£140 / $150 / €160, adam-audio.com

Known best for its studio monitors, German brand ADAM Audio entered the headphones market in 2019 with its $550 Studio Pro SP-5. Five years on, another closed-back model has been launched with a more competitive price of $150 and, intriguingly, they come with a companion plugin.

It’s a crowded market out there, so how do the new H200s fare alongside go-to competitors such as Beyerdynamic’s DT 770 Pro and Austrian Audio’s Hi-X15?

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What features do the ADAM Audio H200s have?

ADAM’s headphones have a closed-back construction that makes them ideal for recording sessions as they won’t leak headphone spill into nearby microphones as readily as open-backs. And they’re not too bulky, so also won’t look out of place on your daily commute. They aren’t foldable unfortunately, which affects portability and storage, but they do come with a smart drawstring bag. However, once you have listened to them, you’re likely to want to keep them on and use them for all your listening needs.

The cable is detachable and can connect to the headphones from either side, to suit your dominant hand and particular situation. However, at three metres in length, the provided cable is most suited to recording tasks, where you’re situated a distance away from your desk or audio interface.

An accompanying Headphone Utility plugin comes in standard AU and VST formats and is best hosted in the control room section of a DAW (if yours has one) or, better still, using a system-wide solution such as the ever-handy SoundSource from Rogue Amoeba.

The plugin has two main functions. The first is Externalisation, which introduces crossfeed between the left and right channels inside the headphones similar to the way in which we experience music played back on stereo speakers. The left ear hears some sound from the right speaker and vice versa, meaning that panning moves end up appearing less extreme on speakers. Externalisation gives you a far better idea of the differences between how mixes will sound on headphones and speakers, so you can make more informed mixing and mastering decisions without having to have boutique studio monitors in an acoustically treated room.

Second, a voicing switch offers two different frequency response curves – Pure, and the brand’s own Uniform Natural Response (UNR) – which are designed for critical listening and listening for enjoyment, respectively. Incidentally, the Pure curve is modelled on ADAM’s s3V midfield monitors – here, the combination of externalisation and voicing gets you far closer to the sound of a £5000 studio monitor set-up than you would imagine with a $150 pair of headphones.

What are the ADAM Audio H200 headphones like to use?

The H200s clamp tightly to the head, which provides effective isolation when tracking, but too fierce for casual listening. Hopefully this will ease up over time. Memory foam earcups and headband do lend some comfort and make for a tight seal, which in turn leads to a satisfying, beefy bass response (both of these parts are user-replaceable).

The long cable irks me. I wouldn’t dare take these headphones out on the street with the stock cable, and I’m in constant fear of entanglement as my errant toddler wanders past me while catching up on work at the dining table. A 1.5-metre cable would have been just right for the majority of users, however, a generic 2.5mm-to-3.5mm cable will work and not break the bank, even if it doesn’t lock into the headset like the one supplied.

Sonically, there’s a rich bass end and plenty of clarity further up the frequency range, but surprisingly, none of the phasey, cupped phenomenon experienced with other closed-backs. Nor do the H200s have spiky presence peaks built into their voicing. I find them less harsh in the high-mids than the ubiquitous DT 770 Pros (although such a presence peak can be handy for cue mixes), and with a deeper bass extension. And while my daily-driver closed-backs – the Austrian Audio Hi-X15s – require EQ correction due to jagged high-mids, this is not the case with the H200s. You can simply plug them in to track and mix while enjoying supreme sound, whether using the plugin or not.

Digging into Ninajirachi’s Lapland, there’s a tight punch to the kick patterns and distortion-free sub-bass with clear sustain. There’s not much masking in the busy mid-range of the mix, and there’s a truly immersive stereo image.

It’s a similar story with Rush’s seminal Tom Sawyer, abound with glorious, tight drum fills and a revealing mid-range that is neither scooped or forced. For a treat, I switch to the alternative, UNR voicing. Extra-velvety tops and a slight mid-range recess result, but the sound isn’t strikingly different from the default Pure voicing. The H200s are supreme for critical mixing tasks as well as listening for enjoyment.

Working on my own mixes, enabling the Externalisation crossfeed gives me a better sense of how panning decisions will translate to speaker playback. It’s a truly welcome addition, implemented in a no-nonsense, user-friendly way. Sure, plugins such as CanOpener and Realphones are more capable and flexible in simulating loudspeaker listening (Realphones takes this and room simulation to a whole new level), but ADAM’s plugin is lightweight and efficient, free of tantalising options that could potentially distract me from serious work.

Who should buy ADAM Audio H200 headphones?

If you’re not fazed by clamping force, the clumsily-long stock cable, or a lack of foldability, ADAM Audio’s H200s ought to be a serious contender on your studio headphone shortlist. In fact, they sound every bit as pleasing as competing closed-back models priced over $100 more, and have lower levels of measured distortion than just about any other headphones at any price.

This is all without taking into account the extras offered by the plugin. Crossfeed helps you make more reliable mixing decisions away from studio monitors, while voicing changes is an unexpected bonus. All processes are handled in moderation, free of stark differences that would otherwise cause the headphones to lose their impressive inherent sonic signature.

Save for a couple of wonky design decisions, ADAM Audio has a real winner on its hands with the H200s. I’ll be bereft when these leave my desk.

Key features

• Closed-back, over-ear headphones
• Plugin for crossfeed and voicing options (AU/VST)
• 40-mm Polyether Ether Ketone (PEEK) dynamic drivers
• 2 Hz – 23.5 kHz frequency range
• 32 Ohms
• Memory foam, leatherette-covered earcups
• User-replaceable earcups and headband pad
• Comes with 3-metre detachable cable, jack adapter and carrying pouch
• <0.02% distortion
• Weight: 250g

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