HIFIMAN Audivina Headphone Review

HIFIMAN’s marketing materials label the Audivina as “Studio” headphones, implying that they would be suitable for monitoring in a professional music production capacity. I can’t comment on the veracity of that claim but what I can tell you is that the HIFIMAN Audivina are an incredibly appealing set of headphones, both in overall sound signature and in comfort. Personally, I think they are the most enjoyable headphones that the company has put out in quite some time. In my opinion, it’s as if they took my all-time favorite HIFIMAN headphones, the HE1000V2, and found a way to make them closed- back and easier to drive, all while maintaining a similar voicing but imbuing them with a unique depth of soundstage. That’s a “win-win” in my book!

During CanJAM NYC 2023, I spoke with HIFIMAN founder Dr. Fang Bian about a few new products that the company was launching at the show, one of them was the new Audivina Planar headphones. While Dr. Bian suggested that these headphones were designed more specifically for studio monitoring in mind, it was obvious that the company was targeting audiophiles and decerning listeners too.

When I sampled the headphones both in NYC and later at the Munich High-End show, their sound signature and presentation immediately caught my attention. They gave me a very similar impression as when I listened to my HIFIMAN HE1000V2 headphones, and all while being closed-back cans too. But I couldn’t tell for sure until I got a pair in for review and then I would directly be able to confirm my suspicions.

The fine folks at HIFIMAN graciously sent me a pair of Audivina headphones, along with the equally new EF600 headphone AMP/DAC (review coming soon) to get my impressions. And here, my good friends, is where our story begins!

Getting straight to the point, the headband, frame, and yolk of the HIFIMAN Audivina look identical to what you’d find on the HE1000 V2. They look and feel the same when compared side by side. Not that it is a bad thing by any stretch. That frame architecture is comfortable and works well, and as the saying goes, if it ain’t broke…

It’s when we start to examine the drivers and earcups of the Audivina that things start to get interesting. The oval planar drivers incorporate the latest ultra-thin planar diaphragm which HIFIMAN calls its “NEO Supernano” diaphragm. The company claims it is 80% thinner than previous designs. It also uses their stealth magnet configuration that causes far less interference, within the driver itself, from the generated sound waves. Looking at the drivers, through the earpads, one can see multiple layers of acoustic material with specific shapes cut out to help achieve the desired sound tuning.

Speaking of sound tuning, the Audivina’s calling card are these large attractive wooden earcups. The earcups allow a combination of enough airspace around the planar driver along with the natural resonance of the pure wood to help set the desired sound signature of the headphones. There also doesn’t seem to be any additional dampening on the inside of the wood so there is not as much isolation from the outside as one might expect from a traditional closed-back headphone.

The thick foam earpads are shaped to be thicker at the back and thinner at the front, helping to ensure a good seal completely around the ears. The pads are swathed in a soft tan leatherette while the contact patches are covered in breathable fabric. The interior of the pads is also covered in leatherette but, in addition, are perforated. The result of all these design attributes is to provide the HIFIMAN Audivina with an expansive soundstage and an experience more akin to open-back headphones.

The weight of the Audivina at 470 grams, while not featherweight, should be completely comfortable for the average person to manage for a few hours. I felt no fatigue from their weight at all. The clamping force of the headphones was quite reasonable and didn’t seem to cause any discomfort to me either.

The headphones come with a nice quality hard shell travel case, two cable sets (one single-ended with a 3.5mm plug and the other balanced with a 4-pin XLR jack), and a 1/4-inch phono plug adapter.

For home listening, I paired the HIFIMAN Audivina with a variety of equipment including:

– The Benchmark Media Systems DAC3 B and HPA4 headphone amplifier.

– The Topping DX9 headphone amplifier/DAC.

– The HIFIMAN EF600 headphone amplifier/DAC.

– The Geshelli Labs Archel 2.5XL headphone amp with J2S DAC.

– The Ferrum Audio OOR headphone amp with HYPSOS power supply.

For mobile use, I paired the Audivina with:

– The Shanling M0 DAP.

– The THX Onyx dongle DAC/amp with my iPhone 15 Pro Max.

All of these solutions were able to drive the headphones with plenty of headroom to spare.

HIFIMAN’s intent with the Audivina was to create headphones that produce a big enough soundstage to essentially simulate an acoustic environment and not just reproduce the music directly. From that perspective, the Audivina is a resounding success. It’s always a bit of a gamble when a closed-back headphone tries to synthesize a more spacious-sounding result whether it’s through techniques like angling the drivers (like Beyerdynamic and Ultrasone do) or through creative ducting within the earcups, and so forth.

