Ya know you might be on to something. I could definitely see them selling their unboxing one last lol
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lol - ok so I watched their video again - Iām feeling like this is the same pair from the video.
Thereās an inconsistency in the front middle part of the left earpad that I can notice on my set too lol.
Anyhow if someone tested it, at least they new this pair wouldnāt surprise the customer lol.
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Ok so I know a lot of you donāt know me around these parts, but Iām a bit of a hardcore. I have some mods planned for these.
So hereās some photos Iāve taken, the parts apart if this could help anyone on the internals of the Edition XS.
Good to know theyāre double sided magnet - I personally prefer so.
Was unclear if the grill was some plastic, but itās metal - thatās quite a reassuring feeling. Feels like magnesium or something - similar to those Denon/EMU headphone frames.
(Donāt tell Hifiman or Hifigo)
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Maybe a partial refund is in order, since they were technically not in new condition. Open box 'phones typically are sold at a discount.
Let me see where that takes meā¦
This right here made the bass so so so much better. Iād highly suggest trying to make the driver and shell basically one cohesive piece and Iām sure itās just as easy as the gl2k
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Hmm looks interesting. Let me see about the possibilities hereā¦ though the space is a bit tight here in the Hifimans, but fingers crossed.
Yeah I used really thick felt tape with the gl2k because the gap inside was huge but thereās thinner ones. Iām glad youāre modding them too, thatās what I got them for so I donāt have to trial and error my he1000se.
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He-1000SEs??/ Wow, planar hifinage is nothing new to you hunhā¦ Nice!
In comparison to the Sundara, would you consider this an upgrade, downgrade or at a similar level but with a different sound profile?
Appreciate the extensive summary of your impressions.
Massive upgrade in literally every single way. I hated the sundaras. If you like your sundaras, thats fine, but I feel like Iāve been taking crazy pills for the last few years every time I see glowing sundara reviews and recommendations. I just donāt see it. They werenāt tuned well (flat, boring), they didnāt have good dynamics at a fundamental level, inconsistent front imaging, somehow capable of getting congested like a dynamic driver in busy song passages. I genuinely think that the sundara got to where it is was because of the price and all of the people freaking out over them were only freaking out because it was their first taste of planar speed and detail mixed with a bit of really open sound which hifiman kinda just stomps basically every other company at with the exception of occasional electrostats. I have never once recommended that someone get sundaras because thereās just better options IMO for the money and now that the XS comes in at like $80 more than the sundara and is swinging with the $1000+ crowd, I canāt stress how much value there is in the XS. They just do it all. I could easily see them being endgame for a looooot of people, especially people that would never entertain the idea of spending thousands on a pair of headphones. They scale really well but arenāt so polarizing that they only sound good on certain chains. They sound great on my LG v50 and they sound fantastic on my desk setup. They have a touch of note weight that you get in the HE6. Soundstage, imaging, and harmonics like an HEK. Detail like an arya without being sibilant, and to top it all off, GOOD timbre thatās really hard to achieve for planars. The only thing holding them back is somewhat janky build but most of that comes down to the headband yokes in that heaband style but what that heaband choice gives you is the ability to angle the cups, and after tearing them apart it looks like they fixed a lot of the weak points in the oval cans and either reinforced them slightly or made them thicker where it matters. I will say beyond a shadow of a doubt that there is absolutely nothing I have ever personally heard (and I think Iāve heard enough in the sub $1000 range to say I know what the competitors are) that comes anywhere close to the XS for the price. I would take these over aryas, dead serious.
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Itās currently going at only USD390 (11.11 promo price) on taobao at hifiman official store. They donāt ship overseas directly, but for those who are keen, can consider getting their freight forwarder to send from China to your respective home countries. Prerequisite: able to communicate in Chinese. Otherwise using Google translate is going to be a long and tedious process.
Easier to just get them on aliexpressā¦ donāt trust hifiman to buy without warranty tho
Iām guessing if you buy then from Hifiman on Taobao or use a forwarding service, they would honor the warranty, but yeah, itās not very convenient. I also wonder if youād have to ship them back to China for service.
Yeap theyāll honor the warranty since youāre getting directly from the manufacturer and yes youāll have to ship it back to China for service too.
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manā¦i made the mistake of taking the cups off of the yokes a few days ago and i can not get the screws that hold them together to stay tight anymore. like every other time i put these things on i have to tighten the screws by hand. i definitely recommend not taking the cups off of the yokes if you never need to. probably gonna loctite them.
You could try some blue threadlocker.
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Already have it curing
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Should help a bit
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