Neumann NDH 30 Open-back Studio Headphones

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by plasben, Feb 12, 2023.

  1. plasben

    plasben New

    Joined:
    Feb 12, 2023
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    NJ, USA
    I heard that the newly released Neumann NDH 30 is great on the pro audio forum, Gearspace.com, but is it only for studio monitoring? I don't know the difference between studio monitor headphones and home(?) headphones, so I would like to know that as well. It looks like Neumann is a pro audio division of Sennheiser now.
     
  2. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    7,466
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Winnipeg
    There is no "real" difference between studio headphones and home headphones. In the most general of terms, the voicing/frequency response/etc of a studio headphone will be more neutral, while home headphones might have accentuated areas that make them more appealing to mass market or audiophiles or specific genre listeners or certain age brackets, blah blah blah.

    In reality though, many studio headphones can be coloured in terms of sound reproduction. Maybe that's even preferred depending what you are specifically listening for. At the end of the day, studio work typically isn't done on a single set of headphones or speakers. It goes through several people, several sets of ears, different equipment, and bazillions of tweaks all throughout the path to final release.

    As for the NDH 30 headphones, I haven't heard or read about them yet. I do recall reading about the NDH 20 a few years ago that it wasn't necessarily the most neutral of frequency responses, but it did have very low distortion and responded well to EQ without losing accuracy. I would hope the 30 has improved on it, and being open backed is perhaps more neutral in sound.

    Neumann was absorbed into Sennheiser quite some time ago (I think the 90's?), so that isn't new.
     
  3. chesebert

    chesebert Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2020
    Likes Received:
    84
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    USA
    I have a copy coming in today. It will take me a couple of weeks to get familiar with the cans and jot down my thoughts. I will use my main rig so any comparison with 650 and Clear will be fair.
     
  4. Old Groucho

    Old Groucho Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Feb 10, 2016
    Likes Received:
    65
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Milton, Nova Scotia
    Since my two favourite headphones during the past twenty years are still, the HD600 & HD650, I was about to take the plunge and buy the new HD660S2. You’d think that after 20+ years in this hobby I’d know better than getting caught up in the “new toy” excitement & hoopla, but I was. Briefly. Thankfully I thought it over and cancelled my order and was reimbursed. There’s plenty of time to see how their new owners like them or not. Over the years, I’ve read rave reviews about “new” audio toys only to find out, a few months or so later that these same reviewers had already sold these same items they raved about. Also, I’ve come across this Neumann NDH 30 HP which I wasn’t aware of and I’ll be able to test them out. My wife and I have retired to a small Nova Scotia town. Needless to say there are no audio retailers around. Our daughter is coming down in two weeks and we’ll be going to Halifax where there’s a professional musical retailer in the city which carries the NDH 30. I’ll be able to try them out. Several of the reviews I’ve read, seem unanimous about it’s sound signature which is the one that appeals to me. If I do like them I’ll probably buy them. The unfortunate part concerning the HD660S2 is that the retailer doesn’t carry them. But since the do carry the HD600 & HD650, I’ll give them a call and find out if they’re expecting the HD660S2. I hope the NDH 30 are as good as I’d like them to be though. They would be a nice change. I’ll try and share my impressions at that time if, I get to try them out.
     
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2023
  5. chesebert

    chesebert Acquaintance

    Joined:
    Jun 5, 2020
    Likes Received:
    84
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    USA
    I have heard enough and this is my initial impression after about a week of burning in/listening

    Equipment Used: Emm Labs NS1, Emm Labs DAC2xV2, Sonic Frontier SFD-1 mkii, Headamp GSX(mk2 modules), Headamp GS-1(mk2 module) (think of this as half of GSX2)
    Headphones compared: HD650 with Stefan AudioArt cable with quarter mod; RAAL, Utopia and Pulsar comparisons were done via listening notes.
    Cable: Stock and Fog City Cardas balanced cable (I mostly used the balanced cable for the comparison)
    Music Genres: jazz (small ensemble and big band), symphony, Jpop, Cpop, electronic, solo instruments (piano, violin and cello).

