OLLO Audio X2 Open-Back Studio Headphone Lands at $629, Shipping 7 December

Slovenian headphone maker OLLO Audio has announced the X2, an open-back, over-ear studio reference headphone that succeeds the company's X1. The launch was announced this week — the press release carries a Šempas, Slovenia dateline of 3 November 2026 — and pre-orders are open now at $629 in the US, with a first batch of 100 units due to ship on 7 December.

OLLO describes the X2 as the same idea as the X1 taken further. The headphone is hand-built in Slovenia by a small independent company founded by engineer Rok Gulič, and it is aimed squarely at producing, mixing and mastering engineers rather than at domestic listening. Three things define it: the driver, the per-unit calibration file that ships with every headphone, and a repair policy under which every component is sold as a spare.

The driver and the published specs

At the centre of each cup is a 50mm dynamic driver with a neodymium magnet. The membrane is PET with a beryllium PVD coating plus polyurethane — a beryllium-coated diaphragm rather than a solid beryllium one. OLLO says the coating is there to stiffen the membrane without adding mass, the usual engineering argument for the material.

The company's published figures, measured to EN 60268-7 using an IEC 60318-1 coupler with calibration disabled, run as follows:

• Frequency range: 8Hz–22kHz, with OLLO stating a ±1dB tolerance across 100Hz–10kHz
• Sensitivity: 108dB SPL at 0dBu input
• Impedance: approximately 32 ohms
• Distortion: THD below 0.157%, second harmonic below 0.053%, at 85dB SPL and 1kHz
• Weight: 383g without cable

The ±1dB figure is OLLO's own claim, measured under its own stated conditions, and should be read as such rather than as an independent result.

Physically, the cups are American walnut, the headband combines stainless steel with silicone, and the ear pads use acoustic foam wrapped in perforated artificial leather and velour, with a 57.5mm inner and 95mm outer dimension. The 2m cable is detachable, terminating in a mini XLR Y-split at the headphone end and a 3.5mm jack with a 6.3mm adapter at the source end. A 32-ohm load and 108dB sensitivity put the X2 within reach of a laptop output as well as an interface headphone jack, though OLLO positions it as a studio tool.

Unit-specific calibration, in a format you own

The more unusual part of the X2 story is the calibration. Every headphone is measured individually at the factory and ships with a unit-specific calibration (USC) file containing plain, unencrypted EQ values, along with a printed copy of those values in the box. That is a meaningful detail: a lot of calibrated-headphone systems lock the correction data inside a proprietary plugin, which ties the headphone's usefulness to the continued existence of that software.

OLLO supplies its own USC plugin in VST, AU, AAX and standalone versions for Mac and Windows, with no subscription attached. Because the underlying numbers are open, the company says the same data can be loaded into other environments — it names Realphones, SonarWorks as a custom target, Waves Nx, and DSP-equipped audio interfaces such as RME's TotalMix. In practice that means an engineer can apply the correction inside a DAW, in a system-wide player, or at the interface itself, outside the computer's audio path.

The headphone's quoted specifications, it is worth noting, are measured with calibration disabled — they describe the raw transducer, not the corrected response.

Parts, warranty and the repair argument

OLLO says every part of the X2 is sold as a spare: headband, ear pads, cable, drivers and the wooden body itself. The company states these can be replaced at home with ordinary tools, which is a different proposition from the return-to-base servicing most headphones at this level require. The X2 carries a five-year limited warranty, and purchases made direct from OLLO come with a 90-day money-back trial.

OLLO's release also includes a quote from producer and mixer Matteo Marciano, supplied by the company.

Pricing and availability

The X2 is $629 in the US, including local taxes and duties. In the EU it is about $620 (€549) including VAT, a price confirmed by French retailer Stars Music, which lists the X2 as a pre-order. In the UK it is about $620 (£459) including VAT. For territories outside those regions, OLLO lists a $499 export price excluding VAT and duties, which buyers would then pay on import.

The OLLO Audio product page shows the headphone as a pre-order shipping on 7 December 2026, and the company says this first production batch is limited to 100 units. Only direct ordering from OLLO is confirmed at this stage; no US dealer stock has been announced.

What the X2 offers on paper, then, is a combination that is still rare: a measured-per-unit correction file you can take anywhere, a full spare-parts catalogue, and a five-year warranty behind a hand-built headphone. How the corrected response actually translates in a room is something only extended use will settle, and OLLO's own measurement claims are the only performance data available so far.

Dollar figures converted from euro and sterling at the ECB reference rate for 2 November 2026.