On the subject of power, I donāt have the Edition XS but can share my general experience with other planars. Iāve found that planars do indeed benefit from having extra power available, well in excess of what their rated impedance and sensitivity show. This isnāt about reaching the necessary listening volume, itās more about control, especially in the bass. I canāt explain why, and maybe itās placebo, but Iāve observed the same thing in my old LCD2C, my cheap HE4XX and my HE6se. While they may get loud enough from lower power amps, they just sound tighter and more impactful on beefier amps, especially on high gain.
All that said, based on its published specs, the Edition XS needs about 200mW to reach 115db SPL at its 18 ohm impedance and 92db/mW sensitivity. At that impedance, the Magni Heresy is putting out more than 2500mW. If thatās not the definition of plenty of headroom, I donāt know what is!
Yeah I sat with the 570 and 1570 for a while and theyāre not a bad headphone by any means but the XS has leaps more resolving capabilities and way cleaner bass. I think the smsl sp200 is on sale right now for dirt cheap and itās pretty similar to the heresy in that itās a very clean and fairly uncolored amp but about 5x the power of the heresy. The problem with the lackluster bass youāre getting is most likely from a lack of sustained current because the XS is very capable of slam and rumble. If you have a DAC with volume control, try turning the DAC volume down and the amp up and see if you can find a nice spot where the noise floor isnāt a problem but you get more power and you might get some gains but if the heresy canāt sustain the current you might not get much benefit. Definitely worth a try.
Iāve purchased a few headphones a second time after I thought my initial impressions were too short, too biased, too whatever. And I still ended up returning the headphone the second time I bought it. Every. Single. Time. Even with some models the community thinks are wonderful.
Iām not suggesting that a 15-minute fly-by is an accurate assessment of a headphone. But if youāve listened to it for a few hours with adequate power or better and still donāt like it, itās unlikely burn-in will change your opinion that much. Go with your gut, or your ear canal-brain connection to your gut.
Thatās cool. Everyone has different tastes. Run with what fits yours and what brings you pleasure, regardless of the consensus.
My personal example is the Sennheiser HD 560s. Many people praise that headphone as the Second Coming, as the best audiophile value under $200.
I didnāt like the HD 560s right from the hop, even though I tend to like neutral sound signatures. They have a nasty treble spike at a spot that bothers me, and I thought the sound signature ā while flat and accurate ā was clinical and bland as hell. Nothing changed after about 20 hours of use, so I sold them.
Zero f*cks given. Donāt miss the HD 560s one bit. Bought HD 6xx, which I like much better.
Saying this goes a long way. Thatās absolutely true. I remember when I got my EMU Teaks. I fell in love with them in first sight. I donāt even remember or can relate anything to burn-in really - But they amazed me right out of the box, indeed.
Same with Focal Elears - I loved them in the first 1 minute. I got the Elex eventually, and I love it.
So yes, itās good from the start, or it never is. Burn in will just do mere improvements, ever so subtle, and whatās a mystery is - what if the burn-in was really you coming to terms with it, yourself, subjectively. So there.
My current lineup reinforces my āgo with your gutā position in two ways.
I LOVED the HiFiMan HE-400se from the first minute I heard them. My only problem was a hotspot with the headband, which disappeared with gentle thumb kneading and more use. I still love them as much today as the day I bought them about nine months ago. Theyāre my daily drivers.
My Focal Elegia and Sennheiser HD 6xx didnāt floor me right out of the box, probably because theyāre both so different than my daily driver HE-400se. But I stuck with them for a few hours, and their joy and special qualities became very apparent to me.
Again, I would have given up too soon on the Elegia and HD 6xx if I sold or returned them after listening to them for 30 minutes. Thatās a drive-by evaluation, which usually is inaccurate. But I would have sold the Elegia and 6xx if I still didnāt like them after 10 or 20 hours, just like I did with the HD 560s.
I couldnāt agree more. Iāve never experienced any significant burn-in improvements with any headphones. For me the eye-opening moment was when I realized that I canāt stand a sterile tuning in a sterile setup and that some stock headphone or amp tunings are absolutely not for me. I always add a touch of color by amp or dac or EQ or preamp or specific tube to get the necessary airiness and punch amount and midrange richness and other stuff. And one or two small tweaks like that can change the experience for me from meh to soul grabbing
I am very much a novice concerning audio, so reading all the comments I do feel I must be doing something wrong actually. Because to me the EDXS really sounds perfectly fine out of my old iPhone 6s Plus. I donāt know the specifications, but I expect them to be quite similar to the Apple dongle. Can anybody else try them with an iPhone?
I am saying I must be doing something wrong because a/b-ing them from iPhone to d10b+L50 I have a really hard time noticing any difference. By the way, I am using Catalina and Audirvana. I gave Audirvana unique access to the audio device and I have tried both no upsample and DSD over PCM upsample. I tried to use the highest quality files I have, like the āRise of Skywalkerā album (24bit/192khz, each track about 5135kbps). Still I barely can tell them apartā¦
On the subject of power, does the gain switch influence it too?
To summarize, I am not complaining, if anything I am pleasently surprised, as I think the EDXS could be also an amazing companion for portability around the house. I have not heard the Deva Pro yet, but I guess they would be no match.
Yeah I think itās the same for me. Have been testing my EDXS pair for a day now. I donāt notice a subtle difference if I plug them on Scarlett 2i2 line outs ā Topping L30 vs direct plug on Headphone amp on 2i2 (which is weak I think).
