Juan Auribus of Auribus Acoustics was kind enough to show us the latest iteration of his open-back Mt. Everest headphone. The headphone has been shown at a number of shows in recent months and he teamed with Mike of beachhifi for a showing in the Beach HiFi booth.
The Skinny
Made from a matrix of aluminum and other materials, the casing has a distinctive burnished look to it. Juan told me that what I was calling a “patina-like” aging, was actually steel wool used to smooth any impurities or blemishes in the grille covers.
Using Dekoni pads, of which many varieties were sent, along with a headband from Audeze, the fit to me was light with good clamping pressure.
The driver is a papercone-based model of which Juan has spent much time refining for his preferred signature. In fact, between Saturday and Sunday, he modified the midrange a bit, and was gracious enough to let us listen again before I had to leave. The beauty of the open back casing was that you could see all of the internal components, and it looked far from prototype to me. Juan also mentioned that he had spent a good amount of time fine tuning the baffling to ensure an accurate sonic signature, based upon his tastes. The Mt. Everest was terminated with 3.5mm connections for use with Dongle DACs and DAPs.
The Sound
The bass stands out for a $685 headphone when it is finally launched. It certainly compares favorably to other headphones in the same price range in that regard when it comes to low end extension, definition, and overall texture.
The midrange was a bit flat for me during my first listen; it definitely sounded recessed in comparison to the rest of the range. Juan did modify that for Saturday and Sunday and I did notice that vocals were more forward sounding and placed behind the instrumentation.
The treble required very little tuning; it was extended just enough and never became etched or hard sounding.
As this was a less than ideal listening environment, I nonetheless came away impressed with the tuning Juan presented us, especially the change into Sunday. He did mention to us that he would most likely change the tuning a bit more dependent upon user interactions next week at CanJam in Chicago. After that he hopes to get further feedback from a select few before the final iteration. Look for that in the future.
I came away impressed with Juan’s knowledge, and the desire to produce a top quality headphone at an affordable price. To me this is pretty much the sweet spot for headphone offerings, which give you a dynamic listen while keeping the price within reason. We happened to have another brand at T.H.E. Show at this price, and to me it compared favorably.
You can pre-order the unit now if you believe in the project for $685 at the site listed below.
- Airbus Acoustic Mt. Everest: auribusacoustics.com
- Beach HiFi: beachhifi.com
Continue reading: Show reports from T.H.E. Show 2022
