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Waynerey
100
May 10, 2019
Here they are after the loooong wait. Upon delivery I wondered what was in the small box, couldn't be my new phones in there. They were. Inside was a cardboard box housing the HIFIMAN Edition XX. The phones were about what I expected from the descriptions, discussions and the few reviews that are available. The same headband as the 4XX , the large drivers etc. We have all had ample time to read the same material and now the time has come, how about the the phones? First off I find them very comfortable. I have large ears and the cups fit comfortably on my head, no problems here for me. Appearance wise, I say UGLY. These will not be praised for their beauty. And now onto the sound. They were still cold from the delivery truck when I fired them up. Ummm, Ahhh, Humpf. I decided that they should warm up a bit so I streamed Qobuz Hi-Res for an hour or so and set them aside. On trying them again they had already opened up and were beginning to show their colors. I think they will continue to improve a bit in the next few days. I am not a true believer in the magic of long break in periods but I have always noticed an improvement in sound with loudspeakers and headphones, something about moving those drivers seems to get things going. The sound. Nothing really jumps out at me. The clarity of the sound is first rate, there is nice coherence throughout the audible range, this is stellar. Everything just flows together, I find nothing pronounced or overwhelming, once again the word coherent comes to mind, a beautiful full range presentation. Tinkling cymbals and bells without ear bleed. Mids are a bit recessed for me. Listening to Jefferson Starship "Blows Against the Empire " (be kind, I am a full fledged wild aged child of the 60's. I was there!) I find Grace Slick and Paul Kantner's voices a bit recessed, but not too much, just a bit further back in the mix compared say to my Sennheiser HD 600's or my Beyerdynamic T 90's. This is not a problem because of the clarity that is a feature of these phones. Every word is discernable, there is no muddiness, for lack of a better word, to the sound. If I could further define this I would say that my concert hall seat would be an expensive center mid row seat, in my experience the best place in the hall. ( However, if you ever get to Symphony Hall in Boston, the second balcony center is a bean town secret. You just might find a famous Maestro up there as I have many times over the years.) And now the bass. Where is it? These phones will not shake your soul, never mind your bones. It is all there though, just tight, faaasssttt and gone before you know it. This will be a problem for some people, but apart from discos and bad rock concerts, where do you find boom boom bass?Beats? Rolling boom boxes stopped at the red light next to you? This bass is precise and clear. I will be queing up some Bach organ music, and Saint-Saens Symphony No. 3 to get a better handle on this aspect of the Edition XX's. The other aspect of these phones is the sense of air and space. They do not have a huge width to the soundstage, say like the AKG K7XX, but they do convey the space of the recording venue. Every musician is clearly defined in their own space, the depth and height of the presentation is large, it is airy, it is very nice. So these are my first thoughts about the HIFIMAN Edition XX's. These cans did not bop me over the head with their sound but as the afternoon goes on I am finding that everything I play just sounds RIGHT. I believe these phones are going to do what the 4XX's did to me, I would more often choose them for a listen over my Senn HD 600's, Beyer T90's and even the Focal Elex. The only phones I would defer to whenever I listened to rock or electronica are my Fostex/Massdrop TH-XOO Purpleheart's; now these are cans that will move your soul, your bones, and maybe even your windows and walls with their fantastic bass presentation. All in all I say these phones are winners. Like the smart and wise people you know they are not pretentious. They go about their business with authority, with knowledge of right and wrong and a huge smile on their face that challenges all comers to do better, and all this for $600! Massdrop should start its' own Hall of Fame. These will be at the top for all music lovers. Good job Drop, aka Massdrop.
ShawnP.Watson
154
May 11, 2019
WaynereyStill waiting for mine. What a nice review. What a relief to hear your comments. When I had Sundara, I burned them in for 150hrs as per the manufacturer and the soundstage and treble smoothed out quite a bit. Burn in is real or HiFiMan wouldn't recommend it.
