with the trade off of a tendency to give some fatigue after long listening sessions.
In case you use Edition S with some sub-par sounding smartphones, some splashiness and an uneven decay in cymbals may occur coupled with some congestion.
Mind you, these headphones sound good even with smartphones, yes ; but they sound definitely better with proper amplification.
Soundstage & Imaging & Separation (4.5 / 5)
In the open mode, shortly put, near full-size headphone level soundstaging.
It is not there on the level of, say, a Sennheiser HD600 (of course), but it is great to have a highly portable set of cans that can present a spacious stage as Edition S.
The placement of the stage is not very close or very far. In other words, Edition S neither presents a Grado-like in-your-face presentation, nor one that is laid-back as the premium grade Sennheiser’s do.
It is like between a Grado (with standard L-Cush pads) and a Sennheiser HD700.
It has some intimacy in it’s sound, but the soundstage is also pulled slightly back to give the sound and the instruments some space “to breathe”.
Overall it has a quite wide and deep staging that creates a 3-dimensional view of musical field, both in open and closed mode. Open mode mainly adds some more width to the stage.
Thanks to the spacious soundstage, instrument separation is decent, and it becomes even better with a good source like a dedicated audio player.
Isolation (3 / 5)
Probably the weakest link in the chain.
Edition S sounds excellent for its price, is portable and stylishly designed, yet in that regard, it's more like a "semi-open" headphone rather that a fully closed one.
The magnetic logo cups provide some isolation, yes ; they cut some of the direct sound waves aiming for your ears (and plenty of music that wants to go outside), but in overall performance of blocking outside noise, it is not up to the passive isolation level of a properly closed can.
Especially if you're a person who has her usual commute passing through a really crowded & noisy city environment, a serious level of outside sounds would interfere with especially the sub frequencies of your music.
Other than that, the existence of the logo cups really helps when there is mild outside noise.
And as putting the cups on & off changes the sound Edition S produces, one can additionally use them as a manual equalizer!
Portability & Driveability (5 / 5)
I should mention that Edition S looks quite a bit smaller in its photos over web.
It is not THAT small.
Trust me.
At the end, you should now that this headphone houses two massive-for-its-class, 50 mm dynamic drivers.See below :
(As an info for comparison, Sennheiser's HD6XX models and HD700 both utilize smaller 40 mm drivers whereas it's flagship HD800 uses 53 mm ones. So the size of the drivers of Edition S is nearly equal to the size of the ones used in HD 800. Fyi.)
However, thanks to it's ergonomically designed housing, excellent foldability and relatively low weight (of 248 grams), Edition S has some very decent portability.
I found it very easy to use Edition S during commute. Sometimes Edition S makes you forget it’s existence around your neck. (Much better than Meze 99 Neo on that matter)
It's carrying box is also very handy due to its small footprint. (Check from the photos)
Edition S is a highly easy to drive headphone.
It can be driven via any source with decent juice (That also explains why it has a smartphone-friendly cable).
But keep in mind that you're actually trying to feed two little speakers (of 50 mm size).
The sound quality of Edition S is decent with smartphones, but it would probably shine and show its abilities with better source, i.e. dedicated players and amps.
It has some really good potential.
And while it sounded well out of the portable players I used in testing, it sounded best with Objective2 fed by the DAC sections of these digital players through line-out.
In fact, the people I gave for a listen with this setup (Line-out from a random DAP + Objective2 + Edition S) reacted to the sound performance of this set with a nice amount of smile on their faces!
The second best pairings had been with Sony WM1A ($1100) and HIFIMAN’s own SuperMini ($199).
(It is lovely that HIFIMAN successfully matches the sound characters of it’s DAPs and headphones ; SuperMini and Edition S duo is a lovely budget audiophile package for $330 on the go)
Conclusion
So, what should the verdict of this review be?
I believe, despite its some shortcomings, Edition S is a highly innovative piece of engineering, and an excellent sonic performer at $129.
On the other hand, contrary to HIFIMAN's claims, you do not go from an open headphone to a “really closed" one with the switch of a pair of cups, no.
With logo cups, it becomes a semi-open headphone at best, cutting some outside noise that would distract you from enjoying your favourite songs, (and that may bother people around you with your music), but it is nowhere around the isolation of a properly sealed passive isolating cans.
But the isolation and the blocking of incoming / outgoing sounds you gain is definitely much better than nothing. Besides, I think cups also give the headphones quite a fancy look, in addition to working as an "analogue equalizer" for the sound Edition S produces.
In terms of sound, there are also some nicely detailed performers in this price range, but I believe Edition S is the most neutral sounding piece while still being a very detailed guy at it's current price of $129.
(As an example, Meze 99 Neo produces an overall better, more refined and punchy sound at $199, but it’s portability is nowhere near the one’s of Edition S).
And despite it’s giant drivers, Edition S took 5/5 on portability department from me, as being one of the best of it’s class.
In it's initial retail price of $249 of two years ago, it would be a pretty tough choice, but now at it's street price of $129, in terms of it's looks, portability, performance and features, I can easily recommend Hifiman Edition S to music lovers.
6.22.2018
As a long-time audiophile equipment hobbyist, I probably used more than 60 headphones from different brands after 2001, ranging from open / closed to on-ears / full sized over-ears ; and from dynamics to planar magnetics. I enjoyed using lots and lots of different headphones during these 16 years.
Very much.
And I should say that HIFIMAN Edition S with its "convertibility" claim is quite unique among those.
There are quite a number of extensive reviews of this widely known headphone, so I'll try to be as brief as possible and I am going to do my best to present the readers of these lines my general impressions about this highly interesting headphone.
I will put my emphasis on describing especially the sound of Edition S, and at the end I am going to state my own rating for the headphones' overall performance and try to evaluate how much of my findings reflect HIFIMAN’s claims about Edition S.
In short, I’ll try to assess this headphones value on it’s current street price of $129 on the conditions of June 2018, after nearly two years following it’s release.
The Edition S unit was sent to me in purpose of a Turkey review tour, and following the end of the tour I believe it would be beneficial to write an additional (and fresh!) review here of these cans.
So, that’s why I’m here.
From here, I want to thank Mark from HIFIMAN for sending me a review unit of Edition S and thus making this review possible.
Burn-in & Source Equipment
Hifiman recommended a period of 100 hours for Edition S to reach its optimal performance. And I gave up to 250 hours of play intermittently, just to be sure.
Whether you find the effect of burn-in process real or only "a listeners myth", I can suggest people to take a closer look at Edition S.
Out of the box, there was some stridency in the treble section of the phones, which was open to causing a bit of a fatigue after some extended listening sessions.
After giving the headphone some play time, the upper frequencies became more relaxed.
So believe in burn-in or not, I suggest you to give a listen to the wisdom of Shia LaBeouf and :
For testing, I used various different players with Edition S like Sony ZX2, WM1A, A35, A45, Aune M1S, Fiio X3 Mark III, Hifiman's own little wonder SuperMini and half a bunch of smartphones.
I also gave a listen through Objective2 as one of my trustworthy desktop amplifiers, and that $100 amp squeezed the most from Edition S. (will talk more of this later)
And I had the chance to compare the sound performance of Edition S with headphones like Grado HF-1, PS500e, half a bunch of closed Sony headphones ranging from $150 to $2200 flagship Z1R, Meze 99 Neo and Sennheiser HD600 & 650.
Design & Build (4 stars over 5)
I find the design of Edition S highly authentic. Having a medium-sized head, the headphones take the shape of my head with its padding and distribute the clamping force quite evenly.
I never felt discomfort during my listens that sometimes lasted for some couple of hours.
Good job on that.
However, I should state that though the headband does its job decently in distributing pressure over a large area, it feels quite plasticky and of average build quality.
This is an issue HIFIMAN should address in their future designs.
On the other hand, the cups seemed to have near perfect build. The shiny gray frames in the cups are made of sturdy metal, the logo caps are decent, and the pleather pads with velour surface are very comfortable as well as being of high quality.
The covers with "H" logo can easily be taken out, and they stick well with the frame of the cups after being sealed. Shortly, they do not fall down in any case unless you want to take them off.
The cable is quite soft and doesn't look very sturdy ; but it is easily replacable (for $30) and it has volume / play - pause controls on it for Android and IOS devices.
And as another nice thing, if your digital audio player supports remotes and in-line controls, you would be able to use these buttons also for your DAP. (For example, the buttons work beautifully with Fiio X3 3rd Generation)
The outer box of Hifiman is quite a big one, whispering "hey buddy, you'll see some serious headphone inside".
In fact, Edition S looks a bit small on photos over web ; it is actually a relatively large set of headphones. (Keep in mind that the cups of Edition S houses two very large 50 mm sized drivers. I mean, how small can it be?)
The carrying box that came with Edition S is a highly minimalistic one (it doesn't even have any "Hifiman" name on it). Yet it does an excellent job in protecting the phones, and it has a very small footprint.
In the box, there is also a plane adapter, a manual, 3.5 to 6.35 mm adapter and a warranty card. Nothing unusual or lacking here.
Kudos to HIFIMAN here.
So, lets go for the sound.
Sound Signature
In terms of its sound character, Edition S is a fairly neutral headphone having a similar tonality to its pricey (and some VERY pricey!) planar siblings, despite carrying a dynamic driver.
It does not sound dark, nor bright, and it is not a very warm or a "cold sounding" headphone with a sterile feeling coming from analytical emphasis.
Edition S is none of these. (However, some may consider it to have a touch of brightness due to the slightly elevated treble).
In fact, it carries a minimum level of coloration and I believe Edition S is probably the most neutral sounding headphone I've come across in the sub-$150 category.
In terms of balance, the presentation of Edition S can be considered a relatively balanced one.
It - of course - does not carry a reference level, razor-flat frequency response at $129, having some dips and peaks in it’s portrayal of the sound spectrum, but there is no apparent compression of one frequency by another.
(Meze 99 Neo presents a flatter, more reference-like frequency response at $199, only having a slight bloom in the bass).
So far so good.
Bass (4 / 5)
Deep with decent texture and detail. And the frequencies of lows is probably the most severely affected area of the sound spectrum through shifting between open / closed use.
With logo cups off, the bass of Edition S gives the overall sound a very slight amount of warmth while retaining much of its obvious neutral character.
Also in the open mode, the bass reaches its prominency in terms of its amount.
(Like a Grado. Users of Grado cans most probably tried closing the back of the phones with their hands at least once in their lifetimes, and experience a drop in the amount of bass. This rule works also for Edition S, but not to the extent of a Grado.)
