[plakat]

Just came across this announcement:
https://austrian.audio/hi-x25bt/

Sounds interesting, especially given its asking price of 149€. There are some things I also noticed though:
* "Designed and Engineered in Austria" for the X25 vs. "Made in Austria" for the X55 -- sounds like this one is built elsewhere unfortunately.
* Touch interface... I really despise touch interfaces on headphones. Simply inferior to a button-based interface
* headband cushion seems to not be replaceable (while on the X55 it is)
* does not fold flat Correction: it does fold flat

It sounds like the driver is at least along the lines of the X55. Bluetooth 5 with 30h battery life is nice to have, especially since the description reads like its acoustically tuned and can therefore be used via cable without problems when the battery is flat or a cable connection preferable.

 

[plakat]

My local shop Klangfarbe already had them in store, so I got one just this afternoon

pairing process is painless and fast, touch interface just horrible. Ok, to me *all* headphone touch interfaces are horrible… I think there’s a good reason why Apple chose to use buttons on the APM.

 

[Mark Up]

Can't wait to hear more details on the sound. If it has the dreadful lumpy midrange of the Hi-X55, and differences between BT / Wired Digital and Wired Analog.

 

[Sharppain]

Can't wait to hear more details on the sound. If it has the dreadful lumpy midrange of the Hi-X55, and differences between BT / Wired Digital and Wired Analog.

Come on "dreadful lumpy" - it is a bit of an unique signature. What's the point if all cans sound the same. Btw, it is not the only company that makes focus on mids - Focal does same: Listen Pro, Clear MG; Grado, Koss...

 

[plakat]

Playing around with the X25 leaves me quite impressed. It does have a slight emphasis on the upper midrange like its bigger brother X55, but overall mids seem less colored to me. Bass is also more even, a bit stronger / more emphasized overall, reaching deep while having clear structure. Very nice.

I was unable to test the digital connection so far: both my iPad Pro and my MacBook recognize the X25 when connecting using the supplied USB-C cable (there's a new sound output Hi-X25BT, so that looks ok), but I was not able to get it to actually play any sound. The player software believes its playing tough... I'll contact Austrian Audio, sounds like a firmware problem to me.

The analog cable works though. Both cables are a bit thick and rather stiff, for listening purposes I'd have preferred them a bit more pliable (Beyerdynamic sourced very good USB cables for their Impacto). But actually its a Bluetooth headphone and I intend to use it mainly as such.

Comfort is excellent: the cups are deep and quite big, the foam is soft but not too soft, the headband cushioning is thick, pressure is light but it still sits perfectly. Plus they are really lightweight. Passive isolation is quite good it seems. Only negative point I came up with so far is that the red gimbals have slightly sharp edges. Unlike with the X55 the folding mechanism is plastic... but at half the cost that's no wonder I think.

Edit: I figured that digital connection out -- sometimes reading the manual does help after all
After connecting the USB-C cable and switching the headphone on (the switch on the right cup), one has to press that button again for <1s, i.e. a short press. This switches to digital audio mode (no indication like with the Bluetooth "Connected" message though). Now I was able to play audio via USB-C from my MacBook just fine. From my iPad Pro sound was horribly distorted like a too small audio buffer size was used. No sequence of connecting / switch on / activate digital audio helped with that, so this is something I'll bring up with Austrian Audio support.

It also works just fine from my AK380SS DAP using a micro USB to USB-C cable (though that cable is even less nice as an audio cable than the cables provided with the headphone).

Its hard to compare since switching takes too much time, but I'd say with the USB-C connection bass has a bit more authority.

Using the analog cable connection on the X25 the X55 sounds a bit larger, slightly more dynamic, but still exhibits that slight upper mids problem I'd like to call a glare. To me its sounds a bit like reflections within the large cups, i.e. on the flat inner walls of the pads. The X25 sounds a bit more intimate, spreading sounds a bit less wide than its bigger brother, but also avoids this glare, it sounds a bit more round, more even to me.

Looking at the inside of the pads, there's a softer mesh section near the driver on the X25 pads, while the X55 pads are pleather throughout:

X55 pad inside:


X25 pad inside:

I'm tempted to ad a small foam ring to the lower inside if the X55 pads, but will have to look for something that works...

 

[Sharppain]

You, once changing the pads of my ath40x I forgot to put the foam ovals the have between the driver and the pad. The ath40x started sounding very harsh (some piercing peak appeared), so I started thinking that pads change is the reason. When reinstalling the pads I saw that the foam protective pads are missing and put the back. The harshness disappeared. So, looks like these foam ovals play important dumping for some cans (i.e. Superlux hd681, dt990, dt1990...). In conclusion, play with some thin oval foams (sometimes I get a wet napkin, leave it to dry and do my first testing - it worked for the Superlux. Also I saw that this is often done by Joshua V.

 

[Mark Up]

Come on "dreadful lumpy" - it is a bit of an unique signature. What's the point if all cans sound the same. Btw, it is not the only company that makes focus on mids - Focal does same: Listen Pro, Clear MG; Grado, Koss...

I'm not the only one saying that. Even Plakat noticed the glaring mids. The graph for the X55 shows the lumpiness, and there are many others here, and in other forums, who noticed that. Having Plakat say the mids are tamed, and that there is more sub bass makes me consider buying these now to try, well, from a place with a good return policy.

