HEDDphone Impressions @ 24 Hours Listening/48 Hours Run-Time
Stress and nervous tension are now serious social problems in all parts of the galaxy, and it is in order that this situation should not be in any way exacerbated that the following facts will be revealed in advance*:
The HEDDphone is a credible, great-sounding and impressive, if imperfect, high-end headphone, even more so as a first release and especially at the price point they’ve landed at.
And yes, I like them.
Quite a bit.
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Note that it’s possible my impressions may shift a bit with more listening, but probably not by much. And with that out of the way, and in the hope it heads off any gun-jumping and false interpretations of what follows - here, as they say, we go:
Comfort
It’s an issue.
How big an issue will mostly depend on the size of your noggin.
While I am not personally bothered by heavier headphones, after all these are no worse than my LCD-4 or RAD-0, they’re still weighty. A bigger issue is that the weight seems to concentrated be at the extreme ends of the unit, so the effects of inertia make it quite a bit more noticeable when you turn your head than it is with other cans.
Clamp pressure is a non-issue, particularly with the big (yep, really big), deep, plushy pads. But those same pads lead to some heat build-up that becomes a bit uncomfortable after a while.
And yes, as you’ve read elsewhere by now, the yokes really are surprisingly limited in their adjustment and length. While they do fit me - they’re fully extended to do so, and even then that has the headband pressing on my head enough to cause a hot-spot (oddly, right where the indent in it is).
I would definitely appreciate another half an inch on either side, but could certainly live with them as is. That may not be the case for people with larger heads, or ears that sit a bit lower - and they may not be able to get the cups to cover they rears properly at all.
Still, this is fixable and there have been rumors that a change is in order and it will be available to existing owners in a user-addressable form (no need to send anything back). I’ll confirm this if/as/when I can.
Hype, Giant-Killing and Reality
Is the HEDDphone a giant-killer?
The hype around them has certainly built to a point where one could be forgiven for assuming they were. And they’re of sufficient size and mass that you could probably bludgeon a giant to death with them.
But, beyond that?
No, not really.
Which isn’t really surprising. True giant-killing products are exceedingly rare. I’ve seen maybe a handful (4 or 5) in over 30 years as an audio/music enthusiast. And the hype train here really had gained such massive momentum that it was probably impossible for any product to deliver on everything that had been projected or claimed for them. Especially where a lot of that hyperbole was driven by forum-dwellers that had either never heard the product, nor its competitors, in the first place … or were based on limited exposure to earlier prototypes heard under far from ideal conditions.
It does happen. It did with the Meze Empyrean, to cite another case. And it’s a shame for all involved when it does.
Fortunately the HEDDphone comes a lot closer to matching the hype than most products manage. So … while not perfect, a trait they share with every other headphone in existence, they are excellent. They’re also unusually good value, perhaps even the best are their price point. And they are different from anything else available, with some very impressive abilities.
In reality, I don’t see them unseating the SR1a, Utopia, Abyss, LCD-4, Susvara or Mysphere here, even though in some cases there are individual aspects of the HEDDphone’s performance that are better. After all flagship, expensive, products sell for a variety of reasons - not always, perhaps not even commonly, related to value. Sometimes the mere fact that something is expensive (or the most expensive) increases its perceived value or worth. And as a result, I don’t see the HEDDphone meaningfully altering the pricing for flagship headphones - existing or in the future.
But …
I would be VERY concerned right now if my brand’s flagship, or my best selling model, was anywhere around the price point of the HEDDphone. And that means things like the LCD-3/X/MX4, Ether 2, anything from HiFiMAN shy of the HE-6(SE)/Susvara, the Abyss Diana Phi, HD800S, Focal’s Clear and even Meze’s Empyrean …
If HEDD Audio can scale production of this thing, without impacting consistency or performance, those models are in for a fight. And in that sense, they may well prove to be quite disruptive.
Sound
At a high-level … the HEDDphone delivers mostly neutral tonality with a little excess exuberance on the high-end and a tad less substance on the bottom end than I’d consider perceptually neutral (and also compared to the Harmann curve, which emphasizes low-end level more than I do). They are very fast, extremely resolving and have excellent dynamic punch (maybe a bit to much, but I’ll come back to that), and expansive stage rendering.
Note that assessments here were made using a combination of Chord DAVE, RME ADI-2 DAC fs (4493), SPL Phonitor X and Woo Audio WA234 MKII MONO.
