The Edition XV headphone: Sounds warm, looks cool

Choosing a headphone is an exercise in trade-offs. Want that 'hi-fi detail'? Get ready for a truck load of fatiguing treble. Looking for an impressive sound stage? Expect a wonky, unnatural-sounding frequency response. Want vocals upfront? You run the risk of them honking at you like a crazed goose... tuning headphones must be such a ballache, I almost feel bad about roasting the Sivga Robin 2. (Almost. It still sounds insane.)

• Buy the HIFIMAN Edition XV from Amazon for $399

Then a headphone like the HIFIMAN Edition XV comes along, with seemingly few compromises. At $399, it may be too expensive for my list of the best budget audiophile headphones, but apart from the FiiO FT1 in that list, it would beat all the others handily. It's a well thought out, beautifully designed, lush-sounding headphone that gets a strong recommendation to the majority of listeners.

Almost as soon as I got into the audiophile hobby, I encountered the legendary HIFIMAN brand. I was drawn to the crazy egg-shaped headphones, massive planar drivers and integrated headbands. I heard about the notorious HIFIMAN house sound: only a little biddy bass, an expansive soundstage, and excellent detail/sharp treble. However, the Edition XV is my first HIFIMAN set, and it is by all accounts the most non-HIFIMAN HIFIMAN headphone to date... And I like it a lot.

Sound profile

Overall, this is a warm/bright, balanced-sounding headphone. I used it for weeks before I looked up its FR graph, and over some sessions I found it on the bright side, and over others a little warm. Does that mean I have no idea what I'm talking about? Very possibly. Or perhaps the Edition XV performs a magic trick of offering clarity and detail while also providing a smooth warm sound... I choose magic.

Not that everyone agrees. For erstwhile headphone reviewer DMS, the tuning of the Edition XV sounded like he was being stabbed in his ears at times. However, Headphones.com's Listener said it has 'smoother treble than even most dynamic driver headphones'. I don't get the stabbing, thankfully, and instead enjoy its detailed bass, its balanced midrange, and smoothed off treble.

For me, the Edition XV has a more impactful bass than the FR graphs would suggest, offers a detailed lower midrange, a slightly recessed upper midrange, and produces a non-fatiguing treble (though there is brightness to be had at times). It has a wide presentation of space and a good amount of detail, which isn't fatiguing. There are definitely more crisp, detailed sets out there, but you'll just have to deal with their invariably sharp treble.

Bass: Looking at the Edition XV's frequency response graph, you'd be forgiven for expecting a limp low end. Well, graphs can be tricksy little buggers, with how one area of a FR actually sounds being dependent on the rest of the frequencies. Bottom line: the Edition XV does bass well. A basshead set this is not, but in line with the theme of balance, the bass fits right in, both with a smidge of rumbly sub bass and a good dose of punchy mid bass.

Side note: It takes EQ really well. Purely for scientific research I nipped over to the desktop app of my Luxsin X8 headphone DAC/Amp and slapped on a 3dB (real talk, it was 6dB) bass shelf. It's degenerate and there's no excuse, but my god it's fun.

Depraved behaviour aside, the stock sound of the Edition XV offers a mature presentation of bass, that extends well and offers quality over quantity.

Mids: There's plenty to like about the midrange of the Edition XV, not least all the detail it musters. I think the timbre of most instruments and vocals is natural, but there are sets that present vocals more up front than the Edition XV, which don't venture into Honky Town. When you compare it to the HEDDphone D1 (which I do, below), the Edition XV's mids are a little soft, a touch recessed, and a lot warmer.

What is impressive with the XV is that it gives you this warm sound and plenty of detail. And that's not achieved by cranking up the treble, as with so many headphones but, I think, by introducing peaks throughout the lower midrange (200–1000Hz) – if the charts are to be believed. This is actually the area that DMS thought a little 'stabby', so be warned that it might not be for you. For me, there were no issues with this midrange presentation, other than the slight recessed upper mids.

Treble: It's clear and clean without glare or sibilance. Apparently tuning treble is the hardest part of a headphone's frequency response, and thinking about all the painfully bright headphones and IEMs I've listened to, that makes sense. But now and again there is a rare fish that jumps out of the strident seas and, like the Juzear Harrier IEM, gives you detail without pain. The Edition XV is a member of this finned tribe.

It gives me most of all the high frequencies I want, holding enough back before fatigue sets in. It's an impressive balance, and my go to Treble Murder tracks, Michael Jackson's Billie Jean and Grateful Dead's Unbroken Chain, don't grate at all. Even the excessively bright Sweet Old World by Lucinda Williams sounds balanced, which is an absolute first for me. That track sounds too bright on pretty much every headphone I play it on.

Soundstage and technicalities: I've stopped talking about soundstage in recent months, as it’s such a subjective element of listening that, like the aesthetics, is almost pointless in talking about. After all, one man’s concert hall is another man's closet. And yet, ‘soundstage’ was one of the first things to pop into my head when I put on the Edition XV.

It's not particularly deep or overly lateral. More, instruments are well placed in the vertical presentation. There's air and space between everything, and as with all of this hobby, it's more noticeable the more you concentrate on it.

Now, I'll be the first one to admit this may all be psychoacoustics. It’s possible I’m just thinking of the HIFIMAN egg-shape ear pads, and projecting that shape when thinking about the sound presentation. And even if I’m not doing this, it’s also possible that only I will hear the Edition XV like this, as everyone experiences headphones slightly differently… It’s just all so personal, open to interpretation and unmeasurable! ... and yet, I believe something is going on here. And I like it. So take that with a handful of salt.