It does not extend much to sub-bass (as expected from an open-back dynamic implemetation at this price range) but it provides some nice body and a hefty midbass presence.
(In fact, with some recordings the midbass of Edition S virtually becomes the center of attention among the other frequencies in the open mode.)
The speed of the bass is average ; neither very fast & thick, nor slow & fat. However, bass of Edition S responds well to good amplification, becoming thicker and more controlled.
In open mode, I found Edition S particularly enjoyable especially with pop and electronic music.
In this mode for example (over Sony WM1A) walking in the streets of the city and listening to The Weeknd's "I feel it coming" I found myself to be unintentionally smiling in a quite silly way : )
It was pure joy.
Resolution in the low frequencies is decent, but occassionally the prevalent midbass may show some slight signs of bleed into the lower mids.
In the closed mode with logo cups on, the main difference is the decrease in the presence of the midbass. These frequencies are pulled slightly back, though still being quite present, but not prevalent and towering over other frequencies by any means.
Mids (4.5 / 5)
Nicely detailed and VERY clear (in fact I've never come across a Hifiman phone with veiled sounding mids).
A real highlight of the phone.
In the open mode, the strong presence of midbass recesses the mids very slightly. However, thanks to the increased interaction with air on that mode, the timbre of the midrange instruments became more life-like and organic.
The closed mode brings a slight boost to the midrange clarity by pulling the midbass slightly back, and causing a slight elevation in the upper mids causing some nice attack and liveliness on the portrayal of keyboards.
At the other side of the coin, the cut of air interaction slightly degrades the realism of the timbre of instuments as can be expected in closed phones.
Besides, there is a slight drop in the lower mid frequencies of the sound of Edition S which sometimes cause some instruments to sound thinner than they should normally do.
This is observable both in open and closed use, slightly more apparent in closed mode.
Treble (4 / 5)
Precise, dynamic and nicely detailed, but rolled-off at the extreme top end.
The general neutrality of the headphone continues in here. The treble performance of Edition S is very good for it’s current $129 price level.
In addition to the one’s I mentioned above, it is also quite forgiving and not very open to sounding sibilant or shrill.
Besides, coupled with it’s spacious soundstage, you can hear some lovely “air” between instruments.
However, there is a slight peak on the low to mid treble transition which sounds quite obvious before burn-in at the first listen. This “peak” smoothens through use, but it is always there to a certain degree nonetheless.
It gives the sound of Edition S a nice dynamism, yet with the trade off of a tendency to give some fatigue after long listening sessions.
In case you use Edition S with some sub-par sounding smartphones, some splashiness and an uneven decay in cymbals may occur coupled with some congestion.
Mind you, these headphones sound good even with smartphones, yes ; but they sound definitely better with proper amplification.
Soundstage & Imaging & Separation (4.5 / 5)
In the open mode, shortly put, near full-size headphone level soundstaging.
It is not there on the level of, say, a Sennheiser HD600 (of course), but it is great to have a highly portable set of cans that can present a spacious stage as Edition S.
The placement of the stage is not very close or very far. In other words, Edition S neither presents a Grado-like in-your-face presentation, nor one that is laid-back as the premium grade Sennheiser’s do.
It is like between a Grado (with standard L-Cush pads) and a Sennheiser HD700.
It has some intimacy in it’s sound, but the soundstage is also pulled slightly back to give the sound and the instruments some space “to breathe”.
Overall it has a quite wide and deep staging that creates a 3-dimensional view of musical field, both in open and closed mode. Open mode mainly adds some more width to the stage.
Thanks to the spacious soundstage, instrument separation is decent, and it becomes even better with a good source like a dedicated audio player.
Isolation (3 / 5)
Probably the weakest link in the chain.
Edition S sounds excellent for its price, is portable and stylishly designed, yet in that regard, it's more like a "semi-open" headphone rather that a fully closed one.
The magnetic logo cups provide some isolation, yes ; they cut some of the direct sound waves aiming for your ears (and plenty of music that wants to go outside), but in overall performance of blocking outside noise, it is not up to the passive isolation level of a properly closed can.
Especially if you're a person who has her usual commute passing through a really crowded & noisy city environment, a serious level of outside sounds would interfere with especially the sub frequencies of your music.
Other than that, the existence of the logo cups really helps when there is mild outside noise.
And as putting the cups on & off changes the sound Edition S produces, one can additionally use them as a manual equalizer!
Portability & Driveability (5 / 5)
I should mention that Edition S looks quite a bit smaller in its photos over web.
It is not THAT small.
Trust me.
At the end, you should now that this headphone houses two massive-for-its-class, 50 mm dynamic drivers.See below :
(As an info for comparison, Sennheiser's HD6XX models and HD700 both utilize smaller 40 mm drivers whereas it's flagship HD800 uses 53 mm ones. So the size of the drivers of Edition S is nearly equal to the size of the ones used in HD 800. Fyi.)
However, thanks to it's ergonomically designed housing, excellent foldability and relatively low weight (of 248 grams), Edition S has some very decent portability.
I found it very easy to use Edition S during commute. Sometimes Edition S makes you forget it’s existence around your neck. (Much better than Meze 99 Neo on that matter)
It's carrying box is also very handy due to its small footprint. (Check from the photos)
Edition S is a highly easy to drive headphone.
It can be driven via any source with decent juice (That also explains why it has a smartphone-friendly cable).
But keep in mind that you're actually trying to feed two little speakers (of 50 mm size).
The sound quality of Edition S is decent with smartphones, but it would probably shine and show its abilities with better source, i.e. dedicated players and amps.
It has some really good potential.
And while it sounded well out of the portable players I used in testing, it sounded best with Objective2 fed by the DAC sections of these digital players through line-out.
In fact, the people I gave for a listen with this setup (Line-out from a random DAP + Objective2 + Edition S) reacted to the sound performance of this set with a nice amount of smile on their faces!
The second best pairings had been with Sony WM1A ($1100) and HIFIMAN’s own SuperMini ($199).
(It is lovely that HIFIMAN successfully matches the sound characters of it’s DAPs and headphones ; SuperMini and Edition S duo is a lovely budget audiophile package for $330 on the go)
Conclusion
So, what should the verdict of this review be?
I believe, despite its some shortcomings, Edition S is a highly innovative piece of engineering, and an excellent sonic performer at $129.
On the other hand, contrary to HIFIMAN's claims, you do not go from an open headphone to a “really closed" one with the switch of a pair of cups, no.
With logo cups, it becomes a semi-open headphone at best, cutting some outside noise that would distract you from enjoying your favourite songs, (and that may bother people around you with your music), but it is nowhere around the isolation of a properly sealed passive isolating cans.
But the isolation and the blocking of incoming / outgoing sounds you gain is definitely much better than nothing. Besides, I think cups also give the headphones quite a fancy look, in addition to working as an "analogue equalizer" for the sound Edition S produces.
In terms of sound, there are also some nicely detailed performers in this price range, but I believe Edition S is the most neutral sounding piece while still being a very detailed guy at it's current price of $129.
(As an example, Meze 99 Neo produces an overall better, more refined and punchy sound at $199, but it’s portability is nowhere near the one’s of Edition S).
And despite it’s giant drivers, Edition S took 5/5 on portability department from me, as being one of the best of it’s class.
In it's initial retail price of $249 of two years ago, it would be a pretty tough choice, but now at it's street price of $129, in terms of it's looks, portability, performance and features, I can easily recommend Hifiman Edition S to music lovers.
6.22.2018
Have you ever wondered what type of headphones you need on the go? Tired of bringing oversized headphones wherever you go? Well if you got a large spending budget for on the go headphones. The HiFiman Edition S Headphones are definitely for you. Not enough information? Well it's about time I got to that.
Introduction: The HiFiman Edition S is an interesting set of headphones from years of engineering from HiFiman. The sole purpose of the Edition S is to provide high quality audio. While maintaining the portable size and with decent durability as well. Is it what it's meant to be? I'll explain that further as I analyze further into detail.
Build Quality/Design: The Edition S is made out of a tough plastic. Even though the headband is made out of hard plastic. It would be better if it were thicker and reinforced by metal. At the headband, it seems that the plastic is quite rigid. There are L and R markers on each side of the bottom headband. Below the headband is the metal housing, with the magnetic grills and the covers to keep it in open back or closed back modes. There's also a removable cable port on the left side of the headphone. The Edition S can be folded and stored in the Silver Headphone carrying case that is provided with the Edition S.
Fit: It's best to have flat hair. Having too much high hair doesn't do the fit any justice. It makes it harder to wear. As for comfort. I can wear this for hours with little to no fatigue because of the soft inner ear pads. It only gets hot in the ear pads when I'm running. I sweat a lot. So this may slightly differ with everyone else.
Isolation: Low to low-end Moderate. Not ideal for very noisy environments. Such as crowded trains and subways and Large social gatherings. This is for closed back mode. Open back mode is a no go. It's low isolation at best.
Source: OPUS #1 (EQ: OFF) (GAIN: MIDDLE) (VOLUME: 124/150)
Specifications:
Yes. With the 18 Ohm impedance and very powerful OPUS #1. It was quite easy. As for my ZTE Axon 7. Kind of. My Axon 7 isn't quite ideal for this analysis anyway.
Sound Characteristics:
We'll start with two separate modes because of their noticeable differences in sound characteristics.
Closed Back Mode:
Bass - There is enough quantity for Pop and Trap music. The interesting observation is that the midbass is limited on closed back mode. Although it's not quite deep. Based on my observations. The deepest Bass I heard from the Edition S on Closed Back Mode was 60 Hz. Although despite the semi deep Bass. The quality is very good. It sounds consistent and feels punchy. With a slight warm tilt. Along with decent slam and quick speed.
Mids - Due to the limited midbass. The lower Mids aren't overshadowed. So the female vocals aren't subdued. They aren't too forward either. I'd say they are inbetween. Moving up to the upper Mids. There's a slight upward tilt. Making it sound brighter with male vocals, most percussion instruments, brass and strings. Surprisingly, it doesn't sound artificial in anyway. The Mids aren't recessed in Closed Back Mode. It's strange how it differs from Open Back Mode.
Treble - I find the treble to be presented as slightly bright. Most of the time, the treble can liven things up. The sharpness of this frequency makes it a bit analytical in bass light soundtracks. Such as MDK's "Shinespark (Evan King Orchestral).The timbre is quite natural in that soundtrack and has no hint of artificial tonality in any way. Generally, the treble is refined and a bit sharp. Not ear pinching sharp.
