Klipsch Heritage HP-3 Headphones Preview

Klipsch Heritage HP-3 Distortions (Preview Unit - Not Final)
FYI, some airplanes flying overhead today, but should give us a general idea.




These results are actually fantastic for an open headphone. Note that third order (the bad kind) is well controlled and below second order. Here's the Sony Z1R (their TOTL closed headphone) distortion for comparison:

Sony Z1R for comparison.
The Sony has a little bit less D2, but D3 is just too much, bleeding way into the lower mids.


Sennheiser HD6XX for comparison.
Told you the HD650 bass sounded like farts in comparison.

 

No bullshit answer: They are awesome. Basically an open more resolving TH-900 without the treble fuckery and lower mid suckout. A know that a lot of you guys have been waiting for something like this, maybe from Massdrop or Denon, but looks like Klipsch has beaten everyone to it! If I were Klipsch, I'd be all neener neener neener.

Posting this too. Love that attention to the little things. People who pay attention to little things usually pay attention to the big things.

 

Another thing I should add is that the HP-3 isn't as demanding as the HD650. The HD650 needs a certain level of gear, and the right kind of gear to sound good, otherwise it's just boring sounding or kind of sounds like ass. This is why folks like @GUTB never "got" the HD650. I mean, if he had to put cardboard cutouts under the power transformers of his Chi-Fi DAC for it to sound betterer, then obviously, there's a bigger problem. I mean, I am a huge proponent of the HD650, but I'm not going to gloss over its source and amping requirements.

The Heritage HP-3 starts off stronger. It starts off sounding good from modest gear, but also keeps scaling all the way up to the crazy high-end turntable and tube amp setups that I know a few of you guys have. In other words, the HP-3 is more noob friendly.

 

1. Someone mentioned the shallow pads, and this could be the only issue that I see. I am not totally sure, but I believe that the HP-3 pads offer a little bit more clearance than the X00 so that the ear tips don't touch. The X00 pads were known to be notoriously shallow.
2. The HP-3 feels pretty light on the head and the curvature of the headband seems right, even for people with bigger heads like myself. The swivel mechanisms allow a great degree of orientation so the earpads lie perfectly flush on the sides of the head and face. Pressure was evenly distributed. There wasn't any unnecessary stretching of metal fatiguing headband necessary to get a proper fit. Clamp force is firm and secure, but not vice grip tight like a new HD6X0.
3. The top of the headband has a firm but compliant cushion. I find that most headphones without a suspension band uncomfortable because I have these tiny bumps and ridges on the top of my skull. I might be part Klingon. The top of my skull gets sore with the HD800, Denon D7200, etc. after long listening periods. Not so much with the HP-3.
4. The cable entries which are integrated in the back of the gimbals expand the outer dimensions of the cups. This makes it a little bit more difficult to wear the HP-3 them while lying down on a pillow. It's a not big deal since the cups are forced forward a bit, which tends to be how I wear headphones. It didn't prevent me from falling asleep drooling while listening to them last night, so again not a big deal.

 

Well, at least no Old West Font on the headphone itself. I mean, it could have been worse with the face of Lorne Greene and young Michael Landon plastered on it, like this:


FWIW, I'm going to run them in another 24 hours and see what's up. The biocellulose stuff usually gets tamer and more lively after a short period. And no, we don't need 400 hours.

 

Really apples and oranges. We are talking about closed vs open (semi-open) headphones. That in itself is huge fundamental difference, particularly in transient response and that "open" feeling. Tuning is also significantly different. Not only does X00 have that small lower mid depression, it has a W curve, which is quite different from a V. No amount of headphone modding will make a driver more resolving, unless you actually messed with the driver magnets or surrounds. The TH-X00 scaled up - to a certain extent, but not as far as the HP-3. The HD650 easily outscaled the TH-X00 in resolution once I moved up to the TOTL amps.