HarmonicDyne Black Hole – Semi Open Space Sound
HarmonicDyne Black hole is a $99 USD pair of semi-open headphones with a dynamic driver at the heart, velvet ear cushions, and a weight of almost 305 grams. Today we will review the Black Hole, explore how they sound like, and compare them to the market, including Blon B50 (119 USD), ThieAudio Ghost (130 USD), HarmonicDyne Athena (179 USD), and OneOdio Monitor 80 (99 USD).
Introduction
HarmonicDyne is a popular company sold by Linsoul, but which so far has not established a house sound, and which has products that vary from having a warm, clean sound, to having a boomier or a sharper sound. The unit we’re reviewing today is made as their most affordable headphone we’re reviewing to date, so it will be interesting to see if they offer a proper comfort and sound considering the price point. As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. I thank Linsoul for providing the sample for this review, in exchange for my honest opinion.
PROs – Airy, Wide sound, Wide Soundstage, Price / Performance Ratio, Build Quality, Thick Cushions, Unique Tuning.
Cons – Sound is a bit scattered, Sound leakage and low passive noise isolation, Clamping Force.
Product Link
You can grab one from www.amazon.com here – https://amzn.to/3uQ9Xsh
If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here – https://amzn.to/49l6Kjv
And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here – https://amzn.to/49uxtKm
Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort
The Black Hole has a 50mm dynamic driver at the heart, and it also has the promise of superior comfort with a lightweight design. Most of the headphones we reviewed from HarmonicDyne have been crowdfunding campaigns, including the Helios, Zeus and Poseidon. We had IEMs too from the company, but the new Black Hole was designed to be as comfortable and light as possible, with the driver being the most major feature of them.
Happily we finished the white paper here, and can talk about the actual usage of the headphones, which have a weight of 305 grams, being mostly medium in weight compared to everything I tried to date. The clamping force is medium towards high, they have a good amount of padding on the headband, and earpads, but I am just one click away from maximum at both sides, so if you have a large head, the Black Hole won’t fit your head. This is similar to the experience I had with Focal Bathys. In fact, the Black Hole also can get warm on your head, and they have a velvet material on the earpads and headband.
The impedance is 32 OHMs, so you won’t hear any noise from any source, and with a SPL of 110 dB, they will get loud easily, and the 0.15% THD at 100dB, the specs are a fair match for the price point. The cable is flexible, but not very sturdy, covered in a textile material, and it is a 1.5 meters OFC or Oxygen Free Copper Cable. The cable is very light and does not conduct much microphonic noise. This is a good moment to mention that Linsoul has a good return policy and they also deliver using Amazon.
For today’s review I only relied on Single Ended sources, or at least the single ended output of my sources, as the cable Black Hole comes with is SE only. The sources list includes FiiO Q15, Shanling UA4, FiiO K9 PRO ESS, HIDIZS S9 PRO Martha, HIFIMAN EF600, and Hiby Digital M300. All of those can drive the Black Hole just fine, and this is an easy to drive headphone which does not scale a lot with the source. There is no passive noise isolation, and Black Hole leaks a lot, the people in the same room as you will hear your music quite loudly, and might be annoyed by it, so I would treat it as an open-back that stayed semi-open for having a certain sonic presentation, rather than for leakage and passive noise isolation reasons.
Sound Quality
Overall Signature – There’s something quite unique going on with the Black Hole, it is a wide sounding headpone, wide, bright, and airy, but to the point of exaggeration, it scatters the sound as it was played in a huge hall, adding even a tiny bit of echo to it, making sound as holographic as it is possible, in the same style as a Sennheiser HD820 would, but keeping a similar tuning too, bright, without a lot of bass, but still it can move the low end above 45 Hz just fine. Every element of music is colored and transformed by this tuning, voices, instruments, everything sounds different from any other headphone, much wider, but also scattered in space. The best music styles for it are pop, electronic, dubstep and anything that is not meant to sound natural
Bass – With a strong bass comes a strong presence, so this is exactly what Black Hole has the least, the sound is spacey, wide and scattered all around, bass being shallow, and rolling off at 45 Hz, with most of the bass energy being around 70-90 Hz. Even in the mid and upper bass, there’s very little bass present in music, so the whole tuning is bright to very bright. Instruments have little body, and are presented airy, floating above and around the listener rather than earthed somewhere and in your face.
Midrange – clean mids are a strong point of the Black Hole, and they have a bit of grain all throughout their sound, but good clarity and detail, having enough resolution and clarity for the price point. The dynamic headroom is limited and they sound compressed, both because the sound is always scattered, both with wide sounding music, and narrow sounding music, and because the maximum volume is limited, so generally Black Hole sounds clear, but has this holographic projection that makes them sound incredibly wide, but scattered. Instruments are not well defined, and they combine together, with a hint of echo being applied to the sound too. All music is colored in this style, and it works exceptionally well for pop, electronic, commercial music, and dubstep, but does not work for metal, rock, jazz or acoustic music in general.