Soundstage: It's average for an on-ear/over-ear headphones. The soundscape is pretty airy, despite the average soundstage. It's probably due to the somewhat energetic treble. The width is above average and the depth is a bit shallow. That all changed with Open Back Mode.
Accuracy/Imaging - Before I get to Open Back Mode. I should point out that the imaging and accuracy is impressive for a portable headphone like this. The accuracy is quite good. With the oval shaped soundstage. The placement of the instruments and vocals are distinguishable. Which makes the music quite easy to follow. The imaging is quite vivid and three dimensional sound. Which does make the music really pop out at you. That and along with the accuracy makes the Edition S an experience that makes your music come to life.
Open Back Mode:
Bass - This is a bit different. It's warmer. Much warmer. The bass seems to have a softer and slightly slower slam. The texture seems to be a deep layer of smooth clay, being trounced by a bouncing bowling ball. In other words. The bass feels and slams smoothly. Almost silky smooth. This is most likely the boosted mid bass. I find it very good for Trance, Dubstep and even Acid Music. What intrigues me is, how did the mid bass get a boost? I'm still figuring that out. Maybe the panels were acting as a dampening effect?
Mids - This part is a somewhat different than closed back mode. Continuing from the bass, Mids also sound warm. The lower vocals are slightly recessed. This is due to the enhanced midbass. So the female vocals are darker and the clarity seems to reduced a tiny bit. The upper Mids have been darkened a bit too. At this mode. It's perfect, for me at least. The problem is that the deets for the mid-range in general has taken a bit of a back seat. So this means that open back mode is not ideal to hear the distinguished details of the mid-range. Although it does sound more organic and musical than Closed Back mode. So it's more of a trade-off of sorts. Although this is because I prefer the reference type sound of Closed Back.
Treble - This part of the frequency is so smooth and a bit dark. Making the whole frequency average out to mostly neutral. The details aren't distinguished either. They are there. Just not obvious like in Closed Back Mode. Once again. This frequency also sounds organic and isn't recessed like the Mids. Instead it's balanced. One thing I noticed is the air. It pumps more air in open back mode. Probably with the help of the vents. So this prevents the music from sounding too dark and boring.
Soundstage - Due to the combination of the smooth and airy treble. Along with the vents, the soundstage almost doubles in size. It's more like 1.4x bigger. So yeah. The width is well above average. The depth is average and the soundstage is easily above average. The shape of the soundstage becomes more circular shaped. Yet still remains oval shaped. Pretty much like an enlarged oval.
Accuracy/Imaging - This part becomes a bit obscure. It depends on what you are listening to. If you are listening to bassier tracks, the placement of the cues can get a bit smeared. So the soundtrack will sound a bit jumbled. Slightly harder to follow, yet still very listenable. With light bass soundtracks, the sonic cues are still easy to read and it becomes quite a fascinating sound to experience. Like for example. Robert Miles soundtrack "Children (Dream Version) has a decent amount of bass, yet it's not smeared or jumbled up and the sonic cues are easy to follow. Despite all of this. The imaging is very much three dimensional and can be dynamic with soundtracks that demand for it.
Overall Sound Characteristics:
Closed Back - Neutral, Reference-Like and Energetic.
Open Back Mode - Musical, Emotional and Smooth.
Conclusion: I have enjoyed listening to the Edition S for the past 9 months. I'm glad I purchased it after testing it out at the Stereo Exchange last June. This seems to be the headphones for everyone. Although if you have too much hair. The fit may be an issue. Then if you go to noisy areas daily, then you won't find these enjoyable. Or if you want Closed Back Mode with the sound characteristics of Open Back Mode. You may not find this your cup of tea. Otherwise if none of those bother you, then go nuts.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01D...ds=hifiman&dpPl=1&dpID=41ncyM-nRML&ref=plSrch
Introduction: The HiFiman Edition S is an interesting set of headphones from years of engineering from HiFiman. The sole purpose of the Edition S is to provide high quality audio. While maintaining the portable size and with decent durability as well. Is it what it's meant to be? I'll explain that further as I analyze further into detail.
Build Quality/Design: The Edition S is made out of a tough plastic. Even though the headband is made out of hard plastic. It would be better if it were thicker and reinforced by metal. At the headband, it seems that the plastic is quite rigid. There are L and R markers on each side of the bottom headband. Below the headband is the metal housing, with the magnetic grills and the covers to keep it in open back or closed back modes. There's also a removable cable port on the left side of the headphone. The Edition S can be folded and stored in the Silver Headphone carrying case that is provided with the Edition S.
Fit: It's best to have flat hair. Having too much high hair doesn't do the fit any justice. It makes it harder to wear. As for comfort. I can wear this for hours with little to no fatigue because of the soft inner ear pads. It only gets hot in the ear pads when I'm running. I sweat a lot. So this may slightly differ with everyone else.
Isolation: Low to low-end Moderate. Not ideal for very noisy environments. Such as crowded trains and subways and Large social gatherings. This is for closed back mode. Open back mode is a no go. It's low isolation at best.
Source: OPUS #1 (EQ: OFF) (GAIN: MIDDLE) (VOLUME: 124/150)
Specifications:
- Style: Open/Closed Back
- Frequency Response: 15Hz-22kHz
- Sensitivity: 113 dB
- Impedance: 18 ohms
- Weight: 8.74oz (248g)
Yes. With the 18 Ohm impedance and very powerful OPUS #1. It was quite easy. As for my ZTE Axon 7. Kind of. My Axon 7 isn't quite ideal for this analysis anyway.
Sound Characteristics:
We'll start with two separate modes because of their noticeable differences in sound characteristics.
Closed Back Mode:
Bass - There is enough quantity for Pop and Trap music. The interesting observation is that the midbass is limited on closed back mode. Although it's not quite deep. Based on my observations. The deepest Bass I heard from the Edition S on Closed Back Mode was 60 Hz. Although despite the semi deep Bass. The quality is very good. It sounds consistent and feels punchy. With a slight warm tilt. Along with decent slam and quick speed.
Mids - Due to the limited midbass. The lower Mids aren't overshadowed. So the female vocals aren't subdued. They aren't too forward either. I'd say they are inbetween. Moving up to the upper Mids. There's a slight upward tilt. Making it sound brighter with male vocals, most percussion instruments, brass and strings. Surprisingly, it doesn't sound artificial in anyway. The Mids aren't recessed in Closed Back Mode. It's strange how it differs from Open Back Mode.
Treble - I find the treble to be presented as slightly bright. Most of the time, the treble can liven things up. The sharpness of this frequency makes it a bit analytical in bass light soundtracks. Such as MDK's "Shinespark (Evan King Orchestral).The timbre is quite natural in that soundtrack and has no hint of artificial tonality in any way. Generally, the treble is refined and a bit sharp. Not ear pinching sharp.
Soundstage: It's average for an on-ear/over-ear headphones. The soundscape is pretty airy, despite the average soundstage. It's probably due to the somewhat energetic treble. The width is above average and the depth is a bit shallow. That all changed with Open Back Mode.
Accuracy/Imaging - Before I get to Open Back Mode. I should point out that the imaging and accuracy is impressive for a portable headphone like this. The accuracy is quite good. With the oval shaped soundstage. The placement of the instruments and vocals are distinguishable. Which makes the music quite easy to follow. The imaging is quite vivid and three dimensional sound. Which does make the music really pop out at you. That and along with the accuracy makes the Edition S an experience that makes your music come to life.
Open Back Mode:
Bass - This is a bit different. It's warmer. Much warmer. The bass seems to have a softer and slightly slower slam. The texture seems to be a deep layer of smooth clay, being trounced by a bouncing bowling ball. In other words. The bass feels and slams smoothly. Almost silky smooth. This is most likely the boosted mid bass. I find it very good for Trance, Dubstep and even Acid Music. What intrigues me is, how did the mid bass get a boost? I'm still figuring that out. Maybe the panels were acting as a dampening effect?
Mids - This part is a somewhat different than closed back mode. Continuing from the bass, Mids also sound warm. The lower vocals are slightly recessed. This is due to the enhanced midbass. So the female vocals are darker and the clarity seems to reduced a tiny bit. The upper Mids have been darkened a bit too. At this mode. It's perfect, for me at least. The problem is that the deets for the mid-range in general has taken a bit of a back seat. So this means that open back mode is not ideal to hear the distinguished details of the mid-range. Although it does sound more organic and musical than Closed Back mode. So it's more of a trade-off of sorts. Although this is because I prefer the reference type sound of Closed Back.
Treble - This part of the frequency is so smooth and a bit dark. Making the whole frequency average out to mostly neutral. The details aren't distinguished either. They are there. Just not obvious like in Closed Back Mode. Once again. This frequency also sounds organic and isn't recessed like the Mids. Instead it's balanced. One thing I noticed is the air. It pumps more air in open back mode. Probably with the help of the vents. So this prevents the music from sounding too dark and boring.
Soundstage - Due to the combination of the smooth and airy treble. Along with the vents, the soundstage almost doubles in size. It's more like 1.4x bigger. So yeah. The width is well above average. The depth is average and the soundstage is easily above average. The shape of the soundstage becomes more circular shaped. Yet still remains oval shaped. Pretty much like an enlarged oval.
Accuracy/Imaging - This part becomes a bit obscure. It depends on what you are listening to. If you are listening to bassier tracks, the placement of the cues can get a bit smeared. So the soundtrack will sound a bit jumbled. Slightly harder to follow, yet still very listenable. With light bass soundtracks, the sonic cues are still easy to read and it becomes quite a fascinating sound to experience. Like for example. Robert Miles soundtrack "Children (Dream Version) has a decent amount of bass, yet it's not smeared or jumbled up and the sonic cues are easy to follow. Despite all of this. The imaging is very much three dimensional and can be dynamic with soundtracks that demand for it.
Overall Sound Characteristics:
Closed Back - Neutral, Reference-Like and Energetic.
Open Back Mode - Musical, Emotional and Smooth.
Conclusion: I have enjoyed listening to the Edition S for the past 9 months. I'm glad I purchased it after testing it out at the Stereo Exchange last June. This seems to be the headphones for everyone. Although if you have too much hair. The fit may be an issue. Then if you go to noisy areas daily, then you won't find these enjoyable. Or if you want Closed Back Mode with the sound characteristics of Open Back Mode. You may not find this your cup of tea. Otherwise if none of those bother you, then go nuts.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01D...ds=hifiman&dpPl=1&dpID=41ncyM-nRML&ref=plSrch
Introduction
The portable on-ear or over-the-ear headphone market is, I admit, not something that I’m especially familiar with. I recognize that there is a strong bias towards consumer-tuning in the $50-$300 price-range, with these usually closed cans having emphasis on the low-end with a rolled off high-end. Detail and resolution are generally eschewed for a lively sound that would easily find itself as powering the soundtrack of your daily commute.
