Great headphones despite shortcomings
By Jeffrey
Rated 4 out of 5
Date: 2023-09-20
I have to acknowledge that these headphones have an outdated bluetooth codec, yes, and also the touch controls are not well implemented, this is also true. I knew about this when I ordered them, and I can confirm that the touch controls can be annoying and sometimes don't respond while other times they are too sensitive and touchy. But, I dunno, the controls don't matter all that much, and I love these headphones anyway. They sound great. They feel really flat in how they're EQed, the stereo image feels way wider than these little closed headphones have any right to, and everything is really detailed. And, honestly, even though the bass and the air are not boosted the way they are on scooped sounding headphones, on the Hi-X25bt the bass and the air is all there and it's really clean and accurate. And, they're very light weight and comfortable.
I got these because I have the Austrian Audio Hi-X65 open back headphones which are my favorite headphones, better than anything I've ever heard (and, cost three times what these Hi-X25bt headphones cost). I got these because they're bluetooth and they're the same brand and similar driver design etc. The sound signature is different... These Hi-X25bt have more mids around 1kHz, while the fancy Hi-X65 are warmer and have stronger low mids that make everything sound beefy. Of course, the Hi-X25bt just don't sound as good and definitely don't feel as nice as the company's much more expensive open backs, but they're still great in their own right.
Also, they do not have ANC, but they physically isolate you pretty well enough, at least for my needs. I don't really want ANC anyway, it feels weird and always involves compromises on sound quality.
If you want lots of bass, look elsewhere. Or, buy these and EQ up the bass, I guess. It's there and accurate, it just isn't boosted. Unfortunately, though, there's no app for these headphones and you cannot adjust their built-in EQ. You have to EQ from the source (e.g. the eq in the Spotify app). That's unfortunate. I pulled down 1kHz just a tiny bit.
I go back and forth with wishing I had purchased the Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2 headphones instead of these, since the Audio-Technicas have more features, but then I put on the Austrian Audios and remember how very comfortable they are and they sound amazing. Definitely more comfortable than Audio-Technicas. So, I'm happy and I know I will continue to use these daily. Yeah, my expensive headphones sound better, but often I do not want a cable in the way, and/or need the isolation of closed-backs, so it's often worth the compromise.
