HiFiMAN’s latest round of new designs includes a new take on a fan-favourite: the new HiFiMAN Edition XV is pitched as a successor to the Edition XS, with a whole new design and a new driver to go with it, too. In reality, this is a very different headphone not just from the Edition XS, but from most other HiFiMAN headphones, not just due to the new design, but especially due to the way it was tuned: it’s warm(ish) and relaxed. In other words, cosy.
Disclaimer: I received a free unit from HiFiMAN – many thanks, Mark! The Edition XV retail for $399/£359. Additional information on HiFiMAN’s website.
TL;DR: recap
| Pros |
Cons |
| + Good build quality
+ Fantastic overall warm-neutral tuning + Great treble, even for sensitive folks + Good technical ability |
– Headband is quite stiff
– Midrange can be a bit too warm for some |
Rating: 9/10
Packaging & Accessories
The HiFiMAN Edition XV comes in HiFiMAN’s usual cardboard box with expanded foam padding, which holds the headphones themselves, the detachable cable, a 3.5 mm to 6.3 mm adapter and a manual.
HiFiMAN has applied some very smart bit of design here and made the box’s central foam padding detachable, so that you can use it as a headphone stand. While visually it is not super appealing, it is very practical and surprisingly robust.
Design & Comfort
The HiFiMAN Edition XV is part of a wider redesign that all product lines by HiFiMAN have gone through, which makes the headphones look a lot more modern and “clean” than in the past. Everything is silver, with some black details like the felt the headband strap and the leather of the earpads. The side grille is made of metal and has an interesting pattern, where the hexagonal holes are biggest near the centre and get progressively smaller going outwards.
This is quite a big change compared to previous models, which were very classic and classy thanks to the use of wood. Still, the Edition XV have a well-defined designed language that feels coherent and well-done, as well as paying attention to little details and coming across as very polished and neat. As an example, the gimbals that connect the earcups to the headband are made of a single, Y-shaped piece of metal that gently curves to embrace the sides of the earcups, and that looks incredibly polished and streamlined.
In terms of material, HiFiMAN employed a mix of metal and plastic: the outside of the headband, the gimbal and the grille are made of metal, whereas the rest is made of plastic. This ensures a good mix of flexibility, weight and durability. Overall, it feels like the Edition XV are a step forward in terms of build quality compared to previous HiFiMAN headphones in the midrange tier. One thing that needs to be said, however, is that there is a crackling sound whenever I move the headphones; this looks like it is the driver that moves together with the frame.
Comfort-wise, the Edition XV are similar to previous HiFiMAN headphones with a suspended headband, with some minor differences. Compared to the original headbands, used on headphones such as the HE-560, the Edition XV is slightly more uncomfortable due to the lack of any padding whatsoever inside the headband, which is a perforated sandwich of two very thin layers of what looks like compressed felt with a thin layer of plastic in-between them. Still, I can wear the headphones for more than an hour without issues, which is quite a result given my extremely irritable scalp! There is not much lateral pressure, which some people will find more comfortable, and the earpads are very large and should fit ears of all sizes. They’re also angled in a way that makes them thicker at the back, which increases comfort.
Isolation is null, given how these are open-back headphones, and this also applies to sound leaking to the outside – if you listen at high enough volume, people around you will hear it.
The stock cable is the standard cable by HiFiMAN with a soft plastic/rubber sleeve. It’s very soft and malleable, and not at all prone to kinking. HiFiMAN has done a great job in this regard, as the cable doesn’t look great but it’s high-quality and much better functionally than more expensive cables I’ve seen out there. It also comes with 3.5 mm jack terminations on both ends, with the amplifier side being right-angled.
Sound & Specs
I tested the HiFiMAN Edition XV with various sources, including an SMSL DO400 and a Hidizs AP80 PRO MAX.
HiFiMAN Edition XV |
| Frequency response | 8 – 65,000 Hz |
| Impedance | 12 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 92 dB |
Although planar headphones have a reputation for being hard to drive, the Edition XV are very easily driven and do not require a specialised amplifier. At just 12 Ω of impedance, in fact, the Edition XV can be problematic for some amplifiers for having too low an impedance! Although it is relatively limited in power output, the AP80 PRO MAX is powerful enough that I had to keep volume around 2-3% in order for it to not be too loud.
The Edition XV feature a signature that’s unlike the usual HiFiMAN one, which emphasises the upper midrange and is therefore relatively bright. Instead, it comes with several twists to the usual formula which make it very distinct from other headphones by the company, especially in the way bass is presented.