 

[plakat]

You, once changing the pads of my ath40x I forgot to put the foam ovals the have between the driver and the pad. The ath40x started sounding very harsh (some piercing peak appeared), so I started thinking that pads change is the reason. When reinstalling the pads I saw that the foam protective pads are missing and put the back. The harshness disappeared. So, looks like these foam ovals play important dumping for some cans (i.e. Superlux hd681, dt990, dt1990...). In conclusion, play with some thin oval foams (sometimes I get a wet napkin, leave it to dry and do my first testing - it worked for the Superlux. Also I saw that this is often done by Joshua V.

I'm thinking more about adding a foam or felt layer on the lower part of the pads themselves, i.e. the part I've photographed above. As I said, my theory is that the slight glare in the upper mids I hear on the X55 might be reflexions within the space of the pads, specifically on the rather large flat walls of the X55 pads.

Since the pads are definitely an important part of the tuning, the changed pads on the X25 might help with that in two ways: first the lower part (i.e. near the driver) is a mesh, and second there are no tall parallel walls.

I've been listening a bit more in the meantime, and I really like the X25. Comfort is top notch, sound is really good (especially given its price), only the touch pad I could well live without...

Today I wrote to Austrian Audio, describing my USB-C audio problem on the iPad. During that I though, it might be a problem with my iPad running the current iPadOS 15 Public Beta... unfortunately I don't have an iPadOS 14 device on hand to check with the release version. I've also asked some questions about the Bluetooth connection I was unable to answer from the manual (i.e. how many devices are remembered, how to clear that, if multi-point is supported).

 

[plakat]

After hearing back from Austrian Audio:

The problem with iOS is known and they're working on it. Seems like Apple is doing something strange with USB-C on the iPad Pro.

The X25 does remember more than one Bluetooth device, but will only connect to one source at a time. They decided that multi-point pairing is just too confusing for the user, and that's my feeling as well. It's fine for me to actively select the source if I don't have to repair every time.

Resetting the stored Bluetooth devices: turn off the headphone and then press the button for more than 10sec. Repair to a device thereafter.

 

[MartinGr]

Hi, I'm new here...
I've bought the Hi-X25BT two days ago, and really love them now. It took a little while - and I don't know if the perception changes after some hours of listening, or the phones. At first I thought they are a bit too much on the bright side for me, but not anymore. (I wouldn't see a problem with the upper mids)
But I wonder how the analogue cable works and if there are longer versions from other manufacturers? The analogue signal is transmitted through the USB-C connection, without beeing converted to digital of course. There is no standard for this, I suppose? How is it even possible - as there are no unused contacts in USB-C?

Thanks
Martin

 

[plakat]

Hi, I'm new here...
I've bought the Hi-X25BT two days ago, and really love them now. It took a little while - and I don't know if the perception changes after some hours of listening, or the phones. At first I thought they are a bit too much on the bright side for me, but not anymore. (I wouldn't see a problem with the upper mids)
But I wonder how the analogue cable works and if there are longer versions from other manufacturers? The analogue signal is transmitted through the USB-C connection, without beeing converted to digital of course. There is no standard for this, I suppose? How is it even possible - as there are no unused contacts in USB-C?

Thanks
Martin

Hi Martin,

I also had this question in mind, but did not follow up since I won't use it much... wireless is a nice thing to have after all.
My guess would be that they simply connect some contacts from the USB-C socket to the drivers if the electronic components are inactive. But Austrian Audio support might be able to answer this, especially with regard to the availability of any third-party cables.

 

[Mark Up]

Crickets on this thread. Still in "Pre-Order" status. The reviews have been far less kind about this and its little brother HI-X15. The open HI-X65 seems to have gotten so much good press (paid for by Austrian Audio or otherwise) it explains the sudden emergence of the closed HI-X60 as an upgrade to the lumpy midrange of the HI-X55, perhaps. It would be interesting if they retune it. The deluge of reviews of the 15 / 25 stopping weeks ago could explain that. They're meant to be consumer cans and those folks would likely not be fond of the extreme treble reviewers have consistently complained about. YouTube audio reviewer Oluv's Gadgets was as honest as always, far too much treble.

 

[plakat]

The X60 is not replacing the X55 as per a statement from Austrian Audio: they told me both will be kept in their lineup for different use cases. I've not yet heard the X65 since I'm not that interested in open headphones, but the X60 is really good (and yes, it does not exhibit that slight upper midrange glare).

I've owned the X25 for some time, and I did not hear extreme treble (neither did friends complain who tried them out). I don't think they are directly targeting consumer though, despite the integration of Bluetooth.

Paying for reviews is a big problem... I stop reading if there's anything like 'we received this pair free of charge in exchange for our honest opinion' and its variants. I think the only acceptable thing is a loaned sample that goes back after review. Of course this ties into advertising and the business model of this whole review thing...

 

[RaeCarruth]

Crickets on this thread. Still in "Pre-Order" status. The reviews have been far less kind about this and its little brother HI-X15. The open HI-X65 seems to have gotten so much good press (paid for by Austrian Audio or otherwise) it explains the sudden emergence of the closed HI-X60 as an upgrade to the lumpy midrange of the HI-X55, perhaps. It would be interesting if they retune it. The deluge of reviews of the 15 / 25 stopping weeks ago could explain that. They're meant to be consumer cans and those folks would likely not be fond of the extreme treble reviewers have consistently complained about. YouTube audio reviewer Oluv's Gadgets was as honest as always, far too much treble.

Links to said reviews (the 'unkind' ones)?

 

[Mark Up]

There were at least two others and perhaps Australian Audio bribed them to take them down like they bribed many reviewers to artificially call these great

Just before you see the video, see SOS Magazine call them "fatiguing" for longer listening: https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/austrian-audio-hi-x15

This one features a sound test - This one is brutally entertaining -