Austrian Audio Hi-X65 Are the Best Value-for-Money Wired Headphones on the Market

Never before have there been so many headphones available for the home hi-fi music enthusiast, with great options to fit every price point. I’ve tried multi-thousand-dollar headphones that sound like the band is playing just for you in a large concert hall, and great entry-level models that let you hear your favorite songs as you never have before, without paying top dollar. In a previous piece, I recommended a Hi-Fi setup that costs less than a premium pair of Bluetooth headphones but sounds much better.The best products of all categories tend to be in the mid-range, where money buys the most meaningful upgrades, before diminishing returns kick in. This is also true with wired headphones, and the best of the mid-range are the Austrian Audio Hi-X65.Austrian Audio isn’t one of the better-known brands in the sector, but it was founded by industry experts from AKG, and their in-studio products has earned them great respect in the industry. Their Hi-X headphones — named after their use of a traditional moving-coil design — have all been well-reviewed, but their X65 is the first application of this in an open-backed headphone, and it truly brings them to life. Their sound is rich and extremely clean, putting vocals at the front. Though they are intended for studio use, the same tuning choices that make them excellent for studio use make them incredible for the home listener. Namely, whereas some open-back headphones flex their expanded soundstage in a way that is entertaining but sometimes distracting, the Hi-X65 achieves a nice balance, making the music hover around your ears.Courtesy Austrian Audio Given their flatter “smile” EQ, they are less bass-heavy than more “fun” V-curve studio headphones — like the famous Audio-Technica M50X — but the bass is direct, even, and present, and even when listening to hip-hop albums like “Birds in the Trap Named McKnight” by Travis Scott, I never found the bass lacking. They are surprisingly bright for studio headphones but not as much as headphones from Grado and never in a bad way. Their sound is always clear but never dull. On the contrary, combine thick bass, energetic treble, and a wide soundstage, and you get a dynamic sound that I prefer to anything else I’ve yet to try. Vocal separation is incredible, and if you love jazz or classical music, the instrument imaging lets you hear every little detail. Their sound isn’t as flamboyant as their chief competitor, Grado’s SR325x, but in back-to-back listening to jazz, hip-hop, R&B, and eclectic music like Swamp Dogg’s “Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune,” I preferred the X65.I did find metal a little flat on the X65, given the even bass, but they take an EQ tweak well. Boosting mids and bass made Deafhaven’s legendary “Sunbather” pure bliss. As noted, they are open-back, so sound bleeds from them, but less than mesh-backed open-back headphones, like the Grados. The design is less important than the sound, but even so, they aren’t an ugly, plasticky professional kit, and the blend of visible screws and cold metal surfaces gives them a certain industrial chic. Their durability lives up to the aesthetic, with premium plastics, plush oval ear pads, and they fold up small without ever feeling flimsy. They have a decent clamping force on the ears but never uncomfortably so, and they feel light on the head. They also come with two removable cables, one short and one long, and a soft fabric bag for traveling.The Bang & Olufsen Beosound A5 Speaker. Courtesy of Bang & Olufsen With an impedance of 25 Ohms, you can run the X65 using the 3.5mm connection from a laptop audio jack or mobile dongle, but don’t; the sound is a little thin at low volume, and your MacBook can’t give it the power it deserves.Plug them into an amplifier though, and you’ll love your music as you never have before. At roughly $400, there’s nothing close to their price that sounds this good. They are, bar none, my favorite headphones.

Austrian Audio Hi-X65 Are the Best Value-for-Money Wired Headphones on the Market

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