HIFIMAN Audivina

TONALITY: 8.5/10
TECHNICALITIES: 9/10
TIMBRE: 9/10
IMAGING: 9/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 8.5/10
MUSICALITY (subjective): 8.2/10
CONSTRUCTION: 9/10
ACCESSORIES: 7.5/10
SOUND VALUE: 7.5/10 (higher is the price, lower is sound benefit return)


INTRO

Hifiman is a well known audio company from China that specialize in planar headphones and make a wide range of other products including DAP, DAC-AMPs, IEMs, Dynamic and even electrostatic headphones.
It's been a long time since I've been a fan of their headphones. My first real crush began with the competitively priced Hifiman Sundara that I still consider among the finest sub-500$ planar headphones.
Then, if you read my last review of HE1000 V3, you’ll understand it detrone Sundara and anything else in terms of extremely addictive musicality with excellent technical chops too, in a non analytical or resolution boosted way.
Today I will review something exotic from Hifiman, the full size closed back planar Audivina.
Priced 2000$ (but available at lower price if you search well), the Audivina is a reference grade closed back planar headphone using latest Stealth technology, and as stated by Hifiman it is thinking for studio use, and promise great soundstage and pristine imaging for this very purpose, within an overall neutral tuning.

Let's see in this review if this means you can’t enjoy the musicality of Audivina out of a studio purpose.


CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES



The construction of Audivina is sumptuous and Hifiman connoisseurs will recognize some parts used for other of their flagship headphones like the metal headband of HE1000.The material is a mix of metal, plastic and wood.This is what captivates the attention, the big wooden cups that are made of solid yet not too weighty willow wood. The wood pattern and color are delectable and the finish is smooth with light varnish.




The metal headband holder feels sturdy and has good flexibility and the shape produces a smooth clamping force that isn’t hurtful. The real leather headband has holes in it to avoid getting how you barely feel it on your head, yet it is holded with a piece of plastic that can be a matter of worry if you hit it hard on something.
The ear cups are very big and this is a blessing for me because my closed back is often too small for my slightly big ears, so this is true universally around ears closed back.




The ears cushions are very thick and made of memory foam that isn’t too soft or hard, it’s extremely comfortable for long listening sessions and micro perforation seems to avoid getting too warm like it often happens with leather cushions pads.
These cups are fully swivable too, so it can shape your head precisely.

The cup holder seems made of plastic, but I'm not certain, it can be metal too since it’s very hard and feels sturdy.



Only part of the headphones I find a bit questionable is the plastic around the wooden ear cups. This time I'm certain it’s plastic and it feels light and a bit cheap, it doesn’t favor the overall aesthetic too and there is a slight gap between cups that I find odd. I nitpick here, but with expensive headphones we expect perfection and it’s not exactly the case here.
Finally, we have a 2x3.5mm female connector for the cable, under the cup. The jack is made of black plastic, I would expect gold plated metal here or something more prime. Again, I push my nitpicking to its limit.



The included cables are alright and it’s nice to get 3 of them to cover all need, but don’t expect end game cabless either. It’s basic cable quality but not bad to the point I feel the urge to upgrade. We have 1x 3 meter long XLR cable, 1x3 meter long 6.35mm cable and 1x1.5m 3.5mm cable.It’s not stated the type of cable material, but i guess it’s high purity copper, sound transmission wise the do the job, as well it’s an improvement over other Hifiman cable included with Ananda, Sundara etc, because they are flexible and smooth. Nonetheless, I don't use 3m long cable and I wish there was a 4.4mm balanced+XLR adapter instead of 3m long XLR.



The unboxing is very minimalist and I'm one of those that like it this way. Package is eco-friendly and comes in a box that can be recycled. Everything is highly fit in it and apart from the 3 cables, we have a very nice headphones carrying case that is small enough and sturdy enough to really protect those precious Audivina. I wish this high quality case was included with HE1000 too.
All in all accessories are varied and generous enough but the consumers who are very demanding in terms of packaging presentation will be underwhelmed in that regard.


SOUND IMPRESSIONS


(Source used are all 1W@32ohm and above apart the Fiio KA17 which is 650mW)

Let’s begin by stating Hifiman don’t hide the fact this closed back planar are thinked for studio use, and in that regard they not only excel but offer an accessible enough musicality too, which is bright but smooth enough for long listening session, which is a plus for both monitoring and laid back listening pleasure.

Then, unlike most of Hifiman headphones, those are closed back, the plus are extra isolation but i can’t say it’s the most intense in that aspect, the con is about spatial openness, it doesn’t go out of you head in a very expensive way, it’s intimate and focus on center stage first and foremost. If the sub bass was too boosted, there will be bass cons too, but it’s not the case here.

So as expected, the Audivina offers a neutral tonality, which is lean but not dull sounding or lacking dynamic heft. In fact, I feel a ‘’flat’’ W shape signature here in terms of liveliness. It’s gently bright with slight mid bass boost, great low mids and overall mids focus, soft lower treble and then extra highs sharpness to add proper edge to definition, so you can track more easily the instrument. But all this is so well balanced that it feels very linear in balance without going overly tamed in any frequency region.

I remember when I first put this on my head, I was certain to get a very bright signature we often found with monitor headphones that force the resolution and boost instrument presence before anything else…this can extract too much timbre noise and grain which isn’t the case with Audivina. So my conclusion was that it’s thinked to listen to your mix to judge overall balance and fine tune final mastering, not to analyze the mix in an overly critical way. Audivina shows you the mix as it should sound, it doesn't magnify its imperfection to the point it will ruin musical pleasure. Yet, don’t expect a fun sounding or lush guilty pleasure with those, don’t get me wrong it’s not unpleasant tonaly, the musicality is mature and neutral without going clinical or too cold that’s all. In fact, a big plus with planar driver is the capacity to handle extreme EQ’ing, so when I want fun, i just either switch the bass boost of my Xduoo XD05 plus or boost it with Hiby Music player EQ, then you can get head crushing headphones experience if it’s your will!

So the bass is textured, well defined in presence, punchy but not rumbly or boosted in sub bass, this is a good choice because with closed back it could have created resonance that blur the fine clarity. Even if neutral, it’s not a boring bass that lacks dynamic since we have a gentle mid bass boost and no intense high bass lower mids scoop that will cancel the weight of impact and natural fullness of tone for double bass and cello as well as tom and kick drum.
The kick drum is well defined in presence, has weighty dynamic and a natural tone, it’s textured but not unbalanced in color, we have both tactile and ‘’visual’’ rendering, it’s easy to find it in the mix but it will not distract you from mid range.
Bass line has similar rendering, but it’s not boosted in rumble release and don’t move a lot of air as noted before, the tone is again spot on, vibrancy or grunt will be there when needed, but for let say trap rap thick infra bass release it will be a bit tamed.
For jazz double bass, the harmonic are natural but the extension will not sustain very long, it’s not the most transparent sub bass i’ve heard too yet timbre and tone are perhaps the most natural of all planar i’ve heard, it’s like being in small room with other musician so it would be strange to hear clean crisp bass in a real acoustic unplugged environment.
The cello sound wonderfully natural too without being overcook or unbalance in harmonic, that’s the thing with Audivina: harmonic are full and to be soo you can’t scoop anything in frequency range, if you boost too much treble or bass, this will make the fundamental recessed in harmonic mix which isn’t the case at all with Audivina and this is utterly refreshing and even needed, not only for studio, but for purist audiophile seeking reference musicality too.
So, we sure have more quality than quantity bass wise, it flows in the mix without any hard edge and it has enough bite for electric bass attack lead and texture without going too boosted in the treble presence of any instrument. It’s sure not a dark bass too, but quantity wise it will lack for the basshead and those seeking engaging musicality like me, i would not listen to bass heavy music with this in term of musical pleasure, IDM, rap, Drum & Bass etc will all lack slam and rumble, I think it’s evident the Audivina isn’t thinked for this music style, but personally i do find a lot of musicality for jazz, rock, classical and even indie music.

The mid range is the star of the show for me, but not in a spectacular manner, it’s not even forced upon the listener with a upper mids presence boost, these aren’t bright nor dark mids, we are in lukewarm mature territory here where everything flows naturally and nothing is missing. It’s full bodied and transparent, the tone is again spot on for all instruments from piano to sax to male and female vocal. It might feel lean, but not lifeless, cold or very tamed in dynamic, this will be the case for those used to very boosted pina gain and upper mids, the treble head will think the mids are recessed while it’s the opposite since the Audivina are mid centric headphones first and foremost but the IEM and HP market scoop all mid range but it’s upper range most of the time which can lead to craving for louder mids energy out of studio usage.
I’m one of the rare reviewer that don’t enjoy high upper mids boost and find it fatiguing and tonaly wrong, so the Audivina is a welcome healing refreshment to my ears, when Arianna Savall goes into highest range it doesn’t pierce my ear drum with violent pinna gain, it’s smooth and tone and timbre is natural, slightly lush as it should, yet with perfect intelligibility of each words which mean it sound as recorded and unless the record have obvious sibilance (which is important to spot when mixing), it will not boost it at all. This is the main surprise for me since when i review monitor IEM, it’s often quite shouty and sibilant, an example of this would be Sony 7506 which are way brighter, more unidimensional in spatiality and plain bright in presence in an unpleasant way compared to more natural and refined sounding Audivina.
Both male and female vocals are full in timbre, wide in presence, well centered in the stage and never overshadowed by bass or highs even if not aggressive in energy. They aren’t overly loud and can feel lean to those addicted to upper mids shout, but for me they are near perfect since nothing dominates their harmonic, it’s round and sweet, doesn’t create fatigue and will sound good with all types of mix. I rediscover Serge Gainsbourg music with Audivina, since it always sound boxy with IEMs and Headphones I use in the past, now it was it’s natural voice i can fully appreciate within a clean and open mix, this underline that the tonality is versatile and show the music as it is, without putting in or taking off anything in balance, this underline how poor are modern mixing too, especially for pop music with over tweaked vocals.
The Audivina are refined delicacy that worth being tasted finely and with patience, the wow effect isn’t about too much salt or sugar, it isn’t fast food, it’s all about subilities of the music you listen too and record quality play bigger role than with mass tuned headphones, again, this is no surprise for a Headphones thinked for studio use, but the the fact i can find it truly musical is a surprise to me nonetheless.
All in all, mid range is smooth yet effortlessly resolved with pristine layering delivered in an intimate way so you can truly appreciate the body of your music.

When it comes to the treble, the balance is exemplary and while it's slightly boosted it will never distract the listener with overly forward percussion or micro details nor create fatigue or harsh rendering in loud attack of violin or guitar.
It’s a full sounding treble without hard spike, it doesn’t sound thin nor overly metallic or brilliant but we have the sparkle and extension offered in a lean extension which doesn’t add a lot of air to the mix.
It’s slightly polished in attack edge to avoid scratchy annoyance, yet it doesn't like attack bite for most instruments apart perhaps electric guitar which feel a bit too mellow in dynamic loudness and foggy in texture. But that’s ultimate nit picking and it’s based on one Autoryno album.
All instruments in high pitch range can cohabit without over dominating anyone, violin, guitar and accordion were rendered in smooth layering that doesn’t favor presence of any instrument without feeling it lack texture or tone nuance.
Sure, if i go from Arya to Audivina, i will feel it lack a bit of treble extension crispness, brilliance and air, but this will affect the intimate focus with mids and whole instrument presence and harmonic range, this clean brilliance decay is something i can enjoy but don’t find lacking for the Audivina musicality which is extremely captivating in it’s own right.
In fact, crispness is there but not overly boosted, both harpsichord and acoustic guitar as attack lead bite but a fast sparkle release, it's not reflected in resonance as if the wood cup in fact tame resonance. Guitar sound full, not thin nor overly metallic or dry, it's superbly life like without a clinical restitution due to overly boosted upper treble.
So, indeed, we have a slight mid treble boost that add a well balanced attack edge and bite when needed, should it be for violin stroke or string pulling.
As expected with planar driver, the attack speed is fast and effortless in control, this permit highly articulated macro dynamic that can deal with fastest and varied music style.
The Audivina will not miss anything in term of attack timing readibility, yet it will not force vivid micro details on the listener, overall treble being rather smooth in term of plenty of sound info it deliver, this mean it's the type of headphones that grow on you in the long run, certain mix revealing how well recorder they are only with this Audivina.
To my ears, it's among most refined treble from any hifiman headphones i've tested, it's fatigue freee yet highly captivating when you enter active critical listening.

The Soundstage is an highlight if you take in account those are fully closed back, but if compared to open back it's less impressive, in fact I expected wider and deeper presentation due to product description, this might have overly raise my expectation. Simply put: these aren't Sennheiser HD820 and first reason is because center stage isn't recessed nor thin. It's an open and intimate spatiality, very similar to what you'll get with deskope monitor speakers well placed at each side of you, then had a center third speaker too at about 30cm from your head. You in the middle of music with the Audivina but not lost in it, your in first row of small concert hall or studio.

The imaging is quite impressive though, positioning is excellent, even voice doubling can be easily pull apart, instruments don't have widest space between them but the layering is superb. It's as easy to track bass line than main instrument, as well nothing will blur or over shadow other instrument with too loud presence boost, everything is treated at same level with high sens of accuracy.






COMPARISONS




VS HIFIMAN HE1000 V3

The Audivina is notably more technical and neutral sounding than the more laid back and natural sounding HE1KS. It’s near dead flat, yet with little extra upper mids and ultra highs boost.
It’s certainly more appropriate for monitoring music than enjoying it in an immersive way, the rendering is colder and more ”cerebral”, you an observer of the music while with HE1K V3 your swimming into the middle of lush layering.
The bass is cleaner, faster and leaner with the Audivina, bassline and kick separation is better and less thicken by warmth, overall bass is thinner but has more fine details in terms of texture as well as attack edge. HE1KS bass is chunkier, more vibrant and dense in rumble sustain, more weighty but darker in definition and slip into lower mid range more, adding sound layers density to each other. Dynamic impact is greater with HE1KS too, tone is lusher, more juicy, vibrant, it’s more physical and tactile, less flat and dry than Audivina.

The mid range is brighter, cleaner, more resolved and transparent with Audivina, for those seeking pure high fidelity experience, it’s certainly the one to choose. But this mean dynamic is flatter and makes the vocal feel less forwards as well as less widened in warmed presence. Note weight is lighter, but edgier in stroke lead definition.
HE1K V3 has more lower mids fullness, presence and warmth, vocal and instrument are more bodied and forward yet less sharp in upper mids so smoother, creamier, more colorful than hyper-realistically textured. The attack sustain-release of Audivina is longer and extract more sound info of natural resonance recorded even if for ex piano notes don’t fall as heavily, i'll be able to know more easily if the pianist presses sustain pedal with Audivina due to crisper center stage. Its evident HE1K offers a more mid centric sound experience.

Then the treble is sharper, snappier and sparklier with Audivina but again in a leaner way that doesn’t deliver as tactile percussion and guitar dynamic. It’s more speedy and controlled in attack, the percussions are easier to follow in busy track due to crisper attack edge and cleaner air when mid range instruments take the lead.
Lower treble is more abrasive with the Audivina, which will benefit electric guitar presence that is creamier with HE1K but denser and more vibrant in fundamental. This made the treble of HE1KS less thin and dry sounding but less generous in micro details too.
The Soundstage is way wider and taller with the HE1KS, sense of depth is different though because your part of center stage while with Audivina your more like in small studio room with centered monitor speakers, for ex, HE1000S remind me my big Magnepan MG02A planar speaker which embrace my whole sound perception scale.
While the imaging feel more holographic and effortless in the of sound layers projection in space and dynamic with HE1KS, the imaging is more accurate and precise with the Audivina, it’s way easier to separate bass line, kick drum, mid range and high range instrument even if not as spacious and this is mostly due to less bass warmth that blur silence between instrument and more edgy upper mids that boost presence clarity of each instrument while keeping it’s transparency to be able to spot the positioning in both X and Y axis.

All in all, with Audivina I need to force my mind to find music immersive and musical while the HE1000 Stealth embraces me right away and makes me close to my fav singer, pianist or saxophonist. It’s more colored and less neutral and technical than Audivina but unless you want to monitor your music, I don’t think anybody will say Audivina is superior in tonality, cohesion and musical presentation.

VS HIFIMAN ARYA ORGANIC

The Arya are notably bassier and more U shaped in balance, they are brighter too and more open and sparkly sounding than linear smoother more reference sounding Audivina.

The sub bass is more boosted, it offers a bigger and wider slam which is warmer too than the more defined mid bass of Audivina. Audivina sub bass seem roll off compared to more rumbly Arya, it doesn't attract attention too and stay in the back while for bassy music the Arya can be borderline basshead from a purist point of view. Arya bass is more resonant and prompt to warm the mids, it’s less textured and not as fast in control, not as tight. Bass lines of Audivina are less edgy and dominant, more natural in tone and better separated from the kick drum.

Mids are brighter and more open, it’s more excited and boosted in upper mids which make the dynamic less lean than Audivina but less well balanced too, more prompt to slight shortness-sibilance so vocal are way smoother, fuller and more natural with the Audivina even if less boosted in presence brightness. Male vocals are more natural and less recessed and thin with Audivina too.
Audivina has more lower mids and overall mid range fullness, presence is wider and less compressed as well as less recessed when big bass occurs. Timbre and tone of all instruments feel more realist and life-like too with Audivina, free of low or highs coloring.
Its evident mids are more recessed and thin with Arya when we play acoustic music with real instruments, center stage take second stage more when low and highs take the lead than Audivina less U shaped balance.