My experience with the Audio Technica M-50X in the past was not very much to my liking, as portable cans. Besides how quickly wearing them became uncomfortable, I found that the bass fell through the floor during a commute due to poor isolation and seal – leaving only a harsh treble signature that was displeasing. The Meze 99 Classics fare far, far better in the same setting, with their tight seal preserving the warm and lush sound signature. Preserving the bass seems to be the major key with portable cans; by isolating, bumping it up or a mix of both.
Enter the Hifiman Edition S, a portable headphone with a twist – it can be easily switched from a closed to an open configuration and vice versa. I recognize that this means that I’ll have to double the sound research behind this review, because both iterations have a noticeable difference in sound, but I’m game.
Thanks to Audio Sanctuary for providing me with this review loaner of the Hifiman Edition S for my honest opinion. Based in London, I enjoy frequenting the store due to their large amount of gear (headphones and speakers) set out for demo. They can be found at http://www.audiosanctuary.co.uk/
Specifications
Style: Open/Closed Back
Frequency Response: 15Hz – 22kHz
Sensitivity: 113 dB
Impedance: 18 Ohms
Weight: 8.74 oz (248g)
Driver Size: 50mm
Build Quality, Comfort and Features
I can’t vouch for this headphone aesthetically, it just isn’t my thing at all. While lightweight, the tradeoff appears to have been the usage of build materials that might result in some calling this headphone “cheap” looking. I had some minor concerns while inspecting it, as I felt the joints connecting the overall frame to the earcups felt like they could easily break. The clamp is not severe, but it is not loose either.
The earpads are a smaller implementation of the hybrid FocusA pads that I had on my Hifiman HE-400i back in the day. As I have larger ears, I found that they would feel cramped inside after a listening period of two hours. This is a far longer period of time than I can handle with the Beats Solo 2, but still not as long as I can listen to the Meze 99 Classics – even the ones with the original pads, with the smaller earholes. It’s really cold here in London, but I can definitely feel my ears getting really warm – and I don’t think I would be able to bear these for long in summer.
The cable is pretty flimsy and incredibly thin for a headphone of this price-range. It utilizes a L-shaped 3.5 termination and has a play/pause button along with a volume +/- button.
Sound
The consumer-tuning of portable cans in this price-range is pretty much a given at this point, but after some time evaluating the Beats Solo 2 and the Sennheiser Urbanite, I quite enjoyed how the Edition S sounds overall. However, the difference between the two configurations is noteworthy – and deserve their own sections in my opinion.
Open Configuration
As it is, essentially, an open headphone in this configuration – the soundstage is quite impressive. Listening to Yosi Horikawa’s Wandering EP revealed that the imaging is quite good also for a contender in its price range and market placement. You won’t obtain an “out-of-head” experience, but you should not be expecting that from this in the first place.
The bass has a nice amount of thump to it that doesn’t sound sluggish or too boosted to the point of distortion. It’s remarkably clean sounding and punchy, reminding me of the bass of Hifiman’s planar magnetic HE-400i that I owned previously, but in a less refined or immediately-impressive manner.
The midrange is really, really clean – with no bass bleed to my ears, despite that being bumped. It is neither highly recessed nor forwarded, but maintains a step back from the listener – leading to an “ethereal” feeling that should not be confused with veiled. Electric guitars, which have so much grittiness and bite on the likes of the Grado SR80e, sound smoothed over and a little processed. Also, acoustic guitars, which have so much heft on the likes of the Meze 99 Classics, sound similarly detached. Despite these minor traits, I still have to commend the ability of these headphones (in this open configuration) to present an expansive and clean experience that is not really found in this form factor.
The treble is at a level that is a few short steps beyond “comfortably-extended.” The Meze 99, on which I used this term to describe the treble extension, actually goes a few steps further to add a snapping element to the sound, making cymbals and snare hits have more impact. The Edition S, however, has a very soft treble that would make listening to this headphone more bearable for the truly treble-sensitive individuals among us. It does not, however, feel chopped off and stifling – as was the case with the Solo 2.
Closed Configuration
While the soundstage takes a notable hit, compared to the open configuration, it is not as night-and-day in terms of difference. There is ample room for the music to take shape, compared to the likes of the Beats Solo 2 especially.
The bass is comparable to the open configuration, but actually feels lessened in flat amount – which is interesting because a sealed and closed headphone can really contribute to the weight and impact of bass.
The midrange maintains the ethereal nature mentioned above, but the separation and the bass is less precise than in the open configuration. Another characteristic that suffers in comparison is that the midrange feels a tad bit stunted, with less of a natural sound and more of a slightly stuffy consumer-tuning. The treble extends well, but hits a similar wall compared to the open configuration.
Switching between the two, I honestly feel that it is not worth the slight bit of extra isolation to have a reduced sonic experience – but that’s just me.
Amping
None required. These are easily-driven headphones made for use with portable devices.
Conclusion
When I think back to the portable headphones that I have reviewed in 2016, I find that the Edition S is close to the top, if only sound quality was to be considered. It possesses a livelier, consumer-tuned (which I prefer for public usage) sound than the likes of the Beyerdynamic DT1350, while maintaining a distinct clarity advantage over the Solo 2 and Urbanite.
However, the comfort issues (my fit dependent) and Hifiman’s underperforming build quality in both the frame and headphones leads me to find this hard to recommend outright. If you can get a good deal on these, and you’ve felt one with your own hands and decided that it isn’t too much of a big deal, then go for it. You will also need to evaluate if you like how it sounds in the closed configuration, and if it provides enough isolation to you for public use.
I, personally, prefer my Meze 99 in every manner over this – but that is another, slightly higher, price-tier so that must be taken into consideration.
Renosoko
great review!
Introduction:
HiFiMan has been in the scene for a long time – primarily known for their open-back headphones, much of their product line has been both highly praised and widely popular. Their recent HE-350 model is the most affordable open-back headphone on the market, while their HE-1000 is the cream of the crop, and highly regarded as one of the best headphones available.
But one thing they were not known for was closed, portable headphones. In that market, it’s very difficult to make a premium product that sounds significantly better than the lower-end range; closed back headphones haven’t seen nearly as much improvement with price as open back ones. So providing innovation in this area of the market is crucial for keeping it moving, and providing new products – which won’t get better without new technology.
For this exact reason, the Edition S should be turning heads as early as at proof of concept. HiFiMan really thought out of the box on this one – and came up with something so utterly crazy and yet so simple in concept, that I wonder if other companies never thought of this idea because of its sheer ingenuity.
HiFiMan engineered the first open-back closed headphone.
Sounds mind-blowing, right? But the concept itself is not too crazy. Essentially, they wanted to make a headphone that can be used as a portable, well-isolating, closed headphone, and also as an open-back that can showcase serious sound quality a portable headphone couldn’t have.
So how did they do it? It’s a pretty simple answer - they made a portable headphone with removable plates. But it really isn’t that simple, though – drilling holes or removing the back of your standard portable headphone will not result in a great sounding open-back. From what I’ve heard from people who’ve tried it (and RIP their headphones) they sounded absolutely horrible, worse than when they started. Loose and muddy bass, incoherent sound – it isn’t a good idea, is all I’m trying to say.
HiFiMan had to make the headphone sound good both with and without the plates. From what I understood from Mr. Hoagland and Dr. Bian, that was one of the most difficult challenges here. And to make things more difficult, each usage type alone (portable and open-back) had to be good enough to be a real contender in their own respective markets. It’s obvious now that this job is not easy at all – it’s one of the hardest I’ve seen. One headphone, two uses, each one has to be great on their own without sacrificing the other. How does the Edition S measure up? Let’s find out.
As a note, the review was written without any knowledge of other's opinions and impressions of the Edition S. Only after I wrote the review did I view and add my findings relative to the general view of the Edition S, to convey whether my views were an exception to the rule, or with the consensus. Thank you for reading!
Build Quality & Design:
When I first tried out a prototype of the Edition S a while back, I wasn’t too sure of this part. It seemed flimsy, too plastic-y for a $250 headphone. However, receiving the final product, I was happy to see that they decided to make it more durable, and stronger on a whole. While the Edition S’s headband may be made of plastic, the plastic is quite durable, and I never felt as if it would break under pressure – in fact, I mention later on (in the fit section) that I’ve seen quite a few owners of the Edition S bend the headband to have produce less pressure on the head. Not one of them broke it – despite the fact that some others would break under the same pressure.
They didn’t do plastic because it was cheap – they did it to keep the weight down, and that they have accomplished well. It does have some heft, weighing 248g, but most of that comes from the cups, which are fully metal as I’ll mention. While the headband doesn’t shout “premium” (though it does have a classy HiFiMAN model name on the top), it functions exactly as intended – it’s solid, despite what it may look like.
The headband also has a nice amount of memory foam padding, ensuring that you won’t feel the pressure up top – it’s soft enough that you don’t even feel the padding when worn. The cups themselves are made entirely out of metal, besides for the removable caps, which I’ll talk about soon. The hinges connecting the cups to the headband are metal as well, with the space inside made of plastic. It’s cleverly placed though, making the plastic in the hinges very, very difficult to see.
Extending the headband isn’t as smooth as I would have liked it to be. Depending on where you place pressure, it can be either really easy or really hard to do so – but remains difficult to do when they’re on your head. To be fair, most regular listeners only adjust them once, so it isn’t as big of a deal as people make it to be, but it is worth mentioning.
The earpads are impressive, a mix of faux leather and soft velour. The leather is on the outside (and is what most people will see), with the velour on the part that goes against your head, making it quite comfortable. Still, it looks high end, and if they were made to fit other headphone I’m sure people would buy them – like I said, they look impressive.
Next is the removable caps – the part of the ear cup that comes off. Each one is made of plastic, with the HiFiMAN logo in metal, to match the rest of the cup. Behind them is a view of the drivers, through a metal grill. The headphones look good both with the caps on and off, which is also not easy to accomplish. That said, I prefer them (design-wise) with the cap off, and here’s why:
The whole headphone seems to be a mix of two elements. We see a plain element, the sturdy plastic headband, but then moving down we see the cups and pads – totally a different breed. Those look like they were made with “high end” in mind, with attention to the way they look. And the caps seem to belong to the first category, good, but not great looking. With them off, the entire cup is metal, and there’s some well-needed consistency.
