New Gear Review: Planar Headphones by Avantone Pro

Avantone Pro employs planar drivers into their new studio-grade reference cans—will these headphones find themselves situated in your mix rig?

Headphones are often the last line of defense for those who aren’t mixing in professionally tuned and treated rooms—and that’s a lot of us. Mixing at low volumes can offset the effects of inaccurate and skewed playback, however the detail that a good set of cans provides is crucial.

Avantone Pro, purveyors of high-quality audio equipment including speakers and mics of various kinds, studio amplifiers, and then some, have not long ago released a very attractive new offering: the Avantone Planar headphones. The company, perhaps best known for attractive emulations of lauded speaker models of years past, have employed—as the name suggests—planar magnetic driver technology into these headphones.

Planar drivers, popular amongst audiophiles, have been commonly used for decades in both loudspeaker and headphone applications, but are known for their lack of bass response—a result of their lightweight components. However, in an open-back headphone design such as the Avantone Planars, the company notes this is not to be of concern.

So can the Avantone Planar headphones earn a spot amongst your carefully chosen set of final reference tools?

Features

The first thing you’ll notice is that the packaging of the Planar headphones—and the unboxing experience—is stellar. The cans themselves, available in both black and red options, are among the most attractive headphones I’ve used, ever. And the build quality feels super robust right out of the gate.

The packaging includes a thick canvas tote bag bearing the Avantone name, intended to be home to the headphones if you are taking them on-the-go. Though it doesn’t offer much protection, it’s a welcome inclusion, and you’ll certainly be traveling with the Planars in style. There are two very nice six-foot cables included with the package: one 1/8” to 1/8” TRS, and one 1/8” TRS to 2x 1/8” TRS (a “Y” splitter-type design, with all male terminals).

The Planars have an 1/8” jack on the bottom side of each ear, allowing you to choose which side is more convenient for your particular cable run. Anyone who has used headphones ever, can’t deny this as a convenient and winning feature. As the use of a single jack on either ear from the standard 1/8” to 1/8” cable still produces signal in both ears, I was a bit perplexed at why Avantone would take on the extra cost of providing the extra splitter cable in addition to the standard “aux” cable. There is also a gold-plated 1/8” to 1/4” TRS adapter included in the packaging—always a welcome addition as these tend to grow legs and disappear.

Weighing in at 1.05 lbs—which although may not sound like a lot—feels substantial in the form of headphones. Everything about the design, feel, and visual appearance of the Planars comes across as completely top-notch. The structural, non-sound producing components of the design are made of a sleek, sexy, matte black metal material that feels solid as a rock, and the cans have the overall flexibility to move in a way that should fit comfortably on any human head.

Employing an around-the-ear, open-back design, your ears will fit wholly and completely into the Planars, and a nice, soft, fabric-covered foam outer ring will make comfortable contact with your head around your ears. There is absolutely no reason why anyone should consider these headphones even the slightest bit uncomfortable, even over a long period of listening.

As for technical specifications, the Planars have a frequency response of 30Hz – 30kHz, a THD rating of <0.1 @ 100dB, maximum power of 5 WRMS, minimum power of >100mW, and a maximum SPL of >130dB IEC-318. The speaker diaphragm measures in at 95mm x 70mm, with an impedance of 32 ohms.

But enough with the specs. How do these things sound?

In Use

When getting acquainted with any new critical listening situation, I’ve got a set of go-to references I employ, each and every time. It’s comprised of what I think are good representations of varying mix and production approaches, along with mixes that cover all corners of the frequency spectrum—thin, thick, bright, dull, and all of the other various esoteric adjectives.

Regarding the sound of the Planars, I’ll precede my feedback by saying I have been a faithful Sony MDR-7506 user in mix (and tracking) settings, basically forever. I’ve come across plenty of high-end sets of cans over the years, and the Sonys seem to be a good general point of reference. But that doesn’t mean I think they’re perfect; they’re pretty bright in my opinion, but they excel in exposing imperfections, basically fully across the frequency spectrum. I’ve gotten used to the brightness and factor it into my (often final) decision-making, with these as my last stop before delivering to mastering.

