Review: Audeze EL-8 Open-Back Headphones

Nearly every pair of headphones you've ever worn uses dynamic drivers. This is the standard for over-the-ear cans and many earbuds. And really, "dynamic driver" is just audio lingo for what you and I would call a speaker; the classic, round noisemakers you'd find in your living room stereo, or mounted in the door of your car.

Beyond dynamics, there are other types of headphones. And the most curious of them is the planar magnetic headphone. These rare beasts are expensive and fickle, often requiring an amplifier to power them. The mechanics, involving a thin diaphragm surrounded by magnets, are best explained by an expert. All you really need to know is planars produce rich audio with realistic clarity and no distortion to speak of. Audiophiles rave about 'em, but they're the same people who have no problem dropping $2,000 on a pair of planars and the same amount on a headphone amp. Don't even ask what they spent on cables.

The mainstream is catching on, however, and planar magnetic headphones have been appearing in greater numbers of late. There are excellent models from HiFiMan, Oppo, and Fostex that cost less than a grand, and many of them don't require a headphone amp—you can plug them straight into your phone.

The king daddy of the planar revolution was the Audeze LCD-2, a $2,000 (at the time; now they're half that) pair of cans with handcrafted wood shells that made the rounds of the usual publications a few years ago. We had a pair here at WIRED, and they did sound absolutely amazing, but they were comically large, criminally heavy, and of course they required amplification. I listened to a pair through a $1,700 Antelope Audio Zodiac headphone amp, and, when I shut my eyes I'm pretty sure I saw a ring of shimmering angels blowing platinum trumpets and plucking harps strung with unicorn gut. But the Berlin Philharmonic wasn't even halfway through the first movement of The Ninth before the pain of wearing these massive wooden ear-bricks became unbearable. I couldn't recommend them.

Audeze kept riding that wave, though, and now it's released a planar magnetic headphone that is more affordable, more sensible, and infinitely more enjoyable.

The EL-8 headphones cost $699 and come in closed-back and open-back configurations. (Open-back headphone have slots for air to move in and out of the earcups, so they sound very spacious, but they leak sound; closed-back cans trap the air inside the cup, and you get better bass but not as much shimmer. Most headphones are closed.) Like a few other planars we've seen recently, you can plug them right into your phone without needing an external amp to boost the signal.

The company sent me a pair of open-back EL-8s, and I definitely enjoyed them enough to recommend. However, they're not for everyone—they're not mobile-friendly, they make hard-hitting music sound kinda blah, and they really only shine in a quiet room. If your idea of "unwinding" is a nice glass of wine, a big leather chair in your dedicated listening room, and an SACD of Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations, you'll love them. But they're about as populist as a silk ascot.

The EL-8s are beautifully made. A thin ribbon headband has a spring-loaded pad at the top of its curve, and they hug the head comfortably with a nice amount of clamp. The metal earcups are ringed with wood veneer and capped with high-quality leather pads. Inside are the 100mm planar magnetic drivers—if you have the open-backs, the slots in the cups provide a nice visual embellishment. The detachable cables are flat ribbons, and there's one plug for each ear. At the other end is a friendly mini-jack, ready to snap into your smartphone. The EL-8s are rated at 30 ohms—if you see headphones with an impedance rating of higher than 30 ohms, you're probably going to need an amp. So these are right on the limit. They did sound excellent plugged into my iPhone 6, but they sounded even better—louder and more forceful—when I hooked them up to a Woo Audio tube amp (Audeze also makes a nice $700 headphone amp). You'll be fine without an amp, but if you have one, they sound even better.

I especially appreciated how the Audezes handled lighter, more delicate music. This may be because the open-back model I tested have an airy, open quality, and thus highlight these characteristics in whatever music you're listening to. I played a lot of Andreas Segovia guitar stuff, piano jazz, and Bach organ works. Classic rock LPs and live rock recordings brought out a wide soundstage and gave me a real sense of placement among the performers. On Saunders/Garcia's live Keystone Companions collection, all four musicians are spread across the stereo spectrum from left to right, and the reverb of the room becomes a fifth instrument. The Audezes put me right there among the twirling masses.

The EL-8s don't have big, forceful bass—if that's what you're looking for, go for the closed-back EL-8s. With the open earcups, dance music sounds pretty lifeless. I tried The Bug, Major Lazer, and Prefuse 73, and I kept trying to turn them up to get more oomph. All I did was annoy my neighbors (the open earcups leak sound like crazy). I kept going back to classical guitar, Indian ragas, gamelan recordings, live rock, and Blue Note jazz. Anything recorded with a few mics in a big room with lots of air sounds amazingly lifelike.

Headphone nuts—true enthusiasts who are in it for the thrill more than the utility—should definitely give the EL-8s a listen. But those looking for a pair of cans for the office or the commute should look elsewhere. The closed-back EL-8s are probably OK for the office, since they don't leak as much sound or let as much outside noise in as the open-back model. But both versions of the EL-8 are heavy, large, and have meaty cables, making them a hassle if you're moving around a lot, or if you never take off that ascot. And at $700, they're very expensive; $150 can get you any number of great-sounding headphones that work better on the train or in a crowded office. Spend $350 and you're bathing your ears in luxury.

This syndrome of "too exotic by half" extends to all planar magnetics. As a class of headphone, they're like a vintage British sports car. Beautiful, even impressive, but more suited to Sunday drives in the woods than trips to Costco in the 'burbs.