Austrian Audio Hi-X20 Over Ear Headphones, Professional Wired Headphones (Closed Design, Hi-X Driver, Memory Foam Ear Pads, Foldable Design, Detachable Cable, Precise Sound) - Black

Working from home, I needed some cans for my mid-range separates (Marantz CD6007, Sony STR-DH100, Q Acoustic 3020is). The amp and player sit on a shelf 2-3 meters away from the dining room table where I work so a decent length cable (bizarrely difficult to come by and I didn’t want to have to run the signal through an ext. cable) was an absolute must. These fit the bill with a 3m, flexible and unobtrusive cable. Sound wise they are studio headphones, so expect a faithful reproduction of the output signal without any embellishments. My Marantz is hooked up to the amp using a digital output and therefore takes full advantage of the superb in-built DAC, with the Sony providing some light-touch equalisation. so running the phones from the amp headphone output was the obvious choice. I did compare it the Marantz headphone output (with its own amp and gain control) but the Sony output was significantly better. I compared these with some Grado 325x phones (at over £100 more) and the Austrian Audio’s came out on top. I found the Grado’s sound to be too muddy and bass-heavy and the cable - don’t get me started on the cable (if you know, you know). The AA’s lightweight, comfortable design (a mixture of materials, including metal, elevating them above budget status), ample cable and balanced, clear and enjoyable sound making them an absolute winner at this price point. Yes, I really do feel they are better than the Grados on all fronts. The fact that they are closed-back is the icing on the cake for me - now I can listen to Carcass without bothering the wife :-)

These sound absolutely fantastic. Incredibly detailed and every nuance of the music is laid out perfectly. It’s like hearing my favourite songs for the first time again. They are very comfortable to wear too. The only downside is they only come with a 3m cable which is a bit too long for me, but no major issue. Fantastic pair and can’t recommend them enough

For general music listening it needs some eq but after that eq it really sounds great.. Without eq its just a very good analytical sound, not pleasurable for general listening - but very good for mixing The drivers are of really high quality and i can hear all details in songs.. very good headphones, they just need eq if they are also used to just casually listen to music. They handle eq very well and can provide punchy bass, detailed mids, and clear highs. Build quality is also great

I’m not generally a fan of closed back headphones but sometimes they are a necessity. I bought these for the times when I need sound isolation, based on reviews and expecting them to be decent for their price. They turned out to be way better than decent with a gloriously clear sound that I can listen to for hours. Build quality and finish are excellent for the price and they are light and comfortable too. I have owned closed back phones that cost twice the price of these that were nowhere near as good to my ears. I was also astonished to hear details that even my Grado’s don’t reveal. They may be a little bit bright to some but to my 60 year old ears the balance is fine and distortion seems to be very low. I highly recommend them.

I'm a Sennheiser person, so I generally like a smooth midrange and overall neutral tonality. To me, these sound quite thin - they have a scooped-out midrange and an over-emphasised mid-treble. Female vocals are front-of-stage here, although vocals generally lack body. They also seem to have a weird hump in the 90hz region which makes the low-end sound quite hollowed out but does gives it presence. They sound good with well-produced music but they will tear poor recordings to shreds. Imaging is generally pretty good, they don't sound blurry at all, it's pretty easy to pick out different instruments and elements of the soundscape and sonic elements are positioned with good accuracy. Soundstage is actually decent for a closed-back, they do sound quite open, which is impressive - I suspect this is due to the fact that the earpads are quite deep, so the driver is positioned further away from the ear. Don't expect open-backed openness though. Technicalities are generally very good, they do resolve very well and transient response is overall good. You can tell these are decent drivers... but I am a little bothered by the clinical presentation of these. I think if you want a more analytical listen or you generally enjoy decent technical performance, you'll enjoy these, especially for the money. Overall, I do find them listenable and engaging, but they are way off the mark in terms of my tonal preferences. In terms of comfort, durability etc., these are generally comfortable to wear for long periods (especially for a man with a large head like me!), although the headband is a little firm. They don't clamp particularly hard, I'd say the clamp force is well-judged. The earpads are very deep, some of the deepest pads I've encountered actually. The pads do get quite hot in the heat, though. The headphones are plastic but generally feel pretty durable - they definitely look the part, but they don't feel it. I've attached a "back of the envelope" PEQ targeting the DF curve that I cobbled together. I searched for "Hi-X20" on squiglink, credit to Earphones Archive for providing the frequency response. The PEQ aims to bring more tonal weight to the midrange. it does the following: - adds a sub-bass boost (my personal preference) - removes the weird 90hz hump - adds body to the midrange below 2.3kHz - recesses the upper-midrange / lower-treble - adds some much-needed sparkle in the upper-treble If you want less midrange, reduce the gain on the 2.3kHz low-shelf, which should open them up a bit and get them sounding a bit brighter. Before EQ, for me these are 3 stars. After EQ they're an easy 5 star because I was able to get a tonality that I enjoy combined with the technical ability of these 'phones, so I'm happy with them overall. I've gone with 4 stars as a compromise. Hope this helps!

