So I've been in the market for some new monitors, and I have been doing crazy amounts of research. After many a late night reading forum posts, reviews, etc. I finally decided to order a set of the new Hedd monitors, as well as the new(ish) APS Klasiks. What follows is my little review on each:

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Overview

First, the APS Klasik 2020. Even though the wood they use is technically a cheaper wood, the build quality is outstanding. Cant find anything to fault them on.

These monitors have a thin, but long shape, and I really love the design philosophies and choices that went into these. Little things, like how the knobs on back are extremely notched, how you have little pictures to show you what the different switches do, etc.

When I say notched, I mean it. Instead of a volume knob, you have 7 notches of loudness or reduction to choose from. I love this because, if the monitors are properly built, you literally set them to the same setting, and you dont have to worry about calibrating to level match (although I did test it, and they were within .4db of each other on my meter).

Oh also, the LED will light red if you overload the speaker, a nice feature!

Sound

As for the sound? Fantastic. These are a pretty straight-forward all-analog design and even though there is a bass "port" in the back, the speaker actually functions and behaves much more like a sealed design would. The bass is tight and defined, very responsive. You can really hear the release of rapid fire kick drums on these, and other complex bass stuff that other monitors can struggle with.

The phantom stereo is really nice, and the whole monitor really thrives in the mid-range. You can hear everything, and the presentation is honest and genuine. Clarity is the word here, its almost like you can see what you're hearing.

High end leaves nothing further to be desired either, although if anything it might be a bit tame. Some prefer brighter monitors I suppose.

Negatives? I suppose the bass itself doesn't go very low. I mean the response is incredible, and you can "hear" the really low stuff still for the most part...but it does fall off pretty quickly. Making really low-end focused music a bit tricky until you understand how what you are hearing here will translate to other systems.

Another thing that...concerns me slightly, is how warm these babies get. The backs of them get literally hot to the touch. Hot enough that you wouldnt want to leave your hand there for long. I'm sure this is within their design considerations, but still.

Other than that though, these things are just badass for the price. You'd have a hell of a time finding much better in this class.

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Hedd 07 Mk2

Overview

First off, right away I actually really like the smooth, seamless cabinet of these Hedds. The black-matte finish is sexy, and they look refined and expensive. Build quality seems to be top-notch for the most part, although some of the knobs on the back have a very noticeable amount of play. Slightly annoying at this price-point, but not an issue, more of a nitpick.

Where the Klasiks were completely analog, these Hedds are loaded with all sorts of DSP goodness. The Klasiks had a setting to either boost or cut the low end, and then another to boost or cut the high end. The Hedds are packed to the brim with all of that plus more. They have baked-in EQ settings for if the monitors are on small desks, large desks, etc. They have their Linearizer tech baked in too, and dont worry, you CAN switch it on or off (because it does introduce 12ms of lag technically).

They have a bass extension switch that will get the bass all the way down to 30hz (at the cost of some headroom), input sensitivity settings...you get the idea. Another really cool thing new to this series is the ability to block the bass ports, and essentially mimic a sealed design. You basically stuff these little foam inserts into the port and hit a switch on the back. It works well, you can hear the bass become more responsive and tighter when you run them like this, but you do lose some of the power and OOMPH compared to when they are ported.

Anyways, how do they perform?

Sound


Right away, I can hear the difference in bass between these and the Klasiks. The Klasiks simply couldn't venture into the low-end territory that these monitors can. Also, despite the impressive bass-response of the Klasiks, the Hedds rival them with ease. There is fantastic presence, without sounding woofy or over-hyped.

As for the mid-range, where the Klasiks felt very mid-strong and "forward", these monitors just seem to present everything naturally in front of you. Even though the Klasiks are absolutely not a monitor I would describe as "boxy" at all, they FELT boxy in tone after listening to the Hedds.

Phantom-stereo is great, but somehow I feel the Klasiks were slightly stronger in this area. Still, you can really hear each instrument, and how its interacting with other parts of the mix. High end is especially pristine with the ribbon tweeter, and not harsh at all, which is a welcome surprise.

In fact, I would say the ribbon tweeter maybe gives the Hedd a slight edge here. You can really hear a clarity in the attack and timbre of instruments such as hi hats, guitar, transients in general, vocals...its pretty impressive. Also, even though you can hear the various elements in the mix on the Klasiks, these Hedds seem to present everything with more of a depth, which is really nice. Almost like you can dive into the middle of the mix with your ears and hear where things are moving around and interacting with each other.

All in all, incredible sound. I would venture to say this is up there at "best you can get" for a mid-tier near-field.

The Bad

So whats not to like? Well ideally, not much. These monitors have an "auto-sleep" feature, where they will enter sleep mode to save power. This is becoming a very common trend among DSP-equipped monitors, and I think its a great idea in theory. You get nice visual indication that the monitor has gone to sleep, because the LED goes from green to white. However, the annoying part is it does take 15 seconds for the monitors to wake up.

I was fortunate enough to be able to play with some Neumann KH80s for a bit, and they had a similar feature. However, they woke up very quickly, so I didn't mind it at all. The Hedds...yeah, it can be a bit annoying at times sitting there, waiting for them to wake, but its no deal-breaker.