The Planars provided a far smoother and more velvety quality overall, which gives me confidence to go into a longer mix session with them as my cans-reference. I’ve always had issues going from my monitors (either Dynaudio BM5A MKIIs or Yamaha NS-10s) to the Sonys, as the transition feels shockingly bright in headphones. But the Planars are an easier transition in this regard.

In hip-hop references, or rock scenarios with solid low end extension, the Planars can hang, and I would feel pretty comfortable making important decisions on low end using these (at low volumes, however—more on that later). Again, the brightness of the Sonys can often be distracting and fatiguing, and that was not the case with the Avantones.

Across various contemporary mixes by the likes of Tchad Blake, Rich Costey, Eric Valentine, classics by everyone from Sinatra to Elvis, and crucial 80’s productions we all know and love (because I’m a nerd for that stuff), the Planars succeeded at conveying all the important things in a mix: big frequency-based or dynamic impacts and changes, separation between crucial elements—it was all there.

I noticed that when pushing the volume on the Planars, the high end really began to move to the forefront, and the important elements such as guitars, keys, and vocals had nicer separation than when they were at lower volumes. As a general note, the Planars just felt clearer when they were a bit louder. The Sonys, on the other hand, tend to react pretty consistently across a larger spectrum of sound pressure level.

To Be Critical

I had some thoughts on the general performance of the Planars, with specific respect to listening at lower volumes versus higher volumes. Upon bringing these critiques to Avantone, it turns this feedback seems to be directly related to the output impedance and output voltage gain of my particular monitor controller (the Coleman Audio TB4MKII) and its onboard headphone amplifier.

I noticed that the Planars didn’t feel quite as dynamic overall as I’m used to hearing with the Sonys. And though the high end seemed to open up nicely when the volume of the Planars was pushed a bit, I didn’t feel the low end quite open up in the same way that the high end did. I felt almost as if there was some compression happening across the lower frequencies when the Planars were pushed. Though to reiterate, I would trust making important low end decisions on the Planars if the volume wasn’t cranked, as there is nice separation down there.

The velvety quality of the Planars is palpable. It was my first thought on the first listen. I think for longer listening sessions at lower volumes I would reach for the Planars over the Sonys, however I did feel like there was a bit of a sonic veil pulled over the mix when listening through the Planars. So my thought here was that if I were going for surgical tweaks (especially in the high end) the Planars might not be my first choice due to that piece of feedback.

Avantone noted that, due to the aforementioned output impedance and voltage of the TB4MKII, the Planars at low volumes were not being fully driven. They suspected that once I started pushing the Planars a bit harder, the headphones began to react as intended. And to my note about hearing compression, it’s possible that distortion was being introduced into the signal as I pushed the headphone amp harder.

I can’t say I’ve had this issue with other sets of cans before—and I’ve used that monitor controller with quite a few models—however these are certainly the first planar drivers I am using with my rig. You learn something new every day!

Summing it Up

There’s no arguing the Avantone Planar headphones would be a great addition to any high-stakes monitoring situation. If clients are attending your mix sessions, these cans will also be sure to catch their eye, be it the red or black model.

The Planars are priced at $399—not cheap. If I were to have only one set of headphones around, I can’t say the Planars would be my first choice, however, as an alternate to my trusted Sonys for the last decade and a half, I can’t say I can think of a better option than the Planars.

Avantone Pro are curating their product line tastily, and with a pulse on the kind of gear that people get genuinely excited about. Barring a warning that you check your headphone amp has adequate drive to push the Planars, I would recommend these cans to anyone looking for a solid and reliable set of studio reference cans. And though the Planars may not harken back to revered classic pieces like their CLA-10 and MixCube offerings do, they might help in establishing an elevated standard for cutting-edge new headphone designs.

Dan Gluszak is a producer, mixer, and engineer based in Los Angeles, California. He also doubles as a touring and session drummer.

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