Then like it’s name promise, the highs are more open and airy with the Arya, it’s more sparkly and brilliant too so acoustic guitar have more edge to attack as well as crisp sustain release, Arya percussions are more upfront and can dominate mids like the bass, it’s thinner but clearer in presence, more boosted in micro details, it add more attack bite to all instrument too which confirm the Audivina isn’t analytical monitor headphones, but a fine final mixing one. Audivine is more balanced and has leaner treble, fuller and less thin, acoustic guitar has greater lower harmonic presence too, yet I wonder why it feels less extended in highs, perhaps to focus more on mid range.

The Soundstage is intensely wider, taller and deeper with Arya, it feels a bit hollow compared to more intimate and focused spatiality of Audivina.

Imaging is great with both but more realistic with the Audivina especially for the whole mid range which have less tamed center stage dynamic, Arya favors some instruments over others, either low or high pitch one so for proper monitoring the Audivina is clearly the one to choose.

All in all, i find technicalities of both in same league apart the soundstage size which is more about acoustic implementation and open back design of the Arya, for tonal balance the Audivina are better balanced as well as less fatiguing for long listening at medium to high volume, i prefer vocal tone too, while i wish the bass dig as deep as the Arya but not in as boomy way.


VS SENNHEISER HD820 (from memories of 6 month usage, not direct A-B comparo)

Firstly, I've never liked the HD820 timbre which is dry and thin, unlike the more natural and dense timbre of the Audivina.

We can say HD820 is neutral too, but brighter and thinner and not as mid centric which have more scooped lower mids that affect rightness of tone in favor of presence clarity boost.

The bass is more textured and transparent and doesn't naturally slip into mids like the lusher bass of Audivina. It’s dryer and thinner, and we don't have as much weight on impact like the Audivina. Bass lines are more vibrant and full with the Audivana, not as resonant and wonky.

The mids have brighter timbre and greater sense of air and transparency, it’s more open sounding and a bit like Arya in that regard, piano sound more recessed and vocal are more prompt to sibilance, i find them way more artificial, edgy and prompt to sibilance than sweeter Audivina, it’s biggest HD820 flaw with thin bass, in fact, everything sound thin and overly forced in upper mids with HD820. Audivina mid range is lusher, more focused, more intimate, it has more tone color and density as well as note weight, it’s more soft in upper mids and the definition edge isn’t grainy.

Then the treble is notably more sparkly and airy with HD820, its less lean and delicate and refined than smoother les spiky sounding Audivina, attack control is better too with Audivina, we don’t have this cymbals crash harmonic distortion in release as well natural resonance of sparkle isn’t as boosted and ultimately it’s more realist and well balanced to my ears.

Soundstage is the no1 highlight of HD820, this is due to both acoustic tech and tuning choice, it’s hall like and instruments are put in concert stages where you aren’t part of music like the more intimate Audivina, you're a spectator far away in rows.

This means that while Audivina is less wide and deep in spatiality, the center stage where main instruments belong is more focused too, but the sound layers don’t have as much separation space so it’s harder to pinpoint them in an analytical way. The music mix is more realistic, less forced into a ‘’cinematic’’ rendering but overall I would conclude HD820 is superior in this department.

All in all, tonaly the Audivina is way better balanced and surprisingly more musical and versatile even if neutrality tuned. In terms of technicalities, planar can’t be beat by the HD820 DD even if the fake clarity is pushed to the max as well as the imaging capacity is clearer, cleaner, and airier. I would say that HD820 will please more those seeking the biggest soundstage in closed-back format, but be aware that it’s a thin sound headphones too!


CONCLUSION


The Hifiman Audivina positively surprised me with their musicality that isn’t as niche or clinical as expected. Being familiar with monitoring IEM, I was thinking to get a either too bright or too lean tonality and it’s not at all what we get here since we are in what i call ‘’lukewarm’’ territory, everything is balanced and refined, sure it’s a mature reference tonality we get but with a rich natural timbre that doesn’t warm or darken instrument presence definition which are very well images.

So, instead of being too niche sounding headphones, it’s a versatile neutrality we get, that favors realism of instrument tone and timbre as well as readability of positioning in a mid centric focused rendering that doesn't distract you with too much bass or treble.
Sure, the soundstage isn’t as mind blowing as full open back headphones like HE1000 or Arya, but it’s on par with Sundara and surely among most spacious spatiality just sitting behind the Sennheiser HD820, which is my benchmark for big soundstage for closed back headphones.

All in all, while these headphones will lack a bit of fun factor for a lot of audiophile, I feel Hifiman upon it’s game in term of tuning balance with the Audivina, it’s a neutral sounding headphones with a pinch of appealing lushness and extra crispness on top without the upper mids grain or harshness we can find with other models of their offering.

Before the Audivina, I concluded Hifiman offered 2 types of sound signature, bright U shape and warm W shape. Now I changed my mind and it made me even more curious about other sound flavors this company can offer.

Highly recommended (for those who know why they buy these headphones)



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PS: I want to thanks Hifiman for sending me this review sample. I don't participate to affiliated program nor gain nothing to write positive reviews. All audio gear are collected for futur comparisons purpose.

You can order the Hifiman Audivina for 2000$ here (check as well the open box crazy deals!): https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/audivina.html

Audivina review:

Many delve into the technical specs of the device they review. That is best left to the brouchure from the manifacturer.
Here is the completely one-sided, personal and subjective opinions of someone who has been a whopping 2 years coming from the humble ATH-M50x to the Audeze LCD-5. I have my tastes, and thus it’s 100% subjective review.
First impressions:
Aesthetically. the Adivina are quite eye cathing, with a suspension system similar to the HE1000, not to mention two quite generous earcups who are covered on both sides with beautiful wood, as these are closed backs.

The look is very unique, no quite other headphone has the same look. Comfyness well describes how light and firm they stand on your head, I’d say one of the best, reminding me on the featherweight R70X.
Now comes the musical part:
In my zero-reviews experience, i thought i’d try and use the comparison to another headphone to try and describe better the feelings i get from them.
I have the luck of owning other high end closed backs (LCD-XC 2021), and thus i’ll try and compare them to better describe their musicality.
Let’s start with the first thing when you hear the word “closed backs”: Isolation. On the Audivina, there is very little. All in all, i can hear through it almost like an open back. This is a big drawback because the headphone easily swivels and comes in a portable package that seems to encourage people to bring it on a trip and enjoy some music on the go (or maybe i’m the one that’s crazy to think about going around with 2k headphones on my head, but hey if i buy something you can bet i AM going to use it).
After isolation, closed backs are supposed to sound more bassy. That isn’t really a standard, and my LCD-5 would have a word with anyone saying open backs’ bass can’t be good. And the Audivina corroborate the importance of not letting their designation “closed back” trick you into thinking they are bassy. Quite the opposite thir bass is….let’s say featherweight. Little impact, texture and intensity makes the lower part of the frequencies feel almost missing. An example is the song from Far Cry 5 “Build a Castle – Choir Version”. The LCD-XC paint a deep, impactful voice, you can hear the impact of the vocals, the strings, it brings it all together very well.
On the audivina you have a shallow bass, good mids, and the strings are the ones ending up being heard the best.
The soundstage is very nice, quite open and spacious.
Another song, good for the mids/high, is “Nobody Does it Better” by Carly Simon. Being a little less bass heavy, the voice is well rendered and the highs are good. But again, missing the bass unfortunately doesn’t help with the impact of the voice.
To focus all-in with the bass, “Fukitsu” from the Bakemonogatari OST is a good instrument-heavy song has both highs and bass. Here being a string instrument audivinas are better than other songs, with very good definition but still lacking the “impact” of basses frrom the piano.

Conclusions:

They absolutely win in two categories: Comfort and Transportability
In these the audivina are world class.
They have nice technicalities, with a very large sound stage rivalling open backs.
Tonality is divisive, and would reccomend testing them to see if they suit your taste.
Isolation isn’t much to write home about and would need improvement in the future.
Bass is the real issue, and to me unfortunately a dealbreaker.

MatAudiophiles​

Hifiman audivina​

Audivin hifiman
INSTAGRAM: LINK

Prelude:
Hifiman Audivina is another Hifiman approach to the topic of closed planar headphones. After a quite successful debut in the form of the Sundara closed back, Hifiman has not abandoned his plans to prove to us that he can surprise us with closed back headphones as much as, for example, with the open Sundara or Edition XS. This time the whole thing was created completely from scratch, practically everything in the Audivin model was redesigned, creating a completely autonomous product. Initially, I felt concerned about the amount of negative reviews about this model. Especially since the price of the Audivan is $1,999, which is quite a high budget.



Unboxing:
Audivina comes to us in a standard ecological Hifiman packaging, but what is important, the set includes a hard and eye-pleasing transport case made of hard plastic, which is a nice accent and suggests the mobile nature of the headphones themselves. Additionally, we have a set of three cables, with a 6.5mm jack, a 3.5mm jack and a balanced XLR. Unfortunately, the cables are rather basic and identical to those in every Hifiman model. However, they ensure full compatibility with various hi-fi sets. It’s a pity that the cables are not braided like the ones in Aria Organic. However, I consider the set to be completely complete and well thought out. You can also find the headphones themselves made of wood and metal, the ear cups are large, but the headphones themselves look very good and are comfortable. The stock pads can be replaced, for example, with something from Dekoni, but they are good enough to provide an excellent sound experience. The quality of workmanship is very good and the pads are really comfortable. The headphones themselves do not require much current, but they still benefit from a better source.



Sound:
When designing the Audivan, Hifiman decided to create monitoring headphones with a concert hall effect. At first it was difficult to understand, but after about 200 hours of firing I noticed that it was really well thought out and I was surprised by the one-star reviews. Perhaps some people have run out of patience with these headphones. I had a similar situation with R9 and a closed sundara. At the beginning they sounded not very promising, but after some time they showed an incredibly good level. So now let’s move on and take a look at the sound of this closed model made of wood from hifiman.

Bass: The low tones are a very strong point, Audivans retain an almost completely linear character and are really precise. We can feel them and perceive their presence more clearly due to the closed planar structure. Additionally, their purity and complexity are truly something I expect when making the compromise of a closed headphone design. Although in the case of the Audivan the isolation is not the best, there is also a lot of sound leakage, but it is much better than in the case of open headphones. The subbass is soft and neutral. The whole thing is slightly slimmed down because special acoustic chambers are supposed to provide us with an extraordinary sound stage, and it is indeed impressive. This is because, apart from the large planar transducer, the Audivan also has a reverb effect, which, however, disappears after a few seconds of listening when our hearing gets used to it.

Diameter: The midtones are smooth and clear, a form of communication full of information and detail. We have a lot of natural-sounding instruments, great separation and excellent quality. The midtones are very developed and sound extremely clean and linear. I also like the preservation of the natural timbre of each instrument, the soundstage is not only wide but also deep, which provides a great experience. The vocals sound good, especially the male vocals are extremely well performed, although the female vocals are also good, but they sound a bit thinner.

Treble:They are very holographic, their neutrality really exceeds my expectations. These are headphones that largely focus on an even and monitor-like sound, they are not as musical as other Hifiman products, so I can understand that not everyone likes such a presentation. However, the headphones present exactly the character intended by the manufacturer. The high tones are not exaggerated, rather even and clear, full of various information. It’s a great approach that makes the Audivan unique in its own way.



Comparisons:

Audivana (1999USD) VS HIFIMAN R9 (109USD)
Currently, the R9 costs a fraction of their original price, which makes them unrivaled, but these are very bass-heavy headphones with recessed vocals, the Audivan has a monitor-like and very even sound, but the price difference is now almost twenty times higher. R9 are good and entertaining dynamic headphones, while Audivana is a technical and very balanced in terms of tone, where the emphasis is primarily on linearity of playing.

Audivana (1999USD) VS Sundara closed back (229USD)
Sundara is a smaller headphone, without the same depth or breadth, more intimate and less balanced. Audivana is ten times more expensive, but at every step it presents a much higher standard. Sundara closed is a less holographic headphone, but at the same time slightly more musical. At the same time, the Audivan is a handset with more panache and much more impressive against virtually any background.



Summary:
Audivana is probably the most unusual of all hifiman headphones, which may be liked or controversial. Personally, I really liked it, giving me the feeling of being in contact with excellent equipment for monitoring and working with music. These are not cheap headphones, as their price is already in the high-end of the headphone world, but they are rewarded with an excellent sound stage, full of life and details. They guarantee an even and very dynamic sound with an excellent neutral, but at the same time natural presentation. They provide a lot of space, probably the best I’ve ever seen in closed headphones. With a bad connection, they can turn out to be a bit thin in sound and definitely require a long warm-up before showing their potential. However, in combination with HE600 they showed an incredibly good technical side and successfully defended their position. These are different headphones, the reverberation of the concert hall is definitely something that takes a while to get used to, but in the end it provides a great effect and translates into a great space, which is why I consider the Audivane to be a good pair of headphones, not so much musical but, above all, technical.

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This is a no-nonsense review of the Audivina. My review is based on a two week audition supplied by Hifiman. While the loaner was supplied by Hifiman, there is no incentive or reason for me to give anything but honest review. My goal here is to describe exactly how the Audivina sounds as objectively as possible.


The Headphones come packaged in a Hifiman Travel Case, along with three cables. The first is a 1.5 meter cable terminated as a single ended 3.5mm. There’s also two 3 meter cables. One is a single ended 6.35mm and the other is a balanced XLR.

Nice bundle-- Stand not included


The cables bend easily, don’t kink, and aren’t microphonic at all. From a build perspective the cables are great, except for the black on black lettering on the headphone side to determine Left or Right. You have to be in direct light to see which is “L” and “R”. There’s no color indicator or contrasted letters. Not a big deal, but just not ideal for usability. All seems to work fine with the cables, and there’s a satisfying *click* when you plug the cables fully into the headphone.

Black letters on a black cable. Which is left, which is right? In the middle of the night nothing may be right.



The Headphone build is solid. I’ve got no immediate concerns with something breaking, and functionally they are built as well as they should be. The headband is a leather like strap that is suspended by being connected to a metal frame. The metal frame is high quality, shaped well, and without any weak spots. The strap is also high quality of medium thickness, and will obviously withstand a lot. Where the strap attaches to the sliders is a thin point, and one where all of the pressure is distributed to the frame. I’d be concerned that this could be a failure point where the strap would eventually break, but this design is the same used the Arya, and I’ve had no durability issues with the Arya over several years. The cups rotate smoothly both horizontally and vertically, and have a very wide range of motion being able to rotate all the way around. The cups themselves are made of wood with a very smooth lacquer like finish. The finish doesn’t attract fingerprints. On the bottom side of the cups are angled TRS connectors that are flush with the cups (not recessed, thank you Hifiman). The ear pads are held onto the cups by Velcro like material, and do not shift at all during use.




The headphone is on the heavier side at 470 grams, but in wearing them you really don’t feel that weight. The suspended headband does a great job at distributing the weight across your entire head, so much so that the headphones actually feel light when in use. The egg shaped ear pads are somewhat firm however, and may give some pressure points depending on the shape of your head. I had minor pressure points above the ears, in front of the ears, and a little bit along the jawline. The ear pads are large, and If you’ve ever tried an Arya or Ananda it’s the same general comfort. Even with those pressure points I had no issues wearing the Audivina for hours at a time, but your comfort will depend on the shape of your head.

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This headphone is different from the usual headphone sound. The presentation is what is unique about this headphone, and whether or not you like the presentation is likely what will make or break this headphone. I’ll go over all of the individual aspects of the sound below in detail, but what you need to know up front is that the headphone is very high up there on a technical level, so don’t worry much about its ability. On a technical level it competes with the Arya, HE6se, and older HE series. The Audivina is also fairly neutral in frequency response, with the only issue being an overall thinner sound that is especially noticed in the upper mids.

The Audivina was designed to simulate sitting in a concert hall. How it achieves this is by effectively making all of the sounds smaller, thinner in size, and farther away in their space compared to a normal closed back headphone. With the sounds being smaller in size and farther away, there is more space in-between each sound which gives the illusion of an extra-large sound stage. This works excellent, exactly as designed. The perceived stage is large in both width and depth, and is better than most open headphones that I’ve tried. To match the acoustics there is also a tiny amount of reverb with each sound. It’s minor enough that it isn’t noticeable most of the time, but it does add a little bit of extra perceived detail and refinement into the sound.

The downside to the presentation is that when you put the headphones on for the first time the sound seems to be canny, unnatural, and without any fullness. The presentation is just so far different from what you are used to, it can’t help but sound wrong as your brain tries to figure out what is going on. These aspects mostly go away once your brain adjusts to the sound after a few minutes. The only negative aspect that sticks around long term is the feeling that the sound is thinner than normal. That too improves with brain burn in to an extent, but never fully goes away. The second issue with this type of presentation is that when you push a sound out at normal listening volumes, or make it smaller, this can lessen your engagement with the music. When music is loud and in your face you can’t help but pay more attention to it, and it’s just generally easier to be more emotionally involved. When the sound is farther away and thinner, you can analyze it and determine that it’s correct, but there’s no avoiding that the enjoyment will go down. This isn't necessarily a flaw with the Audivina, but just a general aspect of what happens when the presentation is pushed out into a large space.

