Austrian Audio The Composer

"Make no mistake, they are impressive, but not in a flash-bang-wallop way. They are more mature than that"

Open-back headphones

₹POR

Founded by a core team of ex-AKG personnel in 2017, Austrian Audio has gone on to produce some of the finest sensibly priced wired headphones on the market. Given the company’s heritage, it was interesting that the initial headphone releases focused on the more affordable part of the market. We always suspected that the brand would move into more premium sectors at some point, but it is still surprising just how ambitious it has been with the slightly awkwardly named The Composer.

This flagship pair of wired, open-back headphones retails for around five times as much as anything else in the AA’s range and is joined by a partnering headphone amplifier called The Full Score. There is an aura of careful engineering about these headphones. They feel like a precision instrument when we lift them out of their packaging, the various hinges in the predominantly metal structure moving slickly and without noticeable play. There is little to complain about when it comes to finish, which is of a high standard.

The fit is adjusted using a sliding padded headband and earpieces that rotate to accommodate ear angle. In combination with the well-judged clamping pressure and easily replaceable magnetically held earpads, it adds up to a comfortable experience for most – but not all. Inexplicably, given the company has so much headphone-designing experience, we find that the range of adjustment on The Composer’s headband isn’t enough to accommodate members of our team with smaller heads. This is something that Austrian Audio needs to have a look at and fix.