šŸ”¶ Hifiman Edition XS

Have you tried the Hifiman website and see if they are available to you already? You may get lucky!

@Pokrog I recalled reading you talking about the Soloist in this thread so I had to come back and check since I am looking to add another Amplifier to my mixā€¦ Iā€™m debating between the Soloist, A90 and Jotumheim2 for my next desktop amplifier to accompany my THX789 and xDuoo TA-20.

I know the Soloist + Supercharger is 2 or 3 times the price of the other 2 I mentionedā€¦ is it worth it? I have the HE6SE as well and would like a little more juice for them VS what I have now, on top of having another Amp to compliment what I have now for all headphones. On paper, it appeared like the Jotumheim actually would give more power than the Soloist, but not sure how much difference the ā€œSuperchargerā€ power supply would make.

Iā€™d love to get the Flux FA-10 but its so big for where I would want to have itā€¦ and on the other end I would love the iFi iCan Signature but its so expensive for what it isā€¦ the choicesā€¦

Oh for the othersā€¦ an update on my XS order from Electricxiamo (placed Dec 9th, shipped Dec 16th)ā€¦ my package landed in Canada last week on West Coast but hasnā€™t moved with Canada Post yet given the holidays. It should start to crawl my way next week. Not bad timing given the low shipping charge, holiday season, coming from China and with the current covid situation worsening again too, IMO.

I have personally tried the FA-10(sold it a while ago) and A90(probably selling this one soon) and the soloist is just an all around better amp, IMO. The Jot 2 I havenā€™t actually tried, but I tried the Jot 1 at one point and honestly didnā€™t really like it at all, though the 2 could very well be much better. The ability to roll opamps is pretty nice and there are some nice combos you can get out of it with different headphones. The FA-10 despite advertised power figures being higher than the Soloist, is actually not as powerful in real world tests and it really shows on the HE-6. Someone else did testing at 50ohm but I cant find it right now and the Soloist was able to maintain 28vrms meaning it can put out about 15.6w@50ohm so itā€™s no bullshit when it comes to power. Has every bit as much control with a super charger as my Parasound A21+ speaker amp but with much lower noise and better channel separation which is kinda noticeable from time to time.

and for what itā€™s worth those tests werenā€™t using volume bypass power amp mode so the actual power is even higher lol. I use my HE6se v2 in high gain power amp mode and the amount of control they have is just epic.

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Alright, I think you sold me as I was somewhat leaning that way already for a bigger upgradeā€¦ and I might still later preorder a Jot2 just because it really is appealing to me and could be fun to play with, not to mention the base price of 399 seems super reasonable for what it is.

Really appreciate that fast reply and info, you the man!

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Iā€™Ve seen on Hifimanā€™s website, but not sure if they deliver to Europe, I guess still better waiting for it to be available in Europe, weā€™re still talking about Hifiman, so better to have some sort of warrantyā€¦ But the problem always is the crazy price they charge for them in Europe, always at least 50% more than in the USAā€¦ But thatā€™s how it isā€¦ And Iā€™ve just got my Anandas right before the announcement of the XSā€¦ And try not to cryā€¦

If you are ready to buy the headphones, my advice is to go to the Hifiman web site and start the process up to the point where you have to confirm the order in that screen, all charges and total will be displayed. If the site is asking to confirm the order is because it can be delivered to your region. If there are crazy charges you can just cancel the order. I would expect adding about US dlls 25 for shipping the 499 price of the product, anything else would be unusual. Give it a try, itā€™s easy!

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Hi I just recieved my Edition xs but it seems to me my sabaj d5 cant drive them properly from balance xlr output thats strange cause it has 2w of power 32 ohms

Just got my pair delivered with a Tripowin Granvia 4.4mm balanced cable and wow these are amazing, wide sound stage, very natural sounding with slamming bass. Not even getting to 12 oā€™clock on an ifi Zen Can at 0 DB gain and itā€™s plenty loud. Hitting bass boost on the ifi is a hoot on these.