With the Audivina you are gaining something new, a closed back with a grand sound stage that is portrayed wonderfully. The stage will dazzle you, and sound fantastic from a technical perspective, but in return you do give up some engagement with the music. That’s not to say that the Audivina is boring. The Audivina has a surprising amount of impact to each sound, so each sound is emphasized despite being farther away. This keeps you engaged enough instead of just listening to background music. So there is fun and engagement here, it is just less up front and thinner than what you would typically get from a normal headphone presentation. That said, if a large stage is what you are looking for in a closed back headphone, then the Audivina pulls off the presentation wonderfully.

Bass
The Sub-bass is phenomenal. It extends very low, has great resolution, and is effortlessly contained to its own space. Mid-bass is pulled back a little by comparison, but isn’t usually missed as much with how much sub-bass comes through. The mid-bass is present, just not as prevalent as it should be which does contribute to the feeling that there is a lack of weight in the overall sound.

Mids
This one is tricky, as when you listen to male or female vocals it seems like it’s all there. The voices are accurate on close inspection, and yet at the same time you can’t help but feel that the mids are missing something. This is where the thinner sound of the Audivina comes across the most. Upper mids, such as female vocals, will sound like they are missing body. Male voices typically sound accurate on the lower registers, then as pitch increases they too can sound a bit lean. Once your brain adapts the mids sound accurate for long term critical listening, but there is always the feeling that there should be a little more body in this area.

Treble
The generally thinner sound of the Audivina makes the treble sound just a bit sharp when you first put the headphones on. The treble extends well and is accurate with just a slight sharp edge on the end. That edge entirely goes away after a few minutes, and from then on the treble just extends well and does what it needs to do without going overboard. No grain, no piercing, no sibilance. It’s accurate and sounds great.

Tonal Accuracy & Timbre
The Audivina sounds clean, clear, and with an absolutely neutral tone and timbre. Tone is one of those things that is typically hard to get right. When watching TV/Movies you can instantly tell if a characters voice is too high, low, or distorted in any way. The Audivina nails tone and timbre with the exception of those pesky upper mids. Instruments typically sound exactly as they should, and with the level of detail provided it makes for a great experience.

Detail
The presentation of the Audivina actually helps here. With all sounds taking less space within the stage each sound ends up with clearer lines around them. Add in the slight reverb effect which further lingers each sound and the perception of detail is abundant. You can really sit back and be amazed as each sound is reproduced very accurately. I previously mentioned that the Audivina can compete on a technical level with the Arya, HE6se and the older HE series. For detail and timbre in particular the Audivina often wins against them all. The jump in detail is only by a small margin, but one that is noticeable when switching back and forth between the other high end Hifiman Planars.

Sound Stage
When you first put on the Audivina the stage size is large, but mostly pushed in front of you. Sounds are somewhat far away, and despite the size it seems like the stage is going across a long flat line in front of you. Within a few seconds to minutes the stage deepens considerably, wrapping around the sides and becoming a large space where sounds move freely. Being a closed back there is a feeling that there are defined borders where the stage can’t pass, but the stage is so large that the sound doesn’t feel restricted by it. Despite having clear borders the Audivina portrays sound stage better than most open back headphones. The stage truly a great aspect, one that defines and separates the Audivina from other closed back headphones.

Dynamics
Despite the thinner nature of the sound signature the Audivina comes out with good dynamics. Drums, cymbals, piano keys, everything can be felt as much as heard. This is another important aspect of the Audivina in understanding it’s sound, and why the pushed out sound isn’t boring or quickly dismissed. It doesn’t have the same level of dynamics as the older HE series (HE-400, HE-500, HE-6), but it’s close.

Isolation
You would think for a closed back that there would be great isolation, but you can clearly hear everything that is going on around you. Not only that, but others a few feet away can hear your sound as well. It’s not like the Arya where the open sound is being projected across the room. Rather, from a few feet away others will be able to tell that you are listening to something, but they won’t be able to clearly make out what it is. This can be a deal breaker, especially if you are looking for a closed back headphone in order to not disturb others around you.

Efficiency
The Audivina has an Impedance of 20Ω with a sensitivity of 97dB. While you should be able to get the Audivina loud on most portable sources, to drive the Audivina properly I’d recommend an amp capable of providing at least 700mW at 20Ω.


Hifiman Arya V2 (Non Stealth)

Same, but different

I wanted to start with this comparison as both the Arya & Audivina are both high end Hifiman Planars, both have similar ‘egg’ shaped cup designs, and the Arya is well known among many users. The Arya is generally well regarded as being near flagship in quality. When you put on the Arya the sound is natural, wide, deep, slightly airy, and completely neutral. When you put on the Audivina the sound is initially canny, scooped out, and unnatural sounding. Within seconds to minutes the brain adjusts though, and both headphones suddenly become quite similar in both sound and enjoyment:

• The Arya is known as having an exceptional sound stage, and in comparison the Arya is deeper and more holographic to the point that there is more space between each sound. The Audivina is close in depth though, which speaks to how large the stage is for the Audivina. Both have a similar stage width.
• Sound is presented a little further away on the Arya; sounds are slightly closer in depth on the Audivina. Width presentation is mostly the same between the two.
• Bass is also mostly comparable, with sub-bass being nearly equal and the Arya having a fuller mid-bass. The Audivina sounds like it is missing a small amount of mid-bass by comparison.
• Mids on the Arya sound fuller, more natural. By comparison the Audivina mids sound thinner, lacking some body especially with female vocals.
• Highs are just a bit sharper on the Arya, where the Audivina extends well but stops just short of going into sharp territory. Highs are generally more comfortable and pleasing on the Audivina.
• Detail is similar as it depends on the material, but the Audivina usually has a bit more resolution.
• Timbre is typically more accurate on the Audivina. On close inspection there’s more to each sound, and it appears to be more accurate. Going back and forth the Arya sounds like it is missing some micro detail that alters the overall timbre.
• Tonal accuracy is similar.

Overall it’s not valid to say that the Audivina is a closed back Arya, but they have a lot more in common than not. Both have exceptional sound stage, both are successfully aiming for a neutral sound, and both offer great detail in everything they do. If you own an Arya, it’s easiest to think of the Audivina as having a sound that is a little bit closer in depth, thinner sounding in general, but otherwise comparable in a closed back design.

Ultrasone Edition 8 EX

SHINY


This was the first closed back comparison that I thought of since Edition 8 EX is trying to simulate the same stage large stage effects with Ultrasones "EX" logic. Both are closed back, both have similar tonality, and both within similar price brackets. Main difference is that the Audivina is a fairly large Planar whereas the 8 EX is a 40mm Dynamic. The general tone is similar between the two where there is a clean clear approach with a lack of fullness. The Audivina has significantly improved detail/resolution, cleaner lines around every sound, a wider and deeper stage, more sub bass presence, mostly comparable mids, and superior dynamics. After listening to the Audivina the Edition 8 EX sounds grainy by direct comparison, but that grainy effect does fade quickly once your brain adjusts to the sound. The Edition 8 does still sound decent for the price range, but offers what could be said to be a "junior" version of the Audivina sound. All said, the Audivina is simply more refined in all sound aspects.

Ultrasone Edition 5 Unlimited

More metal again, Ruthenium this time on the Edition 5

Another Ultrasone comparable in price that uses the EX logic to simulate a large sound stage, but reproduction compared to the 8 EX is different. This Ultrasone is warmer, smoother, and generally more balanced than other Ultrasone offerings. The presentation for the Edition 5 is more the traditional up front, around you, and in your face sound compared to the pushed out Audivina. The Edition 5 has less stage depth but similar stage width. All sounds on the Edition 5 feel closer and significantly larger in size. Audivina on the other hand offers superior resolution, and overall technical ability is improved in all areas. The gap is smaller than that of the Edition 8 EX though. After listening to the Audivina, the Edition 5 sounds completely clear with a significant mid-bass emphasis, and has a slightly plastic sound. Highs are similar, mids are significantly fuller on the Edition 5, mid-bass is overemphasized on the Edition 5 leading to a warmer overall sound, and sub-bass amount is similar. The Edition 5 can sustain very low sub-bass, but it just can't reach the same resolution as the Audivina. Despite the Edition 5 being somewhat inferior in technical ability to the Audivina, it is still a great option for those looking for a closed back with a more traditional presentation. Overall this comparison is close enough that it’s going to come down to preference on the presentation. The Edition 5 sounds great with its full smooth approach in a traditional presentation, whereas the Audivina one ups it in all technical areas with its own unique presentation.


The Audivina is different for a closed back, and different is a good thing in a saturated headphone market where so many headphones do the same thing with varying attributes. When you first put on the Audivina it can end up being a jarring experience. The sound can be canny, thin, hollow, and pushed out. Within a few minutes the sound becomes significantly improved as you acclimate to it’s unique presentation, leaving you with a very large detailed stage that is the highlight of the Audivina. Given the high resolution that the Audivina is capable of, whether or not you like the Audivina will mostly come down to if you enjoy its presentation and thinner sound signature. There’s not going to be many closed back headphones that can compete at this level in both sound stage and resolution. If you love sound stage, or if you are looking for a closed back where stage is the priority, then the Audivina should be high up on your list of headphones to try.

Hifiman Audivina Review​

I would like to thank Hifiman for sending these on to me as part of the Audivina tour, as usual, all words are my own.

Build, Comfort & Isolation​

The headband of this headphone is similar to the HE1000V2 in its design and construction, it uses all metal parts with a vented leather suspension strap, and the cups can swivel a full 360 degrees on their axis. The cups are made out of some thin wood which when tapped exhibit quite a high-pitched resonant frequency. Inside is hollow with only a small square of foam which feels to be the same foam they use on the top of their boxes to protect the contents.

The comfort is great, the strap perfectly distributes the headphone's weight without any hotspots, and the large pads mean that your ears do not touch any part of the headphone while in use; speaking of pads, they attach to the headphone using velcro, which makes for easy removal but you have to be careful to line them up perfectly while refitting them. Though not the best choice of attachment as the seal isn't the best leading to a roll off in the bass.

Overall Isolation isn't that good, it doesn't isolate much more than if you were to wear nothing at all it's in the ballpark of 15dB at 1kHz attenuation.

Specifications:
Drivers: Supernano Stealth Magnet Planar
Sensitivity: 97dB/mw
Impedance: 20Ω
Weight: 470g

Inclusions:
Hard Case
4 Pin XLR Cable
1/4" TRS Cable
3.5mm TRS Cable

Sound Quality​

What first strikes you is how uneven and lean they sound, they project their honky, boxy and bright tonality with dominance and utmost importance, it is quite blunt about how it does this. It reminds me of a low-quality 1970s radio.

Bass​

The bass on the Audivina, is lacking in rich punch and impact the mid-bass is scooped leading to somewhat poor timbre and articulation on bass guitars.

Kicks sound somewhat muted and dull but not completely dead, killing the drive and energy in most music, speed also isn't much of a strong point here, it's almost sloppy for a planar in how it handles fast transients.

Mids​

Arguably the worst part about this headphone, the mids are honky and uneven, and pianos sound like they're missing a bit too much of their body and weight. for older recordings these headphones might be okay to give you a sense of nostalgia as if you were listening to a Shellac 78 RPM record on an old gramophone, precisely the tonality these headphones somewhat portray.

For vocals, all you need to do is imagine the vocalist blocking their nose and singing through a toilet roll tube, very unfaithful and offensive honky boxy tonality to vocals here, both female and male.

Adding on, the saxophone on this track is presented way too honky than it actually should be, and the guitar just sounds lacking in life, The soundstage is at least quite wide and vibrant though it doesn't project sound that far in front of you.

Treble​

Treble on this pair is very hot, though not the most offensive I have heard, hats and cymbals have a slight metallic edge to them but seem to come forward with good attack. Though cymbal hits have a sort of splashy characteristic to them

Technicalities ​

For soundstage, these project wide to the sides, but not far in front, depth stops at roughly the bridge of your nose, imaging, however, seems perfectly fine, with good placement of instruments in their correct spot.

Separation is to be expected for how poorly they are tuned; smashed together and congested with not many layers. Detail retrieval on some less dense tracks is fine but not groundbreaking, you'd have to strain yourself to pick out some finer details on busier tracks and I can't say they're the headphone you'd want to be picking up for analytical use to be honest despite the bogus marketing as a "Studio Headphone"

Conclusion​

I can't say I recommend it, for the price of $1999 the tuning is rather unacceptable, while it could be helped with EQ you shouldn't be expected to have to do this out of the box, should you still be interested in these headphones, I'd recommend you audition them in person to see whether they're for you. These are not a blind buy.

Background
I've owned many headphones and have heard many, mostly open backs. I currently have Susvara, HD800 and Grado RS1X. Headphones I have in the past were Audeze LCD2f, LCD3f, LCD4. HiFiMan Arya, He1000se. ZMF Atticus, Eikon, Verite LTD Open Pheasantwood. Senn HD650.

Build and comfort
Build quality is very good. On par with He1000se and Susvara. Comfort is good but Susvara is better. Perhaps on par with He1000se. The elongated shape doesn't suit me that well.

I am fine with the materials used in Audivina and the colour is rather unique. I rather like it.



Sound - treble, mid, bass, soundstage
Treble and midbass strikes me as prominent. Mid is good but I hear voices presented in a different way. Overall, I find it very enjoyable with vocals.

It is brighter compared to Susvara, the latter has better timbre and texture and a low extended bass. Susvara is definitely the better headphone but if I didn't compare, I can enjoy Audivina too.

Soundstage width is very good. Almost as wide as HD800 and He1000se. I'm impressed. 3D holographic image is presented well.

This is not a bass prominent headphone. Not in the same mold as LCD4. If that is what you're looking for then you've found the wrong headphone.

I like the tuning though and could accept it without change. It will compliment my existing headphones. If you look at my existing headphones you will know why I like Audivina.

With tube amps
I audition Audivina with my 4 tube amps. Odyssey, Oblivion, Destiny and Ultimate. In my opinion, Audivina is best sampled with a good tube amp and when driven with any of my tube amps, it sound heavenly.

The best pairing is with Oblivion. The soundstage from this pairing is the widest and with an airy feel. All the other 3 tube amps are also very good with Audivina. Destiny the 300b amp is incredible with Audivina. The surprise of them all is Ultimate - the synergy is incredible.

All my tube amps are very quiet and despite the specs of Audivina (20ohms and 97dB), there is zero noise. Very impressive.

With the other headphones


The tube amps used.







Conclusion
I said at the beginning when I first received Audivina that I love the headphone when I first heard it. That hasn't change after 2 weeks of audition. This is a headphone that has a place in my collection of headphones but just not now unfortunately. I've other tube amps purchase commitments.

Thanks to HiFiMan for the opportunity to audition Audivina.

I have been calmly testing this headset and doing extensive testing.
So here is the detailed review of the Hifiman Audivina, the brand's new closed back.


Build, comfort and technology.
We have the same level of quality seen in the hifiman HE1000SE and the HE1000V2 Stealth. The hinges and headbands are real metal and leather. The clamping force is superior to an Arya but inferior to that of an Ananda, which is why I consider it at its precise point. The weight is practically not felt and the pads are huge. Your ear won't touch anything and they're not warm. These pads are made of a porous fabric and inside are made of perforated synthetic leather.

The wood of the cups is very thin, to the degree that it feels like it vibrates when you play music with predominant bass. It is likely that if you drop them, the wood of the cup will completely break, which would not happen with the Sundara Closed Back. However, Hifiman assures that the geometry of this wood and its material is responsible for generating the big soundstage and the resonant effects that lead to the spacious sound of the headset. Rather that, I believe that being thin, it allows some waves to get out, decreasing the reflected component, but we cannot know it.
We have a SuperNano driver between 1-2 microns thick. It is not the thinnest that Hifiman manages and I suppose that is why they feel difficult to move. Even though it's only 20 ohms and 97dB (per mW?), the audivina is a bit trickier to move than the Arya Organic, Arya Stealth, and the mdr Z1r. My adi2 and Astell kern sp1000 by 2.5mm drives very well, but only on burson soloist sounds a lil bit more controlled.

Worst of all, are the connectors. These are of cheap plastic and don't feel solid in its position. I'll tell you in time.
Something very curious is the "foam" that they have put between the drivers and the earpads. This foam has a function of attenuating some frequencies, so I want to assume that they are trying to imitate the operation of a dynamic driver:

• Dynamic drivers are more flexible at the ends to have a greater excursion and generate low frequencies of greater amplitude.
• In the high-end dynamic drivers the center is more rigid because in this way, the short wavelength frequencies are less susceptible to overdrive and therefore generates a better transient response in this range (treble).

The hifiman ones seem to have left the center without any attenuation with an asymmetrical pattern and the ends of the diaphragm covered with an absorbent foam, which I want to assume has an absorption response in the treble. Just very interesting.





SOUND and comparison vs Sony MDR Z1R
When I put them on, the first thing I noticed is that it doesn't blatantly follow harman curves or diffuse field curves. On the contrary, it has its own sound, which told me that it surely had those "Martian" FR curves.
The bass was super present, smooth, fast, detailed. The treble with an excess of detail and the massive scene.