I’m just not sure how it meshes together. The metal is brushed, but the plastic is not. Design-wise, I can’t help but think it would look better if HiFiMAN brushed both design materials, so they blend together, instead of clash with each other.
It’s a shame; the cups look top-notch, and it’s a shame to have that married with just regular plastic. Brush it; give it the same amount of detail. Do this for at least the removable caps, and in my opinion, the headphone would look better. Do it for the headband too, and then you have a really stylish headphone.
The other thing I’m confused about is the way the Edition S was marketed. It’s advertised as an on-ear headphone, when the earpads clearly go around even large ears. While this seems harmless, someone who is looking specifically for an on-ear headphone and orders this will be in for an unpleasant surprise, and HiFiMAN is also missing out on the large crowd that can’t stand the pressure of on ear headphones – and won’t buy the Edition S, if they haven’t read any reviews stating the flexibility of that statement.
Fit & Comfort:
Unfortunately, I’ve personally had issues with this one. HiFiMAN made a note of their design, saying that they’ve distributed the pressure all around the headband, as opposed to just the top of it. While this is true, I’ve found the headband to be slightly too narrow for my head, making it uncomfortable on the sides.
The same goes for the earpads. While usually I feel a nice clamp along all the pad, by the Edition S most of the pressure is on the top part of the ear pad, having the pressure right above my ear – not a great place to have pressure on in the first place; it makes me dizzy quickly. Removing my glasses makes it a tad better, but it’s still a large issue for me. I tried stretching the headband, after hearing it doesn’t break so easily. Don’t worry - it didn’t. But neither did it help the issue much.
Comfort-wise, if the fit was good for me, I can see this as a very comfortable headphone, due to the very soft headband padding and excellent ear pad choice of materials.
I would like to note that most people I’ve met get a good seal with the Edition S, so I’m probably the exception here, with a weirdly-shaped head or something. I never did have fit problems with any other over-ear headphone, so this is still puzzles to me.
Isolation (closed back, obviously) is average, not blocking out as much as I want it to. However, this could very well be due to the lack of seal I had most times I used it.
Sound:
And here we have the most interesting part of the review. If you aren’t a fanatic about looks in general, and find these comfortable on your head, this is the part you’re probably waiting for.
The first thing I want to note, and this is probably the most important one of all, is that there’s very differing opinions about how these sound – and while the duality of the headphone contributes to this, the rest is almost certainly due to seal issues. While most people find these comfortable, when I took them to an audio meet almost all the people who didn’t like the sound afterwards found out that they missed getting a good seal – and there were a lot of those. This came up in measurements a friend took; nothing comprehensive, but I’ll put the details here:
Suffice it to say, a bad seal can make the Edition S sound absolutely horrible, so if your impressions aren’t matching up with mine (or someone else’s!), please do check the seal; it’s easy to miss, especially from the bottom rear of each ear pad. Personally, I didn’t get a good seal naturally, and had to maneuver these around until I did – most probably a consequence of the fit I had (or didn’t).
With that said, I would say the Edition S is U-shaped… except they’re not. There’s an elevated mid-bass, and are bright up top, but they have a number of dips and peaks that make it impossible to put into this category.
As one user mentioned mentioned, these do sound like Grado’s, and even though I didn’t have much listening time with any particular one, it easily reminded me of them on the first listen – more so closed than open, at least to me. If you’re a fan of that sound signature, chances are you’ll love the way the Edition S sounds.
One more thing before I start; I’ll be talking quite a bit about the Edition S paired with the Tralucent DacAmp One, and it’s important to know that the DacAmp One is a bit bright even with neutral headphones. I’ll mention often that things sound on the brighter side, and the tonality of the DacAmp contributes to that.
Bass: The subbass is clean and neutral, and the mid-upper bass has a reasonably large hump. With the caps on, it sounds a bit thin on the first listen, though it’s the type of sound which is very easy to get used to – give it a few days, and your brain should easily burn in to it.
With the caps off, the bass sounds fuller, and there’s less of a hump and more of just slightly elevated bass in general. Subbass is now elevated along with the rest of the bass frequency, though it’s the good type of bass – although it lack a bit of detail when open back, it has that rumble that’s always enjoyable to listen to. The slight lack of detail (and therefore slight bloatedness) takes away from it becoming the “perfect bass”, but for $250, the sheer quality of it makes up for it. All this is without an amp, straight from a smartphone. With the Tralucent DacAmp One as an amp and source, the bass detail is back in full force, no bloatedness to be heard. The mid-bass though is bit too overpowering for me, though only slightly more elevated than the subbass. I’m fine with the subbass, though this does fall into the “quality bass lovers’” headphone category.
With the Nuforce uDAC-2 as an amp/source, the bass is smoother overall, and more listenable – less shouty, slightly less midbass, and some more sub-bass. Because of the more confined sound of the uDAC-2, the elevated subbass sounds too close to my ears for comfort, though again, bass lovers will be thrilled with the results. Detail is top notch as well.
If HiFiMAN would have toned down the mid-bass even a db or two, it would have helped tremendously, fixing nearly all my gripes with the bass. As it is, unless you listen to very bass-heavy genres, and don’t have a tolerance for bass, you should be fine. People planning on using this closed-back should be aware of the elevated mid-bass, and thinness of sound on first listen. Grado fans should have no issues with any of this.
One thing is for sure – a good dac/amp makes a world of difference here when listening open-back. If anyone was wondering if the open back here was a “gimmick,” it is not. The amount of detail here is something no standard $250 headphone would come close to, but I’ll talk more about that later.
Mids: Closed back from a smartphone, these sound much better than I expected. There’s a slight dip here somewhere, though I can’t pick out exactly where. That aside, vocals sound outstanding – not constrained at all, very detailed, and placed a perfect amount of space away from your ear; you can hear every detail, yet it isn’t in-your-face like so many headphone (even high end) are guilty of. If you plan on using these closed-back for the majority of the time, and listen to mostly vocals, look no further – it’s pretty darn good. What surprises me the most is the clarity and detail of the vocals, both as good (if not better) than headphones even double its price – making a very powerful combination and producing outstanding results.
I’m also surprised that the “dip” doesn’t take away more from the vocals. Obviously, now we have a question – is the dip worth the clarity and detail? In my opinion, I would gladly take this package over a regular headphone that doesn’t have as much detail, clarity, or the dip. Vocals just sound magical – and this is from a smartphone, closed back. The only takeaway I can mention is that the frequency on the whole sometimes sounds thin, distracting you from the greatness of the vocals.
As for instruments, guitars sound very full and lively, closer to your ears than the vocals, but still a nice enough distance that it never becomes claustrophobic or in-your-face. Detail is quite good as well. Pianos sound a bit bright on some recordings, but not thin. On more well-mastered recording, pianos sound great, with no hint of there being a midbass bump. On others however, there are times where it sounds a bit hollow, and I would rather it be more full sounding at the expense of some detail, than detailed but somewhat wonky.
With the caps off, straight from a smartphone, the vocals sound closer to the ear, and the more elevated bass kills some of the potential it has. The vocal detail is now also lost, and the bass takes away from the clarity as well. It’s almost as if the volume is too loud, but when you lower the volume it just sounds as if it’s not being driven well. Pianos of all recordings sound fuller now, albeit somewhat heavy on the lower end, and very slightly recessed for middle notes.
Caps off, now with the Tralucent DacAmp One, the first thing I notice is the pianos – there’s a lot more detail now, and the whole frequency is a lot more balanced. I would still prefer some more body, as its still on the brighter side, but it’s much less of an issue now than it was before. I don’t like vocals that much on this combination, too wonky and sounding like it’s like there’s something between me and the vocals, causing me not to hear them fully; details seem held back as well. Guitars still sound very good, slightly bright, but very detailed.
With the uDAC-2, vocals sound slightly on the brighter side, but very detailed, extremely clear, and overall similar to the closed-back presentation. They seem closer to the ear, but again, not enough to feel claustrophobic. They never get sibilant, but they do become fatiguing after a while with this combination. Otherwise, they’re top notch, and much better than this price range would suggest. Guitars sound fantastic, brimming with details, and as long as there isn’t a heavy bass to counter it, it’s perfect balance between detail and fullness. Obviously, it gets better, but not for a headphone and low end dac/amp like this. Pianos seem to be lacking in the finer details, but tonality is good, balanced, and full sounding – but never to the point of bloatedness. Using one of my regular piano test tracks (Verdegrand’s cover of Positive Force), the piano sounds exactly how it should, and besides for the lack of details, it’s a perfect match. All my other tracks show the same – full sounding, great tonality, and overall very enjoyable to listen to.
I’ll speak more later about this, but I do feel that given it’s brighter nature, the Edition S should be paired with either a dead neutral or slightly warmer amp – not bassier, but warmer. This should give it the body it needs for most instruments and vocals, and explains why it didn’t sound great with the DacAmp – a bright and lean amp to begin with.
Highs: Closed-back, drums sound thick, but snares snappy – making for a weird combination, one that I’m not totally against but do feeling puzzled about. Violins sound a bit fatiguing, but full – though more mechanical than they should be.
Open-back, from the smartphone, the highs sound little darker, but violins sound great, with good balance and tonality. The darker take makes violins sound much more listenable, without sacrificing detail or having roll-off. They don’t have any hint of brightness, and sound detailed enough that I would be able and happy to listen to violin concertos all day with the Edition S caps off. Drums also sound a little bit darker, though it can be easily seen as “meat-ier”. They don’t sound wonky at all now, with the snares being sharp and drums quick – as they should be.
Pop in the Tralucent DacAmp One, and violins are snappy, sound full and great tonally. They’re present, yet not prominent enough to overtake the stage, and are placed a nice amount of space away from the ear, so it can be appreciated without fatigue. The highs from Aurora (Insen)’s weird instruments still sound too close to the ear, and therefore overly prominent and rather unpleasant. Listening to Autumn 1 – Allegro, the violins sound great, but the bass is too elevated on this pairing to really enjoy it. Drums sound too smooth for my taste (rolled-off impact), but are great to relax too and aren’t bad. To be honest, I was expecting this pairing to be an all-out screech war in the highs, due to the bright tonality of both of these, but weirdly, it sounds somewhat bright in every area but… well, the highs.
With the uDAC-2, violins are quite prominent, yet sound flatter than they should on a few recordings. On other, well-recorded ones, they sound much better, though still a bit flat. Other high-frequency instruments also sound quite prominent, compounded with the fact they sound very close to your ear. Drums in particular linger too long, and sound fuller and less snappy than they should be. Still, the uDAC isn’t a great performer in the highs in general, so this was pretty much to be expected.