Volume Control – With a THD of 15% at 100 dB, Black Hole does not handle high volumes well, and is best listened at quiet volumes, they have a really strong change in phase and turning at high volumes. In fact, the louder the sound, the brighter the sound, and this is not a welcome change necessarily, since even at low volumes, the sound is quite bright. HarmonicDyne Black hole sounds best at low volumes, and medium volumes if you’re lucky. Similar to Dekoni Cobalt, the sound is quite refined, airy, and well separated at low volumes, but it gets too colored at high volumes. Because the volume control makes you listen quietly, most of my review has been written using the Black Hole at low and medium listening volumes, so between 60 dB and 90 dB, with rare occasions going to 100 dB, but the sound is best between 70 dB and 80 dB.
Treble – When I say that Black Hole is bright, you expect there to be a lot of treble, but the treble is rather rolled off above 16 kHz, with a soft roll off effect, with most of the treble having about the same level as the midrange. If you’re looking for a softer, relaxed treble, Black Hole can deliver just that, and although there’s a tiny bit of grain in the treble, it is not sibilant, but can be harsh with harsh music. For the price point, they have better extension, clarity and resolution than most of the alternatives.
Comparisons
HamornicDyne Black Hole vs ThieAudio Ghost (99 USD vs 130 USD) – Ghost is the only headphone in today’s list which is made a bit better than the Black Hole, but it is a bit heavier too in person, resulting in a slightly less comfortable fit. There is much more bass with the Ghost, it sounds more natural, and reminds me more of the Sennheiser HD600 than HD800, both Black Hole and Ghost feeling inspired by those popular Sennheiser Models. The soundstage of the Black Hole is far wider, more airy, more holographic, and the treble brighter.
HamornicDyne Black Hole vs OneOdio Monitor80 (99 USD vs 130 USD) – The build quality of Monitor 80 feels a bit like a more open headphone, they have a loose fit, and less clamping force, also feeling more open than Black Hole but both isolate the same, and both leak a lot of sound. The sound of the Monitor 80 is also bright, and somewhat holographic and wide, but there’s just no comparison, Black Hole sounds far brighter, wider, more airy, but also more scattered, with less instrument separation. Both headphones have a soft roll off in the treble, and a sharp roll off in the bass. I would go with Black Hole for a unique and colored sound, airy, wide and holographic, and go for the Monitor80 for a more monitor tuning, with a deeper bass, faster sound, and a more natural midrange, but a tighter, narrower midrange and treble. Monitor 80 rolls off early compared to Black Hole, so if you like treble, go Black Hole.
HamornicDyne Black Hole vs HarmonicDyne Athena (99 USD vs 179 USD) – The comfort is similar at the headband level, but Athena has less clamping force, is somewhat lighter on my head than Black Hole, and Athena also leaks and does not isolate much from the outside noise. Athena is bassier, warmer, smoother, and has a more focused midrange which is more natural and cleaner. Athena is basically a really good option if you need a traditional sound, while Black Hole is just right if you need a bright, airy and wide, holographic sound.
HamornicDyne Black Hole vs Blon B50 (99 USD vs 130 USD) – The comfort of both is ok, but while Black Hole is somewhat tight, they use a similar cable, and most users have complained about the headband of the B50, but none about the headband of the Black Hole. B50 isolates from the outside noise more, and leaks less. Sonically, B50 is quite boomy and colored in the sound, Black Hole is much wider, brighter and sounds more scattered, but also slightly more natural in the midrange, having a better clarity and precision. Both are equally appealing, colored sounding entry-level headphones that you can grab if you want an interesting pick on sonics.
Value and Conclusion
With a meek price, HarmonicDyne Black Hole is good value, it is a solid headphone, comes with a good cable, and is an entry-level model I can recommend guilt-free to anyone who needs a semi open headphone, the sound, clarity and precision are all good for the price. The level of soundstage, and width Black Hole can provide is unique, and is magical even if comparing them to high-end models, so it is something to hear at least once in your life to understand what all those audiophiles mean when they say wide and holographic.
At the end of the day, if you need a headphone that can project music really far away from you, give you a taste of a proper open soundstage, but stay on a budget, keep your music clean and holographic, and with a fairly good comfort, HarmonicDyne Black Hole is a fully recommended model today on Audiophile-Heaven.
Product Link
You can grab one from www.amazon.com here – https://amzn.to/3uQ9Xsh
If you’re in the UK, you can grab one from www.amazon.co.uk here – https://amzn.to/49l6Kjv
And if you’re from Europe, you can grab one from www.amazon.de here – https://amzn.to/49uxtKm
Technical Specifications
Driver Unit – 50mm Dynamic Driver
Acoustic Structure – Semi-open
Input Impedance – 32Ω @1KHz
Frequency Response – 10-40KHz (free field)
Sensitivity – 110dB/Vrms @1KHz
Harmonic Distortion – ≤0.15% @1KHz 100dB SPL
Audio Cable – 1.5 meters Oxygen-Free Copper Cable
Cable Connectors – 3.5mm
Ear Cushions – Special Velvet
Product Dimensions – 210x175x105 (mm)
Product Weight – About 305g
PRICE – $99.00 USD
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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