.
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LOWs
The extension of the audivina towards the sub bass is almost nil. The sony mdr z1r has a little more presence in that sub-bass area, but let me clarify, the sony also has few sub-bass quantity.

However, the mid bass of the Audivina is quite present. It hits with a high presence, dynamics and speed, but it is not as enhanced as that of a fostex. I'd say it's in the same category of mid bass presence as an Audeze LCD-2 Fazor. However, the amount of detail and speed is very good (much better than lcd-2). It has more cleanliness and softness than the bass of the MDR Z1R and is a little more raised and present than this in the same way. What I like the most is that it is a super soft, mellow, clean, detailed bass. It makes you want to turn up the volume to the fullest with how good its mid bass sounds.

It is likely that the speed of the mid bass is due to the fact that the upper bass is less present, I am not sure but I have discovered that. If you want to feel immense speed, we can use parametric EQ and decrease the band 150Hz and let the bass around 60Hz do the wonders. Therefore, I want to believe that the bass in the area close to 150Hz is recessed or maybe near 200Hz, but I'm not sure (i need messurements).

I have to say that the bass therefore seems superior to that of the mdr Z1r despite the fact that the other one is more neutral (less raised) and with more presence in the sub bass. I also find it much better bass than the focal stellia in quality.


Mids
Possibly this part is the strangest part of the headset. The instruments have an immense amount of detail, at levels that border on Arya organic performance. But the weirdest thing about this headphone is that some voices may sound in the front, but others sound further back. What?
The ones that sound further back are the voices that have higher frequency tones (between 1.5kHz-3kHz).
EXERCISE:

• The song from All or nothig at all - Diana Krall has registers between 500Hz and 1.2khz of lots and lots of energy. These voices sound quite present in Audivina and if you don't lower the volume, a bit screaming.
• But the song Promise - Woongsan has registers of her voice clearly between 1.6kHz, 1.9kHz, 2.6kHz and 3kHz. Here her voice sounds without weight/body in the Audivina, and far, far away!!!!. Something that DOES NOT HAPPEN with the mdr Z1r.

With the sony both Diana Krall's and Woongsan's voices sound quite present in the scene and with LOTS OF BODY!!! and viscosity. So, this is a knock on the audivina for its "Weird" midrange frequency response. But it doesn't sound bad either!!! I'm very picky and I notice everything. The only "but" I really put on this audivina range is that it lacks body and more smoothness in the vocals. That smoothness that they had in the bass, is no longer there in the mids either. On the other hand, the instruments sound with a great finesse and detail.


TREBLE
This headphone was made for the bass to caress your soul and the treble to show you classical music in the rawest way possible!!!.

The Lost in Venice disc is simply enjoyable in almost the same way I enjoy it with arya organic and hd800 on the audivina. The treble is not as full bodied, but has a hint of it that leaves you with the timbre on the perfect point but not as fat either. With the sony mdr z1r everything sounds full bodied, and slower and less dynamic.

Clearly the Audivina has the treble quite present in the style of maybe an Arya Stealth magnets however, we don't have the same clean treble that we would have in the Audeze LCD-4, HE1000v2. The treble is more of the character of the arya organic in cleanliness. Even I think a little bit lower. Maybe about the level of cleanliness of an Aeon Flow.
I repeat the treble is not as full bodied and not the cleanest, but "EYE": I've seen what is the reason.

The Audivina has a clear peak at 6kHz with a considerable bandwidth. Well, with Going Away to college - Blink 182, mark's voice is sibilant. And with De momento abriil - la bien querida, the voice is super sibilant. So, that's it, the notes with the letter S doing their thing.

I decided to put PEQ in and remove the 6kHz peak and it became much cleaner now. Now if we have the same level of cleanliness, at least from the Arya Stealh magnets and almost the same as the hifiman he1000v2.
I think this problem must be a product of a resonance, because this headphone vibrates a lot like a mini Skull candy Crusher!!!!.

But compared to the Z1r the treble has more detail. Mainly microdetail. The mdr z1r as you may know (if you saw my review on youtube), has very pronounced peaks in treble that mask the other treble frequencies. So it (z1r) feels clean and with good macrodetail but it masks the microdetail. Something that for example the FOCAL stellia does not do. The focal stellia shows you a treble with luxurious microdetail, cleanliness and smoothness!!!! But the audivina has the same detail as the focal Stellia in treble, with even more extension, but with more agility and speed in how it presents them. And the sony is the loser here because although it has cleanliness and smoothness, it lacks a lot of information.


Soundstage and layering

The star of the crown.
Audivina has massive soundstage!!!. Up to this point the headphone with the most soundstage size Before Audivina, The biggest soundstage in a closed back headphones were the MDR Z1r and le hifiman HE-R9. However, the Audivina has surpassed them both by a bit.

The soundstage of the mdr z1r is like an oval in width and height. And the audivina is like a Rectangle that covers the parts that the oval fails to cover. In this way the audivina covers more space on the sides compared to the MDR Z1r.
On the other hand, as the mdr z1r does follow the harman curve very well in the mids and high mids, it shows you the voices totally in front and closer to the nose. Something that as I already explained, in audivina does not exist. Audivina played with the EQ and managed to make you feel that in the front you have some voices far away and others close. That in the end generates a sensation of more air. So in depth the Audivina beats the mdr Z1r.

However, something happens with the audivina that only if you get picky will you notice:
All the sound sounds more concentrated in the area corresponding to the ear canal and with less presence in the areas corresponding to the higher parts of the ear. This phenomenon is to be expected, as the central part of the driver is NOT covered by the foam. Therefore, it is to be expected that in a certain way, the treble will be more concentrated in that area and the rest will have more presence of other frequencies. You will only notice this effect if you get really serious about analyzing it.

The audivina layering is at the same level as the mdr z1r. Both separate the sound layers in that huge scene without anything getting in the way. But even audivina is a little better because it has less body, and less forward high frequency voices, allowing you to feel less congestion.

Here in layering the stellia can't compete, it comes out crying against these two.

MUSICAL GENRES

-Very good for: Classical, Jazz, Instrumental.
-Good for: Electronic, Reggaeton, Trap.
-Normal only if you have well recorded: Pop, Rock and country with few of vocals and some metal subgenres.
-Avoid: Music with sibilant female vocals or with registers near the letter S. Avoid if you are looking for sub bass, because it has almost none. AVOID black metal and power metal because they have no body and high 6kHz treble, and the percussions will be a treble machine-gun.

CONCLUSION
I think that if we removed that 6kHz peak, and we moved back a little the region around 1kHz and raised a little the other one around 2kHz, we could have a real end game closed back. I still like the treble more the treble on the stellia, but it's not as impressive as this audivina, and it doesn't have the same majestic performance with violin, organ, harpsichord, etc. either. Audivina is a live classical music concert!!! (as long as there are no sibilant voices).
I think I still like more the sony mdr z1r because it goes with EVERY genre out there. But it does make me miss that extra morbid detail in treble. But for classica, instrumental, opera and jazz, i think my new favorite is audivina.

Harman
By putting in 17 band EQ PEQ towards harman, the audivina doesn't change much but the treble becomes now if almost perfect and the vocals in place. The bass doesn't change much either (but I do feel it gets a little worse, less speed, maybe because we have now upper-lows). I think that with this harman EQ, audivina sounds very similar to a Stax electrostatic but with less cleanness and refinement in treble.
Curiously, The soundstage is not affected with Harman EQ. Just Amazing! because that means that the region over 2 kHz is not too recessed like I thought or maybe the magic is in treble? hehe..




Cheers.

Disclaimer: This review is based on my 2-week experience with the demo unit Hifiman provided through their loaner tour. While I was neither paid nor required to provide anything but my honest opinion, readers should be aware of potential bias. Anyway, kudos to HFM for the opportunity!

My Preference

Before discussing Audivina, it is important to note that I am a fan of Hifiman headphones. My journey has included their products at various price points, from HE400 to Arya, and finally, Susvara, which remains unparalleled in my opinion. Other headphones that I hold in high regard include Stealth, Caldera, and Atrium closed. This information may help readers better understand my perspective and preference.


Opening

Initially, I assumed that Audivina might simply be a closed-back version of HE1000 due to their similar cup shapes and price ranges. However, upon examining the actual product, it was evident that Hifiman had put in more effort than anticipated. The front radiating surface of the drivers were more damped than any of their open-back products, and featured uniquely shaped acoustic filters which I believe controlled internal reflection or diffraction differently from their open-back counterparts.



Design and ergonomics have been thoroughly discussed in other reviews; thus, I will focus on Audivina's sound quality.

Associated Gears

• DAC: SMSL M500 mk3 (usb in, xlr out), Gustard X18 (usb in, xlr out)
• Amp: SMSL HO200 (xlr in, 4 pin xlr out), Topping LA90 (xlr in, thorough banana-to-4p xlr adapter)
• Headphones: Hifiman Susvara, Dan Clark Audio Stealth, ZMF Atrium Closed

Sound - Tonality

The tonal balance of Audivina is distinct, after many hours of comparing it to my reference headphones. It appears that Hifiman did not aim to replicate their open-back house sound for this model. Audivina's tonality is noticeably uneven and less cohesive across the spectrum, with certain regions in the bass, midrange, and treble exhibiting strong boosts. Despite the individual discrepancies, the overall sound remains balanced to my ears.



Listening to Linda Lindas' Growing Up (2022), for example, the fundamentals of female vocals are more prominent, while kick drums are less punchy. The bass guitar maintains appropriate weight and heft, but the lower end of electric guitars lacks richness and power. Moving up the spectrum, snare drums exhibit a stronger bark, vocals become slightly nasal, and guitars sound a bit thin. These characteristics, however, do not detract from the overall listening experience; in fact, they enable me to enjoy the music in a fresh, engaging manner.


Sound - Technicality

Audivina excels in its technical capabilities, particularly in spatiality and synergistic tuning. The detail and retrieval are commendable, although sonic gradations can sometimes sound less delicate and more vivid than products like Atrium Closed. The soundstage is truly addictive, with Hifiman doing an outstanding job of creating an immersive experience. While not precisely accurate, Audivina's interpretive presentation brings a certain magic to numerous tracks. Please note that it seems very song/track-dependent. Let me elaborate in two contrasting cases.



For instance, while listening to the overture of Ravel’s Sheherazade (2016; performed by Lionel Bringuier and Tonhalle-Orchester Zurich), I found that the layers and soundstage were not as convincing as I had hoped. The orchestra sounded a bit congested, and the individual instruments were not as stably placed as I would have liked. Almost felt like presentation changes from passage to passage. The soundstage was also a bit flat in depth, making it difficult to feel like I was in the large enough space. In contrast, the Susvara and Stealth headphones provided a much more holographic and precise spatial experience -- Susvara gravitated more toward the former while Stealth leaned toward the latter. The orchestra sounded much more spacious, and the individual instruments were easier to distinguish.



However, Audivina performed exceptionally well on Melanie De Biasio's "A Stomach Is Burning." The song is a slow, atmospheric track with a lot of spatial detail. The Audivina was able to reproduce this detail with great clarity, creating a captivating spatial enhancement. The vocals were also very well-defined, and the soundstage was wide and immersive.


Measurements

Highlights

• The sub-bass frequencies below 50 Hz are attenuated, which may be acceptable for most tracks although I prefer a more pronounced sub-bass response.
• The midrange frequencies between 300 and 600 Hz are recessed, which may contribute to the hollowness that I heard during my evaluation. However, the recession is not too severe, so it is not unbearable.
• The 1 kHz frequency is boosted relative to its neighboring frequencies, which can affect the midrange character of many instruments, including vocals and strings. This boost can make the midrange sound more prominent and forward.
• The 3-4 kHz frequencies are slightly muted, which may contribute to the recessed presence that I heard. This can make the soundstage feel a bit closed-in.
• The 9 kHz peak may look excessive on a frequency response graph, but it does not sound as bad as it looks. In fact, I believe that this peak is correlated with the great sheen that Audivina reproduces.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Audivina may not fully cater to those who prefer audiophile-grade recordings or complex music compositions. It excels, however, in simpler tracks with limited spatiality. Hifiman has adopted a clever strategy by appealing to a broader audience. With its distinct flavor, Audivina serves as a great addition to a high-end HFM collection.

Preface

The Audivina’s are part of a tour started by Hifiman at the request of many users. Thanks, April, for making this tour happen. My opinions of the Audivina’s are what I hear out of my setup and are in no way influenced by anyone.

Packaging

Let’s get to it. The Audivina’s come double boxed in cardboard outer and inner shells.


Open the internal box to find all the contents neatly stored in a Hifiman carrying case. Open the case to find the Audivina’s and cables.



The Audivina’s come with three cables; 4-Pin XLR, 6.35mm, and a 3.5mm cable for portable devices. I believe the cables are copper, but I can’t be entirely sure. Hifiman doesn’t specify the cable properties on the Audivina’s webpage.

Nothing to fault here, the headphones are safe and well protected from shipping damage. The cables are an improvement from previous generations. Although, I would have preferred the newer hybrid cables that came with my HE-R10P’s from a sonic standpoint. I think the Audivina’s could benefit from a dose of silver. More on this later….

Design

The Audivina come equipped with gorgeous wooden cups. The headband itself is steel, but the gimbals, rings, and other components are a mixture of plastic and aluminum. The build quality is first rate in my opinion. I love the look of the Audivina’s. The cups are finished with a lacquer coating. This is something I wish my HE-R10P’s had on them. It’s giving the Audivina’s a sheen instead of a matte finish, highlighting the woodgrain beautifully. I even like the subtle “H” on the wood cups.



The Audivina’s are using an all-new NEO “supernano” Diaphragm (NsD), which is 80% thinner than the previous iterations. Paraphrasing from Hifiman, “the benefits of the thinner diaphragm are a faster, more detailed response with a lush musicality never before possible.” From what I am hearing, I would say this is mission accomplished. The Audivina’s sound un-Hifiman like in their presentation.

Sound with Comparisons

Majority of my listening of the Audivina’s was done on my reference stack. Components are the iFi Zen Stream with USBe feeding the Chord M-Scaler, the Chord DAVE, Shiit Lokius, and the Cen.Grand 9i-906 “Silver Fox”.



When I first put on the Audivina’s, my initial response was “this is different”. The sound is aggressive, detailed, full-bodied, and fast. Aggressive and full-bodied are terms that usually are not associated with the Hifiman sound. I’ve owned the Susvara; I own the HE1000se, HE1000 v2, HE-500, and HE-560 v4, and none of them sound like this. The closest sounding Hifiman headphone that I can equate the Audivina’s sound to is my HE-R10P’s. The comparison between these two headphones is what I will focus on for this review.



One difference I’m noticing between the Audivina’s and HE-R10P’s, is the Audivina exhibits a bit more clarity throughout the frequency spectrum. The finer details come through clearer. Part of this is their tuning and driver design. The Audivina’s seem to have more of a focus on the upper mids and treble. They are brighter in the treble region than the R10P’s, but the lifted and generous bass helps balance out the sound.

In comparison, the HE-R10P’s are linear and balanced. No frequency stands out. The design differences between the drivers are one key factor, but I believe it’s the cups on the HE-R10P’s that play a bigger role in why these two headphones sound so different.

Imagine sitting in bar and listening to the local band. You can hear lead singers voice and the band very well, but the sound is blended together. There’s not much separation of vocals from the instruments or the instruments from each other. The venue is small and there’s not much space for sound to travel. This is the Audivina’s.

Now imagine that same band playing in the school’s auditorium. There’s more space for voices and instruments to carry, reflect off the walls, and create an engulfing, joyous atmosphere of sound, this is the HE-R10P’s.

Starting with the bass on the Audivina’s, it does not extend as far into the sub bass region stopping short of 20hz and doesn’t have the same poise and control as the HE-R10P’s. In fact, I was starting to get some driver distortion while playing Tyga’s “Rack City” to test out the bass prowess of the Audivina’s. At moderate to high volume levels, the bass is very, fulfilling, but it does run out of steam unfortunately. Without being able to confirm this with a frequency graph, the Audivina’s don’t seem to be able to play 50-60Hz bass notes comfortably at moderately high volumes.

In comparison, the bass on the HE-R10P’s seems endless and moves some serious air giving you bass with plenty of physicality and impact that you can feel. The HE-R10p’s cup design and dampening allows bass waves to travel further. The extra space in the earcups allows for more air volume and the HE-R10P’s design pressurizes it creating deep and extended bass right down to the sub bass region. On the same song, the HE-R10P’s drivers behave like you’d expect when playing the lowest of bass notes. That is, you stop hearing the bass and start feeling it. On “Rack City”, the HE-R10P’s bass massages your temples when the bassline hits. The bass notes have excellent weight and authority to them. Mimicking what you would feel standing in front of speaker in a club. Experiencing bass like this brings a huge smile to my face. The Audivina’s simply can’t match its big brother bass performance.

What I like about the Audivina’s is the energy they bring to my music. The midrange response with rock music is gritty and spirited. Listening to Killswitch Engage’s “In Due Time”, you can really feel the thump from the bass drums. The midrange is focused with plenty of texture and vigor. The Audivina’s do a great job at depicting the guitars speed, delivering an energetic presentation. PRAT is off the charts and the Audivina’s really brings the energy to this genre of music. I was bobbing my head and toe-tapping throughout the entirety of the song. Due to the Audivina’s superior pacing, there is plenty of room for the music to find the pocket and work its way out to the extremities.

