Erzetich has always been an open-back story for me. The Slovenian brand built its name on headphones and amps that sound relaxed and refined, so a closed-back from them is news. The new model is called Pan, it’s priced at €1,700, and it does something I haven’t seen often: it puts two dynamic drivers in each ear cup.

Why closed-backs are hard

Seal the back of a headphone and you trap sound inside the cup. That means reflections, resonances and a bit of reverb that open designs simply vent away, and all of it can mess with how natural the music sounds. Plenty of closed-backs fight this with damping and tuning tricks.

Erzetich took a different route. Founder and head designer Blaž Erzetič says Pan was one of the company’s most demanding projects, and that the enclosed space pushed the team to look at alternatives. The answer they landed on was the dual-driver setup.

What’s inside

Each cup gets a pair of 40 mm dynamic drivers with titanium coating. Two drivers means more total radiating surface than a single 40 mm unit, which is the thinking behind the layout. Erzetich describes the sound as relaxed, balanced and finely detailed, with silky, well-defined highs.

It also gives a rough placement in the lineup. Pan sits sonically between the Mania V2021 and the Phobos 4. If you know those two, you already have a decent idea of the neighbourhood this one lives in.

Impedance is 64 ohms, so it shouldn’t be fussy about amplification. Erzetich says it works well with dedicated headphone amps and portable players alike, which is handy for a closed-back that people will probably want to take outside the house.

The name

Pan is the Greek god of nature, music and the wild, usually shown playing the pan flute. The logo carries the idea through with a little pan flute shape worked into it. Small touch, but I like it when a brand bothers.

Price and availability

The suggested retail price is €1,700. Specs and availability are on the Erzetich Pan product page.

My take

I haven’t heard Pan yet, so everything above comes from Erzetich’s own description. On paper, though, I’m curious. The dual-driver approach is a gutsy way to attack the closed-back problem, and a sound that lands between the Mania and the Phobos is an interesting target. At €1,700 it’s up against some serious closed-back competition, so how it handles that enclosed space will decide a lot.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for more details.