INTRODUCTION
Itâs been some time since I was able to do a review. I moved! And moving is exhausting. But, the HiFiGuides community had my back as always and had plenty of gear stacked up for me to check out once I got settled. One piece of that gear is the Hedd Heddphone. The Heddphone is an exciting product because it brings a new driver technology to the headphone market, namely AMT drivers. Before Heddphone, AMT drivers had been mostly relegated to high-frequency reproduction in speakers. I know that as of this writing in late June 2021 the Heddphone isnât the newest kid on the block, but itâs still one of the only AMT-based headphones out there (Goldplanar GL850 being the only other one that I know of), which makes it exciting to check out! Letâs dive inâŠ
TL;DR
Sonically the Heddphone is an intriguing entry into the headphone world with its AMT drivers. Those drivers bring lots of detail and good timbre. Heddphone pulls off excellent detail retrieval without sounding forward or aggressive in its presentation, as well. The tuning of the Heddphone is likely best suited for mellow, acoustic music, with piano music being a real strength. It has a very pleasant, polite presentation that does little wrong, but isnât very dynamic and does little to excite. Still, the future could be fun with AMT driver headphones. The physical comfort is poor, though, and will likely be a dealbreaker for many.
KNOW YOUR REVIEWER
My preferred genres are rock/metal and classical/orchestral music. Iâm getting to know jazz more and enjoying quite a bit. I also listen to some EDM and hip-hop. My hearing quirks include a high sensitivity to midrange frequencies from just under 1KHz to around 3Khz, give or take. My ears are thus quick to perceive âshoutinessâ in headphones in particular. I describe âshoutinessâ as an emphasis on the âouâ sound of âshout.â Itâs a forwardness in the neighborhood of 1KHz and/or on the first one or two harmonics above it (when I make the sound âooooowwwwwâ into a spectrum analyzer the dominant frequency on the vowel sound is around 930Hz, which also means harmonic spikes occur again at around 1860Hz and 2790Hz). In the extreme, it can have the tonal effect of sounding like a vocalist is speaking or singing through a toilet paper tube or cupping their hands over their mouth. It can also give instruments like piano, but especially brass instruments, an added âhonkâ to their sound. I also get distracted by sibilance, or sharp âsâ and âtâ sounds that can make ssssingers sssssound like theyâre forssssssing esssss ssssssounds aggresssssssively. Sibilance does not physically hurt my ears nearly as quickly as shout, though. Itâs distracting because itâs annoying and unnatural. Finally, in a new clause in this section, Iâm discovering that I have a preference for more subtle detail. I like good detail retrieval and hearing what a recording has to offer, but I prefer that presentation to what many would consider relaxed and subtle rather than aggressive of detail-forward. To my ear, more subtle detail-retrieval sounds more realistic and natural than aggressive, detail-forwardness. There is a balance here, though, because detail retrieval can get too relaxed and that can sound unnatural, as well. Readers should keep these hearing quirks and preferences in mind as they read my descriptions of sound.
FEATURES & BUILD
Iâm not going to go into much depth on the driver tech as thatâs been done already in many places around the internet. Those drivers are housed in a mostly rectangular, open-back earcup. The Heddphone is big and heavy. The earcups and pads have a lot of depth to them, and they stick way out off the sides of the head. They are open-back so there isnât much isolation. On the other hand, they are not as leaky as something like HiFiManâs egg-shaped series of headphones. Still, donât plan to use them in a cubicle because everyone will still hear your music.
Cable entry is dual-entry with mini 4-pin XLR connectors in the same style as ZMF or Audeze headphones. The cable entry points are flush mounted so it should be very easy to buy aftermarket cables.
I have to talk about the comfort. ItâsâŠless than stellar. Thatâs a nice way of saying that for my head the comfort â specifically lack thereof â is a dealbreaker. This review was difficult because wearing the Heddphone for more than 4 or 5 songs at a time became really uncomfortable. Itâs not so much the weight. Heavy headphones usually donât bother me. Itâs the clamp force, the way the pads rest on the side of the head, and how warm they get for me. Comfort is very much a YMMV type of thing. It may work for you, but it doesnât for me and Iâve heard several other audiophiles say similarly. I advise purchasing Heddphone from somewhere where you can easily return them if the comfort is also a miss for you. I understand that there is a second revision out there (quite sure I have V1) that offers a headband extension to alleviate some of that. I donât need to extend headphone headbands very much so Iâm sot sure if that would help me. Either way, readers should know that such a thing exists too and that I was not able to evaluate it.
