Ollo Audio S4X Headphones review

Sashman

Sashman

Experienced
I do not many reviews, only when I'm heavily impressed by a product and that's what is the case here.
Some of you maybe have read my story here: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/thre...etime-and-why-fractal-is-a-part-of-it.181023/
so I'm more than 25 years in the music buisiness and I think I'm not that bad.

Often the question about headphones come up and I can't count how many headphones I have tried after 25 years in various studios etc. so I deceided to do a review about them.
I had a few questions about the Headphones and I had a chat with Rok Gulič, founder and developer of Ollo Audio, he was very kind and helped me out, awesome guy!

So why those Headphones are that special?
Ollo Audio is a small company from Slovenia and every Headphone is build by hand.
The cups are made of american Wallnut and everything else is made of stainless steel. The headband is made of nautic leather.
Both 32 Ohm drivers are frequency matched, so there is no left or right, you can wear them in both directions.
The earpads are very comfy and made of velour.
They are open Headphones but I would say that they do isolate a bit.
The Earcups are overear at least for my but if you have bigger ears they would be more like overear Headphones. The Cups have a inner diameter around 55mm.
The requency range is 20Hz-22kHz

What I like
What I do like is that you can buy every part of the Headphone as a spare part from the Ollo Audio onlineshop.
Even if a new version comes out, you can send your headphones to Ollo Audio to get them updated to the newer version.
Every single Headphone is measured by Ollo Audio and you will get a printout of your specific Headphone.
With this printout you can easily put a parametric EQ and trim it to be sound as flat as possible.
The build quality is excellent and very luxury.
The are around 350 grams

Sound Quality?
The Ollo Audio S4X do sound very flat and brutally honest by the way, take a look at the measurement of my headphones below.
I started to listen to all my favourite albums again and the give my a whole new listening experience. I do hear details that I have never heard before.
Actually I'm using them with the AXE III in combination with a Rupert Neve Headphone Amplifier.
They are the most transparent Headphones that I have ever tried

Ear Fatique is gone
What I never had before, is that I could listen the whole day through them, with every other Headphone that I have tried, after a few hours I do get really ear fatique but the Ollo S4X are just a pleasure to wear and to listen through..

What I dont like
Nothing, really nothing but there is something that you have to know. If you touch the metal construction that holds the headband and the earcups, you will clearly hear that. That's no problem for me, I wear them for hours even when I walk around while playing guitar or listening through music without touching them.

Are they the right headphones for you?
If you are looking for a new pair of Headphones, a pair of neutral and honest sounding Headphones, then you should definitely check them out!
I would say that the Sennheiser HD 600/650 are in the same Ballpark but the Ollo Audio S4X are more transparent and dynamic sounding. And the fact that you can buy every part as a spare part is a big benefit for me.



With AXE III and RNHP
IMG_1119.jpg

Measurment from my Headphones
IMG_1592.jpeg


Edit: Thank you @strabes for recommending them to me. Maybe you will like to chime in and share your experience with them.
 
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Thanks for your review. I will try them in the next future since everybody talks very well about them.
 
I recently got S4X and S4R and I am very happy with them. S4X (open) are very flat but natural, when I was listening to my favourite songs it was totally new level and I've heard things that I did not noticed before. They are low ohms so I had to watch to not overdrive them.

S4R are closed, the sound is slightly brighter and tighter, I prefer them for recording. Both are very comfortable (as they are basically the same), I have no ear fatigue and as Sashman wrote, the only small thing is that you can hear touching of steel overhead part (that was my concern as they arrived) but it never harmed during use. Even wearing them for about ten hours I felt no fatigue.

I was using previously Beyerdynamic Custom Studio which were satisfying headphones for recording and listening to the music. Ollo is quite different level. And I love their look... Very exclusive. I just found out about them on here Fractal forum, in headphones thread.
 
I’ll look into them. I’m currently using Sennheiser 650 and Beyerdynamic 770 250 ohm just to have some variety but from everything I’ve read about these they’re a better fit for my listening needs.
 
Hi Sasha,

I’m really considering S4X’s but one thing, that keeps me unsure is that they are open.
I always think that open headphones are like open cabs(loose) vs closed back cabs(tight). I much prefer sound and feel of closed back cab (friedman/mesa 4x12) compared to open back cab.
Are S4X’s tight in sound and feel ?
 
Thomas Obester said:
Hi Sasha,

I’m really considering S4X’s but one thing, that keeps me unsure is that they are open.
I always think that open headphones are like open cabs(loose) vs closed back cabs(tight). I much prefer sound and feel of closed back cab (friedman/mesa 4x12) compared to open back cab.
Are S4X’s tight in sound and feel ?
Click to expand...
Ollo also makes a closed back version known as the S4R (for recording - S4X is for mixing and is open back as you know).

https://us.olloaudio.com/products/s4r-recording-headphones

I am going to try these once the greenbacks are available!
 
S4R are tight and feels sterile - I found them very useful for recording, but not really for listening to the musing as they seems to be painfully precise... S4X are great for listening to the music, setting up sound (superb response in low ends, especially useful for bass as my main instrument) that is repeatable in any other conditions (recordings, FRFR, FOH). I have both and now I cannot even imagine not using both of them...
 
Wallygatorr1976 said:
S4R are tight and feels sterile - I found them very useful for recording, but not really for listening to the musing as they seems to be painfully precise... S4X are great for listening to the music, setting up sound (superb response in low ends, especially useful for bass as my main instrument) that is repeatable in any other conditions (recordings, FRFR, FOH). I have both and now I cannot even imagine not using both of them...
Click to expand...
so based on what you said s4x for axe 3 better solution, right ? I mean mainly for monitoring while playing.
 
Thomas Obester said:
so based on what you said s4x for axe 3 better solution, right ? I mean mainly for monitoring while playing.
Click to expand...
Yes, I could choose only one I would take S4X as they are more universal. I also use it for practising but for recording I prefer S4R as they tightness and focus gives myself better comfort and self discipline during recording.
 
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