Burn in pft, I couldnā€™t wait so burning in on my head!

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So they finally showed up on my local amazon (mexico) and theyā€™re $600 :sob:, Will probably still get them at some point but theyā€™re not looking as much of a deal as they did when they first appeared in $380ā€¦

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The low $400s was the more realistic pricing, you needed stars to align properly with Ali coupons to get that working.

$500 US is the retail you should expect getting them from anywhere else, and they seem to be punching well above that price as well. If anyone wants to send me an Ananda and Arya to test them against feel free :wink:

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That is surprising given the power output of that amp. Perhaps its more an issue of synergy/pairing rather than actual power. Perhaps they need a chance to burn in.
What is it your hearing or not hearing?

I mean Iā€™d take them now for $500, might have to wait till black friday or something cause I %100 donā€™t trust buying delicate and expensive planar headphones from aliexpress, wonder how trustworthy hifimanā€™s own site is, I think theyā€™d ship from China too anywayā€¦

I ordered my Sundara from Hifimanā€™s site, they shipped from New Yorkā€¦

Iā€™m not in the US

I get that, just saying they donā€™t just ship from Chinaā€¦

If itā€™s any consolation, the original price was $380 before tax and vat and wound up at like $470 anyways and the hifigo price was $430+ tax so it really wasnā€™t all that much cheaper. Just order directly from hifiman and ask them for the introductory price and see if they cave.

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But theyā€™re all made in the same factories in China. Shipping from New York provides smoother, faster transport than AliExpress but does nothing to ensure better quality control.

Still, you should have better and faster return/exchange processes through HiFiMan or Amazon than an AliExpress store.

For anyone interested, the XS has been officially released in Australia.

Amazon
AUD $769/USD $555
https://www.amazon.com.au/HIFIMAN-Headphones-Adjustable-Audiophiles-Studio-Black/dp/B09PH1N67T/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=1I8P0TLP4CQD&keywords=hifiman+edition+xs&qid=1641415489&sprefix=Hifiman+edition+xs+%2Caps%2C279&sr=8-1

Addicted to Audio
AUD $779/USD $562

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Canuck here- got them from electricxiaomi- great packaging and 0 duties paid landed. That being said, these are either the most overhyped cans on the planet or you NEED power. Anyone enjoying these on anything less than probably 1.5/2W has never heard good headphones. Itā€™s about 750mW from my G111. Itā€™s also geared for high voltage so it might be design as well as power, but very underwhelming with that amp. Tried the Zen SE for fun and itā€™s worse. That being said, I was emotionally prepared for this, which is why I have a Soloist already on the way, but the Soloist is going to have to make them at least 50% better for me to keep them. Maybe Iā€™m spoiled by the T1.2s I just got, but thought these and still hope theyā€™ll be a nice compliment. As it stands right now the mids on these underpowered are worse than a DT770 80Ohm out of a LG V30. Theyā€™re recessed and thin and just garbage.

From where I stand right now, donā€™t waste your time on these unless you can power the shit out of them. Iā€™ll report back once I get the Soloist

Power could be an Achillesā€™ heel here for these, yesā€¦ I, too, mentioned these need a lot of power. A handful of us said it should be fine, but Iā€™m not convinced either - at least not with my pair.

These are the only headphones that make my SE ifi microDSD squeal, and thatā€™s an oldie that goes up to at least 4-5 watts per channel @32ohms - yup. I literally had clipping in bass/sub-bass passagesā€¦ though those were quite high volumes, it was not really deafeningly loud volume.

I do agree, these will require some good juice.

As long as your amp powers them enough that you can see the diaphragm move, which you can see from inside the earpads through the black screen while reflecting some light (though be warned, I do not take any responsibility if you damage or burn your diaphragms in any way - AT YOUR OWN RISK), this should give you some indication that you have enough juice.

I used this SoundTraveller SpaceX Falcony Heavy Launch Binaural audio to see the dias move:

DISCLAIMER: LOUD VIDEO, WATCH YOUR VOLUME OUTPUT!

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