HEDDphone critical review
Critical because there is so much to criticize on the HEDDphone.
The thing is so hyped here and so disappointing at my place.
And no, my specimen is not broken, both sides left and right measure exactly the same.
Remark:
I tried to like the HEDDphone, but finally failed to.
There are flawed headphones in my collection that I do like for something they can do very good.
This part is missing with the HEDDphone.
Built:
The build quality is a bad joke, even if you don't take the price of €1600 into consideration.
EVERY joint is loose and squeaks when moved, even sometimes when it's already on your head.
During the few days of use the clicks for the headband length adjust wore out, got weaker and weaker. One side is already going down full length by it's own weight now.
Probably a mechanism made from the wrong kind of plastic.
Sennheiser does use plastic too for the headband adjust clicks, but their's last forever!
Fit, Ergonomics:
The headbands and gimbal geometry is simply wrong constructed, nowhere there is enough travel and play to fit the HEDDphone to "nonstandard" heads.
This is for the longer Version 2 headband.
The lower parts of the gimbal, which serves cosmetic purpose only, comes in the way of the cable connectors, so that the earpads might not come flat on your head.
Sound:
Here's where the real problems start.
Resonating grid:
The outside cover grids are extremely resonating, you can hear that isolated when you stroke across them with your finger nail.
It's like strings mounted on an instrument's body, not just sound coupling through air, very annoying.
This resonance is clearly destroying the sound.
Imagine a one second long tonal vibration accompanying every sound.
Damping the grids by slightly putting fingers on it (at the edge outside the back opening, to avoid reflections) makes a night and day difference in the sound.
A big layer of "fog" is removed.
Sound inconsistency:
The sound is extraordinary position dependent.
Every tiny shift up, down, forward or back changes the sound colors.
If placed too high or front on the head the sound becomes more dull and nasal.
Which is especially bad, because the headband adjustment range is too small, even with the longer version headband I have.
Not usable for studio monitoring:
There's no reproducible sound one can get accommodated to, you would not know what to rely on when mixing.
Each time you place the HEDDphone on your head it sounds different.
My guess is, the sound tuning by using different sized "folds" in the A.M.T. driver causes an uneven soundfield inside the cup.
My 2nd guess, there are too many resonating chambers, reflections and diffractions inside these enormously big cups.
What, e.g., is the one and a half cm outside part of the cup, partly closed, good for - except for creating a sound resonance?
I question the construction in all this regard - I wouldn't if the result would be convincing.
Tonal balance:
Apart from this, sound character in general - independent from positional sound changes, with or without dampened grid:
There is a clearly audible midrange honk, instruments and vocals sound dull and hard at the same time.
The reason is a frequency response showing a resonance that causes a dip at 450 and a sharp peak at 730 Hz with a 5 dB jump in between.
Instrument warmth is dialed out, mid range hardness is boosted, and the transition is abrupt.
The treble sounds colored and dull too.
From 4 kHz up there is a constant up-and-down, additionally a 10 dB deep notch around 6 kHz reduces brilliance and transparency.
Damping the resonating grid makes a 2 dB difference for this notch BTW, but does not remove the problems.
In general the HEDDphone sounds like listening from an all back, last row, corner seat, in a concert hall.
If you now think, HEDDphone's dark character makes overly sharp recordings more bearable - no!
The midrange and treble irregularities cause those recordings to sound even more annoying.
With more balanced sounding 'phones a down-EQ of the treble helps on those recordings, but not with the HEDDphone.
The only positive I found:
The HEDDphone can sound more "punchy" with some contemporary pop, rock and EDM recordings.
Response to Equalizer:
Not good!
I tried to EQ out the obvious flaws but this did not work as well as it does with other 'phones, probably because the flaws' cause are acoustic resonances that don't go away with EQ.
Compared to, with a wide variety of different styles of music:
Pop, Rock, Jazz, Classic, EDM, Electro, "Audiophile",... contemporary and older.
Using different DAC's, amps and cabling, but those didn't make any difference.
Precide Ergo A.M.T:
The only other commercially available headphone with full range A.M.T. driver is the Precide Ergo A.M.T that comes for roughly €1100 list price.
Driven from a 3W amplifier and EQ'ed in the subs (it's a completely open construction that rolls off in the lower bass range, but can easily take lots of EQ there) simply eats the HEDDphone for breakfast.
In contrary to the HEDDphone the Ergo A.M.T.'s larger driver, constructed with different diaphragm material and principles, does what one would expect, delivers all the typical A.M.T. attributes in spades:
Clean and natural midrange, extreme transparency, brilliant but not offending treble, wide and deep soundstage, pinpoint instrument separation and a convincing amount of musicality.
Simply fun!
Sounds like listening from the best and most expensive seat in a concert hall - center, row 12, with a full and balanced perspective on the orchestra/band/artist.
STAX SR L-700:
Street price about €1600.
For some the, soundwise, best STAX available, needs a special high voltage amplifier for electrostatic headphones.
Owning both the more expensive SR-009 and SR-007 too I'd partly support that.
SR L-700 has modest requirements on the amp part, can be driven by anything that is built from STAX or 2nd party with ease.
The SR L-700 has the typical STAX midrange boost around 1.2 kHz that I dislike, in form of a smooth, acceptable coloration, and less sub-bass (rolloff below 40Hz).
Other than that it's simply great in every aspect, with the extra of the unbeatable electrostatic's definition.
The HEDDphone is no comparison, cannot compete.
Others:
I compared to several other headphones too, including Sennheiser HD-800S, HD-650, AUDEZE LCD-2rev2, HIFIMAN HE-4xx.
Going into detail would be too much here, but even the $160 HIFIMAN 4xx is preferable in my opinion.
Conclusion:
The HEDDphone feels like a prototype or a typical first try of a company that has not much experience with headphones, pointing in the direction what the way could be, but there are still some miles to go.
They should have beta tested with people that are more critical and more experienced.
Ergo A.M.T. shows what the Air Motion Transformer can do:
Combining advantages from the three more common principles: dynamic, planar magnetic, electrostatic.
The HEDDphones main flaw is the tonality, that might work with some recordings, but as "studio monitor" is a complete fail.
I tried to EQ out the obvious flaws but this did not work very well.
The measured frequency response (even not too nice) looks better than the thing sounds.
This is a really bad sign.
Built quality and ergonomics is the 2nd big flaw.
Strangeness:
In the title: Shelby Lynne, Just A Little Lovin', (TIDAL) at position 3:03 the vocal recording distorts, audible on EVERY system and headphones I own.
NOT on the HEDDphone.
No idea why this can be.
Final word:
Listening with headphones is very personal.
What I've written here this is my experience, which I have a lot, privately and as a recording engineer.
Your mileage may vary, and for sure it does.