The overall sound characteristic of the Audivina’s is lively with a slight hint of warmth, which adds to the musicality of this headphone. There is absolutely no thinness to the sound of the Audivina’s and they really draw you into the music. The center image is spot on, and music is delivered all around you thanks to the new resonance chamber design. Theses chambers lead to a phenomenal note saturation which gives the sound a richness and high resolution.

The soundstage on the Audivina is wide and deep. It’s very impressive for a closed back. With that said, the R10P’s sound even more spacious and holographic thanks to its unique cup design and dampening. The smaller cups make the sound of the Audivina more intimate in comparison, but still larger than any other closed back headphones I’ve heard.

The HE-R10P’s just sound bigger, fuller and more grandiose. Artists occupy their own space on a larger stage fully immersing you in sound. The HE-R10P’s paint’s an excellent 3D, holographic image. Instruments and voices are not only at your side and in front of you, but also behind you. Complicated tracks are dissected with ease. You’re able to hear the smaller details and nuances in songs. The effect is what you would expect to hear when sitting in a movie theater.

I’m glad Hifiman included stealth magnets on the Audivina’s. They help with the accuracy of the signal and the transient response, which is fast with very fast decay. The Audivina’s are also very efficient. They get loud very quickly. This makes them suitable for portable devices. Another thing that stands out on the Audivina’s is how good they sound at low volumes. They sound just as full-bodied and detailed at lower volumes as they do when driven loudly. They excel at portraying low level detail, something most sup $2k headphones struggle with.

The HE-R10P’s exhibit much of the same sonic properties as the Audivina’s but more polished. They are just as fast, detailed, with the same clarity and musicality. You get bigger bass with better bass definition and layering on the HE-R10P’s. There is more presence in midrange region, making human voices sound more natural. The HE-R10P’s drivers move fast showing you vocal dimensions that are expressive and clear. Accurately displaying the artist range.

The biggest difference between the two is the HE-R10P’s dials down the energy just a bit, they need a little more volume to reach the same levels of excitement, and the sound “breathes” more. There is even greater note saturation and resolution leading to a more physical and rich sound. The bigger cups give music more room to operate. There’s also a level of refinement that the HE-R10P’s have that isn’t there with the Audivina’s. The best analogy I can give is that the Audivina’s sound fun, the HE-R10P’s sound mature, but are still able to deliver a sound that is just as enjoyable and entertaining.

Another noticeable difference is seal. The HE-R10P’s have more clamping force making for a much better seal. The Audivina’s seal is not as strong allowing quite a bit of sound to leak out. This might be a deal breaker for some. YMMV. For a closed headphone to leak this much sound normally would affect its sound dramatically. Luckily, for the Audivina’s, this is not the case. Once on your head, you are greeted with one of the best sounding closed back headphones I have heard.

EQ

The Audivina’s can be made to sound even better with the use of EQ. I used my Lokius to boost the sub bass at 20Hz. I also boosted the upper frequencies at 2kHz and 6kHz by a few decibels. Opening up the upper frequencies, the Audivina’s gain some air and sound more open, and spacious. Still not as open as the HE-R10P’s, but better than just about everything else I’ve tried, including my Focal Stellia’s.

If you’re not a fan of EQ, you may be able to accomplish the tweaks I’ve implemented in other ways. Pairing the Audivina’s with tube amps, swapping cables, or using highly resolving solid-state amps like the Headamp GS-X Mk2, Benchmark HPA4, or the CFA3 would net you similar sonic benefits. Either way, I feel the Audivina’s are transformed from a very good sounding headphone to a must listen headphone with some EQ applied.

Cables

If you’re not a believer in EQ, another change you can try is swapping out the cables. I changed out the stock copper cables in favor of the Forza Audio Works (FAW) Noir Hybrid. The Audivina’s benefitted from the copper/silver mix of wire. With the stock cable, I felt that the Audivina’s could use more treble presence. The upper registers sounded somewhat subdued and lacking some air.

With the FAW Noir Hybrid on the Audivina’s, the upper frequencies gain some much-needed clarity and openness. The bass is tighter with better definition, and the midrange remains unabated and continues to shine.

Before the cable swap, I was able to apply EQ to accomplish this effect. The FAW Noir Hybrid helped me to achieve a similar effect without the need for EQ. It wasn’t to the same levels as EQ, but still a noticeable improvement to the sound over the stock cable. It’s worth the effort to tryout different cables to help tweak the tuning of the Audivina’s more to your liking.

Tubes

I did try the Audivina’s on tubes. I listened to them on my Trafomatic Head 2. The Head 2 is great and has a lot of solid-state properties, but with the magic and flavor of tubes. The Head 2 gives up very little in performance when compared to my Silver Fox. Notes on the Audivina’s sound just sharp as with very good attack and bite. The sound field gets wider thanks to the 1966 Amperex Bugle Boy 6DJ8 and Russian Gold Grid 6N6P’s I’m using.

Unexpectedly, the bass isn’t as prominent on the Head 2 as it is on the Silver Fox. I expected more low-end rumble and tube magic out of the Head 2, but this wasn’t the case. Bass is still plentiful, just slightly less detailed with some loss of bass volume and extension.

The mids sound just as glorious as they did out of the Silver Fox, if not more musical. All the agility, nimbleness, and detail that I liked from the Silver Foxes presentation all remain intact. The treble does gain some sweetness that sounds incredible on the Audivina’s.

The Audivina’s and Head 2 have wonderful synergy. After this experiment, I would say the Audivina’s sound just as good on tubes as they do on solid state amps. You do lose some bass presence, but this could potentially be fixed with a different set of tubes. For the rabbit hole that tubing rolling can be, I can’t deny it’s a great way to get the sound you want out of a headphone. Especially if you are opposed to using EQ as many head-fiers are.

Closing

My time with the Audivina’s has been a lot of fun. If I didn’t own the HE-R10P’s, I would be in a rush to purchase the Audivina’s. They are that good and a nice compliment to any open Hifiman headphone. They have great bass with a luxurious and. The treble could use more presence, but this can be remedied with EQ, a tube amp with the right tubes, or a cable swap. Based on what I’m hearing, I have no problem giving the Audivina’s a “need to hear” recommendation. Just don’t be afraid to tweak your chain in subtle ways to achieve the best end result.

Many thanks to April @Hifiman for allowing me to be part of the UK tour. The Audivina was lent to me for two weeks.

About me: I actually do not own any headphones, only IEMs. This is despite me having a purely desktop set up. The main reason for this is due to my work; I use voice recognition almost all the time and this requires a pair of dedicated headphones. I can wear these round my neck and use IEMs but this becomes clunky when using large headphones. I only listen to music in my office whilst I'm working; I don't tend to listen to music out and about or whilst driving. The only exception to this would be when I travel by train.

Equipment: Windows laptop running Musicbee, FiiO K7, Ifi ZEN Amp.

Signature preference: I prefer a balanced or slightly warm signature with more than neutral bass. Sub bass over midbass. Quite sensitive to sibilance around 5 to 6 kHz.

Music: Level 42, 80s synthpop, Macroblank, Living Colour, Rez and 5th element soundtracks, 90s house, Robyn, Bjork, the Prodigy, Boards of Canada, STR4TA, Mono, St Etienne.

Accessories: comes with a tasteful carrying case and three cables, two single ended and one XLR balanced. Unfortunately my amps do not have an XLR connection and no converter was available, so I only used the single ended cables. These are nicely flexible and not excessively heavy. The one criticism I have is the laterality markings on the headphone end jacks: they are not contrasted and are very difficult to see, particularly in low light (my work necessitates near darkness).

Design: The colourway is neutral: an aluminium chassis with taupe leather and caramel wood. I do not feel that this was designed to be eye-catching but tasteful and restrained. Personally, I think that the colour of the wood is a little unnatural. The aluminium and leather headband has a solid adjustment mechanism.

Ergonomics: The cups themselves are bulky and project significantly from my head. I feel like a Cyberman! This bulkiness only becomes an issue if I turn my head too quickly, sometimes the cups slide around over my ears. Weight is approximately 500g but this does not feel excessive during use. I noticed that my ears would start to feel overheated after two or three hours use.

Isolation: I neither heard my dogs barking in the garden or my wife in the next room, so pretty good.

Other devices: I plugged the Audivina straight into my Oneplus 6 using Neutron player. There was accurate, neutral reproduction, but a significant lack of bass (compared to the desktop set up) and reduction in soundstage.

The Audivina is marketed as a neutral monitor and I agree with this. No one band is accentuated. On initial listening, treble felt brittle and glassy with occasional piercing percussion and piano. Now, I believe that burn-in is real for both transducers and brains. Given that these headphones were well used before I received them, I assume that any transducer burn-in has occurred. Therefore it is my brain that needs to get used to the sonic presentation.

After five or six hours I became comfortable with what I was hearing. Subbass is available but only when this has been mastered on the track rather than it being omnipresent. There is a touch of viscerality but I feel that more could be obtained - more on this later. There is a clear lack of midbass as evidenced by the overall tone: clear, dry and neutral. I struggled a little bit with female vocalists and was worried that Bjork would be too shrill, but this was more a function of the recording rather than her voice, i.e. I noticed it in her earlier work (e.g. Debut) which has a more dynamic vocal. Operatic vocals (Lucia de Lammermoor from the Fifth Element soundtrack) were uncomfortable to listen to. Certain styles of electric piano from 90s dance also felt piercing. Male vocals were dry and lacked a little body. I did appreciate the separation and clarity afforded by the neutral bass and became more and more comfortable with this as time went on. In particular The Prodigy and Mono became really interesting and different to listen to on a neutral monitor. A lot of Macroblank recordings (particularly JAMS) are quite warm and dark and I appreciated the resolution and clarity afforded by the Audivinas. Time’s Up by Living Colour became an exercise in guitar appreciation and expansive production values. In general, electric guitar became a real joy to listen to with these cans.

The soundstage is expanded and definitely out of head. Initially, I used the Fiio K7 by itself but felt that the extra power afforded by the Zen improved both the soundstage and depth and added a touch of warmth to the bass. It was really tempting to use the XBass function: when I did it showed me that the Audivinas were more than capable of a big sub and midbass response. This also had the unusual effect of feeling like the bass was uncoupled from the mids and treble and it started to sound like a hybrid BA/DD transducer! Some music benefitted from this but some did not. I started to feel guilty for enjoying the EQ and kept turning it off because I wanted to appreciate the Audivinas for what they were and not colour my interpretations.

Summary: I came to enjoy the neutral signature of the Audivinas, particularly the insights and detail it brought to music I had previously listened to with L- or U-shaped IEMs. This neutrality and clarity is double-edged as it can bring excessive sibilance to some recordings. I suspect there is a 5 to 6 kHz peak somewhere in the frequency response. The Audivinas respond nicely to EQ if that is your cup of tea.

My two weeks with the Audivina has come to an end. Thanks to April and the team at HIFIMAN; it has been a pleasure, as always.

No other reviews were read prior to listening impressions being recorded.

Most of my listening was done with an iBasso DX90 DAP. Alternative sources were a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 into JDS Atom, or a variety of USB-C headphone adaptors for listening from a phone.

Comparisons were made with the Sennheiser HD-6XX, Beyerdynamic DT-990 Premium and 64 Audio U10 in-ear monitors.

Like everyone, I have personal preferences when it comes to headphones. I like headphones that adhere relatively closely to Harman neutral, with a touch of mid- or sub-bass emphasis. I'm a stickler for detail retrieval, but don't mind have the need for a massive soundstage.

Packaging: love the carry case, useful selection of included cables.
Aesthetics: personal preference I guess, but the bright orange stain on the wood doesn't do it for me. I like the brushed aluminium and tan leather combo, though.
Fit/Comfort: I love HIFIMAN headbands in general, and this is no exception. Despite being a weighty headphone, the leather strap and pads make it a pleasure for longer listening sessions. Personally, I'd want more clamping force. I'd only wear these seated, as the just move around too much any time I even think about shifting position.
Isolation: I'm no expert when it comes to closed-back headphones, but I expected more. There's significant sound leakage both ways. I can pretty clearly hear external noise (although I do listen very quietly) and there's enough bleed outside that I wouldn't wear these in a library or in bed with my wife.
Device matching: surprisingly flexible. I could happily use even cheap USB-C headphone converters and get to a reasonable volume without any wonky tonal shifts or excessive noise.

Tone:

I think to do the review justice, this needs to be done in two parts: flat and EQ.

The first time I put these on my head, it was not what I expected. I could hear a huge dip in the 200Hz region, sitting between the upper bass and lower midrange frequencies. I didn't need to look at a frequency response chart to hear it, and I doubt anyone who has spent time EQ'ing music will need to either. Additionally, there was a small mid-bass hump and a spike in the treble at around 5Khz. The combination gives what I can only describe as a wonky frequency response. One of my go-to testing tracks is 'I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You' by John Mayer. It exemplified the issues with the frequency response perfectly. Mayer's throaty vocals were rendered hoarse and lacking in any body or weight by the 200Hz dip. The off-beat closed high-hat and was thrown forward in the mix by the treble spike, and not in a pleasant way

Needless to say, I was initially disappointed. I spent the first week listening without EQ, and psychological burn-in acclimatized me somewhat to the signature. However, I still felt there was something lacking in the vocal reproduction given the 200Hz dip. I mostly listen to indie, rock, hip-hop and 60s-70s jazz, and male vocals, electric guitars and brass instruments just weren't being presented in the way I like. I did enjoy the it with tracks where the vocals were less prominent, or female vocalists sitting higher in the midrange. 'Beachin' by Piri and Tommy worked particularly well. However, most vocal performances felt hollow.

Enter the equalizer. The DX-90 has a 10-band EQ which was sufficient to target some of the 'problem' areas. +1 dB at 33Hz, -1 at 63Hz, +2 at 100Hz, +3 at 330Hz, +1 at 630Hz, 0 at 1Khz, -1 at 3.3KHz, -1 at 6.3KHz, 0 at 10KHz, +1 at 16KHz.

Now, we have a different beast. The bass rumbled and hit hard, if still lacking the cleanliness of the best planars (e.g. LCD-3F, HE-1000). The lower midrange still had a throaty quality, but was now much closer to natural. Gone was the problematic treble spike, and there was a little bit more air up in the highest registers. We were now in the realm of what I'd consider to be a very tastefully-tuned, mildly V-shaped headphone. All genres of music were now listenable, and even male-vocal heavy pop music (e.g. The National) was accurately reproduced. Electronic music lost some of its excitement with this EQ setting, but this was a worthwhile trade-off in my view.

Technicalities: generally good. Soundstage was surprisingly broad for a closed-back, handily better than the HD-6XX and roughly on-par with the DT-990. Detail retrieval was good, although I think part of this was artificially coming from the lower-mid dip and treble spike. With that EQ'd out, it was still impressive, if not quite on-par with the U10. I didn't have an HD-800 on hand, but the Audivina didn't feel in the same league.


Summary: the HIFIMAN Audivina is a comfortable, technically capable full-sized headphone. It doesn't have the noise isolation that I want from a closed-back headphone, but the lighter clamping force makes it comfortable for long listens. Without EQ, the 200Hz dip makes vocals and brass instruments hollow and lacking authority, and a spike around 5KHz is too spicy for my tastes. But if you're comfortable using an EQ to iron out the wonky frequency response, an excellent all-round headphone can be found.

Intro

‘Tap tap’ Is the volume ok? Good. Everyone welcome! We have almost all gathered, please, take a seat. Sony, Audio Technical, so glad you could make it. Please squeeze over to make room for Shure. Sennheiser, AKG, I hope your flight wasn’t too bad all things considered. I heard beyerdynamic had a bout of air sickness. Fostexxxx, how’s it going buddy?! Great party you hosted last month, we have to do it again. Anyway, my good cans, it is so good to see so many familiar faces gathered in one place. This meeting will now begin.

Sony: Why have we been summoned here?

AKG: Yes, a meeting of this nature is most irregular so soon after CanJam. A murmur of chatter irrupted amongst the members.

Please, gentlecans, I know you all have questions, and I assure you all they will be answered in good order. I have called this emergency meeting of the Guild of Studiophones today in regards to a newcomer who has emerged. This new studio monitor makes claims of unprecedented sound reproduction, while offering premium construction and comfort done with such elegance and beauty as to be worthy of the goddess Saraswati herself.

A roar of grandiose laughter filled the room as the attendees keeled over, tears streaming from their eyes, and many knees slapped.

Austrian Audio: Is this a joke?

beyerdynamic: Not a very good one. We all are well established and respected. Even you were born from the highly renowned AKG!

AKG: Thank you for your kind words cousin, and you are most correct! We have been on the heads of great artists and directors! We were there when legends and classic were made!

Sony: I am not threatened so easily, and neither should we all! We have stood the test of time with honour and dignity!

Rhode: Hey guys, I am just happy to finally be here, why all the fuss?

Please, PLEASE! Gentlecans! I am empathetic to your hesitation to welcome a new competitor into the industry. You all have been the workhorse in the field of studio monitors for many. ALL of your services over the decades are both appreciated and will never be forgotten. However, one can not deny nor ignore the technical marvel this fresh face brings to the table.

