Yamaha has today teased two pairs of upcoming high-end headphones that follow on from the highly acclaimed YH-5000SE open-backs it released in 2023.
Details on the designs and their prices are slim for now, with both pairs not due to launch until later in the year, however I have been fortunate to spend over a week with one of the new models and can divulge some details and first impressions.
Familiar YH-4000 open-backs
First up we have the YH-4000 open-backs, which from what I can gather closely resemble the YH-5000SE both in terms of aesthetic and engineering; they simply introduce a few material-based changes.
The YH-5000SE were originally conceived as ‘Special Edition’ (hence the model name’s ‘SE’) headphones that would pre-date the launch of an identical ‘standard’ version that would forgo some of the bundled ‘SE’ accessories.
So presumably the YH-4000 are transpiring as that eventual follow-on, with Yamaha choosing to make a couple of minor design adjustments now that the headphones have been in the wild for two years.
Which accessories will be carried over remains to be seen (the Y-5000SE came with two cable and earpads designs, plus a headphone stand), as does their price.
I would expect the YH-4000’s figure to come in below that of the YH-5000SE – £4799 / $5000 / AU$7499 – but, before you start rubbing your hands together, probably not by much. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Considering how well the YH-5000SE were received, it isn’t surprising to hear the design has largely been kept.
They quickly made a legacy for themselves, gaining a five-star review before winning our 2023 Temptation Award.
As the company’s first high-end wired headphones in three decades, they succeeded in being a successful reimagining of its very first headphones, the HP-1, from the mid-1970s. I was certainly sad to see them leave my listening room!
Fresh YH-C3000 closed-backs
Perhaps the most exciting pair, for its freshness at the very least, is the YH-C3000 (‘C’ = ‘closed-back’), which last month I was able to borrow an early production sample of.
Almost as soon as the YH-5000SE launched, many, including myself, wondered whether a more accessible version and a closed-back pair would follow, and these are of course the response to the latter.
Naturally, the YH-C3000 look pretty different to their open-back sibling, which is aesthetically defined by the intricate spider pattern of the earcups’ open-back lightweight magnesium structure.
These closed-back earcups are what I can only call ‘orb-like’ – round, glossy and black – which I would say look more traditional and less aesthetically divisive than the YH-5000SE.
The headphones feel as lovely as they look, though a word of caressing caution: the finish is, to my personal frustration, a fingerprint magnet. Maybe Yamaha should bundle in a wipe cloth.
And if you’re a ‘Gram user, good luck taking photos of them without your phone or concentration face shining back at you in the reflective finish. (You can see below that I tried, but I’m no Ansel Adams. Kudos to Yamaha’s photographer, I must say.)
Of course, this mirror-like glossy black screams ‘Yamaha’, specifically Yamaha’s iconic pianos and motorbikes. I saw that one Head-Fi forum user has likened the earcups to the headlights of the Yamaha R1 bike, and they aren’t wrong.
Our in-house reviews team’s description of the YH-5000SE as feeling “beautifully engineered”, “built with obvious care” and “one of the most comfortable pairs of headphones we’ve worn” can, in my mind, be appropriately used for the YH-C3000 too, with the closed earcup construction only adding to the sense of solidity.
The rest of the physical structure seems mostly similar, though the leather earpads are different. I’m kicking myself for not thinking to weigh the headphones on my scales at home, but then again, perhaps the thought didn’t come to mind because they never felt burdensome to wear.
While at this point I cannot confirm whether the YH-C3000 use the same planar magnetic driver as the YH-5000SE (which differs from conventional designs by having a circular diaphragm with a spiral coil), it’s probably likely considering that unit was six years in development and the result of hundreds of evolved iterations. It doesn’t strike me as the kind of labour that would only bear one fruit!
From memory, they certainly share a similar sonic character to their siblings – one that is utterly clear, straight down the middle tonally, and highly expressive across the board.
It wasn’t surprising to hear a slightly more closed-in soundstage, just as it wasn’t a shock how much punchier and more solid these sounded in comparison (again, purely from memory). That tends to be the sonic nature of closed designs, after all.
I’m personally an ‘open-back sound’ fan, but listening to the YH-C3000 it’s easy to appreciate the value of absolute muscularity and weight.
The conviction behind each varied percussive element in Jamie xx’s It’s So Good; how effectively the tectonic droning backdrop anchors Oneohtrix Point Never & Iggy Pop's The Pure And The Damned, and the depth of Iggy’s spoken vocals above it; and the drive and defintion behind the bassline that rhythmically underpins The Goon Sax’s In The Stone… it’s all utterly captivating, even at lower volumes.
On very few occasions have I heard the piano playing throughout Eluvium's Prelude For Time Feelers (2007 Copia album) conveyed with as much dynamic perception, and despite a lesser sense of airiness, nothing sounds like it’s struggling for room or coherency as strings and horns head in various directions to convolute the composition.
In my notes when listening to Public Service Broadcasting, I’ve simply written ‘bubble of energy’. ‘Fun’ and ‘astute’ seem like good adjectives to leave on.
This is by no means a review but simply early impressions based on a pre-production pair.
Further listening – using a range of partnering kit, against rivals (such as the Focal Stellia perhaps), and of course with a full production model – will paint a more complete picture, as will pricing information. But the sketching, shaping and shading I’ve experienced so far are certainly promising.
Visitors to the Australian Hi-Fi Show 2025 in Sydney this weekend (4-6th April) will be the first in the world to experience both new models, which will also be demonstrated at Axpona (11-13th April) and High End Munich (15-18th May) in the following weeks.
MORE:
Heading to the Australian Hi-Fi Show in Sydney this weekend? You can buy your show ticket here and then book your Yamaha headphones demo slot
50 years in the making: the inside story of the award-winning Yamaha YH-5000SE headphones
Read our five-star Yamaha YH-5000SE open-back headphones review
Our expert pick of the best audiophile headphones you can buy
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