I have been a happy man for 4 years with my smsl m6(dac/amp combo) and sennheiser hd600. Then my friend bought a Tooping a30. At that moment i knew, i could not listen to my smsl anymore. I have bought a new much better amp. Then the same friend bought himself a new dac. I gave it a listen on my setup and momentarily understood that my smsl m6 was a mediocre dac too.
And then i have bought another dac, and another one, and another one…
Now i look like a madman - tearing cables to connect my headphones to a stereo amp, buying longer interconnects because my new ACTIVELY cooled dac is too big for my desk, so i need 1.5m cables to be able to hide it somewhere.
People arround me still can’t understand why i cannot be happy with my perfectly fine phone.
Listen to your K5 for some time, but when you will inevitably get bored - buy an Asgard 
Hifiman has some difficult to drive headphones with the infamous He6 being the toughest of all. The XS and Arya V2 both want 2w or more to get the most out of them. Susvara and He1000 are likewise difficult to drive.
Edition XS is not an entry level headphone so it makes sense entry level amps don’t push them to their best
The XS is way easier to drive than the Arya specs wise, it’s even easier than the 400i and 400s according to hifiman…
For some reason, most amp needs are over-exaggerated, particularly with planars. A lot of these claims are sight-based and heavily influenced by placebo. Measurements show many cheap amps/dacs perform better than higher-end stuff like Mojo, Schiit (bifrost specifically), Burson, etc.
A lot of audiophile stuff is completely placebo effect. Just try what you already have. If it doesn’t get loud enough then get a more powerful amp.
Edit: There’s no convincing the people who spent more on inferior products that they did so. They know they got duped so they dig in harder. Placebo effect is incredibly strong and the subject of many scientific studies.
These Edition XS seem to be easy to drive by the reviews I’ve read and seen. It’s surprising they’re so popular on all the forums and very few YouTube reviewers have a review out.
I think I’m done having these conversations with the audiophile community. It’s almost like politics. You have the side that believes in measurements and then you have the side that have actually heard the effects. The measurement side tells the listening side they’re wrong, it’s a placebo, they’re not volume matching and that’s what they’re hearing, etc.
It’s exhausting honestly how many arguements I’ve seen and been a part of in the community in my short time and that’s my own fault for opening my mouth about my experiences. Y’all figure it out for yourselves
I just stop commenting on that stuff when someone makes the remark about it. It’s not worth it, they are welcome to believe what they want. I will gladly enjoy my better sound 
Haven’t seen much bad reviews on these yet so seems they are quite popular
You know, you can just look up the sensitivity on hifiman’s website…
I’m going to do the same. I’ll stick with my like minded folks and let the rest believe what they want
They’re definitely popular right now and for good reason. It’s great value for the cost and they’re super easy to listen to for any length of time without fatigue. I’m picking up a pair of Arya V2 shortly and am wondering if I’ll be keeping the XS but I don’t necessarily see myself parting with them
I am more curious if they will replace my OG arya… I have considered checking out the newer arya with the stealth though.
Its troublesome for me to get hifiman though since literally all the stores out here have just stopped carrying the brand. Reasoning is just too many quality issues and returns with them to be worth stocking… its unfortunate. Might be able to snag this for listening if I go all the way out to like… chicago but that would be a hell of a drive lol.
Keeps you from getting a headache for sure. We hear sound differently anyway… so disagreements are in abundance in pretty much every way when it comes to the hobby.
Yeah now compare that to the rest of the lineup… they’re not specially harder to drive than anything hifiman has released other than the ananda, way easier to drive than the Arya
Yeh bro, don’t let them tell you the earth is round either, I’m out of the argument too.
I mean, if they were harder to drive than my Arya… I think I would have some words about that lol. Arya is needy as well as picky about what it’s sourced to
Everyone likes curves
You are obnoxious
sorry I’m not part of your echo chamber 
Then mind your own business. You’re literally here to antagonize and are adding nothing to the conversation.
“But these measurements!”
Why is it the followers always believe they’re the ones thinking for themselves
The best part is you probably haven’t heard the XS, Arya, or the Ananda. You’re basing everything off numbers on a website
I’ve read some reviews on YouTube about the Arya V3 saying they need like 75 hours burn in in order to sound great or similar to Arya V2😅
Can any V3 owner confirm this, otherwise V2 is still superior. What a shame that they stopped making V2.
Pretty hot topic in the Arya discussion thread. I haven’t heard Arya yet but it seems that the Soundstage is just about as capable as the V2, slightly smaller. The thing is the way it presents music. Much like the Ananda vs XS, the Ananda is always open while the XS can open up depending on the recording.
Im going to try and snag an open box v2 before they’re gone forever. I enjoy how the Stealth series sounds but the Ananda/Arya type Soundstage is just special
Nice, I’m looking forward to see how it goes with your new toy 
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Asking for advice: could you please tell any portable/semi-portable solution to use it with laptop for my edition xs? I use XS with my desktop setup and they are great, but when i need to use it with my laptop on the kitchen or in the other room, i dont have possibility to move d1se+a30 pro everyplace i go. Could you advise something? Maybe some of you already tested this headphones with something not crazy expensive like xduuo xd-05 plus or xd-05 bal? I remembered xd-05 plus because it worked great some time ago with my old dt 990, and in think is it will be ok with XS? Thank you
And I’ll always say that measurement is for one frequency, if you like to hear your 1khz sinus tone you’re good to go with the spec sheet 
XD