I went through the exact same thing except that I went through it with HD6XXās and HD600ās.
The collected wisdom said "You need to hear them with a better amp/stronger amp/tube amp/OTL tube amp/etc. Finally I just realized that I donāt like the Senn sound signature. Took me years to figure out which house sounds I like and which I donāt.
Donāt overthink it, amplification for efficient planars is a no brainer. I can plug my Edition XS into my notebook and have perfectly good sound; using it with my L30 is just a matter of commodity: being there already hooked up to the PC, might as well use it.
Of course amplification is a controversial matter, but for me it makes no objective sense to spend fortunes aiming these. If you want tube sound in full you are better of with OTL designs and high Z dynamics. If you own very high end coupled transformer amps and use them with the Xs or any mid-high cans, then you own more headphones and didnāt get that high of an amp specifically for these. Only caveat of this logic are hybrids like the 602, which come closer to SS behavior (and sound) than antique tube designs IMO.
This is a great insight that is overblown by amplification rolling and hype. Crinacle said it best when he stated that an amp will not change the general tonality (OTLs can bump bass because of less damping) or fix a headphone, only improve on the qualities already present.
Agree. But a DAC definitely can change tonality. The difference between a bright chip like an ESS Sabre and a very warm chip like a Burr-Brown is distinct when A/B testing, even to my aging, tinnitus-ravaged ears.
I used to run my Argon mk3 from an L30 and it was plenty loud enough, but the bass wasnāt great. I upgraded to an A30pro and the difference was noticeable. Itās far more textured and controlled.
Iām running my XS off the A30pro and love it, so I definitely recommend the A30pro.
I can definitely see that a lot of people that like to hear mids and bass first with a gentle touch of treble (which is my exact preference) will buy them and say that they are too bright and unbalanced, because they kind of are for those people. If you have the same preferences as me and are considering these cans, you should know that youāll have to pair them right amp and dac-wise, because they donāt like to be EQ-ed and if you have only a China-fi V-shaped dac and neutral or V-shaped amp, Iād say donāt buy them. Out of my 3 amps I prefer them the most on my Zen Dac, because it has substantially recessed highs and I still find the experience a bit bright without EQ
Iāve tried your EQ and it is a lot better than I expected, lol. You didnāt provide any Q factor or picture for midrange elevation, but I believe itās reasonable and gently starts at 1khz. Iāve poked with multiple treble peaks before, low shelving for bass and high shelving for treble and was disappointed by the sound every single time. I didnāt even try to fix mids after that, but your fix works surprisingly well and I didnāt find any track that would show me that the sound is falling apart. Sense of space degraded a bit, but I would trade a bit of space for better mids any day of the week. Didnāt like that low shelf thou, but I believe itās fine to disagree
The distortion that I was talking about earlier went away. I have no idea what it was - brain burn in or headphone burn in, or something else, but it doesnāt bother me anymore
Iāve only had these cans for a little over 48 hours, so still playing around and comparing to my Ananda & Sundara.
I use Toneboosters EQ plugin with Audirvana and it gives me the option of using flat top peak filters and the option is ideal for the one below at 1700Hz. I donāt have the same option on my other setup with the Aries but it sounds fine.
Choosing right now my first pair of plannars and āmid-fiā headphones (currently have blon b8, closed back, and have superlux hd668b)
From a lot of research and reviews, I narrowed down to Sundara/Ananda. But since most reviews say that the Ananada has better imaging and are more neutral and a little better in sound quality as a whole, I was ready to pull the trigger, but then Edition XS appeared on my radar and the comments so far are very positive.
So since you have the 3, of could please share your thoughts on comparing them, especially the XS and Ananda, Iād appreciate.
Thereās a lot to consider before choosing including the genre/s you listen to most and even your age as it dictates at what frequency your hearing starts dropping away. For example Iāve discovered after a lot of experimentation last night and today that the large 12kHz peak on the Ananda & XS actually doesnāt bother me (coz Iām an old fart) and that the 3kHz & 5kHz peaks in the presence range do.
Personally I donāt agree that the Ananda is more neutral than the Sundara (2020 revision), to me the Ananda can sound thin in comparison. I find the Sundara to be the most tonally neutral but it falls behind the other two in other areas.
The bass on the Ananda is lacking and EQ doesnāt help as much as it should do, soundstage is great and they work really well for acoustic type material, somewhat OK for rock/pop and suck with EDM/electronic. I donāt listen to classical.
The Sundara doesnāt do anything especially well apart from itās more balanced tonality. It falls behind the other two in imaging, soundstage and spaciousness but doesnāt have any annoying peaks. Putting it into context, the soundstage is no worse than the Focal Clear and is probably even better. The bass is slightly lacking but better than the Ananda & EQs OK. To me the Sundara is for someone that doesnāt EQ, listens to rock & pop and just wants to listen to music without looking for the last word in resolution.
The XS wins the bass battle easily, much more extended and textured than the other two and works with electronic & soundtrack type material where there is sub bass evident. Similar to the Ananda in higher frequencies with the typical Hifiman recessed lower mids and peaky high mids/treble (3k, 5k, 8k, 12k) which can be problematic, depending on whether you are particularly sensitive to certain frequencies? Probably sounds a little fuller in the mids compared to the Ananda but itās early days with comparing.
So, clear as mud?
If I ranked them (sound wise) to my taste and for the genres I listen to most it would be:
Edition XS
Sundara
Ananda
Then there is the comfort issue but Iāll leave that alone for now.
