Kali Audio HP-1

Kali’s debut headphones straddle the professional/consumer divide. How useful are they in the studio?

Headphones sales have ballooned over the last decade or so, and many monitor manufacturers have felt compelled to add them to their product range. The headphone market has also become intensely competitive, so if you launch some headphones they really need to cut it in terms of price, features, performance and appearance. Have Kali Audio hit the sweet spot with their new HP‑1?

It’s clear from the get‑go that Kali have chosen to cover both consumer and pro audio roles with the HP‑1. To that end, along with a conventional wired option, the HP‑1 also offers wireless Bluetooth connection and optional noise cancelling. The HP‑1 is also fully active and works only from an internal rechargeable battery. A very healthy battery life of 40 hours is claimed.

The HP‑1 breaks little new ground in terms of appearance or mechanical design. It’s of predominantly plastic construction, and finished almost exclusively in traditional black. Despite the plastic, the HP‑1 feels relatively sturdy. The plastic construction also has the benefit that it is light (270g), which helps with comfort over long periods. Comfort is also aided by generously dimensioned and suitably compliant earcups. The HP‑1 is a closed‑back, circumaural design, so it relies for bass performance on a good seal between earcups and head. The generous earcup design helps significantly in that respect. Kali Audio describe the earcup and headband covering as being made from ‘vegan leather’.

The HP‑1 is supplied in a smart‑looking carrying case and also comes with a (very) short USB‑A to C charging cable, a 3.5mm jack‑to‑jack audio cable (also quite short), and a 3.5mm to 6.3mm jack adaptor (push fit, non‑screw variety). Putting a number on ‘quite short’, the audio cable is just 1 metre long, so if you’re using the HP‑1 connected to your DAW interface, your right ear can be no further away than that. You’re going to need a longer cable. Furthermore, I personally don’t think the 3.5mm jack format has any place on headphones intended for professional use. Your mileage may differ of course, but in my experience the 3.5mm jack is simply not dependable enough. If a revised MkII version were to arrive I’d really like it to incorporate a more durable wired connection format. While I’m on the 3.5mm subject, a better quality 6.3mm adaptor would be desirable.

Located on the side of the right earcup are push‑button controls for power and volume, the 3.5mm jack socket for wired connection and an LED for power‑on and preset indication. On the left earcup is a charging socket, a push button that enables Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) mode and Bluetooth pairing mode, and an LED to indicate those modes. Strangely, ANC can’t be enabled when a wired connection is used. The presets I mentioned are three headphone frequency response profiles that Kali Audio call Tuning modes. The idea is that the HP‑1’s tonal balance can be adjusted to reflect the sound of alternative headphones as an aid to mix translation. Kali have christened the three modes Studio, Consumer and Extra Bass and they are described as follows: “Studio is a transparent, accurate tuning that will translate faithfully. Consumer mimics headphones sold alongside smartphones and tablets. The tuning is natural, balanced, and unobtrusive. Bass Heavy is a fun voicing similar to headphones that are popular with hip‑hop fans and producers.”

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