The HarmonicDyne Black Hole is a $99 semi-open headphone with dynamic drivers at its heart, velvet ear cushions, and a weight of nearly 305 grams.
HarmonicDyne Black Hole Review 2024
The HarmonicDyne Black Hole will appeal to those who prefer engaging bass in their headphones. This product allows you to tap along with music.
This sound signature will suit those who like good low-end and smooth character.
Design
Using the second-generation M-type pressure-relieving acoustic cavity, Black Hole is a passively vented semi-open back headphone. This relieves internal pressure, reducing sound reflections within the cup, and resulting in a cleaner, purer sound.
The Black Hole headband is designed to hug the user’s head and (potentially) better distribute weight. The result is less clamping discomfort and a more secure fit.
Unfortunately, that underpad is very thin and the felt (and limited padding) can easily compress, causing the hard part of the headband to rest squarely on top of my skull.
It feels lighter and slightly more airy, which helps dissipate heat.
Black Hole earcups are made from aerospace-grade aluminum alloy for added durability. Most of it is plastic except the pad.
A nice glossy topographical inlay on both sides of the outside of the headband adds visual stability.
I believe the front panel of the headphones is also made of aluminum alloy, with the company name and various properties describing the black hole written on it.
The Black Hole aesthetic is that of a typical headphone, with subtle accents that make it look slightly classy without being flashy or flashy.
Dual 3.5mm cable jacks allow you to use your preferred balanced cable if desired.
Sound quality
There is something very unique about Black Hole. These are spacious, bright, and airy-sounding headphones, but to exaggerate, they disperse the sound as if it were being played in a huge hall, adding a uniform sound.
It’s in the same style as the Sennheiser HD820 with a bit of echo to make it sound as holographic as possible, but it maintains a similar tuning and doesn’t have as much bass and remains bright, but still able to move the low-end.
Anything above 45Hz is fine. Every element of music is colored and transformed by this tuning, voice, and instrument.
All the sounds are different from other headphones, they are much wider but spread out in space. The most suitable music styles are pop, electronic, dubstep, and anything that doesn’t sound natural.
Bass
A strong bass brings a strong presence, so this is what Black Hole has the least of. The sound is spacious, wide, and spread out in all directions, and the bass is shallow and rolls off at 45Hz with most of the bass energy.
It’s around 70~90Hz. Even in the mid-bass and treble ranges, there is very little bass present in the music, so the overall tuning is bright to very bright.
The instrument has a small body and gives the impression of floating above and around the listener rather than being grounded somewhere in the face.
Midrange
A clean midrange is the Black Hole’s strength, and although there is some grain throughout the sound, there is good clarity and detail, and there’s plenty of resolution and definition for the price point.
Dynamic headroom is limited and the sound is compressed. This is because in wide and narrow music the sound is always dispersed, and because the maximum volume is limited, black holes usually sound clear but have a holographic projection.
It sounds incredibly spacious and distributed. The instruments are not well defined and are joined together so there is a bit of resonance to the sound as well.
All music is colored in this style, it works very well for pop, electronic, commercial music, and dubstep, but is generally not suitable for metal, rock, jazz, or acoustic music.
Volume Control
With a THD of 15% at 100dB, the Black Hole does not handle high volumes well and sounds best at quiet volumes. At high volumes, the phase change is very strong and rotational.
It actually gets brighter as the sound gets louder, but it’s not necessarily a welcome change since it gets quite bright even at low volumes.
The HarmonicDyne Black Hole sounds best at low volumes, and if you’re lucky, even at medium volumes.
Similar to the Dekoni Cobalt, the sound is very refined and airy, with good separation at low volumes, but the coloring is a little too dark at higher volumes.
Because you can listen quietly by adjusting the volume, most reviews say the Black Hole is used at low to mid volume levels, i.e. between 60dB and 90 dB. Some go up to 100dB, but the sound is best between 70 dB and 80 dB.
Treble
If a black hole is bright, you might expect it to have a lot of treble, but in reality, the treble rolls off above 16kHz, creating a smooth roll-off effect, with most of the treble being around 16kHz.
Same level as a black hole. Management. If you’re looking for smoother, more comfortable highs, the Black Hole can provide just that.
There is some fine grain in the treble, but not sibilance, which can become harsh in harsh music.
Comfort
The Black Hole velor earpads themselves are replaceable using the proven sleeve inserted into the groove behind the driver.
This allows you to easily change pads to suit your listening style and comfort. I found that the stretchy material had a very low grip so the pad moved around easily.
This might not be a problem with most ear pads, but the unusual rectangular shape of the hole means the sound changes when tilted from vertical and can cause part of your ear to touch the edge of the cup material.
The poles inside the support allow you to customize the band and ensure a good fit. The clamp pressure was a bit heavy on the underside of the earlobe, so it was a bit comfortable for longer sessions.
The compression of the Black Hole ear pads is minimal, which may result in poor fit. I think the fit would have looked more luxurious if it had been crushed a little more.
The interior padding seemed to be lacking, as was the underside of the headband.
Stock cable
The 1.5m long oxygen-free copper cable with 3.5mm connectors allows you to change to your preferred balanced cable if desired.
The microphone came out of a silver Y splitter with a logo engraved on both sides. The synthetic fabric-covered housing is well laid out and versatile. But I wish it was a little longer while using it on my desktop.
The Black Hole’s stock cable does not have a mic/control button and is only used for audio. It also includes a 6.35mm jack for use with other devices, such as a two-channel setup.