    I am going to skip everything relating to visual or comfort because only the sound matters. I am also going to skip the same old sound description because I have been reading the same descriptive words for decades. Here we go!

    NDH30 had some of the best visceral impact; can easily feel the bass and the punch is very strong. Can’t decide if NDH30 is better than Pulsar and Utopia, both of which have incredible visceral impact. This is a significant upgrade from HD650, which has adequate visceral impact but there is distinct lack of punch). Probably slightly less than 5/5.

    Mid range purity is among the best. Voice, piano and cello all sound very real and natural without any added wonky frequency uplift noticed in Utopia. There is also 0 deviation from naturalness (not even an ever slight bump I heard in Pulsar). HD650 is slightly behind in terms of that transparency and cleanest of the midrange - they’re just that slight lack of that cleanliness and transparency compared with NDH30. This level of performance is closing in RAAL, which has the best mid range purity bar none. I think 4.5/5 is probably fair score.

    NDH30 is convincingly recreating the jazz and symphony hall venue. This level of ability to recreate the space is probably the best I have heard in any headphone regardless of price. You can hear slight reverberation from the venue across the frequency range and in terms of holographic feel, there are songs where you absolutely can “feel” the instrument or “touch” the singer. HD650 is a class behind NDH30 and unremarkable. RAAL is better but it’s not too far off. 4.5/5 (there is RAAL, can anything be 5 at this point?)

    Mid bass definition is clean, clear and well defined. Not notice any bleeding of bass into mid range or muddiness. It’s not the most sharp and well defined bass I have heard, but it’s still a step up from HD650, which is not as clear in terms of its bass performance. HD650’s bass is also slow compared with NDH30, as the trailing edge lingers for a bit too long; 4.5/5

    Subbass from 60hz down is close to the best. Can easily feel the rumble in the body and in the stomach. It’s clean and deep with great definition. This is significantly better than HD650/Utopia/Clear and a touch behind Pulsar, HE6se and LCD3/LCD4. I think 4/5 is a fair score

    NDH30’s performance in terms of resolution is among the best. Minor harmonic variances in tone are easily rendered, thereby making note more “3D” sounding. Space around each note and between instruments can be clearly heard. Treble details can be easily heard and tracked across the sonic space. This level of performance is approaching electrostats and RAAL. HD650 is slight better than average and again unremarkable, as none of these minor spacial queues and harmonic overtones can be easily heard on 650. 4.5/5

    NDH30 has one of the most accurate soundstage reproduction I have ever heard. The sound stage is as small or as big as the music requires. It can go from intimate to gigantic in a single instant with each instrument or sound source accurately placed in their own 3D sound stage (yes, you can hear height information with NDH30). HD800 has a larger soundstage but it sounds artificial to me; HD650 is not even close. Nothing currently on the market can compare 5/5

    Treble realism and timbre are very accurate. Timbre of real instruments like violin and piano is among the best (dynamics, estats, planar). Piano has that nice hammer action and it’s easily heard, the reverberation from the soundboard is also very accurate with tiny harmonics that makes each note sound “3D”. Violin has that realistic bow/rosin quality (again with multiple layers of harmonics to each note). Treble is smooth and clear with great tone even in the upper registers. If I put RAAL at 5/5 in this area, then NDH40 is somewhere between 4.5-5.

    Here is short breakdown of the scores (including areas I didn’t cover above). Overall conclusion: wow.

    NDH30 Score Breakdown:

    Visceral impact 4.5
    Mid range purity 4.5
    Holographic 4.5
    Bass definition 4.5
    Sub bass 4
    Resolution 4.5
    Space rendition / atmosphere 4.5 (the space and the harmonic sounds around each instrument is impressive)
    Soundstage 5
    Treble realism: 4.5
    Timbre 5 (can hear the tiny harmonics variances in each note, realistic to how actual instruments sound, leading edges are clear and realistic and not overbearing or sharp)
    PRAaT 5
    Body/weight: 5
    Macro dynamic: 4.5
    Micro dynamic: 4.5
    Transparency: high
     
    • Like Like x 8
    • Epic Epic x 3
    • List

Share This Page