Detail: Closed-back, the Edition S has a very nice amount of detail – more limited by the source (smartphone; laptop) than anything. Hooked up to an external dac/amp (still closed-back), it more or less scales up with the source. As I assume most people who will be using this closed-back will do so without a dedicated dac/amp, detail is nothing to worry about – the better the Dac in the smartphone, the more detail the Edition S will have.
Open-back, without a dedicated dac/amp, detail suffers a bit, but doesn’t take as much of a hit as I expected. The real test is with a dedicated source – and there, the Edition S scales in detail with the source.
Soundstage & Imaging: This is what initially drew me to the Edition S, when I first heard the pre-release model. Even with much bustling and many people talking, I was able to hear that – closed back – the Edition S had a much larger soundstage than almost any other closed-back headphone I’ve heard – putting it near or in open-back territory.
Listening to it now, caps on (closed back), it doesn’t suffer one bit from being closed-back – the soundstage is, frankly, huge. However, I can’t help but feel it isn’t as well-rounded as I thought. Imaging in certain places seem somewhat off, and it’s a weird shape of a room, and its Grado-like sound doesn’t help. Still, fans of soundstage should try this out even closed-back; it has an amazing sense of space, and is definitely worth a listen.
Open-back, there’s actually a bit of a loss in soundstage, the room shrinking a bit. However, imaging is now spot on and it sounds more natural. Using a dedicated dac/amp further helps imaging and also improves the soundstage a bit, keeping it quite large and having a very good sense of space.
Tonality: This is where the Edition S doesn’t perform well. Closed-back, the mid-bass bump, along the peaks and valleys higher up in the frequencies, prevent it from sounding balanced, and become a take-it-or-leave-it type of sound. Using a good source mitigates this quite a bit, turning it into more of a unique sound than one that sounds weird.
Open-back, the bass is more balanced and the frequency on a whole sounds more natural. With a good source, it becomes a great headphone – albeit with an elevated bass.
Conclusion:
Honestly, this headphone needs a fairer treatment than a lot of people have been giving it. Is it an open-back? Is it a closed-back? We have to approach both in their respective categories, not comparing it closed-back to a pair of HD 650’s (yes, I’ve heard this exact comparison), and not judging it open-back without a dac/amp – where the detail and soundstage are bound to be limited.
Personally, sound-wise, the Edition S did a lot more than I expected it to. It’s the first headphone with this type of duality, and the fact it pulls this off alone is tremendous. The soundstage, amount of detail, and sheer vocals are top notch as well – and isn’t something that you can get by applying EQ. It’s a shame that there’s an elevated midbass – tame that, as well as some of the peaks, and you have a giant killer, plain and simple.
Build quality is great, though having a better-looking plastic headband –even brushing it would help- would greatly improve the Edition S’s looks. Making sure the standard person gets a good seal would drastically change people’s first impressions – many never gave it a chance because even a slightly leaky seal exaggerates peaks and dips much more than they actually are.
I do believe this has potential – the Edition S is great for a first shot, and provided you like the unique sound signature it provides, great overall – even better than much more expensive offerings in some areas. Most of these “issues” are easily fixed, and can radically change the perception of this headphone quickly. Obviously, some of this can be fixed by the users as well; if you’re planning on evaluating this as an open-back, you should do so with a dac/amp – just like every other open-back headphone out there. Common sense would go a long way here.
If you’re looking for a good open-back and closed back headphone, and don’t want to spend more money on two different cans, the Edition S should be high on your list – it’s significantly cheaper than buying two headphones with the Edition S’s performance in either category. If you’re a fan of the Grado sound, but also need something for work, or don’t want your sound to leak out into the world, this headphone is right up your alley. If you’re not averse to using EQ, you can turn this into a very lethal contender in the sub-$1k bracket – no matter your sound preference. And if I had to choose only one headphone to keep, with a dac/amp on hand, this would downright fit the bill.
It’s a shame that this headphone got so much stand off-ish behavior – all because people didn’t give it a chance. Change the headband, and balance the SQ (the same peaks and dips in both open and closed status), and this headphone will be the one to look out for.
HiFiMan has been in the scene for a long time – primarily known for their open-back headphones, much of their product line has been both highly praised and widely popular. Their recent HE-350 model is the most affordable open-back headphone on the market, while their HE-1000 is the cream of the crop, and highly regarded as one of the best headphones available.
But one thing they were not known for was closed, portable headphones. In that market, it’s very difficult to make a premium product that sounds significantly better than the lower-end range; closed back headphones haven’t seen nearly as much improvement with price as open back ones. So providing innovation in this area of the market is crucial for keeping it moving, and providing new products – which won’t get better without new technology.
For this exact reason, the Edition S should be turning heads as early as at proof of concept. HiFiMan really thought out of the box on this one – and came up with something so utterly crazy and yet so simple in concept, that I wonder if other companies never thought of this idea because of its sheer ingenuity.
HiFiMan engineered the first open-back closed headphone.
Sounds mind-blowing, right? But the concept itself is not too crazy. Essentially, they wanted to make a headphone that can be used as a portable, well-isolating, closed headphone, and also as an open-back that can showcase serious sound quality a portable headphone couldn’t have.
So how did they do it? It’s a pretty simple answer - they made a portable headphone with removable plates. But it really isn’t that simple, though – drilling holes or removing the back of your standard portable headphone will not result in a great sounding open-back. From what I’ve heard from people who’ve tried it (and RIP their headphones) they sounded absolutely horrible, worse than when they started. Loose and muddy bass, incoherent sound – it isn’t a good idea, is all I’m trying to say.
HiFiMan had to make the headphone sound good both with and without the plates. From what I understood from Mr. Hoagland and Dr. Bian, that was one of the most difficult challenges here. And to make things more difficult, each usage type alone (portable and open-back) had to be good enough to be a real contender in their own respective markets. It’s obvious now that this job is not easy at all – it’s one of the hardest I’ve seen. One headphone, two uses, each one has to be great on their own without sacrificing the other. How does the Edition S measure up? Let’s find out.
As a note, the review was written without any knowledge of other's opinions and impressions of the Edition S. Only after I wrote the review did I view and add my findings relative to the general view of the Edition S, to convey whether my views were an exception to the rule, or with the consensus. Thank you for reading!
I received the Edition S as a sample from HiFiMAN in exchange for my honest opinion about the product. I was quite enthusiastic about the product as soon as I heard about it, but that makes it all the more so important for the Edition S to measure up to my expectations. I’d like to thank in particular Peter Hoagland from HiFiMAN for making this opportunity possible, and I’d very much like to apologize about the delays regarding the review. Hopefully, the finished review will to everybody’s liking.
As for biases, I’d like to think that I don’t have many. But that’s what everybody thinks of course… so I gotta be extra cautious of my personal preferences. I personally like to listen to mostly instrumental music – whether it be classical, soundtracks, electronica, or some other genre. Vocal music doesn’t make up of much of my casual music listening.
However – I’m extra careful when testing for vocal presentation (and mids in general) exactly because of this reason. I use a large variety of music when testing (hopefully a list of testing tracks will come soon), and vocal music is a huge part of it. I may not personally like listening to vocals as casual music right now, but for testing purposes I’m confident that I know enough about how it should sound to give my impressions on it. YMMV though, of course.
I haven’t noticed any discrepancies in this area either regarding the past ~20 reviews (I’ve looked), so I hope that puts any unrest at ease. I’m also not a huge fan of V-shaped cans, so I can usually spot a dip in the mids quite quickly. However, if you have any questions regarding this, which testing tracks I use, or anything else,please speak to my secretary feel free to ask.
Virtually the only genres I don’t listen to while testing are metal, rap, and country music. While I haven’t lived long to be part of the 60’s or 70’s rock movement, I’ve listened to rock tracks for a while, and I hope I don’t disappoint in that regard either.
From each genre I know of (i.e. rock, electronica, classical, jazz, pop with/without female vocals, soul, indie, male vocals, OST, etc.) I try to have at least three/four well-recorded songs to make my impressions regarding the headphone’s capabilities in displaying that genre. This is for the “genre recommendation” section I do at the end of my “sound” section each time.
For the regular stuff (bass, mids, highs, soundstage, details, you name it) I use those same tracks, as well as a few special ones that really highlight where the headphone’s performance stands in that area. Soundstage, imaging, and detail are obviously the ones that have a few songs dedicated to them, but I try to have specific songs for every aspect to try to really pinpoint how it performs.
Hope this helps! I’ve been off twice in reporting sub-bass roll-off, but if there’s anything for me to suspect it’s there (either from other reviews or my own uncertainty about its performance), I make sure to mention that in the bass section. I don’t have any hearing issues (that I know of, anyway), and I don’t have a preferred sound signature either, although I do appreciate a sig that doesn’t compromise the other areas of the frequency in any way, and remains somewhat close to neutral.
Pictures are courtesy of HiFiMAN, and some of mine as well.
As for biases, I’d like to think that I don’t have many. But that’s what everybody thinks of course… so I gotta be extra cautious of my personal preferences. I personally like to listen to mostly instrumental music – whether it be classical, soundtracks, electronica, or some other genre. Vocal music doesn’t make up of much of my casual music listening.
However – I’m extra careful when testing for vocal presentation (and mids in general) exactly because of this reason. I use a large variety of music when testing (hopefully a list of testing tracks will come soon), and vocal music is a huge part of it. I may not personally like listening to vocals as casual music right now, but for testing purposes I’m confident that I know enough about how it should sound to give my impressions on it. YMMV though, of course.
I haven’t noticed any discrepancies in this area either regarding the past ~20 reviews (I’ve looked), so I hope that puts any unrest at ease. I’m also not a huge fan of V-shaped cans, so I can usually spot a dip in the mids quite quickly. However, if you have any questions regarding this, which testing tracks I use, or anything else,
Virtually the only genres I don’t listen to while testing are metal, rap, and country music. While I haven’t lived long to be part of the 60’s or 70’s rock movement, I’ve listened to rock tracks for a while, and I hope I don’t disappoint in that regard either.
From each genre I know of (i.e. rock, electronica, classical, jazz, pop with/without female vocals, soul, indie, male vocals, OST, etc.) I try to have at least three/four well-recorded songs to make my impressions regarding the headphone’s capabilities in displaying that genre. This is for the “genre recommendation” section I do at the end of my “sound” section each time.
For the regular stuff (bass, mids, highs, soundstage, details, you name it) I use those same tracks, as well as a few special ones that really highlight where the headphone’s performance stands in that area. Soundstage, imaging, and detail are obviously the ones that have a few songs dedicated to them, but I try to have specific songs for every aspect to try to really pinpoint how it performs.
