Austrian Audio Hi-X55

Great sound!

Very clear sound!

In the beginning one may need to practice himself to find their beauty.

I could use them for many hours without a problem, since their pads are very comfortable. Price to value ratio is super nice, I think it is a great product!

Everything Austrian Audio Makes is gold

Everything Austrian Audio Makes is gold, I had Beyerdynamic DT770, Austrian audio is much more detailed, isolated and less boxy, and just feels more expensive, probably one of the best headphones on the market.

Great for mixing

It serves its purpose. Helps make a better mix. I feel like I am listening to NS 10’s with more bass.

Simply amazing!

Love mixing on the Hi-X55 for its clarity and precise soundstage. It's a real joy and can work many hours without getting tired.

Strange sound but great design

Pro's:

Very comfortable

detachable cable

folds up nicely

feels high quality

clarity in the high-mids

makes a bad mix sound bad

Cons:

Makes a good mix sound bad

huge frequency bumb in the high mids

uneven/strange soundstage

a far less expensive headphone can give you a more accurate mix

the sound is not representative of the actual mix and recording.

First impression:

The Hi-X55’s are MUCH more comfortable than my Sennheiser HD-25’s. Very nice.

I’ll be using these for tracking in my home studio so I need to be able to move around, have little or no bleed, and have an honest sound reference. I need to trust them while getting sounds.

I Like that they have a long cable. Great for tracking.

I like that the cable jack is on the left. My rack is on the left. Perfect. They are lightweight. Nice.

Sound: My first impression is that vocals on songs that I know well are unnaturally boosted. More than I’ve heard before in a headphone. Also the sound stage is noticeably narrow. More like a triangle right in front of my face rather than a full left to right stereo image.

I plug into my RME Fireface UFX and listen to “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometimes” recorded by John Brion with Beck singing. A well recorded, super clean song with all the components of a good reference track.

I’ve listened to this track as a reference, over the years on multiple speakers, in high end studios, in venues, in my car, on my Audeze LCD-X headphones, My Neumann speakers, my Auratone speakers, and my pair of Sennheiser HD-25 tracking phones. I know how this song sounds in the world.

With the Hi-X55 headphones the song sounds “different” I suddenly hear the acoustic guitar sounds like plastic, the vocal harmonies seem to over-power the main vocal in the chours. I hear things I’ve never heard before in the song, it’s true, but the sound signature is “wrong”.

The song does not sound this way anywhere else except in the Hi-X55. That, in my opinion, is bad. On all other reference devices listed above, the ears focus on certain parts of the mix in the same way. The song makes sense. With the Hi-X55’s it’s a different tilt, a different intention, a different feel, another angle. It just sounds “off”. Hard to explain, but what I want most is the truth so I can apply that to finding sounds that are honest while I’m recording or listening back to a song.

My first impression is I can’t do that with the Hi-X55 headphones.

I bought these because in multiple reviews they were called “flat” and “neutral” sounding heaphones. I can 100% tell you right now these are NOT FLAT headphones. There is a easily noticable bump in the high-mid frequencies around the area of the voice, snare, etc.

When I apply some eq in “Total Mix” things start to sound better. That’s a good sign, but if I have to eq them to get them to sound right why not buy a much less expensive set of headhones?

I would say they are not usable as mixing headphones because their peculiar sound signature is not representative of the true sound of the song.

I put them up against the Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pro 80 Ohm The Beyer sounds better and is a more accurate reference headphone. The Beyer is a little less comfortable, has about the same amount of bleed, has the same size cable on the same side (non-detachable) and is half the price of the Hi-X55. Goodbye Austrian Audio, Hello Beyer!

All I wanted is headphones to look inside the "detail"

All I wanted is headphones to look inside the "detail", while creating Audio Assets as an Audio Designer and I can say Austrian Audio Hi-X55 is a good "Tool" to have.

Pros - Solid build with metal and high quality plastic.

- Wide Balanced Audio Spectrum

- The speed on this headphones... 10/10

- Because the speed Clarity is to next lvl

- Great Stereo "Visualization"

Cons - A bit enchanced high frequencies but not disorted

light as a feather

I use them mostly for tracking and they are comfortable and precise . However they are also wonderfull for checking a mix having an outstanding stereo image separation and great overall balance !

Great Headphones, Questionable Cable Design

I bought the Hi-X55 headphones as a replacement for my 10+ year old AKG K-271 MKII (still made in Austria). I use them for pretty much everything, from listening to music, playing piano and guitar, to virtual meetings and video streaming. While the AKGs are great headphones, I find them uncomfortable to wear for more than 2 hours at a time, and decided on the Hi-X55 due to their circumaural design.

