Austrian audio hi-x15

We have heard, enjoyed and given five-star ratings to the more expensive Hi-X55 as well as the Hi-X50 headphones, but the Austrian company’s Hi-X15 are the budget offering of the range.

These wired over-ears look and feel anything but cheap, though, their design and finish putting a lot of plasticky rivals to shame. The use of proper metal hinges results in a pair of headphones that fold away neatly, with zero fuss.

The matte plastic on the arms is a nice change to glossy plastic, while the black, red and silver colour scheme gives them on-desk presence. In each earcup you will find a 44mm driver and ring-magnet system with a copper-clad aluminium voice coil. In the box is a 1.4m-long headphone cable with a 3.5mm jack at one end (a 6.3mm adaptor is included in the box) and a 2.5mm on the other, that slots into the left earcup. It’s then a matter of twisting and locking it into place.

The grip level is nicely judged, with just enough pressure applied to keep them from sliding around your head. The soft, ‘slow retention’ memory foam earpads are also comfy, and during our time with them didn’t seem to generate too much heat.

Sense of openness

The Hi-X15 sound quite lively straight out of the box, and need a decent running-in period (a couple of days at least). Once they settle, the X15 sound so transparent and grown up that they belie their relatively modest price tag. We suggest using them with a DAC/headphone amp such as the DragonFly Red to make the most of them rather than just plugging them directly into a phone (though they will still sound good). In fact, the Hi-X15 would quite easily work with a more expensive option such as a Chord Mojo.

Any rough and ready recordings are mirrored in how the sound is fed into your ears, and this transparency gives them a huge advantage over rivals, especially considering the closed-back design. This sense of openness allows an immense amount of detail to be served up, without having to worry about sound leakage.

Throughout the f