I really wanted to love these. I've been looking for some comfy, flat, studio headphones, and from everything I've seen and read, these would be perfect. They weren't, unfortunately. The build quality is great, they feel extremely sturdy, but they're also extremly clunky. They're rather big and stick out from your head a lot. This isn't a problem in a studio setting, but not something you'd wear in public if that's your thing. They ARE comfy. The ear cups are large, the padding soft, and they fit perfectly over my ears. There's no pressure points or discomfort, the clamp force isn't insane like some... BUT, they also leaked a ton of audio. I wasn't expecting that from the reviews. I'm not sure if the pair I had were defective, but unusable for tracking in my case. They come with just one 3m cable. Other headphones come with multiple cable lengths and curly options. This was a disappointment as they have a twist lock specific to Austrian Audio, so you'd have to purchase any other leads from someone who sells the exact cables - this isn't so much of an issue for headphones that have been around for a long time and stood the test of time, but these are pretty new and there's not many options. This goes for spare parts such as ear cups too. A younger company, with younger products... the 3rd party options just aren't out there right now. Speaking of earcups, they do have a bit of a fold when you put them on. This could be a weak spot in the cups themselves causing wear... which brings the whole available parts bit above in to play. In the box is a soft bag too. It's nothing to write home about, but at least it's something to protect them from dust and scratches. Not something you'd want to use to throw them in a bag. You can purchase a hard case for them, I've also seen them bundled with the headphones. Sound wise, they didn't sound as crisp or have as much clarity as I was lead to believe. Compared to other headphones in the same price range they sounded a bit 'distant', weak even, definitely not the clinical sound I'd been expecting. I can't quite put my finger on it. I ended up returning them, purely because they don't live up to the expectations or their rivals in the same price range. I can't help but feel a lot of the videos and review sites aren't that impartial. For something I loved the sound and look of before purchase... they just didn't live up to it, and I REALLY wanted to love them.

Really good sound quality and very comfortable at a very competitive price.

Good quality Good price and delivery arrived on time Cable length good enough very comfortable fit

I needed a pair of closed backs for tracking. Being around other studios, I tried the standard options - sennheiser, beyer, ath, sony. The HI-X20 in my opinion combines in it the best attributes of all those. The headphones are super light like the mdr and have wonderful noise isolation like hd280, while sounding heaps better and not squeezing your brains out. The sound in general was very surprising, mainly how fast the drivers felt. All the transients from kick attacks, cymbals, acoustic guitar, sounded super crisp. So did the low-end. I was surprised how real it sounded. But I also mix in HD650 which have very little lows. Build quality is sold, flawless I'd even say. The detachable cable is nice and long, not coiled. Finally I believe these are very fairly priced. Great job AA

Ho avuto l'occasione di provare parecchie cuffie negli anni ma nessuna con questa qualità audio a questo prezzo. Analitiche ma non affaticanti, comode, bassi presenti al punto giusto davvero molto competenti . Unico neo cavo troppo lungo

For the money, these headphones deliver a full and pleasing sound experience. Importantly, the company has excellent customer service, The adapter was missing from the package, after contacting the company the adapter was promptly sent out.

Muy cómodos da tener por varias horas, sound incredible, definición del sonido igualmente muy bien definido. Las utilizo por editing audio y por tocar la guitarra. Escucho cosas y particulares con estos cascos que con otros no se eschucban

Es que de verdad son buenos. No es común encontrar algo tan bueno. No solo es la calidad extraordinariamente precisa del audio, es su construcción sólida, diadema de metal, cable de 3 metros. Excelentes almohadillas, es también la garantía de 3 años, y el servicio. Como añadidura, trae una pequeña estampa con su logotipo como anteriormente hacía apple. Es la clase de atención a los detalles que hace especial la experiencia de compra