I first tried out the original HEDDphone, now referred to as HEDDphone ONE, last year at CanJam London. I had heard of the brand and was certainly looking forward to trying out air motion transformer headphones for the first time. I vividly remember being in awe at the size and weight of that unit to the point where it made the connected amplifier look small. It fit over my head fine even as I noticed many others struggling to do so—the headband simply wasn't stretching wide enough for them. Listening to the HEDDphone ONE was unlike anything else. There was a sense of tactility to the upper mids and treble which was almost analogous to the punch and slam people associate with the bass. For the first time with headphones I could feel violins and piano keys almost as if they were being played next to me even though I could also hear everything around me. This sense of impact only came with some very good IEMs thus far so I was immediately a fan and would have purchased one on the spot had it not being for the 770 g hanging on my head leading to eventual discomfort. I sighed to myself and returned the demo unit back to HEDD, telling them what I thought and what I would love to see in a future version.

Clearly I was not the only one who liked what the HEDD AMT drivers are capable of when designed to be in full-range (20 Hz to 20 kHz) operation in headphones. This itself was innovative and required years of R&D and the feedback from when the HEDDphone ONE originally launched meant the successor was already in the works well before last year. This year at the same show HEDD opted to debut the new HEDDphone TWO and I rushed over on the quiet Sunday morning to listen to it. Both HEDDphones were next to each other to show exactly how much of a diet the new set has gone through. Be it new materials—carbon fiber, magnesium, aluminium—or even the use of dual 3.5 mm cable connectors over mini XLR before, the HEDDphone TWO weighs ~25% less but is still considered a heavy set at 550 g. The good news is the new headband system, aptly called HEDDband, is so innovative that it really doesn't feel heavy on the head. For the first time, at least that I am aware of, you get not only vertical sizing but also clamp force/earcup pressure adjustment to allow you to set up the HEDDphone TWO in a comfortable-yet-secure manner resting on your head with the plush suspension band and over/around the ears with the new contoured ear pads. It's not the easiest system to set up and I do see some room for improvement still, but HEDD tackled both major complaints from the original product successfully.

Then comes the sound aspect and here is where I have mixed feelings. There is no doubt that the HEDDphone TWO is an excellent product both technically and purely in terms of the impact those AMT drivers provide compared to more traditional driver technologies. HEDD's target audience has typically been in the pro audio space including music mixing, monitoring, mastering, and so on. Tonality is less of a concern there and providing a relatively flat baseline for the end user to then add/mix in their own EQ filters is a bonus since it is far easier to add a few filters than it is to work around a more complex frequency response. The HEDDphone TWO isn't the easiest set to drive though and it also costs a lot more than your typical set of monitoring headphones. So it does face a harder time convincing the professionals that the cost is worth it. Personally, having seen so many famous artists and their teams go for expensive headphones in the last few years, I absolutely see the HEDDphone TWO working for them, if not even besting those other options. It has excellent imaging and instrument separation while also allowing for easier discerning of complex music notes and layers to ensure everything is mixed and mastered correctly. It also takes EQ very well without any perceived distortion and adds in some weight to the mids that is hard to understand without listening to an AMT set first.

Audiophiles are more likely to justify a $2000 purchase than the music pros though, and I do feel there was a missed opportunity here to target this market more. It's mostly a tonality thing that is far easier to customize via EQ for end users and yet many will not want to do so for an expensive product. The HEDDphone TWO sounds good, even great, for a variety of music genres owing to its lower frequency emphasis and relaxed upper mids. But I do miss that magic the original HEDDphone gave in the upper mids and lower treble if I had to only judge this based on how it sounds out of the box. Bass extension also feels unchanged from before albeit the tonality is shifted towards a more bassier response now. Given the undisputed technical masterpiece these drivers are and the excellent, innovative headphone design they are incorporated in, it would be a shame if people don't try it out to see whether it works for them or not. I would also encourage HEDD to consider an audiophile-tuned version, if not even some recommended EQ profiles, that showcase the strength of these AMT drivers more in the higher frequencies. As it stands, I have no qualms about giving the HEDDphone TWO an innovation award. I will also give it a recommendation, albeit it is conditional given it's not a universally appealing set as much as specifically working out for some directly, an EQ playground for others, and being a work-in-progress for the rest.