Timbre
Very convincing, and especially so with powerful, dynamic, instruments. Piano, which is typically a bit of a sod to get right, is natural and believable. There is an occasional metallic-hint to the timbre, which so far I’ve heard mostly with percussion, but it really is occasional (it’s evident in David Felysian’s “Drum Warfare” if you want to try it for yourself).
Bass
Honestly, the only thing lacking here is a dB or two of level - which is similar to the Focal Utopia. The HEDDphone’s bass is fully extended, extremely fast, well delineated and articulated, taught, tight, tuneful, precise and imparts very solid slam and punch. Add on a bass-shelf EQ to the tune of a couple of dB from about 60 Hz down, and it is in Abyss, LCD-4 and (EQ’d) SR1a territory. Even without EQ, they’re not really bass-shy. A bit light vs. the Harmann curve, and a bit lower in level than I’d personally find ideal, but outside of things like the Abyss, LCD-4 or Empyrean (which takes it a bit too far in my opinion), this is an impressive showing.
Adding more than about 2 dB of bass starts to intrude on the lower mids - possibly due to the larger/deeper pads/cavities, so go careful here. They won’t take EQ like the SR1a (though they don’t need it as much here, either).
Midrange
A bit forward relative to the bass. Occasionally there’s some shoutiness (mostly male vocals it seems) at work (might be addressable with a modest EQ cut around 2-3 kHz). Tenser female vocals, such as Julia Fordham’s “Comfort of Strangers”, or Heart’s “All Eyes”, exhibit some sibilance not heard with other cans. But extremely detailed and clear.
There’s much more good here than bad, but if you listen to a lot of music that excites the “issues” I cite above, either a little EQ maybe warranted, that could be more annoying. And it is possible this fades with a bit more use - these are less than 48 hours old so far.
Treble
Extension is excellent. There’s good air/space. Occasionally there’s a little bit of “zing”, or “splashiness”, where percussive brass, or Tamborine is involved. Listen to the tinkling of the zills on the tambourine in “Das Kommisar” (Atomic Blonde OST) and they’re a little too piercing and tense vs. the actual instrument. But, again, this doesn’t occur in every similar circumstance.
Dynamics & Transients
Macro-dynamics are superlative. We’re talking Focal and Abyss level, maybe even approaching the SR1a. The HEDDphone can hit hard and fast.
Though when it comes to micro-dynamics they seem a little exaggerated, and that takes a bit away from the nuance and subtlety I find in the gravel of Cohen’s voice or the micro-stuttered draw/drag of a bow over strings. This is, however, more desirable than the tendency of many planar-cans to simply smooth out/gloss over such things.
Pizzicato and plucked-strings show just how fast the HEDDphone’s transient response can be. SR1a, Mysphere and Utopia are the exemplars in this regard, but these get very close.
Stage/Imaging
Lateral rendering is expansive, has excellent separation, avoids the 3-blob issue, and frequently sounds like it extends from much farther out than the perceptual location of the drivers. Depth is another matter; which is quite shallow and essentially flat. Depending on the track, they project either right in-front, or level with, my eyes (think “Row 1”). And I hear no depth-wise localization - which is pretty much the same with most headphones.
With the SR1a and, to a lesser extent, the Mysphere, there’s actual, perceivable, depth-wise spatialziation apparent. Even the Abyss and HD800(S) have some limited depth-wise separation. I don’t hear it here. But the width and positioning within that lateral slice is still vivid and easily discerned.
There’s a diagram in my upcoming SR1a review to illustrate this, I’ll re-draw it as a comparison here and post it in a subsequent post.
Overall
Yes, I’ve only had about 24 hours of proper listening time, out of 48 hours total run-time, but I have to say that I’m both quite impressed and rather taken with the HEDDphone. Sure, they have a few, relatively minor, issues when compared to the very best of the best out there. But they’re significantly better than I’ve come to expect from new entrants and particularly so at this price point, and are an extremely enjoyable and engaging listen.
It’s easy to say they’re a viable high-end contender. And by “high-end”, I mean $2K and up. They have some individual traits that beat out some aspects of some of the ~$3-4K stuff. Exactly where they line-up overall will require more listening and comparison. But they’re certainly a solid offering where they are, and I am sure they will make many question spending more elsewhere, even if they’re not directly challenging the very best in all categories.
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*With apologies to Douglas Adams.
