TL;DR: Warm/neutral tuning with Flagship performance
Overview/History
Hi all.
As a resident fan of SJY's headphones, I'm back again with another written review for your reading pleasure. If you're not familiar with SJY Audio, this is a one man shop out of Houston that's been doing planar magnetic headphones across a wide range of price points. Having listened to the Umi and the Horizon open, it was a no brainer to head to the MusicTeck booth at SoCal CanJam and have a listen to his newest release - the SJY Horizon Closed.
Attached, directly from Jeffrey, is a measurement of how his headphones graph. As you can see, he followed the Harman over-ear target and nailed it to follow that with his own tweaks here and there to provide what he wants his headphones to sound like.
These are the companion to his Horizon open-back and a testament to the crazy work that he's constantly coming up with. They come in several colors and I believe they're going to be sold at MusicTeck with some interest garnered from other vendors as well.
Specifications so you don't have to look:
- Cable : Balanced 4 pin XLR
- Weight : 430g +/- 5g
- Sensitivity : 89db/Mv
- Impedance : 11 Ohm
Let's get into it!
Disclaimers: The SJY Horizon Closed was provided to me at SoCal CanJam (hence no real unboxing) to take home in order to provide a written/video review. While I have reviewed several of Jeffrey/SJY's products in the past, as usual, I was provided no form of feedback and the following are my own honest impressions/opinions on the product.
Product link directly from SJY's website:
https://sjyaudio.com/products/horizon-closed
Build Quality, Comfort and Accessories
Photo dump time!
Not straying too far away from his design of the Horizon, he's placed a seal over the prior open grill and added a rather gorgeous looking design over it. The seal cup does extend out over the grill so it doesn't look quite as clean as the OG Horizon but I don't necessarily mind it too much once I've got them on my ears.
Overall, they fit very comfortably. My only issue is the headband/earcups do swivel again. Not an issue when they're on your ear but, if they're not, you can end up getting the cable tangled if you just loosely hold them.
Pad Rolling?
No pad rolling, unfortunately. This was my favorite part of the SJY Horizon Open but, unfortunately, in order to provide the best seal on the closed back, Jeffrey has likely gone away from swappable pads.
From the SJY Horizon Open:
Cable
I ended up getting the stock cable that terminates to 4-pin XLR. I did have to get an adapter to 4.4mm. I also have Hart Audio cables for 1/4" termination for use with my Geshelli Archel 3 Pro and my JDS Element 3 Mk2 (Boosted).
The stock cable is a cloth cable that feels very nice. No real issues or concerns. To my ears, they were not microphonic or anything.
Sound
So, how do they sound?
The Horizon Closed hits the sweet spots for over ears as being one of the warmer side of neutral (without any deficiencies) that I've heard. They're a good compliment to their sibling (the Horizon) as being in the same vein but warmer, a bit punchier in bass, and overall very good technically.
Gear Tested On: Primarily streamed music via either dedicated Streamer, Laptop or Phone
Streamed Music Chain Workstation: Laptop -> JDS Labs Element 3 MK2 (Boosted)
Streamed Music chain: WiiM Mini -> JDS Labs Atom DAC+ -> JDS Labs OL Switcher -> Geshelli Labs Archel 3 Pro
*My Audio Preference and Score Disclaimer*: To preface my breakdown, here's my sound preference. I tend to prefer warmer sound. I enjoy good sub-bass extension with enough mid-bass to feel the music. I prefer more fuller sounding mids to match my library. My preference is for smooth treble extension; while I'm not treble sensitive, I'd probably lean more towards 'safer' treble tuning for longer listening. I also tend to listen at either medium to louder listening volumes (reasonably loud).
In addition, all scores listed below are typically (unless otherwise stated) rated/scored as it relates to it's peers in the same price group.
Lows/Bass: Bass performance on the Horizon Closed is excellent.
It's not the deepest sounding bass performance (compared to like a Fostex) but the planar drivers here do an excellent job of providing detailed, punchy, and deep bass that's engaging.
As the standard for most planar, there is a bit of a quick (for my tastes) decay that makes it excellent for certain genres but I do think that the closed back format actually helps give back a little of that bass energy.
The only way to really improve this would be if they were dynamic drivers providing that deep'ness or slightly longer decay but they're way more satisfying of bass performance than a lot of other planar headphones that I've heard.
Bass Score: 9.25/10 - TL;DR: Detailed, punchy, deeper sounding than the Horizon open - very engaging bass. Decay is just a bit too fast (typical of planar) but it's perfect for people that want that quick punchy bass for their overears.
Mids: The best part of the Horizon Closed is the playback for the very detailed vocals and instruments.
The instrument details are well presented (as expected for an over-ear planar headphone set) and sound very natural. From a wide range of instruments such as piano and guitars, everything is very articulate and details would be the shining star here.
Vocals also come through extremely well - female vocals shine with proper air and male vocals have a good natural lushness to the playback. I think it's likely due to the closed back design that make the male vocals a bit deeper and warmer sounding and they're perfectly in line with my preference.
