Austrian Audio Hi-X15 Professional Closed-Back Over-Ear Headphones

I used Grados as my daily drivers for the last 10 years. All closed backs have disappointed me in one shape or form, with an overemphasis on sub-bass, muddy mids and boring treble. Austrian Audio's cheapest offering is surprisingly fantastic pair of cans. For the price it sounds better than most of the 300-400$ mainstream BT headphones. If you are an open-back main, the X15 offer good mids, non-peaky but smooth treble with a nice, not overly aggressive V shaped presentation, as to give the bass a chance to shine. Very efficient, you don't need an AMP for these.The cushions are super comfortable, and very loose 3 knuckle, tight 4 knuckle deep cups. Breathable, but the faux leather will make you sweaty on a hot summers day. The clamp is not too tight, and if you wear spectacles it would not be an issueIts a single, detachable, 3.5 to 3.5mm cable. The one that goes into the left cup is keyed, so be careful not to break it, otherwise you'll need a replacement from AA themselves. Cable feels cheap and is serviceable for the price. Definitely not as bad as Hifiman. Cable is not microphonic, no issues when rubbing against surfaces.Unlike their other higher end offerings, this is made in China, with a mainly plastic build. The headband feels sturdy with the yokes holding the cups made of metal. Feels cheap, but more importantly not squeaky.Overall;Subjective Sound 8/10Objective Sound 7/10 (Good technicals, but not great. Surprisingly spacious for closed backs)Value For Money 10/10I hope this can displace the AT M50x as the de-facto closed back

First off I have to objectify what most reviews say and disparage some myths. The traditional sense of running in does not exist i.e the concept that the components need time to settle and strengthen. Instead running in sound changes occur due to the differences made in the earpads as you wear them.So onto the headphones. First off one thing must be made extremely clear these things will RUIN bad recordings. They have ruined some songs for me because their mix was done on non reference headphones.Everyone describes these as flat or more aptly mid heavy. However, using my music benchmarks I describe these as well balanced if a tiny bit recessed in certain areas.Austrian audio hi-x15 with a fiio e10k Olympus C.Breathe into me by Marian Hill:The sub bass is clearly represented with tight and aggressive thumps. The vocals feel a little forward but well exposed and the claps sounds extremely clear and are extremely immersive with not a lot of shine.Hang my head in shame by Pete molinari:A great song for exposing sound stage harmony and timing. I found the staging of these headphones to be excellent with reverberation appearing clear and atmospheric. However the harmony of these headphones is slightly exposed in this song due to the slightly recessed high and mid bass the song lacks the punchy constant thump to tie everything together. I found myself having to use the bass switch on this song to feel enjoyment.Here we go by norman:The vocals are extremely immersive and they have a clear defined and enjoyable texture. However the drums lose their definition and texture due to their flatter resonance. The kick has a clear and atmospheric thump to it. With the high hat and ride having a clear respresentation. A little disappointed that the bell loses its clear and sharp overtone.American funeral by Joseph angels:The guitar treble and synth are extremely well defined showing their ryhtm and expression very well. The vocals are a little hidden but nicely textured during their lonesome. The bass has very nice tone and maintains its dominance.In conclusion: These headphones are gorgeous with vocals and defining trebles they have power and texture on levels much higher than my hd599. The problems comes from rythm and harmonisation because of its slightly inconsistent response tones the higher mids feel over the top of the lower mids. If the bass has no sub then it has no feeling and it becomes slightly hollow and unrythmic. I feel like my fiio e10k is way too undefined especially with harmonic parts of music. Which is slightly concerning because the e10k and k3 are budget staples. If they can't pull out the definition then I seriously question these headphones affordability for the sound. I suspect using something like the ifi can Dac will be more than enough to seperate the tones.I will update this post once properly ran in.I love the feeling that these headphones have in terms of adjustability. They are amazing especially in terms of comfort and adjustment. These are the first headphones I have had that can successfully move the weight from the upper scalp, upper ear and then to the lower ear depending on preference and headband length.Their cups are extremely comfortable new and feel almost invisible once you have the weight set up properly.These are actually better to me than the comfort legends my hd599s. However over extremely long periods nothing can beat a speaker setup.In comparison to my hd 599s the bass of hi-x15 is much punchier with clear and well defined sub bass. Strangely the hi-x15s scoop out slightly more stage than my open back hd 599s. The textures are much more clearly defined especially on acoustics like guitar. Which I found extremely surprising for headphones costing half the price.Edit:So after about a week of run in at about 4 hours of music a day. I can perfectly describe these headphones.These headphones are a scalpel they are clean, cold and accurate. They represent precision and reality. They are NOT good at being your audio backbone because I found their precision extremely fatiguing after an hour of play. These are for the songs that you sit down and you listen you can feel the atmosphere and the studio. I found my previous comments about rythm and harmony premature as I can now explain that these lack any warmth. They have zero warmth to their tones they are completely uncoloured and because of this most musics bass doesn't mould with the song.I found that with these headphones I stopped listening to the music and instead felt like I could focus on individual stems. Like the vocals or the drums would feel like I was there.Changing it up from my benchmarks before I thought I would give a list of music where you can really feel the detail and atmosphere.White Flag by Bishop Briggs: listen for the guitar plucks and harmony vocals.Asylum by Desi Valentine: listen for the really high pitched riff almost coming from behing your eyes it's weird.Awaken by Valerie Broussard: the synth like sound on most undetailed headphones suddenly becomes refined oboe and violin.The Preacher by Jamie N Commons: There's a shaker that is just hidden behind the drumsBerta Berta by Thomas Vent:The lyrics actually move from the left to behind you.Bulletin by lazy habits: there's a cello just behind you.

