 And that's why these are my favourite new headphones. Hi folks, I'm Mike and I hope you're well. I have many, maybe too many studio headphones and most of them are mentioned by you guys at some point or other as your favourite studio headphones. So when Austrian Audio sent me these new high X65 headphones, I knew they were up against some stiff competition. I should say at this point, and I want to be clear, I am not being paid to make this video. I was not even required to make this video, let alone say anything specific. All of these opinions are my own. And the reality is, these headphones have quickly become my favourite studio headphones. But why? So there's an experience isn't there, when you open up a box like this. And there's no doubt there's been some attention to detail. You start off by taking off what I guess could be a useful red Velcro strip, then inside you see a cloth bag and then you're beautifully presented with the headphones themselves. As well as that you get the cables and other accessories and what appears to be a genuinely hand signed quality certificate. So are these my favourite headphones because of the packaging? Well it's nice because it shows that they care, but no, that's not the reason. So included in the box is a 1.2 and a 3 metre detachable cable with the usual quarter inch adapter. Now both of these are straight cables and they have a proprietary locking mechanism. Now I prefer my cables to be straight, but I know that some of you prefer curly cables. Now as far as I'm aware at the moment, Austrian Audio do not provide curly cables as a replacement, but it's something I would love them to do in the future. Let me know your thoughts on that in the comments down below. Now in terms of cable systems, this is a really important part of headphones for me. These are really solid, they're kink free, I like the fact that they're detachable and they're a nice length as well. But is that the reason why these are my favourite headphones? Of course not. So one of the first things I noticed about these headphones was the really solid and flexible metal hinge system. Not only does that mean you get a nice good fit on your head, but it also means they fold up really well for storage. Another part which is made of metal is the headband itself. But this one doesn't ring or resonate like I found on some other headphones. Attached to that is a really nice soft plush cushion which is removable and replaceable. And I know many of you will be pleased to hear that because if you've ever used headphones a lot for a while, that can be one of the first things that wears out. Also removable and replaceable are the nice soft plush ear pads. Now near those ear pads, on the left hand side we have our main connection for our cable and then we have internal cabling going through to the right hand side. Now these are open backed headphones, so of course they have a grille. And I think the grilles on these are particularly attractive. So that's all very well, but how does that translate into use and comfort? So as I said before, these are open backed headphones, which means they're much more suited to mixing or monitoring than they are for tracking or recording. Sound both leaks from them and to them as well. So we wouldn't normally recommend them for say recording something like a vocal. However, over the past few days myself and Susie were recording a new song and she was enjoying these headphones so much that she insisted on wearing them while she was recording her vocal. Now when we listened to that vocal back in solo, was their bleed was sound leaked from these headphones through the microphone? Yes, definitely. It was not a pristine recording. However, we both agreed that because she could hear the room that she was in much more and because they were so, so comfortable, she got a much better performance in terms of energy and pitch as well. Food for thought. So the takeaway from this is these aren't really comfortable headphones to wear for a number of hours at a time. But what about sound and specs? Oh, by the way, if you're finding this video useful, could you go ahead and hit the like button for me? Do it right away so that you don't forget. And if you do like this kind of content, make sure you subscribe and ring the bell so you're notified about my other videos. Now, these headphones have 44 millimeter dynamic drivers powered by a ring magnet and a copper clad aluminium voice coil. This all helps to keep the weight down. They have a frequency response of five hertz to 28 kilohertz, an SPLV of 110 decibels and they're 25 ohms. They can be powered by almost anything. You won't have any problems driving these. Now, in the end, these weigh in at 310 grams. So that's all of the basic specs. What about the sound? So before we talk about how they sound, we need to have a little chat about studio headphones. Unlike consumer headphones like Beats or Bose, which are hyped at certain frequencies to make them sound good with lots of popular music, we don't want that from our studio headphones. We want them to be much more flat. We want them to be honest. We want them to tell us the truth. Now, here's the thing. As I mentioned earlier, I've got lots of popular studio headphones which are renowned in both pro and home studios, but they all sound different. They all have their own character and none of them, absolutely none of them have a completely flat frequency response. So for that reason, just like monitors or your room, you do need to learn your headphones. You need to spend some time with them and these are no exception. Now, I'm not going to go ahead and use terms like these sound good. That's not really relevant. How accurate do they sound? That's much more relevant. And I'm not going to bore you with things like frequency response charts either. Oops. Instead, I'd like to talk about their characteristics and how I experience them. Now, because these are open backed headphones, they do have a bit of a roll off on the low end, but I feel it's kind of natural and smooth. And if you did just come from those Bose or Beats headphones, this would be the first thing you would notice. And in my opinion, that's a good thing. If you think that the low end is too boomy in these headphones, then that mix is likely to make the ears bleed of the end listeners. So I do actually kind of like this understated low end. Now, as for the mids and the highs, I found that I could really hear a lot of separation between instruments. And what's really important to me is I could pick out details like sort of squeaks and hisses that perhaps I couldn't hear with other headphones or other monitors. And with the high end, although it's nice and airy and it's kind of crisp, it never really feels harsh, which is something I really like. In terms of the sound stage, with open back headphones, it's often feels quite wide. I wouldn't say this feels expansive at all. It does feel natural to me. And I kind of like that. Everything gets positioned where I feel it should be positioned. Now, I don't mix on headphones, very rarely I mix on headphones, but I do use them during the process of mixing just to check certain aspects of the mix. If I was, however, forced to have to mix with headphones, then these would definitely be the ones I'd be reaching for. Austrian Audio was founded by 22 former workers from AKG in Vienna, Austria. Not only did they bring along a considerable amount of knowledge and expertise, but they also continued to manufacture in Austria itself. Now unsurprisingly, they've quickly got themselves a reputation in terms of performance and quality. So also unsurprisingly, they don't really produce sort of cheap products. They do have a bit of a range of headphones. The cheapest ones being the X-15s that are really reasonable, $119. Then they have the X-50s, which I think are $299. The X-55s, which are $349. So at $429 US dollars, these are definitely their flagship product. Now I would have to think really long and hard and carefully before I spend that amount of money on some headphones. But now I have the benefit of having used them for a few weeks and really experienced them. I asked myself, would I spend that amount of money on them? Well, the answer is resounding, yes, of course. As I said, these are my new favorite headphones. They're really worth that amount of money because they kind of replace another two or three headphones at one time, in my opinion. So yeah, this is a big purchase for you if you're considering them, but I really don't think you would be disappointed. So the truth is that most of my headphones excel in some way, some of the best in terms of sound, some of the best in terms of comfort, some the best in terms of isolation, some in terms of durability, and some simply excel in terms of value for money. But these are the complete package. These are the best across the board and that's why these are my favorite new headphones. Let me know what your favorite headphones are in the comments down below. Would you consider these? I'd love to hear about that. Also check the links in the description down below for some great places to buy these headphones. Thank you so much for joining me today and I'll see you in the next video.