Hope this helps! I’ve been off twice in reporting sub-bass roll-off, but if there’s anything for me to suspect it’s there (either from other reviews or my own uncertainty about its performance), I make sure to mention that in the bass section. I don’t have any hearing issues (that I know of, anyway), and I don’t have a preferred sound signature either, although I do appreciate a sig that doesn’t compromise the other areas of the frequency in any way, and remains somewhat close to neutral.
Pictures are courtesy of HiFiMAN, and some of mine as well.
Build Quality & Design:
When I first tried out a prototype of the Edition S a while back, I wasn’t too sure of this part. It seemed flimsy, too plastic-y for a $250 headphone. However, receiving the final product, I was happy to see that they decided to make it more durable, and stronger on a whole. While the Edition S’s headband may be made of plastic, the plastic is quite durable, and I never felt as if it would break under pressure – in fact, I mention later on (in the fit section) that I’ve seen quite a few owners of the Edition S bend the headband to have produce less pressure on the head. Not one of them broke it – despite the fact that some others would break under the same pressure.
They didn’t do plastic because it was cheap – they did it to keep the weight down, and that they have accomplished well. It does have some heft, weighing 248g, but most of that comes from the cups, which are fully metal as I’ll mention. While the headband doesn’t shout “premium” (though it does have a classy HiFiMAN model name on the top), it functions exactly as intended – it’s solid, despite what it may look like.
The headband also has a nice amount of memory foam padding, ensuring that you won’t feel the pressure up top – it’s soft enough that you don’t even feel the padding when worn. The cups themselves are made entirely out of metal, besides for the removable caps, which I’ll talk about soon. The hinges connecting the cups to the headband are metal as well, with the space inside made of plastic. It’s cleverly placed though, making the plastic in the hinges very, very difficult to see.
Extending the headband isn’t as smooth as I would have liked it to be. Depending on where you place pressure, it can be either really easy or really hard to do so – but remains difficult to do when they’re on your head. To be fair, most regular listeners only adjust them once, so it isn’t as big of a deal as people make it to be, but it is worth mentioning.
The earpads are impressive, a mix of faux leather and soft velour. The leather is on the outside (and is what most people will see), with the velour on the part that goes against your head, making it quite comfortable. Still, it looks high end, and if they were made to fit other headphone I’m sure people would buy them – like I said, they look impressive.
Next is the removable caps – the part of the ear cup that comes off. Each one is made of plastic, with the HiFiMAN logo in metal, to match the rest of the cup. Behind them is a view of the drivers, through a metal grill. The headphones look good both with the caps on and off, which is also not easy to accomplish. That said, I prefer them (design-wise) with the cap off, and here’s why:
The whole headphone seems to be a mix of two elements. We see a plain element, the sturdy plastic headband, but then moving down we see the cups and pads – totally a different breed. Those look like they were made with “high end” in mind, with attention to the way they look. And the caps seem to belong to the first category, good, but not great looking. With them off, the entire cup is metal, and there’s some well-needed consistency.
I’m just not sure how it meshes together. The metal is brushed, but the plastic is not. Design-wise, I can’t help but think it would look better if HiFiMAN brushed both design materials, so they blend together, instead of clash with each other.
It’s a shame; the cups look top-notch, and it’s a shame to have that married with just regular plastic. Brush it; give it the same amount of detail. Do this for at least the removable caps, and in my opinion, the headphone would look better. Do it for the headband too, and then you have a really stylish headphone.
The other thing I’m confused about is the way the Edition S was marketed. It’s advertised as an on-ear headphone, when the earpads clearly go around even large ears. While this seems harmless, someone who is looking specifically for an on-ear headphone and orders this will be in for an unpleasant surprise, and HiFiMAN is also missing out on the large crowd that can’t stand the pressure of on ear headphones – and won’t buy the Edition S, if they haven’t read any reviews stating the flexibility of that statement.
Fit & Comfort:
Unfortunately, I’ve personally had issues with this one. HiFiMAN made a note of their design, saying that they’ve distributed the pressure all around the headband, as opposed to just the top of it. While this is true, I’ve found the headband to be slightly too narrow for my head, making it uncomfortable on the sides.
The same goes for the earpads. While usually I feel a nice clamp along all the pad, by the Edition S most of the pressure is on the top part of the ear pad, having the pressure right above my ear – not a great place to have pressure on in the first place; it makes me dizzy quickly. Removing my glasses makes it a tad better, but it’s still a large issue for me. I tried stretching the headband, after hearing it doesn’t break so easily. Don’t worry - it didn’t. But neither did it help the issue much.
Comfort-wise, if the fit was good for me, I can see this as a very comfortable headphone, due to the very soft headband padding and excellent ear pad choice of materials.
I would like to note that most people I’ve met get a good seal with the Edition S, so I’m probably the exception here, with a weirdly-shaped head or something. I never did have fit problems with any other over-ear headphone, so this is still puzzles to me.
Isolation (closed back, obviously) is average, not blocking out as much as I want it to. However, this could very well be due to the lack of seal I had most times I used it.
Sound:
And here we have the most interesting part of the review. If you aren’t a fanatic about looks in general, and find these comfortable on your head, this is the part you’re probably waiting for.
The first thing I want to note, and this is probably the most important one of all, is that there’s very differing opinions about how these sound – and while the duality of the headphone contributes to this, the rest is almost certainly due to seal issues. While most people find these comfortable, when I took them to an audio meet almost all the people who didn’t like the sound afterwards found out that they missed getting a good seal – and there were a lot of those. This came up in measurements a friend took; nothing comprehensive, but I’ll put the details here:
“I didn't listen to them, but my measurements don't look so bad, except for a big peak around 4kHz. My modded HD800 and the HD650s measured flat here, so a peak there is not a good thing at all. I got a slightly better seal with my right ear and the peak looks worse on the left channel (9db vs 6db). They also have a 5db bass hump starting around 300Hz and centered around 100Hz, provided one gets a good seal. It's also possible that there's some brightness between 8 and 10kHz. Generally U-shaped, unless you get a bad seal where it will most likely just sound grating and simply bad.”
Suffice it to say, a bad seal can make the Edition S sound absolutely horrible, so if your impressions aren’t matching up with mine (or someone else’s!), please do check the seal; it’s easy to miss, especially from the bottom rear of each ear pad. Personally, I didn’t get a good seal naturally, and had to maneuver these around until I did – most probably a consequence of the fit I had (or didn’t).
With that said, I would say the Edition S is U-shaped… except they’re not. There’s an elevated mid-bass, and are bright up top, but they have a number of dips and peaks that make it impossible to put into this category.
As one user mentioned mentioned, these do sound like Grado’s, and even though I didn’t have much listening time with any particular one, it easily reminded me of them on the first listen – more so closed than open, at least to me. If you’re a fan of that sound signature, chances are you’ll love the way the Edition S sounds.
One more thing before I start; I’ll be talking quite a bit about the Edition S paired with the Tralucent DacAmp One, and it’s important to know that the DacAmp One is a bit bright even with neutral headphones. I’ll mention often that things sound on the brighter side, and the tonality of the DacAmp contributes to that.
Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto - Insen 7th Saga - Seven Songs for Seventh Saga (OC Remix)
Animals as Leaders - The Joy of Motion (specifically The Woven Web, Para Mexer, and Nephele)
Adele - Set Fire to the Rain
Apex 2013 - John Ryan (Main Theme of Apex 2013) - The Pinnacle
Apex 2014 - John Ryan (Main Theme of Apex 2014) - A New Challenger
Chesky - Audiophile Test Disc Vol.2 (various tracks)
Chesky Records - The Four Seasons - Vivaldi - Las 4 Estaciones
Chesky Records - The Ultimate Demonstration Disk (Inc. Spanish Harlem & Sweet Georgia Brown)
Deus Ex - Sonic Augmentation (OC Remix)
Diana Krall - The Very Best Of ("Peel me a Grape", and various other tracks)
Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
Dvorák - Symphony No. 9 - Karel Ancerl, Czech Philharmonic
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours ("Second Hand News" and others)
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach, and "Shy Town" from The Fall
Kronos Quartet - Pieces of Africa (various tracks)
Muddy Waters - Folk Singer - specifically "My Home is in the Delta"
Rosanne Cash - 10 Song Demo - "Price of Temptation" and others
Shpongle - Museum of Consciousness - Juggling Molecules
Steely Dan - Aja
Marasy8 - Various covers
Verdegrand - Positive Force (cover)
Animals as Leaders - The Joy of Motion (specifically The Woven Web, Para Mexer, and Nephele)
Adele - Set Fire to the Rain
Apex 2013 - John Ryan (Main Theme of Apex 2013) - The Pinnacle
Apex 2014 - John Ryan (Main Theme of Apex 2014) - A New Challenger
Chesky - Audiophile Test Disc Vol.2 (various tracks)
Chesky Records - The Four Seasons - Vivaldi - Las 4 Estaciones
Chesky Records - The Ultimate Demonstration Disk (Inc. Spanish Harlem & Sweet Georgia Brown)
Deus Ex - Sonic Augmentation (OC Remix)
Diana Krall - The Very Best Of ("Peel me a Grape", and various other tracks)
Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
Dvorák - Symphony No. 9 - Karel Ancerl, Czech Philharmonic
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours ("Second Hand News" and others)
Gorillaz - Plastic Beach, and "Shy Town" from The Fall
Kronos Quartet - Pieces of Africa (various tracks)
Muddy Waters - Folk Singer - specifically "My Home is in the Delta"
Rosanne Cash - 10 Song Demo - "Price of Temptation" and others
Shpongle - Museum of Consciousness - Juggling Molecules
Steely Dan - Aja
Marasy8 - Various covers
Verdegrand - Positive Force (cover)
Bass: The subbass is clean and neutral, and the mid-upper bass has a reasonably large hump. With the caps on, it sounds a bit thin on the first listen, though it’s the type of sound which is very easy to get used to – give it a few days, and your brain should easily burn in to it.
With the caps off, the bass sounds fuller, and there’s less of a hump and more of just slightly elevated bass in general. Subbass is now elevated along with the rest of the bass frequency, though it’s the good type of bass – although it lack a bit of detail when open back, it has that rumble that’s always enjoyable to listen to. The slight lack of detail (and therefore slight bloatedness) takes away from it becoming the “perfect bass”, but for $250, the sheer quality of it makes up for it. All this is without an amp, straight from a smartphone. With the Tralucent DacAmp One as an amp and source, the bass detail is back in full force, no bloatedness to be heard. The mid-bass though is bit too overpowering for me, though only slightly more elevated than the subbass. I’m fine with the subbass, though this does fall into the “quality bass lovers’” headphone category.