Sennheiser: Enough already! WHO is this fool of a can who dares to insult us with their very existence?

My Good cans… this closed back planar magnetic studio monitor… the Audivina… it’s HiFiMAN…

The room became silent. Some attending members just stared blankly, others were, with all their might, attempting to restrain the look of fear in their eyes while desperately trying to hold on to their composure. The rest simply started to weep. It was some time before anyone had the will power to overcome the shock when Fostex suddenly stood up, calmly walked over to retrieve the coat on the hanger, and headed towards the exit. Steps away, Fostex turned, and in a tone of disappointment yet acceptance, simply asked:

“ Well, anyone want to join me in a few rounds of golf? “

My good readers, the above is obviously fiction, yet in this review of the new HiFiMAN Audivina I will attempt to put into words why the into was in fact both silliness and yet factual. HiFiMAN over the years has released some of the most technical and well regarded headphones in the industry. From the entry level HE-400 to the end game Susvara, HiFiMAN’s offers outstanding performance at any price point, and have become favourites amongst audiophiles and music lovers alike. However, HiFiMAN’s lineup while diverse has always focused on the music loving consumer end user and not the professional market. As demonstrated by the intro, the studio headphone monitor space is saturated by legends of the industry, yet HiFiMAN is boldly treading into new waters. Have they succeeded with the Audivina in making a highly technical studio monitor that can not only compete but out-class the competition? Read on to find out.

Disclaimer

The Audivina were sent to me direct from HiFiMAN as part of the review tour. I was given two weeks for evaluation before sending them off to the next participant. I have not been compensated for this review and my words are my own without influence by HiFiMAN or 3rd party reviews.

First Impressions/Unboxing


I got the notification from FedEx that the package had arrived on my doorstep a whole 30 minutes until I was off work; Longest 30 minutes ever! I was over the moon knowing that I was one of the first reviewers to be sent the new Audivina and couldn’t wait to get home and unbox these bad boys. Upon arrival I saw the package safe and sound on my doorstep, and quickly snatched them up with one hand while trying to unlock my front door with the other. I actually double check to see if these were in fact the Audivina as the package was surprisingly light. Inside the shipping box was the box containing the Audivina. An absolute delight greeted my eyes; A plain brown cardboard box with a thin sticker down the front. A delight you say? Yes!! Gone are the days of faux stitched leather with a silk lined inside, replaced with something that’s not going to sit on one’s shelf taking up space. Look, I appreciated the dressing of old, I really do. HiFiMAN’s packaging always made you feel like you were receiving a premium product. As my boss used to say, presentation is everything. I agreed at the time, and is still relevant in some degree. It’s just that why go to the lengths to impress when the feeling is fleeting once time passes, and eventually for 99% of users, the box just sits there as it’s just too darn nice to throw away. Good job HiFiMAN for being environmentally friendly while keeping down cost.




So… What’s in the box?! I will tell you but first please excuse me a moment, I need to shoo a flock of pigs that landed on may lawn. Upon opening the lid I was greeted with… a hard case? A HARD CASE! I was honestly expecting what I got with my Ananda SE which was a neat headphone stand. Nope, a freaking hard case! I think the Fates have listened as us HiFiMAN headphone owners wanted an included hard case for years! Hallelujah! What’s next, decent cables?! Speaking of so, the three included cables were all bundled together in a ziplock bag. Nothing fancy, yet appreciative that only one bag was used. I wasn’t about to use them though as I already had my own aftermarket cable for my Anandas however I did check them out later. They just weren’t a priority at that time, getting the Audivina out of their case and hooked into my system was!


When I unzipped the case and laid my eyes upon the Audivina, I was greeted with an absolutely gorgeous pair of headphones! The bright orange lacquered willow wood cups literally glistened in the sunlight as I gazed upon them and the anodized aluminium body! Wow these are beauties! Pictures simply do not do the Audivina justice! Remember what I said about feeling like you received a premium product? Well, HiFiMAN may have forgone the luxury box, but OMG did they nail it with the design of the Audivina! I got the “full experience” all right simply by opening the hard case! But looks are secondary to both comfort and sound. Time to take these babies out!

The first thing I notices immediately upon their removal from the case was how solid their construction was yet how light they were. Placing them upon my head yielded a similar reaction. The Audivina felt light with no uneven or hard pressure against my head or jaw, my ears had ample room, and the headphones felt secure on my head. I always found HiFiMan headphones comfortable but the Audivina not only surpasses their brethren but are one of the most comfortable pair of headphones I have ever warn! These are definitely shaping up to be one heck of an experience and I haven’t even plugged the Audivina into the amp yet!

So what song did I choose for the ceremonial listen? Normally I peruse my favourites list and select what ever comes to me as I am scrolling without having any really specific in mind. With the Audivina I had the track chosen well in advance, in fact HiFiMAN made the choice for me. To quote:

“ Accurately capturing a chamber string quartet is one of the biggest dilemmas in the studio. The significant difference in volume between the violins and cello combined with the erratic nature of the viola add up, making it a challenge to make a proper mix. But thanks to Audivina’s broad frequency response and superiors dynamic, it is up to the task of reviewing the mix and assisting the engineer to achieve precise equalization and overall presentation of a string quartet. “

I am sorry, what was that HiFiMAN?! You want me to play Brahms - String Sextet? It would be my absolute pleasure! For those unfamiliar with this movement, it features 2x violins, 2x violas, and 2x cellos. A perfect first track wouldn’t you say? Well, it most certainly was! HiFiMAN cleverly name chose the name Audivina by combining the Latin word Audi which means to listen, and the Vina which is the Sanskrit word for sitar, a South Asian sit-down plucked instrument. In essence, it was time to sit down and listen! And I listened, listened, and listened some more. When the last track had finished, I took the Audivina off and placed them on a waiting mannequin head, stood up and walked over to my couch to start on my after work cup of coffee and smoke. I had such mixed emotions. I was absolutely gobsmacked at what I just heard, and yet felt a crushing pressure build as every second of the songs passed. I can not unhear what I just experienced, and everything else I own and have heard simply can not compare!


Technical Information



Frequency Response: 5Hz - 55KHz
Sensitivity: 97dB
Impedance: 20Ω
Weight: 470g
Connectivity: Dual 3.5mm
Driver Type: NEO “supernano” planar magnetic diaphragm
Magnet Type: Stealth Magnet


Build/Comfort

The Audivina sport a very familiar look. Featuring an anodized silver aluminium headband assembly, accented by a perforated tan leather headband and polyester/leatherette ear pads, the Audivina retains the classic HiFiMAN premium aesthetics found in their top tiered lineup. However, unlike their siblings, there are no “ Window Shade “ grills, instead replaced by CNC willow wood acoustic chambers. If the HE-R10 are the closed back variant of the Susvara, the Audivina are akin to a closed back HE1000 Stealth Edition.


The hi-gloss finish is simply stunning!


Yes, you will look like a 1950's sci-fi robot while wearing the Audivina.



Every pair of the HiFiMAN Audivina have their own unique grain pattern.

Comfort wise, as stated in my first impressions, the Audivina have supreme comfort and wearability. They feel light on my head, with no un-even pressure from both the head band and ear pads. They fit snug, but not tight in fact despite feeling a touch loose, I could shake and move my head about organically without feeling like the headphone will slip out of position. Not once did I ever have to reposition due to the headphone shifting, nor did I ever feel like the headband was getting too hot staying in one position for hours. Likewise the ear cup remained cool against my face and my ears never felt like they needed a breather. This is fantastic for studio use! I got my start in headphones with studio monitors. In the past I have had many models of beyerdynamic, Sennheiser, Sony, Shure, AKG, and Audio Technica; I still own representations of the latter 3. One commonality is that they are utilitarian, and as such make use of sturdy materials. Sturdy, yet uncomfortable. Granted while some are “not too bad” (beyerdynamic), overall they all need to be taken off every hour for a breather. With the Audivina, I literally wore them for 4 hours straight and the only reason I took them off was to empty my bladder and grab a new drink. I am not being hyperbolic, the Audivina are the most comfortable headphones that have ever graced my head.


The Audivina's ear cups have plenty of room. Left - width. Right - depth


450 grams without cable.

Normally I wouldn’t give a special mention to the 3.5mm jacks but in this case it is warranted. While whole heartedly welcomed, a big complaint about HiFiMAN’s move to 3.5mm connectors was the fact that the jacks themselves were not that snug resulting in the cables a touch too easy to accidentally pull out if caught or snagged in just the right way. While I myself never had any issues, I can most certainly understand why this would be of concern to others. Thankfully HiFiMAN listened, and the 3.5mm jacks not only have a more firm, snug fit the plugs snap and lock in with a VERY satisfying and reassuring ‘click’. I am going to go out on a limb, not too far, by saying we can probably thank Wave Theory for this change.



And what of the cables themselves? Well, they, are… good?! Gone is the old surgical tubing, replaced with anti tangle, free-flowing soft rubber that feels and behaves like how professional cables are supposed to. They feel high quality and durable. All 3 connector types, 3.5mm, 6.34mm and XLR are sturdy and durable feeling with ample strain relief on the ends. All in all, no complaints. Good job HiFiMAN, it only took you, what, 15 years?! I tease but seriously, thank you!



Sound Impressions

Gear Used

Primary

Topping A30/D30 Pro
- Furutech IEC power cables
- Balanced: Cardas Cables OCC XLR
- SIngle Ended: Furutech OCC RCA cables to Tube T1 pre-amp
- iFi AC iPurifier and iPurifier 3

Supplementary

- Topping E30/L30 stack
- iFi MicroCAN SE and xDSD

Bass - As with most of HiFiMAN’s offerings, the Audivina’s bass is fast and tight. Notes are presented with a great sense of power and weight that is both controlled and authoritative. While not quite as linear as others model, the bass hump is as small as a baby’s bottom and is uniform in curvature from 20Hz-250Hz. Technically the sub-bass is rolled off, but only relative the the mid-bass peak. The sub-bass extends down deep with some of the most articulate performance I have heard in a pair of headphones. It possessed deep, weighty rumble and presence, yet sounds coherent alongside the upper-bass. Think of the Audivina’s sub-bass sounding like it came from a woofer that is truly capable of full bass extension rather than a “sub-woofer” like effect. The mid and upper bass exhibited great speed and control while delivering dynamics that presented excellent punch and slam. Never did the lower frequencies come even remotely close to bleeding into the upper frequencies, nor was the bass overpowering. When it comes to bass reproduction, the Audivina has proper tact and decorum. I am no bass-head, but I am a bass-connoisseur. From Muse to Mahler, It mattered not what genre I threw at them, at no time did these headphones falter. If the track demanded it, the Audivina sure brought it with ease, control, and precision.

Midrange - Once again HiFiMAN buck’s its own trend with the Audivina’s midrange. Moist of their consumer line-up feature a midrange response that essentially mirrors the Harman curve, however the Audivina take a different approach. At almost the inverse, there is an obvious rise in response directly after the bass hump at around 250-300Hz that levels out once it approaches the upper midrange and linearly transitions into the treble. Instruments possess true to life timbre with outstanding texture. They sounded incredibly detailed and focused yet smooth and fluid. Vocals alike were rendered with great clarity and sibilance was accurate to the source yet handled with great control. Male and female vocals came through with excellent body, never sounding detached nor hollow.

Treble - If you are familiar with the HiFiMAN house sound, you are aware of the extra attention they like to give the treble. For some it borderlines on being bright. For others, it’s just right. There is simply no denying though the treble’s silvery timbre; Airy yet solid with excellent shimmer and sparkle. The Audivina however completely smashes the trend and offers the most tame treble I have heard in a HiFiMAN headphone, and I have heard and/or owned literally everything HiFiMAN has made under $1000 USD. Well extended with excellent technical performance, the Audivina’s treble presentation is precise and crisp. To my ears there are no discernible peaks, nor any gaps and never did it sound fatiguing. Not to say though the the Audivina is lacking in areas like sparkle and air. Rest assured every aspect of the treble is whole and complete and will be able to render every nuance present in the mix. Honestly, I find the treble to be perfect in every regard with zero complaints.

Detail Retrieval - Simply put, jaw dropping! Absolutely nothing is overlooked in the mix, nothing! The Audivina highlights every nuance, no matter how subtle. Butterfly farts could be easily heard. Seriously, if the little critter flew past the mic and let out a toot, your ears will tell you exactly where that sound is in the mix without having to search for it. I am not about to use the old cliché “ I am hearing things in the mix I have never heard before “ because simply put, between my PSB M4U1 and HiFiMAN’s very own Ananda Stealth Edition, I have heard it all. However unlike the aforementioned, with the Audivina I never have to go searching for them. Every single micro, macro, tardigrade sized detail and micro dynamics were presented in full. My minds eye never had to shift from sound to sound, it was all just, there! From a purely musical perspective, it creates an engagement I have never experienced before. I was able to sit back and just listen. From a sound engineers perspective, time is money and having the ability to hear it all without having to replay a section multiple times to hear potential problems both increases productivity as well as quality of work.

Soundstage and Imaging - To quote : “ Soundstage of Open-back Headphones, Precision of Studio Headphones “. Those are pretty bold claims HiFiMAN, and your words do not misrepresent. The Audivina’s soundstage is HUGE! Large, spacious, layered, and accurate to a fault. While certainly possessing a soundstage that is as large and open as a pair of open-backed headphones, they do still sound closed. I will point out that this is not due to the sound itself, rather how the sound “feels” in regards to the sound pressure. It’s like how your ears feel being in a closed room vs being out doors. There is no “open” feeling. However that said, the Audivina’s ability to sound open is quite impressive. I have yet to hear a closed back headphone that sounds as large, spacious, and airy. As for the precision of the sound, simply put laser like pin-point accuracy. Every performer and instrument had its space accurately portrayed down to the most minute detail. When listening to orchestral or choral tracks, I could not only count the rows, the position within said rows, and even the angle at which they were facing. If a musician was both performing back up vocals as well as playing say, a guitar, there was a precise, distinct sense of where the performers vocals were resonating from while maintaining position of the instrument in relation to the body. Simply remarkable!

Oh, and let us not forget about a very important aspect of the mix that is often overlooked, the room itself. It’s easy to accurately reproduce the sound a vocalist or instrument produces, the room however can be problematic. Studios and venues go through great lengths to perfect how the sound resonates within. This can be tricky to capture accurately, and even worse when the sound engineer has to work with the end results. A studio, and likewise a headphone, has to dampen the sound to control the reflections while still maintaining control. Sadly, open-backed headphones are not a good option for true studio work. While being able to render the room or venue giving the listener a sense of environment, it’s not absolute. What I mean by that is that often the “room” has a depth of field effect meaning walls, floors, and ceilings are not as focused as the performers themselves. It truly takes a closed-back headphones to bring these boundaries into focus. So, how do the Audivina handle the room? With flawless perfection! Every wall, ceiling, ledge, overhang, seat, and riser were rendered with a palpable sense of position and space! One could tell exactly where the microphone was set within the venue including if it was hanging from the ceiling or placed on a floor mount. Every nuance captured in the environment was accurately rendered within the mix with a sense of intimacy or grander, depending on the mix. HiFiMAN obviously put in a lot of engineering hours as the Audivina’s acoustic chamber puts the competition to shame as nothing even comes close, not even my beloved PSB M4U1 with “Room-Feel Technology” developed by the great Paul Barton himself. The Audivina truly does have the best of both Worlds; Soundstage and precision!

Pairing - With a sensitivity of 97dB and impedance at 20Ω, the Audivina is fairly efficient and you don’t need a powerful amp to hear their full potential. With the Topping L30, A30 Pro, and iFi microCAN SE I had more than enough headroom while on 0 (or medium) gain. With the xDSD for most music the volume sat in the yellow with a few tracks pushing into the red. As for amplification architecture, the Audivina sounded just as fantastic with both iFi’s solid state class A as well as Topping’s NFC class D. I won’t go into detail class A vs class D as it’s been covered at nauseam all across the Internet, however if I had to choose one over the other, I would go for the squeaky clean ultra transparent analytical sound found in class D. Being a studio headphone, this makes sense for the Audivina. You want to hear every sound for what it is when engineering the mix without colouration, plain and simple. However, there is a 3rd option; Tube buffer!

It is important to note that if you want the tube sound with the Audivina, you need either a tube pre-amp or a hybrid tube-amp that has the valves on the input and solid state on the output. Going full on OTL tube amplification will yield poor results due to their high output impedance. Anyway, adding in tubes and coupling them with OP amps of choice, combined with the “classic” sound that the willow wood resonance chamber brings is simply sublime! The Audivina’s ability to accurately render what it’s being fed makes tube and OP amp rolling both rewarding and engaging. While the tubes will dirty up the S/NR and up the noise floor a touch, the trade off is well worth it. Pour yourself a drink, pack your pipe’s bowl, throw on your favourite jazz or classical album, sit back and be taken away on a magical journey! It’s a match made in heaven of pure musical bliss!

Break-in - I only had the Audivina for 2 weeks so in fully honesty I can’t fully gauge the overall progress. That said, I do have experience with HiFiMAN headphones and can tell you they are all very similar. Firstly, to my ears all HiFiMAN headphones fresh out-of-the-box have a glare to them. It’s not bad but it does settle down after a modest amount of break-in. The Audivina were no different. This was apparent with certain vocals and upper-mid sounds. Thankfully after about a week of daily use this was brought down, and I suspect there is more to be had. Planar magnetic headphones do take on average 100-200 hours to reach their “final sound”. Comfort wise, I didn’t notice any change as the Audivina were already just so darn comfortable, even for their first fitting!