Second? Yeah, what I mentioned earlier about the knobs. The volume knob especially has a lot of play, and the notches dont feel very well defined (on specifically the volume knob).

Finally...I actually got a faulty speaker. The right speaker had some pretty nasty malfunctions. A few hours into playing with them, it gave a few little pops, then emitted pink noise very loudly, until the pink noises got quieter and then held indefinitely. Powering it off and on did nothing, and no music would play through it.

Frustrated, I left the monitors powered on and went for a jog. I came back and woke the monitors, and they worked again for awhile, before the problem came back. The problem has slowly gone away, and now the monitors almost seem to be working fine. However, when you power the faulty one down, it makes a pretty loud POP as it powers down.

So I did decide to keep the Hedds, they are replacing my faulty unit, but it does make me just a bit weary...The store I bought from said I was the first to report issues of any kind, so there is that.

Anyways, long-winded I know, but there you have it. Hopefully this helps anyone looking to purchase these new monitors, I know I struggled a great deal to find any real testimonies of people who had hands-on experience with either. Keep rocking good people, and stay safe out there!

This is the conundrum I am currently facing. I am trying to get more of a general consensus from users comparing these monitors(as far as Im concerned these are the top 2 monitors for home studio atm). I have the original Klasiks, and enjoy them very much(although I've had enough of the distortion at high volume). The addition of an upgraded version would more than likely suit my needs (mixing edm/hiphop) at my home studio but I cant help but wonder what extra fairy dust I would be getting with the new Hedd's 07. Im a sucker for sound. Neutral, dynamic sound. I have a chance to get the Hedd's for $450 more. Im wondering are the differences with the Hedd's worth that price difference? Do they sound an extra 5 hundred better? Are the worth an extra 5 hundred more in general?? Perhaps you can steer me one way or another cuz there's not much opinions regarding this matter currently. I do not have the luxury of A/B'ing both so I want to get this right the first time.

Not the OP but I have a pair of Klasik's in Studio B and we were originally gonna get the HEDDs or Focals so I'm just gonna chime in.

The Klasik's have great tweeters that easily communicate the character of top end elements with minimal interpretation. The bass also goes stupidly low and with a really surprising amount of clarity.
As far as the degree of opinionatedness of these speakers, they generally work like a safety net and warn you if something's being pushed too hard or is getting out of bounds, while also doing a great job at telling you when elements are at their sweet spot.

I got the Klasiks over the other options because the people using Studio B are high level producers, not high level mixing engineers, so we needed something that would be fun to produce on and would take the guesswork away from the user when they were doing sound design and when mixing demo recordings.

Since we got them in there, stems I'm getting from their productions are borderline perfect -- no exaggeration at all -- levelling is on point, whatever EQ and compression choices they've made are right on the money and demos coming from Studio B have taken a huge leap forward in quality.

Considering I'm mixing on a pair of Unity Audio Boulder MKII's which basically just throw raw waveform data at you, I think this is a great endorsement of the Klasik's.

Anyways, hope that helps you make a decision

Yea that sounds just like how I would describe my current Klasiks, which are the originals. Im sure the 2020's are even better with bigger soundstage/low end. You can't go wrong with APS. I've learned they are a hell of a quality brand. Im a producer first but I want my sound to translate well and at moments notice so they provide that quite well. Im just very curious about the new Hedd's. I've read the low end is on another level. If they are like Klasiks on steroids than they would be worth the extra 4-5 hundred. If there is just a slightly noticeable difference than the Klasiks would be a no-brainer(if they aren't already).

Exactly how I felt when I heard the HEDD's. Very natural, balanced, dynamic, amazing details, powerful, tight lows. Love them! Absolutely the best in that price range. Haven't heard the APS.

So I heard the HEDD's and Focals at a store and the APS Klasiks I heard in a friend's studio, so take my opinion with a pinch of salt. Also, the HEDD's were the mark 1's, but from that not-so-ideal listening test I went with the Klasik's because the HEDD's didn't seem as opinionated, or not opinionated in the right ways and therefore less useful in a production environment. Felt like the HEDD's would lead people who aren't as focused on mixing to overthink sound design and mixing decisions.

Found a pair of Type 07 MK2s after weighing these two (and some others)

Closed, lineariser off, there's no noticeable latency.

Bass sounds great - tight and dry would be the words to describe it I guess. Punchy rather than the boomy of my previous Adam T7Vs. Less harsh on the high end as well.

Waking from sleep takes annoying long - roughly 30 seconds.

Noticeable amount of tweeter hiss, unchanged based on the volume of the monitors - it's a softer white noise than my T7Vs so slightly less annoying in a quiet room but it's definitely present.

The HEDD 07 MK2 are twice as expensive as the Klasik 2020.

I think that should also be considered when comparing them. Are the HEDD really that much more amazing? I'd be happy to spend 200 or 300€ more if they are a bit better but are they really on a whole different level completely? Instead of the HEDD 07 for example i could get the Klasik 2020, a nice 5" second pair, stands, a measuring microphone and a nice dinner (?)

They are better, but no, I would not say they are twice the money better. I really liked the Klassiks. If I had to sell the Hedds for some reason, I would have no problem going back to the Klassiks. They were top tier in their class when I wrote the review, and thats probably still true today.