NAD Viso HP50 review

The HP50 is a surprisingly stylish full-featured over-ear phone that cuts a dash between bulky over-ears and the rising tide of less capable (but more elegant) on-ears. They're well built, very sci-fi and make you feel like a Cyberman with them on.

While it's not in the serious sonic league of anti-social open-backed beauties like the recently reviewed AKG K712 Pro-, the HP50's Room Feel technology clearly do some pretty clever crosstalk trickery and as a result sound bigger and wider than you might expect.

We were delighted by the unhyped and crystal clear sound stage with real pro mid and high clarity and some lovely tight bass. There's not the boom and 'warmth' that typically overpower consumer phones. Instead the sound is powerful but in check and we genuinely notice (and enjoy) new detail in familiar tracks when listening on the HP50 while we happily wear them for hours.

Final attention to detail touches, such as the ability to attach a cord to the left or right side and the inclusion of both (flat profile and tangle- resistant) cords for iPhone (with volume, and mic controls) and straight-up vanilla leads, only serve to hype this further in our affections.