(Edited)
Waynerey
100
May 11, 2019
ShawnP.WatsonI listened to more music featuring a lot of bass presence in the recording, especially Emeralda Spalding's new album, "Twelve Little Spells", that I streamed in 24 Bit 96 kbs from Qobuz. The bass was very deep, it seemed every note was present, clear, clean, just WOW. The bass is all there and then some, and it does not boom. My headphone journey is really hampered by my financial circumstances and I have never heard any top tier expensive phones but how much better can it get? As I said I believe these are going to be my go to cans from my stable. These cans just don't jump out at me, they just render all of the sound articulately, it is all there, it is a bit lush, the spaciousness of the sound grabs me most and I think this is one of the best aspects of these phones. So far these are my type of phones, they are limited only by the quality of the recording, they get out of the way and let the music through the way it was recorded. So far so good. I cannot imagine where my headphone journey goes from here, maybe the Sennheiser HD 800 S if I can ever save up the scratch for them. Are you listening Massdrop? Also while I am here blabbing away I must comment on Qobuz. Qobuz has made my lifetime of collecting LPs, CDs an uusnnecessarily large pile of space hoggers and dust collectors that sit on shelves all over the house. I hardly bother with them since I have been streaming Qobuz. I can definitely hear the Hi-Res difference that makes my collection of music immediately obsolete. Go for Qobuz and don't look back. I still have some recordings in my collection that are not on Qobuz so I was rather eclectic in my past music purchases, but come on, even Elton Motello's "Jet Boy" is on here. How many people even know about this punk rock nod to glam oldie?
shoaibexpert
85
May 20, 2019
ShawnP.WatsonI've taken the plunge from the Sundara to this? How much of an improvement is this over the Sundara in your opinion...considering massdrop mentioned this has the flagship HiFiMan drivers and all? Thanks
shoaibexpert
85
May 21, 2019
Hi, This was one of those purchases in which I did most of the research "after I pressed the buy button" and after reading a few reviews and after reading your review, I am having a bit of buyer's remorse as I really wanted them to be an end-game headphones for mid-tier audio enthusiasts such as myself...but clearly they might not be. I tried to contact Drop to have the order cancelled as these will still take a few days to ship, but based on the terms of sale...no cancellations were accepted after 2 hours of purchase, and no returns are possible it seems. I must say I do feel a bit disappointed with the Drop's way of doing business...but it is what it is! How much behind would you say they'd be from the Ananda and Arya from HiFiMan...you know from a Sound Quality and resolution PoV? Also, are they more resolving than the Sundaras? Btw, due to the larger drivers (60mm for Sundara vs their 100mm), they should have a much larger perceived sound-stage or doesnt it? I love my Sundaras...they improved their sound dramatically after some 400+ hours and not before...lets hope you do feel some benefit of this $600 spent over the Sundara with some more hours of burn in! Cheers!
(Edited)
ShawnP.Watson
154
May 21, 2019
shoaibexpertI think the improvement is significant and different. XX is so spacious, so dynamic, and effortless. XX has deeper bass too. Sundara is not in XX league really.
shoaibexpert
85
May 21, 2019
ShawnP.WatsonThanks. That gives me some comfort on my purchase. How far behind in the league are these from the likes of Arya and Ananda in your opinion.
alvarg
235
May 21, 2019
how did the edition xx compare to the sendy aiva?
ShawnP.Watson
154
May 21, 2019
shoaibexpertI heard through the grapevine that the Ananda and the Arya are the same EXACT headphone with some subtle proprietary tweaks and allow for the differences. I wish some brave souls would rip these two headphones apart and find the .20 cent part/s creating the $600 differential in price. I could imagine a small resistor somewhere watering down the strength of the magnets or some such.
(Edited)
ShawnP.Watson
154
May 21, 2019
Your comments, "The xx's seem like they are music and recording dependent to make them enjoyable. On hifi tidal streaming there are songs that I enjoy the xx's and some songs that sound artificial.." seems true for all headphones. Good source material is the holy grail right? Could it be that the XX is simply resolving enough to tell the difference between crap and good recordings where other cans are not. I think it's unfair to dunn XX for crappy material. I listen to nothing but Youtube videos and yes some are better than others. But all of them sound better through XX than Sundara. Sundara sounded like music is sitting in an echo chamber in the bottom of a well. It sounds ghostly sort of. I sent Sundara's back even with 150 hrs of break in. I love the XX with its spacious, relaxing, effortless, presentation. No contest in my book. Oh and I think these are 93% of Ananda and Edition X v.2.... ; )
shoaibexpert
85
May 21, 2019
ShawnP.WatsonThanks mate. Will have to compare in person to get the feel I guess. Unlike you did with the Sundaras, I can't return the XX back as this drop doesn't have a return feature in case I didn't find them as resolving as the Sundaras. Metal571 complained about the treble of the XX saying it's grainy, sparkly etc... The Sundaras have a really great Treble though! I always thought whether it'd be cost effective for HiFiMan to make different drivers for similar looking ear cups... I too believe they are throttled by some IC somewhere in tuning... Which means that with the right EQ, you could potentially make them sound like the Arya... BTW... Ananda is an 80mm driver VS the 100mm driver on the XX. I use Schiit Loki for EQing bit perfect audio from Tidal and it does transform one's headphones... Especially Planars! I wish we had Tyler from Inner fidelity... And we could base our opinions on someone experienced. Plz do let me know if you find any decent and reliable reviews on the XX. Thanks
(Edited)
shoaibexpert
85
May 21, 2019
Do let us know when you reach around 400 hours of burn in. I did some 150 hours by constant music playback on my Sundaras... Didn't improve the situation that much. But then I switwto pink noise for another say 250 odd hours and that made all the difference. I hope you get to like your XXs more than your Sundaras...we have all paid almost double of it (sale time) to deserve that!