Okay, firstly, I got these based purely on reviews both on Amazon and elsewhere on the web. It’s safe to say they are well respected. Now before I go much further, please note that the most important thing to remember about these headphones is this: THEY NEED RUNNING IN!Give them a couple of days also running in, This will soften that hard edge sufficiently to let these beauties shine. So let’s take a look at the build quality. These headphones are partially plastic but they do have some good strong metal where it counts and they do look and feel as if they would survive reasonable daily use quite well. The headband is very comfortable and the ear pads are also comfortable (as far as I’m concerned). There is another reviewer on here who states he has trouble with the ear pads in that they seem to create a vacuum? I personally have not experienced this. Maybe I have an alien shaped head, or maybe the other reviewer does? 🤷🏻‍♂️ Either way, the headphones are very comfortable for me to wear for both short and long periods of time.Now for the important stuff, the sound quality. These headphones sound very clear and are extremely open and revealing. Naturally, being so revealing they will shine with a good source. It does very much seem a case of garbage in – garbage out. Personally I listen to these with a Digital audio player which has a powerful output stage. I also listen to my minidisc player using these headphones. As I hinted at in the title, the bass is rather tight, which wouldn’t normally be a problem, but it is a touch light and could do with a little boost. When I am using my high res DAP, I pop the 62hz bass a notch or two up (leaving everything else neutral) And for me the sound is then perfectly balanced. When listening to my Sony minidisc I use the low Megabass setting (it just has off, low or high) and to me it all sounds spot on.The treble sounds perfectly crisp and clear without sounding at all harsh (unless of course the source recording is harsh). The mid range is also exceptionally clear but doesn’t venture too far into the foreground, and for me this is how music should be heard. As I have already said, the bass is tight and can go very deep but only about 80 to 90% as deep as I would personally like, hence for my ears I prefer to give it a little boost.To summarise, they are not perfect, largely to do with that bass, but as far as the whole package goes they are a good 90% or so perfect to my ears. They are certainly very analytical headphones, but they don’t sound boring, on the contrary they are rather exciting to listen to.As for buying them, if you know what you want and you are looking for revealing, exciting and clear sound then these are definitely a hit and good value for money. If you like bassy party booming sounds then you are looking in the wrong place.