Verdict
With the Hi - X20 Austrian Audio has doubled down on the Austrian Audio - cape of its most affordable model range , and the resolution are gratify in the extreme . All but the most committed bass - heads will find lots to love here …
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Viennese specializer has been disrupt the headphones market at every price - pointedness ever since its arrival not quite eight class ago – but it ’s down in the more budget - orientated area of the grocery that Austrian Audio has made the biggest waving .
These new Hi - X20 wired over - auricle phone intend to stay this significant work , by wee most rivals heavy ( if not look ) a bit agrarian by comparison …
Availability
The Austrian Audio Hi - X20 wired over - capitulum headphones are on sales event in the United Kingdom for a centime less than £ 120 . In the United States you’re able to secure a duo of $ 150 , while in Australia they ’ll correct you back AU$250 or something very close-fitting to it .
It ’s fair to say that most of the wired over - ear headphones Trusted Reviews has test lately are a comely bit more expensive than this – but that ’s not to say Austrian Audio is operating in isolation . Wireless over - ear headphones from any number of brands ( not least Austrian Audio itself ) are available at this sort of money …
Design
What ’s perhaps most at once noticeable about the design of the Hi - X20 is just how restrained Austrian Audio has been . Its previous attempts at entry - level over - capitulum headphone have featured quite a routine of dissimilar colours per simulation – silver , red and black have all coexist uneasily on the same brace of phone , and it ’s made for a rather tongue-tied look .
The Hi - X20 are almost entirely black , with some discerning branding picked out in bolshy . They count much unspoiled for it – sophisticated , almost .
The flexible joint and headband are made of alloy , and there ’s enough articulation in the framing to allow the Hi - X20 to fold up flat enough to fit into the middling small easy bag Austrian Audio furnish .
The contain points at the interior of the headband and the earpads are of sluggish - retentiveness store foam cover in synthetic leather – they ’re easy and relatively restrained in retaining your trunk heat . The earpads themselves are quite easily replaceable , too , which will avail the length of service of the Hi - X20 no last . Overall comfortableness levels are good , thanks to a achievable 255 g exercising weight and some carefully judged clamping military group .
Specification
The Hi - X20 feature the same driver engineering science as every other Hi - disco biscuit model in the Austrian Audio range of mountains . Hi - X intend high excursion , and here as everywhere else the 44 mm full - range of a function dynamic equipment driver is backed by a ring attractive feature system generating a notably secure charismatic flying field .
The intention is to optimise airflow while allowing the weight of the membrane and voice - coil to be as low as possible . Austrian Audio suggest it results in ideal impulse chemical reaction , and is take a frequency response of 12Hz – 24kHz .
The left-hand earcup has a 2.5 mm socket for connection to the 3 K cable television ply in the packaging . It twists to lock into view , and at the other end is terminated with a 3.5 millimeter plug fitted with a 6.3 mm arranger .
And that ’s about it as far as feature are concerned . This , after all , is a quite affordable brace of wire over - ear headphones , and they do n’t really tend to have any feature of speech beyond the essentials …
Sound Quality
In some ways , the Hi - X20 are entirely reminiscent of the other Hi - hug drug models in the elbow room they voice . In others , though , it ’s obvious that the amount of consider Austrian Audio has done about the means it tune the Hi - X family line driver arrangement has resulted in even more of a good thing .
When plugged into aFiiO M15Sdigital audio musician and with a 24 - bit/96kHz FLAC single file of Final Rescue Attempt by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds playacting , there ’s a combination of space and togetherness to the Hi - X20 presentation that gives a proper wizard of performance . The soundstage is big , unionized and well-situated to come – but every chemical element on it is put up towards a singular goal , rather than just existing in closing off or on its own footing . And there ’s small of that inhibited , two - dimensional sensation that closed - back headphones can sometimes suffer from .
The tonic balance is nicely achromatic and naturalistic , and the frequency response from the top oddment to the bottom is clean and smooth . At the top of the frequency range , the Hi - X20 onset treble sounds with determination , generating just enough substance to prevent any hardness of splashiness . In the midrange , it ’s as insightful and informative a twosome of headphones as this sorting of money can currently purchase – no detail is too fleeting to escape the attention of the Austrian Audio , and every scrap of information is put into right context .
At the bottom ending there ’s just as much particular available , just as much information regarding tone and texture , and just as much edition as there is elsewhere . There ’s great abject - end controller on display here too , and real positivity where the attack of bass hits or notes is concerned . The knock - on effect of this is that there ’s appreciable momentum to the Hi - X20 presentation , and a persuasive way with rhythmical saying too .
But when listening to a 24 - bit/44.1kHz FLAC file of Electric Relaxation by A Tribe call Quest it quickly becomes apparent that the Austrian Audio are n’t the meaty listen around . They can dig deep into the frequency range , and hit with solidness – but those auditor who have been conditioned to gestate big , beefy basso reply from their headphone may discover the realism that ’s available here rather unrealistic .
No accommodation necessitate to be made where dynamic headway is concerned , though – the Hi - X20 have plenty . When a recording shifts gear and up the intensity and/or volume , the Austrian Audio track the changes carefully and in full . Those more insidious dynamics of harmonic variation have just as much attention paid to them , too .
Not every pair of phone can combine the business leader of depth psychology available here with the form of aboveboard amusement that ’s on offer at the same fourth dimension . Fewer still can manage it at a price as naturalistic and come-at-able as this one . So park your expectations where simple bass punch is concerned and the Hi - X20 will storm and , most probably , delight you .
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Should you buy it?
It seems fair to say the Hi - X20 could give headphones costing quite a bunch more than this a run for their money …
A 3 megabyte cable might make common sense if you ’re using the Hi - X20 in a professional environment , but for the rest of us it ’s a bit long and unmanageable . Perhaps a shorter pick should be ply too …
Final Thoughts
This is n’t the first brace of jolly affordable Austrian Audio headphones I ’ve admired the performance of – but because it ’s the first pair that does n’t look as if it ’s been built from several different yoke of earphone , it ’s the first I ’d be happy to wear in fellowship …
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every duet of headphones we review exhaustively over an extended period of time . We use industry - standard trial to compare feature film decent . We ’ll always tell you what we discover . We never , ever , bear money to review a product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
The sensitiveness of the Austrian Audio Hi - X20 over - ears is 113dB.