I didn't get any deficiencies in the mid-range at all with everything sounding extremely correct to my ears.
Mids Score: 9.25/10 - TL;DR: Natural mid-range with excellent instruments and vocal presentation. Vocals are very well done
Treble: Treble on the SJY Horizon Closed follows suit with the rest of the frequency response.
It's very clear, detailed and provides a good balance overall. There is proper air without being harsh. There is no sibilance but the treble is also tuned not to be boring.
I think there's just the perfect amount of elevation in order for it to work hand in hand with the bass response and sound very correct overall.
Treble Score: 9.0/10 - TL;DR: Clear and airy yet never sibilant. Very well extended
Detail, Separation, Imaging, Overall Soundstage, Etc.: The technical performance for the SJY Horizon Closed is very good.
Detail retrieval and imaging/separation are excellent. Listening to busy tracks, you can still pinpoint exactly where certain notes or instruments would pop up from.
Sound stage isn't quite as wide/spacious as the Open back version but that's not uncommon. They still have a very good open stage with solid height but it is noticeably more intimate.
Macrodynamics are also a nitpick and not quite to my preference (when you compare it to a Dynamic driver like a Focal) but it's not distractingly bad or as noticeable as like a Dan Clark planar set.
Technicalities Score: 9.25/10 - TL;DR: Soundstage is not as wide as open back sibling (to be expected) - detail retrieval, imaging are all top notch. Macrodynamics aren't the best but way better than a typical planar set
Library Hit List: The Horizon Closed works extremely well for my overall library and I think could work well in most general libraries.
Fleetwood Mac - "Rumors" (vocals handled well, maybe slight loss on the macrodynamics here but it's still excellent and great instrument details)
Stevie Wonder - "Sir Duke" (instruments, treble, engaging low end - well done on this busier track)
ELO - "Mr. Blue Sky" (treble is sparkly, handles a lot of the different parts of this track well)
The Black Keys - "10 Lovers" (bass is punchy, deep, instruments shine very well here)
AC/DC - "Back in Black" (guitars sound excellent on this track, love all the instruments that shine through here)
Bastille w/ Hans Zimmer - "Pompeii MMXXIII" (orchestra build up is so good here, the emotion behind the track is captured well)
The Seatbelts - "Tank!" (another busy type of instrument track and the Horizon Closed does a great job here with the separation)
Dido - "White Flag" (handles female vocals extremely well in this case with nothing lost in the playback)
Florence + The Machine - "Dog Days Are Over" (There is good sparkle energy without feeling like it's treble murder, nice and crisp but clean)
Foster the People - "Houdini" (great imaging on this track and very punchy and engaging with this busier track)
Comparisons: So, the primary headphone that I've maintained for a longer period of time that would make the best comparison would be the Horizon Open (though that's been on loan for a bit).
Between the two, I think the Horizon Closed is a warmer, bassier version of the Horizon Open while the Horizon Open has a bit more of that technical performance, more sound stage. I prefer the Horizon Closed over the Horizon Open but both are very good planars that perform very well especially at their price bracket. You're really looking at whether you want a closed back with a bit more warmth or an open back that's more resolving.
Other Things to be aware of:
The primary thing to be aware of for the Horizon Closed is that they do require a good amount of power but it feels like they're less power hungry than the Horizon Open.
For comparison, on my JDS Element 3 Mk2 Boosted (which outputs 2.3W at 32ohm), I found myself closer to 0 but didn't need full high gain. I was getting full listening volume at -8db. The Horizon Open would be in high gain around 2-3 db on the volume knob. There's more headroom with the Closed Back version which is nice.
Otherwise, the build is similar to the Horizon Open with cups over where they would typically be open. I'm sad there's no removable pads this time but it's understandable considering this was an adaptation for the Open and the compromise to keep it Closed Back needed the extra seal with the pads.
Special Sauce/Personal Bias Score: 9/10 - TL;DR: With enough power, this set is extremely fun and a great closed back variant for SJY Audio. Can't pad swap, unfortunately, but that's
Conclusion: Another SJY release in the books. Jeffrey/SJY is consistently hustling and it comes at no surprise that there's probably way more coming... on the Horizon.
But, overall, Jeffrey has taken his open back Horizon, tested to see if he was capable of offering a brand new form factor (closed back) while providing excellent sound that's complimentary and different enough to the Open Back version while still maintaining that high level of detail and engagement that his planar are capable of.
The Horizon Closed is a very detailed, punchy, and engaging planar that offers another headphone alternative to the Dan Clarks and Hifiman of the world. It competes right with the headphones in it's price point and is another excellent entry and shows his growth and refinement in his tuning.
Final Weighted Score: 9.15/10 - This puts the score for the Horizon Closed at 4.575
(Update - I've retroactively reduced the SJY Horizon to 4.5 to better match how I feel as I have, in a lot of earlier reviews, been pretty aggressive with rounding up. The SJY Horizon Open still scores a 9.0/10 which is good for a 4.5 straight up). The Horizon Closed is a bit better to my tastes but the Horizon Open is still a good open back headphone.
Thanks for reading!