Test Tracks

For this next section, all tracks will be played through Audirvana Studio and are either DSD native or unconverted to DSD from lossless Hi-Res FLAC/AIFF files. The Topping A30/D30 Pro was used exclusively in balanced mode.

Bass

Shake The Street - HDEND is always my go-to album for testing the sub-bass response of any system. It’s all about the bass baby and the three tracks I chose are fantastic for demonstrating just how far down we can go while maintaining coherency and control. System Checka and Low Revs focus on centred, mono sub-bass designed to test the overall power of the response. The former being a series of slow building rise and fall the sub-bass while the latter is a the same but at a much faster rate muck akin to riving a revving engine. The Audivina handled the deepest of lows in both tracks with authority. The sub-bass was weighty and presented itself with a deep, controlled rumble that never overstayed its welcome. It was clean, controlled, and distortion free, even after replay at a much louder volume. To test the Audivina’s speed, Quad That Throbs was played. This track is comprised of almost a freestyle sub-bass beat that pans left to right and back throughout with the tones alternating speed and intensity. This track demonstrates the gears ability to handle the deep, fast moving erratic transient response, and the Audivina absolutely handled it with as much grace and ease much akin to a Yokozuna! The speed, weight, power and control were rendered with complete transparency, control and precision. I must mention, this track also features a subtle electronic symbol-like sound that is suppose to be clearly distinguishable and audible throughout the track. If this sound is masked in any way it means the sub-bass is too overpowering and uncontrolled. Again the Audivina absolutely nails it with this sound not only being clearly audible throughout, its micro-dynamics were clearly rendered as the sound simply floated above the background that is the panning sub-bass.

Moving along to something more organic and mid-bass focused, I always like to turn to The Dialogue with Bass - Takeshi Inomata. This simple track features Takeshi Inomata on drums with an accompanying bassist, jazz style, and is excellent in highlighting a headphone’s ability to handle both the mid-bass punch and impact accompanied by deep resonance while not intruding upon the more subtle and delicate sound produced by the snare and symbols. The Audivina had no trouble maintaining coherency and separation throughout the frequency range. The deep plucky bass of the double-bass resonated within it’s own space in the centre back while the impact of the drums, taut and tight, having excellent slam and perfect resolve were precise in position within the sound stage with at no time become lost or overshadowed. And let us not forget about the overall transparency. The timbre of each sound was spot on, as well it’s technicality. Every drum had a clear and distinct, strike, impact, reverberation, and finally exit; The shape of each shell was tangible. Every brush strike of the snare had a sense of weight yet maintained the delicacy and resolve of the bristles as it made impact. Symbols had great sustain and decay with outstanding micro detail and dynamics within. Never did they sound too metallic, bright, or sharp.

Lastly, let’s pick something more modern for all you youngins (and those still young at heart). For this I choose Dig Down - Muse - Simulation Theory. This song starts out with a deep yet moderate sub-bass beat that is both wide and holographic. A few second in the enhanced kick drum starts in with both power and authority. It hit hard and fast with incredible punch with a sub-bass bloom that flairs outward from the centre point. Two aspects stick out and need to be highlighted. Firstly, the sub-bass from the beat at the start and likewise from the kick drum are perfectly layered and do not collide with each other. The texture, definition, shape, and resolve from each sound were as distinct from one another as they were unique. The rest of the electronic sound in the mix came through with excellent transparency and clarity. They danced around the soundscape with speed and precision, sounding well layered, textured, and possessed a great sense of substance and weight yet remained airy and agile. Speaking of soundscape, simply put it sounds like I am listening to Muse in the Bayreuth Festival Theatre! It’s large, spacious, well layered with a sense of grandeur second to none!

Midrange

I teased it in the First Impressions, so here it is, String Sextet - Brahms - Mandelring Quartet. Oh Lord, where to start! Well, the first thing that struck me about this recording when I first listened with the Audivina was the sense of intimacy. It was like I was sitting in my own private chamber in front of the 6 performers. Every nuance of the room could be felt, and the positioning of the performers was apparent in my minds eye with all being in complete focus. I knew what angle they were sitting at, when they lifted their bows, and when they shifted position no matter how slight. Hats off to Accuphase for this wonderful wonderful recording. Each instrument was distinct and well focused, unique in tonality with flawless timbre. Each draw of the bow was incredibly textured, each string having its own space and resolve, my ears were tickled with delight! Not one instruments overshadowed nor overpowered each other each having their own, equal space with their unique characteristic shining through with technical precision. I could simply sit back and hear it all without having to shift my minds eye from one performer to another.

So now that we have determined that the Audivina can easily handle the distance sounds of strings, how about brass? Trumpets and trombone anyone? I admit that sometimes I can’t tell the difference between a trumpet and trombone tonally. Often it makes that distinct brassy sliding ripping sound for me to say oh hey, that’s not a trumpet. Dr. Jazz - Kustbandet - DSD Showcase No.6 features a modern day ole timey rag tag band and in turn, a plethora of brass, including trumpets and trombones. As with Brahms - String Sextet the first thing that jumped out at me was the venue. I was apparent the band was up on a very small riser stage with a solid backdrop playing to a tavern sized crowd. Every performer, every instrument was easily discernible each with their own space and resolve within. Trumpets roared with refined grit and bite, while the trombones delighted my ears with those ever so satisfying textured rippers. The slap bass was plucky and taut while behaving itself behind the horns, giving just enough weighty bass to the rhythm. The drums we perhaps the least highlighted instrument in the mix, none the less though it’s modesty still had outstanding texture and micro dynamics, never sounding anemic nor hidden. Cymbals came through with excellent shine and shimmer while still sounding fast and crisp. Everything in this track simply effortlessness melds together into an organic, lively sound that makes you at the very least toe tap in your chain.

To end off midrange, I chose Wake The World (Featuring Phil Lanzon & Tommy Karevik) - EPICA - The Alchemy Project. I adore this song and has become one I listen to quite often. EPICA is a symphonic-metal fusion band, and their sound is quite literally epic, this song in particular. It’s what I call an anthem song; Meaningful, collaborative, and large in scale. This song is very busy with a full metal band, choir, orchestra, and of course Mark’s gravely grunts accompanying a duet between Simone and Phil; A perfect test for the Audivina, and they do not disappoint! It was shocking at how clear and layered each aspect of the mix effortlessly came through with perfect transparency. Nothing was missed. Every sound, every texture, every voice was present and defined in perfect harmony! The sound was large, liquid, organic, and truly EPIC!

Treble

May as well start big, with Sing Sing Sing - Kenichi Tsunoda Big Band - Mixer’s Sound Lab Series Vol. 2. This track heavily features horns and a ride that simply won’t quit. Treble is without question enhanced in this recording, and can be problematic at times even with the best of headphones. It is easy for the treble to overshadow the mids making the overall sound bright, even piercing. The Audivina slays this song’s treble with the efficiency of John Wick. Never did the upper frequencies sound peaky or piercing, yet still yielded the appropriate amount of zest and sizzle. Horns were crisp with excellent textured bite, never sounding overly sharp or thin yet remaining incredibly full bodied, detailed and airy. The symbol had great splash and shimmer with each strike sounding distinct, with the attack and decay spot on never overstaying it’s welcome. Overall, despite being a dynamic and bright recording, the Audivina handled this track with technical elegance that produced a detailed and lively sound without making my ears bleed!

I am going to end this section one song short. Really, how much can one really say about treble? Is it bright, peaky, detailed, airy, yes/no? Simply put, the Audivina’s treble is perfect. It does what it is supposed to do, with technical ease, and nothing more. It adds nor takes anything, simply accurately relays what’s in the track. For this last song I chose Wind Song - Hiromi - Telarc’s Heads Up SACD Sampler. A simple arrangement of a bass guitar, drums, and of course Hiromi on the piano and one I chose for one reason, it’s cymbals. Oh how they dance across the soundscape so delicately, and the Audivina simply take me on a journey across the landscape life a leaf on a current of air! The detail in each cymbal strike resonates across the bell in a satisfying textured ripple with each attack, with the decay seemingly wisping itself away gently into my ears across a gentle breeze. Of course Hiromi’s performance was nothing short of spectacular. The piano had a very liquid, organic quality to its holographic presentation. Timbre and tonality was accurate, and the transient response from the subtlest of key strikes to the most dynamic of notes was handled effortlessly. This was one track I didn’t mind listening to on repeat as I wrote this.

Vocals

Male - I Will Remember - Toto - Tambu is a track I always use for evaluation. Bobby Kimball’s voice is phenomenal, as always, and the way they are presented in the mix is what I am looking for in particular. Due to the nature of how the song is sung combined with an airy reverb effect, sibilance can rear its ugly head. Check out the first verse: “I was born in the land of the sun, And the tall green grass, And I don't understand, How all this has come to pass”. You can, see there is quite a bit of potential for problematic sibilance that can mask the detail and texture of Bobby's voice. So smooth, articulate, full bodied and emotion filled, the Audivina simply did not care of many a competitors headphone failings as they produced quite possibly the most detailed, textured yet smooth rendition of Stan’s voice I have ever heard! No esssssey “s” sounds, no hard edges on continents, no smearing, and never muffled. It was nothing short of organic and true to like. Sibilance in male vocals simply is not an issue with the Audivina… that is unless it’s already accentuated in the mix.

Female - For this, I didn’t choose a song rather an album: OMEGA - EPICA. My reasoning is quite simple, dynamic range and once again, sibilance. Simone Simmons’ powerful, angelic voice is at its best in EPICA’s latest release. For this album however, the engineers decided to tread dangerous waters and add a touch of sweetness to Simone’s voice, particularly to all sibilance sounds. With lesser headphones, even with the highly acclaimed Sundara, this sweetness walks the fine line of becoming too sibilant. The Audivina however had no issue with rendering the sweetness as such, sweet. At no time throughout the album did I even think of any flaws in Simone’s vocals which rendered with such elegant beauty every textured, resolving vibrato of her voice gave me shivers. Full of body and emotion, Simone’s voice was nothing shy of flawless.

Gaming

For some, the Audivina is pure overkill, for other it's the solution! When it comes to a gaming headset, two aspect are key: 3D positioning and clarity of sound. For amateurs and professional gamers alike, the ability to hear your opponent and their position is key to victory. Most gaming headsets focus more so on the aforementioned that it leads to compromises, such as a serviceable at best low end, lack-buster dynamics, elevated midrange that could make for unpleasant dialogue and boring music, and boosted high frequencies because you know, more treble is more detail right? It's no wonder a company like Sennheiser capitalized on this and modified their HD 500 line to be more suited and marketable to gamers. When it comes to the Audivina, hands down these headphones surpassed all of my expectations! While I played many games of diverse genres, I will focus on one of my favourite, Forza Horizon 5, an open world arcade style racing game that heavily focuses on its music as much as it does the events. My word, the technical ability of the Audivina blew my mind. When it came to the actual races, the ability for me to accurately pinpoint the racers trailing behind was so precise not once did I have to check the rear view to know how to block and evade. If and/or when another car did attempt to pass, I could precisely tell how far up beside me they were. There was no escaping nor hiding with audio this clear and accurate. Then there was the environmental sounds. The hum and growl of the various engines was presented with excellent texture and an accurate sense of, depending in which view one is in, where the engine sat in relation to the driver. Each tire was easily placed within the soundscape, complete with accurate environmental and road conditions. When traveling over a dirt I could hear the sound of earth bounce off the skid plate with each rock, every pebble having it's own focus and dynamics as it fell back to the ground below. If I blew through a fence or plowed through rubble the sound and feel of the debris flying up and over the body of the vehicle was palpable. Everything in the open world truly sounded open, spacious, and holographic. And then there was the music; I don't need to tell you about the music any more than I already have. What I will tell you is that the Audivina has the ability to pump out the tracks with authority while handling every nuance of the sounds and effects with technical precision is unmatched in any gaming headset. If you want total immersion, large and accurate sound space, and music that sounds as the artist intended, you'd want the Audivina.

Summary - One can tell, I absolutely adore the HiFiMAN Audivina. In full honesty, they are the most expensive headphones I have tried, and while this can lead to an unconscious bias, I assure you I have spent many, MANY hours evaluating, comparing, and combing over every fine nuance that any “new expensive headphone” feelings have well passed and my thoughts and words are objective. The Audivina is a technical and musical monster, bar none! What HiFiMAN did with the open-backed HE1000 in terms of disrupting the industry, I believe they have accomplished the same with the closed back Audivina, and that’s no small feat. Smooth, detailed, powerful and controlled, highly resolving and highly adaptive. Give the Audivina all you got as it welcomes the challenge!

Value

The Audivina retail for $1999 USD, a hefty price for a a pair of headphones, let alone a pair of studio monitors. The question is does the price justify what the Audivina offer? Well, let us see. In the box you get essentially a pair of closed backed HE1000 Stealth Edition with lacquered CNC milled willow wood cups, 3 high quality cables, and a hard case. Then there is class leading comfort and long term wearability. Oh, and that beautifully resolving, large and spacious, smooth and accurate holographic sound! Whether you are in the market for a pair of studio headphones, or one that can competently pull double duty at home, the Audivina offer class leading performance in either regard and is worth every penny. In short, shut up and take my money!

Conclusion

To finish off this review, I first want to thank HiFiMAN for giving me the opportunity to experience the Audivina. It truly an honour to be one of the first reviewers to sample a headphone of this calibre, and the time spent over the two weeks was both an absolute joy and en eye opener. HiFiMAN has created a headphone that is not just the “Jack of All Trade”, but master of ALL! The Audivina a gorgeous headphone whose ability to handle any task with technical precision with a fluid and natural sense of musicality, all while maintaining comfort and long term wearability makes these studio monitors second to none. Their price point, while high, is highly justified given their over all performance, and is why HiFiMAN will continue to be a favourite amongst music lovers. I have no doubt these headphones will be a permanent fixture in many collections. Given what I have covered here in this review, I am confident the Audivina will make their way into the hearts of engineers as well. With the Audivina, HiFiMAN once again has released what will surely be another timeless classic, and I simply can not wait to see what’s still to come!

"All you need is Love" is one of the greatest songs and iconic to me. The world needs love, and more Closed-Back headphones. Closed-back headphones are one consideration as others around you can’t hear them. So many closed-back headphones just sound off, and it's a hard place in the market with many people preferring iems, or open-back headphones, or even dare I say it... Speakers. So the market for Closed back headphones are unique and Special. This headphone is special to me, as I've tested dozens of headphones in my day in a search for audio bliss and excellence. This is the most comfortable, premium headset, not perfect, but no King is. This headset is a true king in the audio world.


Thanks for the opportunity to test this headphone and I am reviewing this as part of the Audivina Review Tour. I wanted to say that I am extremely grateful to test this headphone as I think it is a very interesting piece in the market. I have been gifted an experience that is remarkable, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity. This is a remarkable product and Hifiman continues to do amazing work to produce such high quality beautiful products.


Song Choice: Tidal list here:
I listen to a wide variety of music. I pick the songs because of various reasons. But I picture myself locked away like Andy Dufresne from Shawshank blasting music and shut off from the world. It’s a blissful image.
The Marriage of Figaro -The opera song from Shawshank Redemption, terrible recording but fun and gets me in the mood to listen to music.
O mio Babino caro -This is a modern less operatic version but a song with great female vocals.
Video Rigoletto - “La donna e mobile” Sung by one of the three Tenors, great song for high-performing male vocals. Pavarotti is the greatest classic singer maybe ever. Fight me!
Iron man - The sound at the beginning is hard to make sound great, great drums, and cymbals, and if done right it feels like an old-school band.
I Will Survive (1981 recording, I like her voice, and the old vocals, the drums, and various natural instruments really make this a favorite for me.
There is a light That never goes out - Smiths ( A classic, I just love it. It’s mellow, and I can tell a lot of the tuning if this song is done right.)
Jump (I like how the sound effects are in this!)
Star Child Someone recommended this song to me, and I like how funky it sounds and has nice vocals and a mix of music and things going on.
Dicke Titten Ramstein The beginning is amazing and the bass hits hard. Great song. I love rock and metal. The German language fascinates me
Master of Puppets: Very fast song. Helps me determine if the driver can keep up.

Cable I wanted to keep the cables nice for others so I tried to keep them in their packaging and got the opportunity to use a cable I had for my Focal Celectree. The cable selection is very strong. It has an XLR cable, 6.5 mm, and 3.5 mm cable connections for a total of 3 cables. It’s a nice touch and feels good for various uses that might be needed. I can’t see a need not met for this headset as it has all that one could think of. Very strong choices and the Cables are extremely premium, classy, and a nice touch.

Ear Pads These ear pads are very strong. Thematically they match the headphone, and they feel great on the skin for long listening sessions. They allow me to breathe and I don’t feel any pressure on my head. I am amazed and impressed at the feeling of these pads. I almost always swap ear pads, but I wouldn't swap these. They are just fantastic and so comfortable and breathe very well.


Comparison: The dreaded comparison: Hifiman Audivina vs the Audeze LCD-XC (2021) While the headphones are a 2000 vs 1300 MSRP I don’t have a lot of experience with other good closed headphones to compare. So I’ll try to do my best.

