As the company explains, the Neumann NDH 20 is a closed-back studio headphone combining excellent isolation with the carefully balanced sound image and outstanding resolution you would expect from a Neumann product. It is thus ideally suited to monitoring, editing and mixing tasks, even in loud and noisy environments.
“Unlike most other closed-back headphones, the NDH 20 is also suited to mixing purposes. An unusually flat frequency response and natural stereo image allow for mixing with confidence and ensure compatibility to all playback systems. The NDH 20 is a dream come true: reliable studio-grade monitoring – even on the road,” states Wolfgang Fraissinet, Neumann.Berlin’s president.
During the NAMM 2019 press conference, Fraissinet was asked if the NDH 20 was a design adapted from an existing Sennheiser product (and to us they reminded us of the Sennheiser closed-back HD-630VB), to which he responded that while of course the headphones benefit from Sennheiser’s resources and engineering know-how, the NDH 20 was very much a product designed by Neumann and carefully tuned by the brand’s engineering team.
Its entire construction is also true Neumann quality: The headband is made of flexible spring steel while the ear cup covers are machined from lightweight aluminum. Large and soft memory foam ear pads make the NDH 20 a pleasure to wear for long periods without fatigue and, for easy transportation, the NDH 20 is foldable. It comes with two detachable cables, one straight and one coiled.
The NDH 20’s newly designed 38-mm drivers with high-gauss neodymium magnets ensure high sensitivity and low distortion. In other words, the NDH 20 would not need a dedicated headphone amplifier; it sounds just as great on mobile devices such as laptop computers. Also, as Neumann highlights, this will be a headphone that can be used for mixing, without the typical resonances in the midband that affect many closed-back headphones.
It certainly looks to be a product with a very clear user profile in mind, that of someone looking for high resolution but “uncolored” sound, providing excellent isolation for working in noisy environments, and high long-term comfort for extended listening sessions.
www.neumann.com
