Klipsch New Heritage HP-3 Headphone Review & Photos

[RichGuy]

I just received one of the first pairs of Klipsch Heritage HP-3 headphones to ship, these are Klipsch's brand new flagship headphones, the retail cost is $1,199.00.

Here is my review after spending a weekend with these new headphones along with some photos I've taken. I will compare them to the Sennheiser HD650 which is the headphone I've been using.


OK I definitely like the Klipsch HP-3's. Listening to them they sound clean and open, the bass is good and they are very enjoyable to listen to.

I've done a couple of hours listening to the HP-3's and I directly compared 3 songs with the HP-3's and Sennheiser HD650 listening to each song twice once on one headphone and then the other I listened to these three songs on each headphone.


Pink Floyd (Dark Side of the Moon)- On the Run

Simon & Garfunkel (The Bridge School Concerts, Vol. 1) - America

Tom Petty (The Bridge School Concerts, Vol. 1) - Shadow of a Doubt(A Complex Kid)

Both headphones sound great and both are very nice headphones, but the HP-3's came out the best, my favorite to listen to each time.

The HP-3's seem to sound less like headphones with a little more openness and with a little more live music sound to them. The HD650's are a little more dull. The HP-3's are far more efficient and easier to drive with the HP-3's rated at 25 Ohms and the HD650's at 300 Ohms.

Both are comfortable, I prefer the soft lamb skin leather of the HP-3 ear pads over the HD650's soft velour bothe for style and comfort. I prefer the cool touch of the leather to the warmth of the velour.

The HP-3 is heavier than the HD650 specs show the HD650 as 9.2 oz and the HP-3 as 15.5 oz

The quality of the HP-3's build shows and stands out with its real wood, leather and metal construction it is a very beautiful design.

The HP-3's storage case is very nice and well constructed. It is a small wooden suitcase with one clear plexiglass side. the top panel with its suit case like handle slides OFF to reveal two nice drawers, one drawer holds the headphones well protected in a thick soft rubber fitted surround and the other drawer holds the included metal headphone stand, cables and authenticity papers.

The HP-3 comes with two very nice cables one about 4 ft and one is about 8 ft. Otherwise the cables are identical and feature nice twisted cable construction with a nice soft cloth like sleeving up to the Y, with two 3.5mm jacks into the headphones and a 1/4" headphone jack which pulls off to reveal a hidden 3.5mm jack as well so the cables will work with either 3.5mm or 1/4" jacks.

Overall the Klipsch Heritage headphones are very nice, a beautiful well designed crafted quality, all wood, leather and metal construction that are comfortable to wear and sound excellent.

Storage case




Included stand


Beautiful wood


Leather at top of band is cowhide, below band and on ear pads is very soft lamb skin leather.




A 3.5mm plug is hidden inside of 1/4" plug on both included cables


Ear pads remove, they are located on pins and strong magnets.

[bootman]

What a nice headphone presentation my a manufacturer.

What were your source(s) and headphone amp(s) used in your evaluation?
That might help explain some the sonic differences between this and the Senn cans used in your review.

[RichGuy]

I used my HTPC - JRiver - MHDT Stockholm balanced NOS tube DAC - Little Dot MKIII tube headphone amp.

This is what was used for both the Sennheiser HD650's and the Klipsch Heritage HP-3's

[teaman]

I have heard fantastic early reviews about these headphones richguy, the owner of Woo Audio did a review of them recently as well. There is no doubt about them being well built and absolutely gorgeous. Happy you are enjoying them!


Tim

[macromicroman]

Thanks for your review. What wood (color) did you get?

[RichGuy]

Oct 22, 2017 16:16:27 GMT -5 macromicroman said:

Thanks for your review. What wood (color) did you get?

All the above photos are of mine that I took this morning, the color of mine is ebony.

[novisnick]

Darksky listened to them at the show and said they sounded incredible!

Enjoy!

[Darksky]

I fell in love with those at RMAF. I spoke with the designers at some length. Very nice men that were normal guys, it endeared the headphones to me even more so. I hope you really enjoy them.

[RichGuy]

Jan 6, 2018 16:00:18 GMT -5 Darksky said:

I fell in love with those at RMAF. I spoke with the designers at some length. Very nice men that were normal guys, it endeared the headphones to me even more so. I hope you really enjoy them.

I do really like them a lot, before buying them I also followed a thread in the Head-Fi.org forum which during the development of these the designers were very active with what was going on in the development of them and posting a lot of prototype photos and info as well as taking input on what people thought.

[Darksky]

Rich, can you link that thread. If I find any “spare” money, I’ll have a set. I just don’t use headphones enough to justify them...

[RichGuy]

Mar 5, 2018 3:58:32 GMT -5 Darksky said:

Rich, can you link that thread. If I find any “spare” money, I’ll have a set. I just don’t use headphones enough to justify them...

Here is one of the better threads www.head-fi.org/threads/klipsch-high-end-over-ear-your-input-appreciated.824094/

There were a couple of others that were also good but I've lost track of, if I can find them again I will post a link as well.