ADAM Audio H715 Reference: Open-Back Mixing Headphones With a Balanced Hi-Fi Mode (2026)
The ADAM Audio H715 Reference is $949 CAD. It is ADAM's flagship open-back headphone, made for engineers who mix and master on headphones and need to trust what they hear. A Hi-Fi mode lets the same pair run balanced from a headphone amplifier at home.
Built for mixing and mastering
ADAM designed the H715 Reference for mixing and mastering, where a headphone has to tell you the truth about balance and low end. The drivers are custom 40 mm units with titanium-plated diaphragms and neodymium magnets. They sit at an angle behind a woven steel mesh that keeps the earcups open.
Impedance is 150 ohms, which ADAM chose to balance the benefits of a higher-impedance driver with compatibility across different sources and playback devices.
Open-back also means sound leaks in and out. This is a headphone for a quiet room, and the wrong choice for tracking next to a live microphone.
Hi-Fi mode
Two cables come in the box. The studio cable is a 1.3 m coil that stretches to 3 m, plugs into either earcup, and ends in a 3.5 mm plug with a 1/4" adapter. The second is a 3 m double-entry cable with a 4.4 mm Pentaconn connector for balanced amplifier outputs.
To use the balanced cable you press a recessed button inside the left earcup with the included pin. That separates the ground the two earcups normally share, so each side gets its own balanced signal. Press it again and the headphone goes back to the regular single cable.
Calibration software made with Sonnox
The H715 Reference comes with two pieces of software made with Sonnox. The Headphone Utility Plug-In holds a calibration made for the H715 and adds adjustable crossfeed, which sends a little of each channel to the opposite ear so a mix sits closer to how it sounds on speakers.
ListenHub is a monitoring hub for your computer. It lets you line up reference tracks from streaming platforms, match their loudness, and check mono, sides and balance. On macOS the plug-in can run inside ListenHub, which applies the calibration to everything the computer plays.
Comfort and parts you can replace
A spring steel headband and milled aluminum yokes hold the earcups, and the headband padding has a cutout at the crown to take pressure off the top of your head. Memory foam earpads attach magnetically. A soft cloth pair and a faux leather pair are both included, so you can pick the feel you prefer.
Earpads, headband padding and cables can all be replaced when they wear out. The earcups fold flat into the included hardshell case, and the headphone weighs 302 g without the cable.
What is in the box
- H715 Reference headphones
- Hardshell case
- 1.3 m coiled studio cable (stretches to 3 m) with 3.5 mm plug and 1/4" adapter
- 3 m Hi-Fi cable with 4.4 mm Pentaconn connector
- Metal pin for Hi-Fi mode
- Soft cloth earpads (pair)
- Faux leather earpads (pair)
- Quick start guide
Who it is for
Mixing and mastering engineers who work on headphones part or all of the time get an open-back reference with a calibration made for it. Anyone who also listens for pleasure through a balanced amp gets a second use out of the same pair. If you need isolation for tracking or a loud room, look at a closed-back model such as ADAM's own H200.
Canadian pricing and availability
At Blackout Audio the H715 Reference is $949 CAD, available across Canada with free shipping over $199. Orders are open now. The first units are expected in late October 2026, and the first shipment is limited.
