Founded in 2018, Kali Audio is a manufacturer of studio monitors headquartered in Burbank, California's historic audio district, surrounded by Hollywood studios and other professional audio manufacturers. The company was created by a group of former JBL employees with expertise in acoustic design, driver engineering, DSP, and perhaps most importantly, knowledge of how to source high-quality subcontracted products from China. After a great run designing and selling active studio monitors, Kali Audio decided to follow the market trend and also offer a headphone that can be used for reference listening.
The Kali HP-1 is a very standard-looking headphone with a nice, chunky, smooth vegan leather headband, replaceable vegan leather earcups, and an included carrying case. It also connects via the included 3.5mm headphone cable or using Bluetooth for greater versatility and possible casual listening inside or outside the studio. More importantly, Kali Audio decided to offer a DSP-powered solution that allows users to make better, more confident mixing decisions.
The HP-1 is based on standard 40mm dynamic drivers, which are able to offer three different frequency tunings. First of all, a Studio reference, for a response that Kali describes as "transparent, accurate sound that will translate faithfully." Second, a Bass-Heavy tuning, that replicates the sound of headphones that are popular with hip-hop and EDM creators and fans. Third, a Consumer tuning that replicates the sound of popular headphones sold alongside phones and computers.
Users can directly switch between the three voicings at the press of a button. The LED on the right earcup will change color to indicate the selected tuning, and a voice prompt will also let the user know exactly what they’re listening to. In addition to providing these instantly switchable tuning comparisons, the built-in DSP in the HP-1 allows powering an active noise cancelling mode, and even wireless calling optimizations.
The HP-1 also offers physical playback controls on the earcups so users can directly control the sources. According to Kali Audio, the HP-1 will work in wireless mode for at least 40 hours on a full charge and can be recharged using the included USB-C cable. The headphones ship in a zippered carrying case that will protect them for travel. Now available with an SRP of $199 USD/EUR.
www.kaliaudio.com/highlandpark