Price & value

At $399, I think the HIFIMAN Edition XV offers excellent value for a mid-tier audiophile headphones. Its build quality is awesome, and a noticeable improvement compared to its older brother, the Edition XS.

In hand, its steel and aluminium chassis and perforated protein leather headband feels top quality. This is an excellently built headphone, and it shows everytime you pick it up, and at any angle you choose to look at it from. The screwed not glued architecture (unlike its XS predecessor) also means you'll be able to replace components if they ever fail or get damaged. This is a well thought through package, and this thought from HIFIMAN is really appreciated, and should be standard from headphones at this price point.

And I'm sure a chunk of the $399 you're paying is going towards the materials. The XV's new supernano Gen 2 diaphragm (it's thinner than human hair), aluminium yokes, lateral swivel hinges and enhanced stealth magnates, are all top gear compared to many other $399 headphones. The Audeze MM-100 offers equivalent material quality, but otherwise the Edition XV is a few points ahead of the competition.

Speaking of which...

Competition

I want to compare the Edition XV to the FiiO FT1 Pro (planar driver) and the HEDDphone D1 (dynamic driver), even though they are differently priced. The Edition XV is $399, the FT1 Pro is $220, and the D1 is a whopping $799. But these are the most relevant headphones I have to hand, and I think we can learn a lot about the Edition XV from the comparisons.

First of all, the FiiO FT1 Pro. The lower mids of the Edition XV are a little recessed, and though that isn't a problem for most music, it was noticeable when listening to vocal-led tracks and classical music, specifically piano concertos. In the opening movement of Rachmaninov's third piano concerto, the cheaper headphone presents the piano clearer. Although both have a scoop around 1-2kHz, moving certain instruments back in the presentation, because the FT1 Pro has more treble, the piano was more prominent.

Saying that, I found that with the Edition XV each instrument had a more defined position, and when things get going with the concerto, I get a better picture of the whole with the HiFiMan set, whereas the FT1 Pro presents the orchestra more intimately.

While both sets have a 1-2kHz recession, the FT1 Pro overcompensates around 3kHz, giving music more bite. The horns and snare snap on Erykah Badu's Other Side of the Game offers more of a slap than the Edition XV, the latter taking a far more relaxed, smooth approach. The FT1 Pro comes across as a more V-shape sound in comparison, and that's great. But I prefer the silky nature of the XV when switching from set to set. It's richer, more spacious and its warm/bright sound seems to do what the FT1 Pro does, plus more (though if you want more treble to cut through a track, the FT1 is a decent, cheaper planar option).

Now, I first decided to compare the Edition XV to the D1 as I thought they would compare favourably in the clear, neutral stakes. Hmm, not so much...

Whereas the Edition XV sounds warmer and more mature than the FT1 Pro, things switch when comparing the XV to the HEDDphone D1. The XV comes across as simply a little dark – muffled even. That's because the D1 has one of the best midranges in the game, and with a well balanced but confident treble, and a well extended bass, the D1 is the gold standard for neutrality.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think the end goal of all headphones should be neutrality. I love variety, and though HEDD D1 reaches as close to perfect neutral as I've heard, it doesn't mean there aren't merits in sets that go after different colourations. But the more I compare the two, the more I see the faults of the XV.

In short, the Edition XV has a touch less vocal energy, nice sense of space, and warmth with touches of sparkle. The D1 has more vocal energy, a fuller upper midrange, a more intimate sense of depth, but with its additional lower treble and air frequencies, things become crystal clear and the imaging is next level compared to the XV. The end result is it achieves a lushness not through warmth, but through near perfect balance, everything in harmony (obviously dependent on the mix you're listening to).

But it's a $800 headphone! It's twice the price of the Edition XV, so why am I even comparing it to the XV. Well, it let me focus in on what I thought might be considered as lacking in the XV. However, if you want a warm/bright sound, I think the XV does it incredibly well.

Comfort

I love how big the Edition XV's ear cups are. There's not a moment that my ears touch the sides of the ear pads, and they're deep enough so my ears don't touch the drivers either – something that's surprisingly common. The size of the XV is a massive plus for me.

The clamp force is really well judged. Actually, I don't think it's that strong at all, and moving my head around, and backwards and forwards like a madman, the headphones stick in place. Good to know for all the headbanging audiophiles out there.

Considering there are 80×50mm planar drivers strapped to both my ears, with their sizeable egg-shaped housing, it's surprising how well these cans spread their 452 grams. That's a fairly hefty weight, but with the perforated headband, my usual head hotspot stayed cooler than the Edition XV's sound profile.

In short, I had zero issues with the comfort of the Edition XV.

Should you buy it?

During this year’s CanJam NYC, legendary engineer Axel Grell (the man behind the new Grell OAE 2 headphone) gave a talk on how our physical and psychological state influences how we hear. His talk may have been more about how our brains use what we feel on our head to decode audio. But I think there's something in that to explain part of why I enjoyed the sound of the Edition XV so much.

The sheer beauty and aura of the XV's design put a ridiculous smile on my face as soon as I unboxed it. And because I valued them as an object of beauty before I plugged them in, I think I found myself more open to their sound presentation.

Now, none of this makes a smidge of difference if the headphone sounds bad. But the Edition XV really doesn't... that's a roundabout way of saying the Edition XV possesses an x-factor. It's got personality. Sure, its outer character is far cooler than the warm sound profile within, but instead of being jarring it's another enjoyable juxtaposition, like its warm/bright sound. It works, and we end up with one of the least compromised headphones out there, which I think will be of interest for the majority of listeners out there.