Avantone Planar Reference Headphones Add a pair of reference-grade cans to your audio setup with Avantone's planar magnetic headphones.

It’s a large pair of headphones, to the point that it kind of looks uncomfortably big. For all that extra size, though, the Avantone Planar gives you reference-quality headphones that’s designed to serve the demanding needs of sound engineers, musicians, and other audio professionals.

Billed as the culmination of the outfit’s experience in creating reference-grade monitoring gear, the headphones use planar magnetic drivers, a remarkable departure from the large format moving coil drivers the outfit relied on with their previous reference headphones. Whether you’re an audio professional, a musician, or just some YouTube music reviewer who listens to the dumbest pop songs very, very seriously, this gear should give you the extreme clarity and detail you want to hear from your music.

The Avantone Planar uses planar magnetic drivers with 70 x 95mm transducers, N50SH neodymium magnets, and 21-micron PET diaphragms. As you should expect with these types of drivers, they boast accuracy, clarity, and a fast transient response, along with a natural-sound bass and a resounding high end. Suffice to say, it’s the kind of headphones a dedicated audiophile is going to appreciate. It pairs those drivers with an over-ear, open-back design, which, the outfit claims, uses a tuned chamber to creates a flat-frequency environment without the pressure build-up, acoustic resonance, and frequency curve frequently found in closed-back models.

According to the outfit, it has low impedance and amplifier requirements, so it can be used with a wide selection of recording interfaces, hi-fi systems, and mobile devices, which is how most people currently get their music. Other features include a wide frequency response from 30Hz to 30KHz, a lightweight build to compensate for the larger size (they claim it’s still comfortable even for longer wear), and a removable 3.5mm cable that can be plugged from either side.

The Avantone Planar comes out in September, priced at $399.

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