Soundstage sounds like instruments are close to you and operate in a larger space; this is not an expansive soundstage that puts you inside a large concert hall, but a more reserved one where you’re in a mid-sized room. There is some depth, although it’s limited. Imaging is a mixed bag, in the sense that it positions instruments across the stage with accuracy and precision, but it does not convey a holographic image where the scene comes alive. Instrument separation is such that you can tell instruments apart even in crowded tracks, although the weird presentation of the lower mids pushes some instruments further to the fore than they should be and this can alter the perception of separation.
Planar headphones are known for offering deep and impactful bass, and the Edition XV make no exception. Bass reaches sub-bass territory with ease and with a clear presentation, as you can hear in tracks like The Prodigy’s Breathe or Massive Attack’s Angel. It’s powerful and impactful throughout, with a physicality and rumble which are incredibly satisfying. What makes the Edition XV different is the fact that, apart from a small dip below 30 Hz, bass is really completely flat, and it keeps being flat through the lower midrange. This makes it so that there is no clear transition between bass and midrange, so bass sounds paradoxically less present than in other headphones, despite actually being comparatively more abundant. One other thing that makes the Edition XV stand out is how dynamic bass is: it can be tame and quiet but also quite explosive and very physical when it needs to, with very strong impacts that you can actually feel. Transients are not super-fast, but they have a lot of weight. This, combined with a high level of detail, makes it easy to enjoy drums and bass guitar notes, which are presented with a vibrant texture.
Midrange is where the Edition XV do something different from all other HiFiMAN headphones: there are multiple sharp bumps and dips that make some frequencies more prominent than in a completely flat response; these are all concentrated between 250 Hz and 1 kHz, and give more energy to this section. This is the main reason why the Edition XV’s bass sound less prominent than it actually is: these bumps, although not significant, make midrange come out on top and become the star of the show, aided by the lack of a clear transition from bass. There isn’t an overt, large effect on the tuning more generally that would shift the tonality, like it normally happens with HiFiMAN headphones sounding bright. It is enough, however, to make the Edition XV definitely midrange-centric, and having an emphasis on lower midrange at that – so we could say that they are “neutral warm”. The middle area is relatively reserved, which makes voices sometimes sound a bit distant, while the upper one has a little zing to it – there is a little emphasis on the 3-3.5 kHz range that makes the sound a bit brighter than I’d personally like, though it is a far cry from traditional HiFiMAN tunings which see a very high prevalence of this area. Again, transients are fast and impactful, though they never reach the point where they sound immediate and snappy. Despite this, there’s a high level of detail.
Treble is the biggest departure from the traditional HiFiMAN tuning philosophy, as it is actually very tame. Even to me, who have been enjoying more relaxed treble lately due to increased sensitivity to it, it sounds just right. I wouldn’t define it as “relaxed”, but it is definitely a lot more laid-back than previous headphones by the company. It has a couple of bumps which make it still lively: one between 7 and 8 kHz, and a bigger, second one around 13 kHz. Although far from the usual treble on HiFiMAN headphones, these bumps add an audible emphasis to their respective regions. Still, there’s no sibilance, no aggressiveness, no fatigue, which make treble on the Edition XV an incredibly enjoyable one. The level of detail is quite high, although far from the micro-detail-fest of headphones such as the HE1000SE or the Arya.
Final Thoughts
I’m very surprised by the HiFiMAN Edition XV. My first encounter with it at Edinburgh’s hi-fi show last year left me impressed and, after many months, that first impression was confirmed. The Edition XV are totally different from other HiFiMAN headphones, and in a good way: their warmth is subtle and makes them very pleasant while straddling the neutral line, which makes them ideal for a wide variety of genres (as well as for a lot of people who find other HiFiMAN headphones too bright). As I was saying at the beginning of the article, they’re simply very cosy, which is great.
This cosiness does not mean that they’re not technically capable, however, as these are unmistakably HiFiMAN headphones: they offer a great level of detail and good transient speed, together with a good level of physicality. These aspects make me say that the Edition XV are actually ideal introductory headphones for both people who have never tried planars as well as people who would like to upgrade their headphones to something more capable without crossing the $500 threshold. In fact, I would go as far as to say that these are among the most genuinely enjoyable headphones out there under $500.
The HiFiMAN Edition XV do not replace headphones like the Sennheiser HD650/6XX, but they’re a very valid complement to them. They go for that same “warm neutral” tuning, while adding their own twist to it and without the same drawbacks – they have cleaner treble, for one, as well as better bass extension. The 650/6XX still win in the midrange, which is smoother, but overall I often find the Edition XV preferable when it comes to the sheer listening pleasure – as well as the sheer fun, thanks to the better bass extension. For this reason, I highly recommend them and give them a solid 9/10. They most definitely earned it.