Over the years, I've grown used to the neutral sound that studio headphones deliver, and the Hi-X55 is no exception. That's to say that if you're looking for loads of bass, look elsewhere. However, the clarity and dynamics are exceptional, and I think the Hi-X55 is a true improvement over my AKGs.

To illustrate the point: when I first plugged them in, I thought they sounded terribly harsh and compressed, until I realized that my Spotify Audio Quality settings were on "Automatic" (which I didn't find to be a problem with my AKGs). After changing the setting to "Very High", I was absolute blown away and, after a few weeks of daily usage, I can highly recommend the Hi-X55s.

That being said, there's one major design flaw which I find hard to get over (and reason enough to only award 4 stars to these otherwise exceptionally good headphones): the cable plug is based on a 2.5 mm (!) stereo jack, and uses a proprietary bayonette design, which means that your only options are the 3m and 1.2m cables that Austrian Audio offers. I really don't understand this design choice, and I think a standard 3.5 mm jack without the proprietary bayonette would lead to a much improved user experience. I guess it's not a problem if those options work for you, but I really like using my headphones with spiral cables, and at the very least Austrian Audio should offer a spiral cable option (I ended up making my own spiral cable, which was unnecessarily painful).

Great headphone, not for everyone

The build quality is top notch. Tho I have to mention that the rotation of cups is a lot looser on the left side on the right, but other then that, a very well made headphone.

Tho I am worried about clicking I hear from the plastic bits when the headphone clicks to place. When adjusting my headphones on my head with not much force, you can hear the metal parts move against the plastic as if it's going to take the plastic apart.

That was the bit from my K550 headphone which broke too and it looks similar.

If you mix mostly on monitors, certainly get them to check problems areas on. They will stand out immediately. I especially liked them for vocal work (both interview and music vocal mixing.)

However, I feel like the comfort is lacking which is a shame.

Many reviewers praise it but I have a feeling that they don't sit more than 4 hours with it on. It's a tad too heavy which also causes the headphones to creep forward every time you look down.

This sucks because the passive noise reduction is absolutely fantastic.

Also something to look out for is that the cable is really loud compared to other headphones which is annoying when drumming/moving with them. From 40cm down the cable, if you softly tap on it, it sounds like someone is tapping on the cup directly.

Soundstage is fine.

Still debating whether I am keeping this since I do sit for long hours with them on.

EDIT: after mailing with Austrian Audio, the loose left ear was indeed an issue with my specific headphone. This is also what caused the discomfort.

I want to leave this review up incase anyone else has this issue but I did adjust the stars according to as if my headphone would function like most likely your new one.

Mukavat ja laadukkaat

Kiinassa valmistetut AKG kuulokkeeni menivät rikki ja päätin hommata jotain tilalle joka kestäisi käyttöä paremmin. Otin pienen riskin kun näistä ei löytynyt pahemmin arvosteluja ja voin sanoa että riskinotto kyllä kannatti. Hi-X55 kuulokkeet ovat omaan makuuni todella tyylikkään näköiset ja ne on valmistettu Itävallassa laadukkaista materiaaleista. Sanka on metallia ja pehmusteet ja johto ovat kaikki vaihdettavista. Soundia on aina vaikea kuvailla sanallisesti mutta yritän silti. Ääni on yksinkertaisesti erittäin selkeä ja suljetuiksi kuulokkeiksinämä kuulostavat ihmeellisen avoimilta. Välillä unohdan että minulla on kuulokkeet päässä vaikka olen käyttänyt näitä 12 tuntiakin putkeen. Olen herkkäihoinen ja sen lisäksi kalju, jos kuulokkeet aiheuttavat minkäänlaista epämukavuutta niin tunnen sen nahoissani nopeasti. Nämä ovat todella mukavat päässä. Sen lisäksi että korkeiden äänien toisto on todella selkeää niin ne eivät silti raasta korvia. Basso kuulostaa tiukalta mutta lisään sitä silti vähän alapään hyllyllä mätsäämään omaa makua. Hävettää tunnustaa tämä mutta olen vahingossa istunut näiden kuulokkeiden päälle useamman kerran ja ne eivät ole olleet moksiskaan siitä. Jos etsit laadukkaita kuulokkeita jotka kestävät kovaa käyttöä ja ovat mukavia pitää päässä voin suositella näitä lämpimästi.