ShawnP.Watson
154
May 21, 2019
shoaibexpertI saw the Metal 571 review and I cannot DISAGREE more. There is absolutely no grainy treble to XX. I had the HE4XX and THAT was grainy. I went over to his site and called B.S on that one. Had a Tidal Masters subscription and yes it's amazing.....but I missed the video of the performers so I'm stuck with Youtube for that. I have to see the performance for some reason. I guess that why I like to make love with the lights on....lol. : )
(Edited)
Waynerey
100
May 22, 2019
ShawnP.WatsonEffortless is the most perfect word for these headphones. The music just flows, from their bottomless depth to their airy highs. I find the highs easy to listen to, non fatiguing with no ear bleed. In comparison I find the highs in the Focal Elex piercing at times and with some recordings I cannot listen to the Elex. That is not the case with the Edition xx's. It has been more than a week with these now and I am very impressed by the sound. These are a huge success in my opinion. Now I sound like a fan boy. I am.
ShawnP.Watson
154
May 22, 2019
WaynereyI could not agree with you more Waynerey. I listened to a variety of headphones at the SE Michigan meet through a TOTL (top-of-the-line) Schitt Yggy/Ragn. rig. I listened to Utopia, LCD 2,X,3,4, Clears, Elex, Elear, and Edition X v.1 with that rig. The rig was jaw dropping. The Focals were so dynamic as to be sort of "shouty" and I found that fatiguing. The Focals sounded darn good but I did not find them enjoyable and relaxing like the Edition X v.1 I heard. None of above headphones sounded as good as Edition X v.1. and I felt they blew away everything else at the meet. The combination of spaciousness and effortlessness and clarity of Edition X v.1 were unmatched by the competition. And that's when I knew everyone else was over charging for their products. From that day last November I was a HiFiMan Fanboy and as luck would have it Massdrop had just come out with the XX drop a few days later. The meet gave me the gift of a "defining moment of clarity"...... I jumped into the drop with both feet based on all those comparisons of that Michigan meet. I did not hesitate and I was not worried one bit. Everyone else was cautious. As it turned out, I was right. XX is magnificent and my endgame.....sounding pretty darn reminiscent of the X v.1.
(Edited)
shoaibexpert
85
May 22, 2019
ShawnP.WatsonGreat to hear people liking it. But isn't the XX more in tune with the X V2? Also, I love the effortless Sundara highs... I hope the highs of the XX are tad better if not the same.
Waynerey
100
May 23, 2019
ShawnP.WatsonI think we inherited the same ears at birth. Everything you say I wholeheartedly agree with. I wish I had heard that rig that you did at the Michigan hook-up.
ShawnP.Watson
154
May 23, 2019
shoaibexpertYes, likely closer to X v.2 but the whole X v.1,2 etc. have some similar characteristics i.e. spaciousness, tambor/timber, effortlessness, smoothness, etc. There was a kinship between XX and X v.1. The guy at the SE Michigan meet paid $1600-1700 for his X v.1 and Andanda @ $1000 was considered a bargain last November by comparison. Sundara's treble is actually more extended than XX but, honestly, that's a good thing. Sundara's treble is unnatural albeit smooth and extended. Sundara lacks dynamics and low-end oomph and low extension. XX treble is also incredibly smooth too but Sundara lacks the spaciousness. Sundara is NOT in the XX league at all. XX are a completely different level of listening experience ......so there's no sense in comparing specifics of frequency response because frequency response and smoothness tell very little about Sundara vs. XX. Take the plunge and go all in with XX. You'll see and you'll NEVER look back at Sundara--believe me!
(Edited)
shoaibexpert
85
May 23, 2019
ShawnP.WatsonThanks. Already took the plunge. Though wasn't happy with the fact that Massdrop didn't allow a 30 days return period but from what you've said... That might never be needed. I even bought a balanced cable for my THX AAA 789 (to arrive by August) and the XX/Sundara. So yes, I'm all in now!
Waynerey
100
May 26, 2019
shoaibexpertMaybe the double XX is a subtle nod towards the v2 lineage?
zep483
656
Jul 5, 2019
shoaibexpertIf you need to sell, let.me know... I might be interested.
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