Shanling HW600 High-end Planar Headphones – A premiere

Shanling can already boast a wide range of headphones, but up to now the company has focussed solely on solutions for use on the move, specifically in-ear headphones. After years of endeavouring to no longer be perceived solely as a supplier of personal audio devices, but to gain a stronger foothold in the classic HiFi segment, it makes sense to move in this direction with headphones as well.

It therefore comes as no surprise that Shanling is now also presenting headphones for the designated HiFi segment, i.e. for the first time bringing so-called over-ear headphones onto the market in the form of the new Shanling HW600 High-end Planar Headphones.

A first for Shanling

It is therefore a first for Shanling, although the company has set the bar very high. The new Shanling HW600 is described as exquisite over-ear headphones that offer nothing less than the ultimate audiophile listening experience. To this end, it offers precise workmanship thanks to the highest level of craftsmanship, combining state-of-the-art acoustic technologies and classic design, as the manufacturer states on the record.

Sophisticated Planar Magnetic Driver

The new Shanling HW600 are open-back, circumaural headphones with a planar magnetic driver at their centre. The manufacturer itself speaks of a high-performance driver with an 86 x 110 mm diaphragm made of ultra-thin 8 μm polymer material. This allows the Shanling HW600 to cover a very wide frequency range, while at the same time guaranteeing performance with particularly high dynamics.

The Shanling HW600 High-end Planar Headphones should be able to reproduce every nuance of the music and allow music lovers to fully immerse themselves in the sound experience.

The fact that the Shanling HW600 is equipped with 14 neodymium-iron-boron magnets in a double-sided magnet arrangement, which achieve a magnetic flux density of 1.8 T in combination with a silver-plated aluminium coil vapour-deposited on the diaphragm, is also decisive for this. This makes the headphone driver relatively easy to drive and therefore suitable for a wide range of headphone amplifiers.

Elaborate ear cup design

Attention has also been paid to every detail in the design of the ear cups in order to guarantee the best sound quality. For example, the ear cups are designed to be particularly solid, but at the same time very light, using aircraft-grade 7xxx aluminium.

The optimisation of the airflow through the two acoustic chambers of the headphones is also very important, as this ensures that the Shanling HW600 delivers a spacious yet intimate sound image, making it ideal for a wide range of music genres.

The design of the Shanling HW600 is based on the traditional way of making bamboo joints, which in this particular case is integrated into the triangular geometry of the ear cups. The aforementioned open design provides an extended sound image and promotes comfortable and fatigue-free listening.

It is also worth mentioning that the headband of the headphones is made of stainless steel and is softly padded. It also automatically adapts to the shape of the user’s head, thus creating the ideal pressure for a comfortable yet secure fit.

The ear cups are also softly padded, of course, with a deliberately asymmetrical design for an optimum fit and the best possible radiation of the drivers to the ear. Incidentally, memory foam and particularly soft, robust lambskin leather are used here.

High-quality, replaceable cable

The cable relies on a quad-core HiFi grade cable single crystal copper wire, as it is so beautifully called, whereby the cable in question is of course detachable and can therefore be changed as required. It has a length of 1,5 metres and ends in a 4,4 mm Pentaconn. A 3,5 mm jack plug is used at the end of the headphones.

Key technical data

The new Shanling HW600, designed as open over-ear headphones with a planar magnetic driver, can cover a frequency range between 12 Hz and 40 kHz, thus also featuring the Hi-res Audio logo of the Japan Audio Society. The headphones have an impedance of just 30 ohms and a sensitivity of 104 dB. With a weight of 480 g, the headphones are not the lightest.

Prices and availability

The new Shanling HW600 should be available from specialist retailers in the next few days. The recommended retail price is listed by the manufacturer at € 1.099,-.

Getting to the point

This is a first for Shanling, as the Chinese company is now presenting an over-ear headphone for the first time with the new Shanling HW600 High-end Planar Headphones. Nevertheless, we can expect a lot from this solution, as the company claims that the new Shanling HW600 High-end Planar Headphones offer everything needed to set new standards in its field.