Listening to the Audivina for the first time, that sense of spaciousness immediately struck me. It was completely unexpected from the type of headphones that they appeared to be. The sense of additional space also didn’t strike me as sounding artificial. The experience was honestly a little unusual at first, but after a few days of listening, I really came to enjoy how the Audivina were reproducing all of my music.

The voicing of the Audivina was also very much to my liking. While HIFIMAN bills these headphones as suitable for studio monitoring, they aren’t by any means tuned to be flat. The sub-bass for example is fantastic; elevated by a few dB over what one would consider flat tuning, but the sub-bass did not sound sloppy or oversaturated by any means. It hit hard and you felt it when present in the music, and it wasn’t placed smack inside your skull. Deep acoustic and electronic bass had a sense of dimension and seemed placed outside the earcups, but not at a volume that made you think it was too far back in the mix (unless that was the way it was mixed).

The upper bass to lower midrange region was nicely clear and free from the sloppiness that over- boosted bass can occasionally bring. Electric bass lines and lower register piano notes were reproduced cleanly and with plenty of detail, with no undue bloat to their sound. Transitioning to vocals and most instrumentation that lives in the midrange area, both male and female vocals were reproduced with what I felt was the right level of body and dimension. Higher-pitched female vocals did not exhibit any sort of sibilance or thinness that I could tell nor was there any notable chestiness when the males were at the mic. I have read how a few other reviewers of the Audivina headphones considered vocalists to sound a little recessed for their liking, but I did not get that sense.

The treble region has that trademark airiness and sparkle that HIFIMAN headphones are known for, but I didn’t get the sense that it ventured into being too much or overly out of balance with the rest of the headphone’s voicing. The treble performance of the Audivina is what reminded me most of my HE1000 v2 headphones.

Compared to other closed-back planar headphones that I have on hand like the Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Noire, the Stealth, and the Meze Lyric, the HIFIMAN Audivina headphones paint a more expansive sonic picture. Not quite as diffuse (which may not be the best word) as a proper open-back set of headphones, but noticeably bigger than closed. The closed-back headphones I mentioned above are some of my favorites of the breed and don’t sound overly closed-in by any means, but with each one of them, I can tell that there is a rough spatial limit to how big or wide the music gets when I listen. It’s not something that became readily apparent until I compared each of them directly with the Audivina, which exceeds all of them on that one characteristic. If you are a classical music lover, I think you will be particularly impressed with how the Audivina headphones reproduce everything from a smaller chamber ensemble to a full-on orchestra. The added dimension that these headphones imbue on the music makes it seem more like you are listening to good, capable speakers as opposed to headphones.

From a comfort standpoint, the Audivina rank as some of the most comfortable headphones that I have worn over the last few years. The longest session that I put the Audivina through was almost 4 hours of continuous listening. After which I felt completely fine without any sense of weight or pressure discomfort.

Are there things that I didn’t like about the HIFIMAN Audivina? The only thing I could really come up with to ding these headphones on is that they do not isolate very well, both ways. This means that, for a closed-back pair of headphones, they let in more outside noise than you would expect, and they leak more of what you are listening to out into the world than you might desire. Again, neither happens as much as it would for an open-back pair of cans, but on a few occasions while my wife and I were in the living room (she was watching TV and I listening to music on the Audivina headphones) she asked me to turn down the volume because enough of my music was leaking out as to distract her. When I turned it down, enough of the TV volume was leaking into the headphones to be distracting to me. I expect that this is one of the byproducts in the Audivina’s design that allows them to sound as spacious as they do. I think it’s a small penalty to pay for the sound quality and experience that you get, just know going in that (despite the travel case) you will likely not be wearing these on your daily commute. Not unless you want to annoy people with your music leaking out or have them annoy you by your hearing them asking their friends if the local airport is currently hiring ground crew… while giving you the side-eye.

Now on to some actual music…

The HIFIMAN Audivina are some of the nicest looking and most unique sounding headphones that I have heard in the $2K price bracket. Highly recommended!

The HIFIMAN Audivina are a rather special pair of headphones in my humble opinion. They look beautiful; they are extremely comfortable to wear for long stretches; they are voiced in such a way that I think many people will find appealing, and the added spaciousness that they lend to music, via their unique design, makes them unlike any other closed-back headphone out there. It took me a few days of living with the Audivina headphones to get used to that expanded sound field that they produce, but once I did, I didn’t want to give it up. Especially if you are a classical music listener, these headphones should really make you smile.

While they are categorized as closed-back headphones, their unique design means that they share some of the sound leakage characteristics of open-back cans, only to a smaller degree. Just be aware that if you want complete isolation from a headphone, these will not cut it. However, if isolation is less of a concern and you are mainly looking for a satisfying musical experience, then these might just be the ticket! If you are looking in the $2K range for some new headphones, I highly recommend the HIFIMAN Audivina!