Austrian AudioHi-X65 Professional Open-Back Over-Ear Headphones, Black

These sound absolutely lovely. The detail is incredible, with a great soundstage and crisp, clear mids and treble. But at the same time, they're not tiring to listen to: they still have some warmth. Comfortable too.

Had these headphones for around a week and have used them to mix and master a few songs, as well as used them for working in my edit suite. They are supremely comfortable and have a very good soundstage - neither too wide, nor too narrow. I am used to using closed backs (Beyers or Audio Technica) for recording instruments, so wanted a pair of open-backs for mixing and listening pleasure. I pair mine with Sonarworks Sound Reference ID to get a flat EQ curve when used for mixing - but these are quite flat up to around the 1k mark in any event. However the DETAIL these cans produce is a revelation and they are very responsive when dealing with transients (like drums). I thoroughly recommend them.

On my first listening I wasn't too impressed. They just sounded alright. I'd say about four or five days of use from new. The sound opened up and now they sound Very Good. I use them mostly to check mixes in relation to recording mastering quality. These headphones really do sound realistically good. I am pleased with them.

Really good wide soundscape. Crystal clear audio in every aspect. Not the most comfy headset and expensive, if you can stomach that then it's a real 10/10

Comfortable and sounds great. Plastics could be stronger.

I have some ancient cheap sennheissers that I thought time to replace, However in a back to back play off the senheissers won hands down in sound quality and fitting so returned these. Very disappointing.

Superb headphones. Using them with my Fiio M11 ESS and Tidal Masters.Outstanding sound. You can hear every nuance.Best headphones I've owned. Excellent separation, brilliant soundstage, and they are loud.I've had loads of headphones and these are the best I've heard. I'm no audiophile, but I love my music, and these certainly hit the spot.Obviously, as they are open back, they leak sound, but use them in a quiet environment and your ears will be rewarded. I get goosebumps with some of my music. Well worth a listen!

What a disappointment.Comfort is so-so. I'll write more about the pads below, however, the clamping force is relatively high and with the cups being long, I initially found them pushing too hard on the bottom of my jaw. It's something I got used to though.The sound quality from these headphones for the price is incredibly good. Even minor details in songs that you may not have heard before come alive with these. From Paul McCartney breathing at the beginning of Hey Jude to Michael Jackson clicking his finger slightly off-beat in Billie Jean, these bring out detail and allow you place instruments and vocals easily within the soundstage.The bass really slams and is very well controlled, stopping in an instant as and when it should do. The crescendo about 2m 30s into the Royal Philharmonic rendition of Jack Sparrow Pirates of the Caribbean fills your ears and leaves you feeling you are right in the performance.It really is incredible. But it's also incredibly boring. They are quite analytical, so rather than enjoying a cohesive sound of music, everything has its place and feels separated from the rest. This means that despite the quality imaging and nice (but intimate) soundstage, the whole package sounds flat and lacking in musicality.For instance, the Sennheiser HD560S headphones lack in clarity, soundstage and imaging when compared to these Austrian Audio HI-X65 but they are a joy to listen. I found myself tapping my foot to most tunes listening to the Sennheiser, but not so much with the Austrian Audio's. For me that says a lot - listening to music through headphones should be about pleasure. The Austrian Audio's, despite their excellent sound quality, just don't bring that pleasure about. They sterilise the music.Now onto the biggest issues with these - the build quality. On opening the box, it's a nice experience, the headphones are well presented with some useful additional extras. Initially, they seem to be very well made, almost industrial in appearance.The quality stops there. I plugged in the detachable headphone cable and then plugged it into my phone using the Apple headphone convertor (an exceptional DAC for the price by the way). I got muffled noise, extremely distant vocals and just general terribleness. Thinking that my phone couldn't drive them (despite the impedance and sensitivity suggesting it should), I transferred them to a portable Fiio DAC. Same issue.Eventually, I transferred them to my stereo with a dedicated headphone stage and experienced what they should sound like. Not Ideal, as I wanted to be able to use them as a portable set.Having spent a couple of hours listening to them and comparing between headphones, I tried them again on my phone. They sounded just like they should again. Brilliant?No.It wasn't until I moved to get something, that the sound went again. Despite the headphone socket being a twist and lock type, the connection was faulty. This got to the point that any slight movement would change the connection and the sound would be lost.I started a return and ordered a new pair immediately as the sound quality for the price really was very good (I could live with the boring aspect of it for chilled out classical and ambient listening). However, I then took a good look at the rest of the construction and had a big rethink.The pads are terribly poor quality. They are very soft and deform easily, causing your ears to touch the driver covers. The pleather is thin and warm on the skin. There are numerous online reports of others complaining that it deteriorates quickly - within months - and replacement pads are expensive. The pads are not interchangeable with other models either, so you are stuck buying from Austrian Audio.The earpieces are also attached to a relatively substantial piece of metal. However, this metal slider runs into a piece of plastic, with the metal going into the uppermost section of the plastic (so the thinnest part). Why they couldn't have been designed to have a more substantial amount of plastic around the slider I don't know, but it is a serious failure point. Again, there are a number of reports of this plastic failing within a short period of time. It is non-replaceable too, so once it goes (and in my opinion, there is a good chance it will even if looked after as the pressure of the headphones pushing out when on your head rests almost entirely on this thin plastic), that's the headphones done. There are also complaints about the customer service offered by Austrian Audio, but I cannot comment on that, having no experience with them.The poor build quality killed it for me. Personally, I suggest that you look elsewhere as you will not find a pair of headphones that has enough longevity in the Austrian Audio HI-X65. It's a shame as with a bit of tuning, they have the potential to be a really great set of headphones. There's way better out there for the same price.