Five years ago, we reviewed the first headphones from German Speaker experts HEDD Audio, the HEDDphone which used a unique Air Motion Transformer (AMT) transducer to provide incredible technical performance and a clean reference sound, but it was a bit bulky and lacking in ergonomic design. The HEDDphone Two updated the ergonomics and design of the original with some improvement to the sound as well, while the GT version offered a more musical, audiophile tuning. Now HEDDphone D1 is hitting the market with a more traditional dynamic driver in place of the AMT. Does D1 maintain HEDD’s unique HEDDphone identity in a more affordable, accessible package?

Build and Design

HEDDphone D1’s physical design leans more towards the soft, lightweight comfort of pro audio brands like Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic than the more ornate designs of Meze or HIFIMAN, and delivers one of the most comfortable headphones that I’ve tried in recent memory. The headphone chassis uses a mix of aluminum and plastic, and includes an incredibly generous headband adjustment. The earpads and headband are made from velour and well cushioned. The earpads are especially soft and cushy, while the headband has a firmer feel to it.

Included with D1 is a nice, but fairly minimalist package consisting of a molded hardshell zipper case and a cable terminated in 3.5mm with a 6.3mm adapter. The cable isn’t spectacular, but it gets the job done, and is of a similar quality to other audiophile headphones in this price bracket. D1 also uses standard 3.5mm connectors, meaning that it’s compatible with a wide range of existing cables.

Sound

D1’s sound is clean and transparent, with a focus on accuracy and detail above all else. While it eschews warmth or color in favor of clarity, its natural lifelike presentation makes it highly engaging. At its core, D1 sounds more like a reference monitor than an audiophile headphone, but it maintains musicality by chasing those natural and lifelike characteristics that keep it from becoming unforgiving or clinical.

The bass is very clean and linear, with a focus on accuracy. There’s a good amount of punch and physicality though, when the track calls for it, and nice subbass extension. You can catch an incredibly high level of detail in instruments that occupy the lower end of the frequency spectrum, and there’s not even a hint of muddiness or bleed into the mids.

D1’s midrange is some of the best in the business, with a natural timbre that accompanies a level of detail and clarity that rivals headphones well above D1’s price range. The separation and layering is also very strong, with complex layers becoming easy to pick apart and the details of individual instruments being very clear.

The treble is nicely balanced and extended, with a great delivery of the finer details and strong resolution. As a more treble sensitive listener, I found that every detail in the upper was clearly defined and well-presented without the headphones sounding harsh or fatiguing at any point.

HEDDphone D1 is easy to drive and quite sensitive, meaning that you can drive it on with a phone and DAC dongle or a simple portable DAP without any trouble. D1 will certainly scale with higher tier gear, and there are elements to the dynamics that more powerful amps can bring out that the Apple Dongle won’t, but the core listening experience isn’t compromised with lower power amplification.

“Schism” by Tool is the perfect example of a song where musical arrangement fits metacontextually with the lyrics, with the story of relationship falling apart being accompanied by shifting polyrhythms that can seem incomprehensible on first listen, but “the pieces fit” and D1 helps the listener untangle the dense layers of guitar, bass, and drums providing detail and clarity for each element with strong separation and definition. It also delivers musical engagement with a balanced mix, and notable weight and impact to the low end.

The Bad Plus are a jazz trio known by fans for their avant garde covers which musically deconstruct timeless hits, eventually weaving the pieces back together, typically bringing the song to a crescendo with a climactic reconstruction of a familiar melody. “We Are the Champions” starts with a mix of meandering bass and a piano line that mixes dissonance with the song’s chorus melody, and ebbs in flows from softer sections into outright cacophony. D1 captures the dynamics of the band brilliantly, picking up every bit of nuance in the piano playing, every spastic pluck of the bass, and the sheer mania of the drums from the quiet hints of melody, to the bombastic explosions that make this three-piece band sound like they’re filling the whole club with a massive wall of sound. 

“Elevator Love Letter” by Stars features swirling layers of instruments and synthesizers topped off with wistful female vocals on the first verse and a relaxed male vocal on the second. The first thing I noticed was how well D1 spread out the somewhat congested musical arrangement, letting you take a couple trips through the pick apart all of the different layers, and making space for the vocals, which are in constant danger of getting lost in the mix. The bass has good texture, with a physicality to the driving bass guitar line that’s punctuated with each hit of the bass drum. The live instruments sound clean and natural, while the electronic elements are nicely detailed and textured.

Comparison: Meze 109 Pro, HIFIMAN HE600

If you’re looking for a clean, transparent sound in a headphone under $1000, HEDDphone D1 isn’t the only option on the market, with HIFIMAN HE600 being another strong recent release. On the other hand, if you’re more interested in a natural nonfatiguing sound and extreme comfort, the Meze 109 Pro has become the gold standard in this price range. Is D1 a better choice for either of these categories, or is it somewhere in between?

While all three are well made, there’s a huge difference in the general build and design of each. D1 and 109 Pro are both very comfortable and easy to wear for long periods of time, but D1 does a better job of matching comfort with a tighter fit and stronger feeling of security on your head. HE600 is comfortable, but doesn’t have the same sort of “wow” factor as the others. In terms of looks, D1’s simplicity might make it the pick for some, while 109 Pro and HE600 look more like luxury audiophile headphones than pro studio cans. 109 Pro definitely takes top marks for materials, with its wood cup and leather strap, but the more industrial looking design of HE600 might appeal to others.

While the looks couldn’t be much further apart, in terms of sound, they’re very close. The key differences are that 109 Pro has a bit more of a typical euphonic coloration, with slightly elevated midbass and lower mids, along with a touch of extra “sparkle” in the treble. HE600 has some similar upper mid and treble characteristics, but has more reserved bass and low mids with a slightly rolled off bass. D1 lands almost perfectly in between, with bass that sounds neither rolled off nor elevated, and an engaging, present treble with less obvious emphasis.

The Bottom Line

HEDDphone D1 is a headphone that carefully toes the line between the reference sound of HEDD’s pro audio roots and the sonic engagement that audiophiles crave. The combination of extreme detail retrieval and natural lifelike sound are sure to make D1 a hit for both working musicians in the studio and HiFi enthusiasts looking for the next big thing.