Austrian Audio Hi-X65

Measured

Keith Howard's Headphone Test Lab scores it 68%/66% (L/R) against Harman's predicted preference model — a real departure from the target, not a rounding error. Sonarworks measures a roughly 10dB lift around 10kHz over otherwise neutral bass and low mids; SoundStage!'s GRAS rig reads an upward tilt with extra energy between 400Hz and 1kHz.

vs. listeners — Both camps are right about different properties. The lift is real and large, which is what the bright camp hears; it is also smooth and resonance-free with no peaks to catch on, which is what the neutral camp means by cohesive.

Measured

Sonarworks: "the overall shape is resonance-free, which makes the sound smooth, yet very bright due to the 10 dB increase around 10kHz." SoundStage!'s spectral-decay plot is clean apart from some hash between 2.3 and 3.5kHz, which Butterworth associates with a good sense of air rather than with a fault.

vs. listeners — The energy is measurably there, so the bright camp is not imagining it — but the same measurements show it arriving without resonance or a narrow peak, which is why listeners who dislike bright headphones in general keep reporting that this one does not fatigue them.

Measured

Keith Howard measures bass extension below 20Hz on both channels (-6dB referenced to 200Hz). Sonarworks crosses 1% THD only at 50Hz, and almost all of it is second harmonic. SoundStage!'s uncompensated GRAS curve nonetheless reads less bass than a DT 900 Pro X, an MDR-7506 or a K371 when all are referenced at 500Hz.

vs. listeners — Extension and level are different properties, and this headphone has one without the other: the driver plays down below 20Hz cleanly, but sits lower through the bass than its rivals do on the same rig. headphonecheck.com states the resolution plainly — "if you slightly boost the bass frequencies via equaliser, you’ll notice that these headphones have enormous reserves at the lower end of the spectrum."

Measured

SoundStage!'s GRAS rig reads "more emphasis between 400Hz and 1kHz, and less in the 1 to 2kHz range" than its comparison set, and Sonarworks finds the same shape: "The attenuation in the high-mid region diminishes the presence and robs the signal of some bite." Sound On Sound heard the low-mid side of it as an occasional touch of boxiness.

Measured

The objective backing is the decay and distortion data rather than the frequency response: SoundStage! reports "Distortion is very low with these headphones", rising to just 3% THD at 20Hz at 100dBA, over a spectral-decay plot that is clean but for a narrow 2.3-3.5kHz band.

Measured

SoundStage!'s isolation sweep puts it between the closed-backs and the open-backs it was compared against — Butterworth concludes it "might more accurately be referred to as semi-open, because their isolation falls between the closed-back and open-back models". A partly sealed cup is a plausible reason it can read smaller than a fully open rival.

Measured

Keith Howard measured clamping force at 4.7N (1.1lbf) for a 150mm head width and a weight of 312g without cable — moderate figures for an average head, which is exactly why the complaints cluster among people wearing it at maximum extension.

Measured

Amazon US publishes signed per-topic tallies for this listing and they separate the two cleanly: build quality runs 6 positive to 0 negative, durability 1 positive to 4 negative. Its star histogram is correspondingly bimodal (63% five-star, 20% one- or two-star) while Thomann's verified-buyer pool sits at 4.47 from 57 with only 7% at one or two stars. Austrian Audio extended the warranty on registered units from three years to five in March 2024.

vs. listeners — The same owners who report the crack usually rate the headphone highly otherwise, and plenty of long-term owners report no problem at all — so this reads as a stress concentration that some people reach and others never do, not as general fragility. The mechanism owners describe ties it back to head size: the further you spread the headband, the more load those sleeves carry.

Measured

SoundStage! measured its attenuation against two open-backs and a closed-back and placed it between them, calling it closer to semi-open than open. Practically: not usable near an open microphone, but quieter to sit beside than a Grado.

Measured

The field it is priced against has moved since 2021: the Sennheiser HD 490 Pro, Sony MDR-MV1 and Neumann NDH 30 all arrived later and, on Sonarworks' own testing, cost €60 to €230 more. At current street prices the Hi-X65 undercuts all three.