Finally for features and build, POWAH! The Heddphone is not an easy drive. Itâs rated at 42⊠impedance and 87dB/mW sensitivity. Youâll need an amp with some juice to get it to sound its best.
SOUND
Test Gear
I mostly ran Heddphone off a chain of Singxer SU-2 DDC â Berkeley Audio Designs Alpha Series 2 DAC â Violectric HPA-V281 headphone amp. I also spent some time with a Cayin N6ii DAP â Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC â Monolith Liquid Platinum amp with Amperex PQ Gold Pin 6922 tubes.
Sound Signature
Heddphone strikes me as having an overall neutral-bright signature. To my ear the treble has just a bit of emphasis to it. Itâs reminiscent of the Beyerdynamic DT880 in this regard, though not quite to that magnitude. The bass is extended but lean. The mids are smooth yet well-detailed. The overall presentation is quite inoffensive. The treble is crisp and clear but almost never introduces any sibilance beyond whatâs in the recording. The mids are smooth, present, detailed, and I canât recall a single instance where I thought it sounded shouty when it shouldnât have. Overall, the sound just doesnât really do anything obviously wrong, and itâs fairly forgiving of electronics and recordings once properly powered.
As mentioned, the bass has good extension and also brings with it some decent detail and texture. It is lean and lacks slam, though. The bass that is there is good. I have nothing to complain about in regards to what is there. Personally, I would like more bass presence and more slam. Bassheads should probably spend their money elsewhere.
The midrange and treble are both excellent. They are smooth while being detailed, and crisp and clear without being sharp, shrill, or shouty. Detail retrieval was excellent. Room reverb, drum ghost notes, any kind of tuning dissonance, all resolved well. Heddphone does this resolving without it ever feeling forced, too-forward, or analytical. It retains a pleasant smoothness and musicality with that high level of detail retrieval.
The timbre is also quite good. In general, voices and instruments sound much like they are supposed to sound. In the price range the timbre from Hedd is among the best Iâve heard.
Macrodynamics
This is where the Hedd doesnât necessarily fall short, but isnât for everyone. The sound isnât the most dynamic or lively. There is a pleasantness and politeness to it â still detailed! â that translates to not much in the way of impact, slam, or physicality. The bass-lean-ness means there isnât much in the way of rumble, either. For me, this meant there wasnât much involvement with music like rock, metal, hip-hop, or EDM that benefits from some punch or slam. Heddphone also wasnât particularly engaging to me on music that isnât punchy but has lots of rumble â think of things like Hans Zimmerâs OSTs here. However, for piano music, or mellow acoustic music Heddphone is fantastic. There the timbre and the detail retrieval become the focus and the physical too-polite-ness fades away.
COMPARISON WITH OTHER HEADPHONES
From a comfort standpointâŠthere isnât much comparison. Heddphone is the most physically uncomfortable full-size headphone Iâve used to this point. Iâm having trouble coming up with a close second, to be honest.
Sonically the Heddphone feels rather appropriately priced at around $1900. Its timbre is very good â perhaps only being edged out in this price range by the ZMF line. I didnât get quite the timbral magic out of Heddphone that I experienced with the ZMF Eikon, but it wasnât far behind either. The detail retrieval also seems appropriate, being around, and perhaps just a hair ahead of, the HiFiMan Arya. Iâm going from memory on that though as itâs been awhile since Iâve heard the Arya. Still, from memory, the two are close. I think Heddphone is more forgiving of poor recordings than Arya even though it maintains that excellent detail retrieval. Arya has a bit more punch in the low-end however. For me the tricky part with Heddphone at its new price is that the HiFiMan HE1000V2 can be found new for as low as $2200 at times, and when itâs used itâs frequently around $1500. To my ear that is a significant technical step up almost across the board for a similar price, plus its much more comfortable. The only advantage I can give to Hedd there is that itâs still more forgiving than the HE1000V2, especially in regard to sibilance. The HE1000V2 doesnât hit very hard either, but it hits harder than Heddphone.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Heddphone is a good all-around sounding headphone if youâre ok with lean bass and not much slam. The timbre and detail are very good. Piano music and other mellow acoustic music sound excellent on the Heddphone. However, I didnât find myself reaching for it very often. First, itâs not very comfortable and I know when I put it on that it wonât be on for long. Second, itâs not the best sonic fit for my preferred music genres. I mostly listen to music that benefits from more bass presence and more physicality than Heddphone brings to the table. Even so, there are enough good qualities here to give me hope that a future AMT-based headphone could be very intriguing for me. If Hedd can fix the comfort issues and offer a more bass-present signature with a more dynamic presentation, Iâd be very interested.
Thanks for reading, all. Enjoy the music! 