The packaging is 100% a win to Hifiman, the additional cables are very nice, the case is very manageable and easy to take with you places, and the comfort is to die for. The hifiman is the most comfortable headphone that I’ve ever used. The added case I think is better than the Audeze LCD-XC as that case is much larger and the headphone is made for production.


Target Demographic: I love headphones, but I don’t claim to understand everything. This is a headphone made for travelers who want to have a wooden headphone with them. It’s comfortable, portable, and beautiful. It looks amazing, has an easy-to-swap cable, and comes with a case that is perfect. I can see a Billionaire wearing these as a statement on a flight. The wood design rivals that of any DMF or any headphone that I’ve seen. The easily swappable cables mean you can use many other cables with it to customize it extremely easily. It’s a great option. This is a premium headset that is fun, but to me, this is a specialty traveling headset with some flair. This is your Neymer considered to be one of the greatest flair players of all time in soccer. He scores a ton, and assists, but causes some controversy off the pitch. But on his day, nothing and nobody can touch him he is a true legend, just like Audivina.


Graph:




Comfort:
The comfort of this headset is insane. It’s just premium with the headband being nice to wear, the design is very light. I feel that I am not wearing any headphones at all. It’s an amazing feeling to be honest, as most of the other headsets make feel like I’m balancing something on my headset.
I have a tradition whenever I get an over ears headset I go around the home and have both kids and the wife try it on. Everyone liked this one. The littlest one told me quickly it was cozy! So from the mouths of babes, we have our truth. This is a cozy headset, and I absolutely love it!




Recommended EQ: This headset needs eq with how it is tuned out of the box for me. I’m leaving two EQ’s for you, the first is my simple eq from Dolby that I did myself, and the second is what I got from the Squiglink tools.



Gifting/who is it for: This is an expensive headset, but it’s premium as can be. Great unboxing experience. Wonderful case, with multiple cables, and it is a fun experience overall. This is a premium headset in so many ways, that is a recommendation for those who can afford it.

Pairing: I used Topping DX1 dac through an SMSL SH-8s AMP. I find this headset easy to drive and needs a fair amount of power and I typically push my amp up to high gain, compared to most of my other headphones and iems. But I found this easy to drive even off a computer, but this is a headphone where I'd recommend an amp but it's not necessary.

Summary

Overall I am giving this an B- for tuning and an S- for technical abilities, but with a little eq it quickly becomes a classic with a smoothe presentation that makes everything sound so good and the Tuning score goes up to an easy S-. While not for me, the tuning of it isn’t that bad and the music is enjoyable on it. If you never use eq and are after sonic excellence in music as your primary quality, I wouldn’t recommend it, if you don’t mind trying EQ and can afford this, this is your flair headset and will find a home in your collection. With Eq, it’s just a mint headphone with great sonic characteristics. I would love it if a different tuned headset came out that had this headband and feeling that I could easily afford. I would love something in my lineup like this as the build quality is out of this world. I can wear it forever, without pain or weight to my head. And with EQ it’s just a delightful experience with fantastic drivers. While something like the Audeze LCD-XC is also a good headphone, it's so much heavier, the Audivina could tactfully be put in a backpack and run off a phone, and that is what makes this beautiful premium headset the King for audiophiles wanting a wired headphone for travel, or a premium headphone for home use.

Thanks for reading. Any feedback is welcome.

Impressions
After the many listing hours my first impression of a very open and invitingly big sounding 3d space with punchy bass remained as of one of the key properties of this headphone.

The look might not appeal to everyone with the colourful orange dyed wooden cups that really stand-out in contrast to the silver finish and the brown ear-pads.
Its a very substantial build and comfortable to wear even for many hours with virtually no clamp force.

You get a transportable case coming with the Audivina, but the headphone itself is not at really suitable for portable/outdoor usage due to its size.
There are 3 stock cables coming along with the headphone (3.5mm, 6.35mm and 4-pin XLR) that are actually usable in comparison to former Hifiman "cables"!

With its neutral tuning and tastefully elevated bass the Audivina sounds very good on all amps I have tried, regardless of solid-state, hybrid or tubes while letting their individual characteristics and distortions shine through.
I usually don't shy away from using EQ on my headphone, but for the Audivina I did not feel the need for that as it was just fine right out of the box for me.
You could argue, that there is some sub-bass roll-off that you could compensate with EQ - and that is totally possible since the Audivina reacts very well to EQ also in the sub-bass region.

Comparisons
The planar jury is out ... of the closet

Dan Clark AEON 2 Closed: more closed-in feeling, comparable bass quality/quality - less punchy [EQ preferred]
Meze Liric: similar detail, more sub and mid bass without EQ so little subdued vocals and too much bass [EQ required]
Audeze LCD-XC 2021: little more detail, with EQ the bass can be as fancy as you want [EQ preferred]
Kennerton Rögnir: more detailed, even more open and as wide/wider, but not as big sounding, will tell you mastering errors [EQ required]

Without any EQ applied I might slightly prefer the Audivina to the Liric sound-wise (comfort, isolation/leakage and build are ahead on the Liric in any case).
All the A2C, Liric, LCD-XC and even the Rögnir have better isolation and less leakage as the Audivana.
The Kennerton Rögnir still remains the most open sounding closed back for me, but its also more expensive.


Gear used for evaluation
⚬ Questyle CMA Fifteen [ES9038PRO DAC + solid-state amplifier]
⚬ Violectric DHA V226 [Cirrus Logic CS43131 + solid-state amplifier]
⚬ xDuoo TA-22 [tube hybrid amplifier]
⚬ Cayin DAC 11 + Cayin HA-3A [Burr Brown DAC with tube output + transformer-coupled tube amplifier]
⚬ Gustard X26 Pro + HeadAmp GS-X mini [2x ES9038PRO DAC + solid-state amplifier]

Rest of the gang used in my evaluation
Denon AH-D9200
E-MU Teak: THAT bass makes you
Klipsch HP-3: as big sounding
Kennerton Rögnir Dynamic: as big sounding, but not as open
Kennerton Gjallarhorn JM Edition: as punchy
Hifiman HE6SEv2: less mid-bass and punchiness without EQ, but same Hifiman genes
Fostex TH-909: detail, (sub-)bass articulation, openness unrivalled
ZMF Caldera: detail, (sub-)bass articulation unrivalled

Verdict
If you don't like to EQ and just want enjoy a headphone right when you connect it to your amp, the Audivana is a great choice.
A 'good' sign for me was the intrinsic urge to re-evaluate my current collection for who might want to go and get replaced by the Audivina, since it just was a unique enough experience for me.
If isolation and leakage is not your first priorty you looking for on a headphone, the Audivana gets my full recommendation!

Note: the Hifiman Audivina was temporary offered for review as part of the EU review tour

Disclaimer

HiFiMan was kind enough to invite me to another of their enthusiast worldwide review tours. This time they asked me to share my honest opinion on their new $2000 closed-back headphone; the Audivina. I am not affiliated with HiFiMan, this review is as honest as it gets.

Packaging, name

The Audivina comes in a simple cardboard box, but in the box there is an excellent, good quality and handy carrying case. A simple packaging always makes me think I spent more money on the sound, on the other hand a great unboxing experience can make the customer feel they really bought a high-end product.



The Audivina comes with three (!) cables including balanced XLR, which I think is an excellent choice. The quality of the cables is also nice, a significant improvement from previous HiFiMan models with those transparent, 'medical tube'-like atrocities.

Regarding the name, I thought 'Audivina' is a playful combination of 'audi/audio' and 'divine' but I was wrong. 'Audi' (Latin for 'listening') is correct, but 'vina' apparently means 'sitar' in Sanskrit which is a South Asian string instrument. Only HiFiMan knows what they meant by this, perhaps a focus on acoustic instruments in the tuning process? Or they simply like the sound of the sitar?


Gourgeous natural grains.

Build quality, look, feel, comfort

Perhaps it is not the exceptional build quality that lifted HiFiMan to worldwide fame, but I have to say it is not easy to fault the Audivina for build or comfort. The headphones are huge, but they are surprisingly lightweight (470g) and very comfortable as well; certainly in the upper 20% of comfortable headphones.

As a reviewer I have to nitpick, so regarding comfort I would say the followings: the clamping force is rather light, so the bigger percentage of the relatively light weight is on the head-strap. I have enough hair, so this did not bother me even after two hours of listening, but fellow enthusiasts who are follically more challenged might get a hotspot on the top of their head. In general the Audivina is a very comfortable and well built headphone.

We all love wooden earcups, I certainly do. The Audivina does not disappoint, they look as gorgeous in person as they do on pictures.
In the huge earcups there is plenty of space even for the biggest human ears.

The earpads are made of synthetic leather (pleather) and fabric, elsewhere these are called hybrid pads. (The head-strap is real leather.) I understand, that earpad materials are carefully chosen for sonic qualities, but to me this fabric touching my skin is slightly less comfortable than the feel of pleather/leather would have been.

The earpad attachment system is strong Velcro, which in my opinion is a second best solution compared to the more elegant magnetic systems Meze or Abyss use. Strong Velcro is easy enough, certainly better than twisting and turning earpads in awkward angles.


Looking inside the earcups a generous amount of dampening becomes apparent. We can only see a small part of the transducer through an unusual, star-shaped hole.

Where I am coming from as a reviewer

My preference is open-back full sized headphones and I really like planars. At this point I can say I am quite used to top of the line performance, my daily driver is the Meze Elite but I heard/owned a good chunk of other top performers.

I owned a few HiFiMan headphones as well along the way, HE400, HEXV2, Arya (og). I also reviewed the HE6SE and auditioned the HE1000SE and Susvara.





While I see and admit the greatness of the oval HiFiMan headphones, they were never my absolute personal favourites. I can see though, why they gained popularity. They sound very spacious, like a big arena or open-air concert, but in my opinion in this great spaciousness they somewhat lose focus and tangibility. Also, quite a few of them sound a bit bright in the treble area. The HE6 was the closest to my personal taste, but as we know the competition is really tough in every price range these days.

HiFiMan has built a strong following and customer base in the last 17 years, so obviously there is a clear demand for this very spacious and slightly brighter sound.
What place the Audivina occupies in this universe? Let's find out together!



Sound

Chain

FLAC - Musician Pegasus R2R (SR Purple fuse) – Cayin HA-3A (with upgrade NOS tubes)



General impressions

What struck me first with the Audivina was this exceptional sensation of space, especially when it comes to closed-back design. The Audivina sounds even more spacious than many open back headphones and they are certainly the most spacious closed backs I have ever heard. This achievement however still comes with certain caveats or compromises by design, I will get into that soon.

The tuning in general is quite neutral, there is no overemphasised bass or exceptionally sparky treble, although the upper frequencies are definitely in the brighter realms. Detail retrieval I think is adequate for the price, clarity is very good. In this huge space instrument separation feels clear and effortless. Occasionally the soundstage can feel just a little unnaturally wide. Depth, height, width in general are all in proportion creating a large 3D space.

The Audivina is unforgiving to lesser quality recordings or bitrates. Either of these will sound very obvious on this HiFiMan closed-back; more obvious than on my Meze Elite for example. The Audivina requires quality files to sound at its best.



Bass

I am happy enough with the bass performance, and I do like my bass well presented. That said, this is not the best bass I have ever heard, not even for the asking price. The bass however feels enough in quantity with good airiness and separation. After a slight mid-bass emphasis, sub-bass rolls off which is not what I was expecting with a planar headphone at this price. Boards of Canada – Sixtyniner for example lacks the bass weight and impact I am used to. Those sub-bass notes coming in around 1.30 are not very present on the Audivina. Extreme bass tracks will lack some of those super low frequencies on this headphone, but general orchestral and acoustic music will sound just fine. This bass is rather polite, not overly punchy but present enough and tasteful. Do not expect a visceral, thumping presentation. It is perfect for bass from an orchestra, but to my ears lacks the ultimate fun for electronic music.

Mids

In my opinion mids (especially upper mids) and treble are the most difficult to reproduce in closed back headphones. As a result, vocals can often sound boxy, closed-in, unnatural. The otherwise pretty good Denon D9200 for example sounds straight out boxy and closed-in to me when it comes to vocals. The Audivina is certainly huge sounding in comparison, but still at first the mids sounded a bit hollow, like the singer was singing from the bottom of a huge aluminium barrel. This luckily has improved with a bit of burn-in (driver and brain) but still vocals to my ears cannot get quite as natural as they are on open-back headphones like the Arya for example. Male vocals can sound thin and lack too much texture, they can also be a little dry. I did not find female vocals particularly engaging either; little thin, lacking texture and body. Duo Ruut -Väljad karja käia could be an example for this, especially the second half of the track. For fairness I have to mention, the sumptuous vocals on the Meze Elite probably spoiled my ears a little bit, regardless how objective I am trying to be here.

Treble

On many oval HiFiMan headphones I found the treble a little too bright to my liking, but I know most people have no issues with this relative brightness. I found the treble slightly too bright for my taste on the Audivina as well.
From memory, the Arya has better texture and naturalness in the top registers, but the Audivina in my opinion on certain treble heavy tracks simply runs out of steam and performance up top. It sounds the thinnest in the highest frequencies and looses the most amount of information, texture. Faithless – Salva Mea to my ears on the Audivina sounds too bright and harsh even from a tube amp. The Knife – Marble House lacks a bit of bass presence and the treble also sounds quite bright and thin on this track.



Competition

Meze Liric

To me the most obvious competition and comparison would be the Meze Liric. They both are closed-back planars with portability in mind and cost $2000 in the US. The Liric is actually £100 cheaper in the UK, £1899 vs £1999 respectively.

The Liric is a lot smaller headphone and the carrying case is more portable too due to its smaller size.
When it comes to sound leakage/isolation, both could do better, but the Audivina is really not far from some open-back headphones in this regard. This to me simply defeats the main objective of going closed-back.
In my opinion closed-back versus open-back will always be a compromise, the question is how much space/naturalness we need to sacrifice for sound isolation? If there is not much sound isolation to gain I cannot really see the point of going closed-back.

The Liric and the Audivina are two very different sounding headphones and they both will have their fans. Hands down the Audivina will sound more spacious and airy. The Liric has a completely different approach. The Meze closed-back has more sub-bass and a better balanced mid-bass, more linear in mids and treble too. The Liric sounds smaller, but a lot more focused and more tangible. I did find the treble a tiny bit sharp on the Liric too in my review, but that still bothered my treble sensitive ears less than the general treble brightness of the Audivina. This is something to consider if you also have some treble sensitivity.



Denon D9200

Another closed-back contender is the famous and beloved D9200. They come in much cheaper at £1299 and I owned them as well. The dynamic bass they provide I think is very good and entertaining but when it comes to mids/treble they unfortunately sound too boxy and unnatural to me, especially when we compare them to higher-end open-back headphones. I think, the Audivina sounds more natural and certainly a lot more spacious. That punchy Denon bass is quite something though.



HiFiMan Arya

I do not really consider the Arya a competition to the Audivina as the Arya is open-back, but I know many people would be interested in this comparison. I owned the first generation Arya, and for the reasons I already mentioned (huge but slightly diffuse sound with a brighter treble) I sold them and chose other headphones. Yet I think the Arya is a better sounding headphone than the Audivina. The Arya sounds even more airy, more natural and breathes more. It is very impressive though, how close the Audivina came to this spaciousness and general sound in a closed-back design. It is just a bit of a shame, the Audivina does not isolate better.



Meze Elite

I am aware, this is an unfair comparison, but the Meze Elite has been my daily driver for more than a year, so I feel obliged to comment.

For most of us it is clear we pay exponentially for incremental improvements as we reach the multi-thousand dollar territory. The Meze Elite is at the entry level price of super flagships ($4000/£3750) versus the 'upper mid-ranger closed-back' Audivina at $2000/£2000.

Of course, the Elite will sound more rounded, more coherent and more natural. It is a fuller sound, thicker with richer texture therefore more lifelike. Bass extends deeper, it has more impact, detail and sounds more visceral, more engaging.
The Audivina in comparison sounds thin, lacks body/texture/information and it is also occasionally sibilant. Sibilance in my opinion is one of the best indicators of the level of naturalness in headphones, as it is very difficult to get those 's' sounds sound as they do in real life. Another great indicator to judge the level of lifelikeness in a headphone is the notoriously complex drum/percussion hits.



ZMF Atrium closed

I have not heard this particular ZMF yet as it is a brand new release, but price-wise this is also close to $2000 or just above. ZMF makes exceptional headphones, so this is another very different but also very tough competitor to the Audivina.



Conclusion

Going closed-back to me is always a compromise. To my experience by design there is a loss of natural space and a lifelike, airy presentation versus similarly priced open-back headphones. We make this compromise for sound isolation and to prevent sound leakage.

If there is not much to gain with this deal, the compromise becomes obsolete.
The Audivina being the most spacious sounding closed-back headphones ever still cannot beat open-backs for ultimate naturalness, but for pure spaciousness they even beat a good number of open-backs.

There is more to the sound than spaciousness, so I recommend checking out your options if you are after closed-back headphones in this price category as we all value different aspects of sound higher or lower. If space is what you want above everything else in a closed-back design, the Audivina may very well be for you. For me they remain a bit of a one trick pony, although they do that one trick exceptionally well.