With the Nuforce uDAC-2 as an amp/source, the bass is smoother overall, and more listenable – less shouty, slightly less midbass, and some more sub-bass. Because of the more confined sound of the uDAC-2, the elevated subbass sounds too close to my ears for comfort, though again, bass lovers will be thrilled with the results. Detail is top notch as well.
If HiFiMAN would have toned down the mid-bass even a db or two, it would have helped tremendously, fixing nearly all my gripes with the bass. As it is, unless you listen to very bass-heavy genres, and don’t have a tolerance for bass, you should be fine. People planning on using this closed-back should be aware of the elevated mid-bass, and thinness of sound on first listen. Grado fans should have no issues with any of this.
One thing is for sure – a good dac/amp makes a world of difference here when listening open-back. If anyone was wondering if the open back here was a “gimmick,” it is not. The amount of detail here is something no standard $250 headphone would come close to, but I’ll talk more about that later.
Mids: Closed back from a smartphone, these sound much better than I expected. There’s a slight dip here somewhere, though I can’t pick out exactly where. That aside, vocals sound outstanding – not constrained at all, very detailed, and placed a perfect amount of space away from your ear; you can hear every detail, yet it isn’t in-your-face like so many headphone (even high end) are guilty of. If you plan on using these closed-back for the majority of the time, and listen to mostly vocals, look no further – it’s pretty darn good. What surprises me the most is the clarity and detail of the vocals, both as good (if not better) than headphones even double its price – making a very powerful combination and producing outstanding results.
I’m also surprised that the “dip” doesn’t take away more from the vocals. Obviously, now we have a question – is the dip worth the clarity and detail? In my opinion, I would gladly take this package over a regular headphone that doesn’t have as much detail, clarity, or the dip. Vocals just sound magical – and this is from a smartphone, closed back. The only takeaway I can mention is that the frequency on the whole sometimes sounds thin, distracting you from the greatness of the vocals.
As for instruments, guitars sound very full and lively, closer to your ears than the vocals, but still a nice enough distance that it never becomes claustrophobic or in-your-face. Detail is quite good as well. Pianos sound a bit bright on some recordings, but not thin. On more well-mastered recording, pianos sound great, with no hint of there being a midbass bump. On others however, there are times where it sounds a bit hollow, and I would rather it be more full sounding at the expense of some detail, than detailed but somewhat wonky.
With the caps off, straight from a smartphone, the vocals sound closer to the ear, and the more elevated bass kills some of the potential it has. The vocal detail is now also lost, and the bass takes away from the clarity as well. It’s almost as if the volume is too loud, but when you lower the volume it just sounds as if it’s not being driven well. Pianos of all recordings sound fuller now, albeit somewhat heavy on the lower end, and very slightly recessed for middle notes.
Caps off, now with the Tralucent DacAmp One, the first thing I notice is the pianos – there’s a lot more detail now, and the whole frequency is a lot more balanced. I would still prefer some more body, as its still on the brighter side, but it’s much less of an issue now than it was before. I don’t like vocals that much on this combination, too wonky and sounding like it’s like there’s something between me and the vocals, causing me not to hear them fully; details seem held back as well. Guitars still sound very good, slightly bright, but very detailed.
With the uDAC-2, vocals sound slightly on the brighter side, but very detailed, extremely clear, and overall similar to the closed-back presentation. They seem closer to the ear, but again, not enough to feel claustrophobic. They never get sibilant, but they do become fatiguing after a while with this combination. Otherwise, they’re top notch, and much better than this price range would suggest. Guitars sound fantastic, brimming with details, and as long as there isn’t a heavy bass to counter it, it’s perfect balance between detail and fullness. Obviously, it gets better, but not for a headphone and low end dac/amp like this. Pianos seem to be lacking in the finer details, but tonality is good, balanced, and full sounding – but never to the point of bloatedness. Using one of my regular piano test tracks (Verdegrand’s cover of Positive Force), the piano sounds exactly how it should, and besides for the lack of details, it’s a perfect match. All my other tracks show the same – full sounding, great tonality, and overall very enjoyable to listen to.
I’ll speak more later about this, but I do feel that given it’s brighter nature, the Edition S should be paired with either a dead neutral or slightly warmer amp – not bassier, but warmer. This should give it the body it needs for most instruments and vocals, and explains why it didn’t sound great with the DacAmp – a bright and lean amp to begin with.
Highs: Closed-back, drums sound thick, but snares snappy – making for a weird combination, one that I’m not totally against but do feeling puzzled about. Violins sound a bit fatiguing, but full – though more mechanical than they should be.
Open-back, from the smartphone, the highs sound little darker, but violins sound great, with good balance and tonality. The darker take makes violins sound much more listenable, without sacrificing detail or having roll-off. They don’t have any hint of brightness, and sound detailed enough that I would be able and happy to listen to violin concertos all day with the Edition S caps off. Drums also sound a little bit darker, though it can be easily seen as “meat-ier”. They don’t sound wonky at all now, with the snares being sharp and drums quick – as they should be.
Pop in the Tralucent DacAmp One, and violins are snappy, sound full and great tonally. They’re present, yet not prominent enough to overtake the stage, and are placed a nice amount of space away from the ear, so it can be appreciated without fatigue. The highs from Aurora (Insen)’s weird instruments still sound too close to the ear, and therefore overly prominent and rather unpleasant. Listening to Autumn 1 – Allegro, the violins sound great, but the bass is too elevated on this pairing to really enjoy it. Drums sound too smooth for my taste (rolled-off impact), but are great to relax too and aren’t bad. To be honest, I was expecting this pairing to be an all-out screech war in the highs, due to the bright tonality of both of these, but weirdly, it sounds somewhat bright in every area but… well, the highs.
With the uDAC-2, violins are quite prominent, yet sound flatter than they should on a few recordings. On other, well-recorded ones, they sound much better, though still a bit flat. Other high-frequency instruments also sound quite prominent, compounded with the fact they sound very close to your ear. Drums in particular linger too long, and sound fuller and less snappy than they should be. Still, the uDAC isn’t a great performer in the highs in general, so this was pretty much to be expected.
Detail: Closed-back, the Edition S has a very nice amount of detail – more limited by the source (smartphone; laptop) than anything. Hooked up to an external dac/amp (still closed-back), it more or less scales up with the source. As I assume most people who will be using this closed-back will do so without a dedicated dac/amp, detail is nothing to worry about – the better the Dac in the smartphone, the more detail the Edition S will have.
Open-back, without a dedicated dac/amp, detail suffers a bit, but doesn’t take as much of a hit as I expected. The real test is with a dedicated source – and there, the Edition S scales in detail with the source.
Soundstage & Imaging: This is what initially drew me to the Edition S, when I first heard the pre-release model. Even with much bustling and many people talking, I was able to hear that – closed back – the Edition S had a much larger soundstage than almost any other closed-back headphone I’ve heard – putting it near or in open-back territory.
Listening to it now, caps on (closed back), it doesn’t suffer one bit from being closed-back – the soundstage is, frankly, huge. However, I can’t help but feel it isn’t as well-rounded as I thought. Imaging in certain places seem somewhat off, and it’s a weird shape of a room, and its Grado-like sound doesn’t help. Still, fans of soundstage should try this out even closed-back; it has an amazing sense of space, and is definitely worth a listen.
Open-back, there’s actually a bit of a loss in soundstage, the room shrinking a bit. However, imaging is now spot on and it sounds more natural. Using a dedicated dac/amp further helps imaging and also improves the soundstage a bit, keeping it quite large and having a very good sense of space.
Tonality: This is where the Edition S doesn’t perform well. Closed-back, the mid-bass bump, along the peaks and valleys higher up in the frequencies, prevent it from sounding balanced, and become a take-it-or-leave-it type of sound. Using a good source mitigates this quite a bit, turning it into more of a unique sound than one that sounds weird.
Open-back, the bass is more balanced and the frequency on a whole sounds more natural. With a good source, it becomes a great headphone – albeit with an elevated bass.
Conclusion:
Honestly, this headphone needs a fairer treatment than a lot of people have been giving it. Is it an open-back? Is it a closed-back? We have to approach both in their respective categories, not comparing it closed-back to a pair of HD 650’s (yes, I’ve heard this exact comparison), and not judging it open-back without a dac/amp – where the detail and soundstage are bound to be limited.
Personally, sound-wise, the Edition S did a lot more than I expected it to. It’s the first headphone with this type of duality, and the fact it pulls this off alone is tremendous. The soundstage, amount of detail, and sheer vocals are top notch as well – and isn’t something that you can get by applying EQ. It’s a shame that there’s an elevated midbass – tame that, as well as some of the peaks, and you have a giant killer, plain and simple.
Build quality is great, though having a better-looking plastic headband –even brushing it would help- would greatly improve the Edition S’s looks. Making sure the standard person gets a good seal would drastically change people’s first impressions – many never gave it a chance because even a slightly leaky seal exaggerates peaks and dips much more than they actually are.
I do believe this has potential – the Edition S is great for a first shot, and provided you like the unique sound signature it provides, great overall – even better than much more expensive offerings in some areas. Most of these “issues” are easily fixed, and can radically change the perception of this headphone quickly. Obviously, some of this can be fixed by the users as well; if you’re planning on evaluating this as an open-back, you should do so with a dac/amp – just like every other open-back headphone out there. Common sense would go a long way here.
If you’re looking for a good open-back and closed back headphone, and don’t want to spend more money on two different cans, the Edition S should be high on your list – it’s significantly cheaper than buying two headphones with the Edition S’s performance in either category. If you’re a fan of the Grado sound, but also need something for work, or don’t want your sound to leak out into the world, this headphone is right up your alley. If you’re not averse to using EQ, you can turn this into a very lethal contender in the sub-$1k bracket – no matter your sound preference. And if I had to choose only one headphone to keep, with a dac/amp on hand, this would downright fit the bill.
It’s a shame that this headphone got so much stand off-ish behavior – all because people didn’t give it a chance. Change the headband, and balance the SQ (the same peaks and dips in both open and closed status), and this headphone will be the one to look out for.
Renosoko
great review. Can you upload some of frequency graph when it's open? I want to see it visually
avitron142
@Renosoko Unfortunately, I don't have measuring equipment. I was hoping one of the other reviewers could do exactly that.
