Yeah I figured they could use more power.
Watch out though bro you got the national grid on these right now lol!
Soon as Iām back home I will post some impressionsā¦ on my Emotiva basX A-100 lol - at least the noise-floor will be much less audible - usually is with hungrier cans on that thing.
As I and others have suggested these cans are a bit like Oliver, theyāll eat up what you feed them and still say, āplease sir I want some moreā.
Moving to the Zen CAN itās better obviously but also now you start to notice how these love/need more real power to get better out of them. SE runs out of steam and headroom so Iād use a high gain or even better go balanced and Iād still boost the gain till your happy.
I love my little Zen stack and I like the sound myself (Iām addicted to XBass lol) YMMV, I use it a lot but the XS will still take more/better if you have it to offer.
Awesome. was running my Sundara balanced on my stack and managed to sell them today and will be replacing them with the XS ASAP! balanced and high gain it is! Thanks!
Well, I was pretty excited when all these goodies turned up today. And when I finally found five minutes to sit down and hear what all the fuss was about? Right driver dead. Brand new. Swapped cables and amps, nothing. Upset!
Ahh thatās scuffed dudeā¦ I was really hoping not to see these posts anymore on theyāre newer releasesā¦ Still trying to get theyāre shit together I suppose.
Supposed to get mine Saturday. Hopefully im as lucky as I was with the sundaras. Had my sundaras for about a year now and no issues.
Itās funny, Iām in search of a headphone to beat my HE-500; thatās still going strong all these years later!
Man, so sorry to hear that - that is such a bummer!
I guess it was bound to happen eventually that one comes DOAā¦ Just hate that it happened to someone here 
With a little EQ (I like to use edition X v2 wavelet preset and some extra bass at times) the XS really shine. The extra detail is fantastic and some good bass gets them rumbling
Totally agree.
SMSL SP200 / Topping E30 here.
Have been playing around with my setup the last few weeks & found the following:
When upping the Bass with EQ I hit 2 oāclock on high gain which is unheard of for this amp, as the SP200 has overkill power.
The controlled power/energy/sub bass I get is breathtaking. Never felt anything like it, I can litterally feel the mass of energy directed at my ears.
So it Is not clear, as SMSL SP200 is 6W 16Ī©, how much power is really required for the XS to perform at best.
I donāt think you need the power of the SP200 to drive them correcty, Iām sure other amps with lower power output will easily do the job.
I just wanted to show how much power I was driving the XS with and they were eating it all up & outputting it to pure bliss.
My EQ is very aggresive in the Bass department, probably overkill for mostā¦ I just love the different variations of Bass the XS outputs, Sub/Punch etc & how it does it.
Just to add, I bang on about the Bass a lot, only because Iām so suprised any cans can do this.
The remaining sound is just as perfect and mesmerising to me.
These have me at End Game for a few years.
So in the end do they work off a liquid spark? arenāt stealth magnets supposed to make headphones easier to drive?
Pretty sure stealth magnets are meant to reduce distortion & enhance quality.
Hifimanās Stealth Blurb:
Unlike the sound waves created by a conventional magnet, the special shape of Stealth Magnets enables the waves to pass through the magnets without generating interference.
HIFIMANās advanced magnet design is acoustically transparent, dramatically reducing wave diffraction turbulence that degrades the integrity of the sound waves. The reduced distortion yields pure sonic output that is accurate and full-range.
Edit:
Stealth Magnet technology improves upon earlier magnet designs by reducing interference beyond a point that wasnāt thought possible only a few years ago. As much of an achievement the original Arya may have been, the Arya Stealth Magnet version takes its performance to a higher level: easier to drive, better imaging, solid build quality, and a more accurate soundstage."
You may be right, seems they are meant to be easier to drive with the stealth magnet verion of the Aryaās. Not sure if that relates to a different driver change or if itās specifically the stealth magnets which make them easier to drive.
So there may be theoretical advantages to that but in practice you wonāt hear any meaningfully less distortion when comparing an Arya V2 with an Arya V3. Thatās because itās already far below any audible threshold with these. The only tangible difference is in the upper treble frequencies, and you can see that evidenced by that same comparison.
Does anyone have any experience with DT 1990 Pros? Iām torn between these and the DT and the main thing thatās making it so hard for me is that the only HiFi headphones Iāve had the pleasure of listening too were the 1990s my friend purchased and they were absolutely amazing,(also the build quality is far superior) but I canāt find any comparisons with these and after all my research at the price range I canāt find a better headphone with more praise than these as of late (being compared to Focal MG and Aryas and more) so i would love some feedback on comparison between the 1990 and XS if anyone has any.
Iām buying my first pair of hifi headphones, will need an amp and DAC too, but Iām trying to finalize my decision between the 1990 and XS first.
Thank you anyone in advance who can give some feedback.
I canāt comment on sound yet since my XS were DoA but 1990s are built better. The Beyer has a good case and a few more accessories too. The XS feel very light weight, kinda feels like a toy; this isnāt necessarily a bad thing though. I can imagine it being comfortable for long listening sessions.
As for sound, Iāll leave that to the people who have working cans.
I appreciate your response!
Also sorry about yours arriving DOA
