Massive upgrade in literally every single way. I hated the sundaras. If you like your sundaras, thats fine, but I feel like Iâve been taking crazy pills for the last few years every time I see glowing sundara reviews and recommendations. I just donât see it. They werenât tuned well (flat, boring), they didnât 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 thereâs 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 canât 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 arenât 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 thatâs 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 Iâve 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.
Itâs currently going at only USD390 (11.11 promo price) on taobao at hifiman official store. They donât 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 aliexpress⊠donât trust hifiman to buy without warranty tho
Iâm guessing if you buy then from Hifiman on Taobao or use a forwarding service, they would honor the warranty, but yeah, itâs not very convenient. I also wonder if youâd have to ship them back to China for service.
Yeap theyâll honor the warranty since youâre getting directly from the manufacturer and yes youâll have to ship it back to China for service too.
manâŠi 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.
Already have it curing
Should help a bit
itâs holding together very well. as it should for blue threadlockerâŠproblem soved and just as i said, donât pull the yoke screws, theyâre sensitive.
Is putting a silicone o ring or foam/cloth not an option to give it some friction, loctite seems super permanent and damaging if you ever decide to remove it for whatever reason.
@chocoholix21 Blue threadlocker should be fine itâs âsemi permanentâ so as long as you are careful not to strip things it shouldnât be too much of an issue to remove again. Red threadlocker however, yeahâŠthat will cause some issues.
TIL thereâs a difference, i thought theyâre all the same thanks!
Thereâs a disc type washer/nut inside that the screw goes into. Basically, if you take the screws out, you have to (per the book) get back into the cups (open the front baffle part) and locate the washer and then drive the screw through it.
The screw does not go into the frame itself, and if the screw is taken out, the washer/nut or whatever that is, will be free.
- I think thatâs whatâs going on here. I havenât taken it out but I donât think it would be a problem.
I had a little - issue. A small one really.
But I think Hifiman could pay a litttlllle more attention to the QC. I really love these headphones.
Something wasnât right on the right earcup. I was hearing a little tiny little tip or tap - very minute for every little beat. Ver faint, but just audible to me. Anyhow, I looked through the drivers with some light. There was something in the magnets and the diaphragm casting an opaque shadow.
Iâm the restless kind so I opened up and took the driver assembly out. I took off the fabric too. Lo and behold - a little piece of fine metal dia (prob left off of punching the circuit, as it seems a shiny metal off the inductive coil tracing part). Anyhow, very carefully, I pried this out with a toothpick. It was a bit of risk, no doubt, but I was OCDing.
Now this is def a QC issue and nothing that took place outside of Hifimanâs factory, as the piece was sticking to the diaphragm, and the fabric is then glued onto both sides, and not possible for it to end up where it was, after.
Anyhow - just wanted to share. I guess Hifiman still has some ways to go until these minor and petty issues cease.
DISCLAIMER: Personally, I do not recommend taking off the fabric and diving into the drivers - itâs a bit risky. dia is very thin and fragile. At your own risk, everyone. I had a situation so had to sort it out.
I am interested in purchasing a pair of the XS but Hifigo is out of stock. Has anyone purchased on Aliexpress and had a good experience with the shop?
I took a quick look and was overwhelmed by the variances in price and store ratings.
Thanks in advance!
edit: grammar
Iâve hardly had any issues with my 300+ purchase from AliExpress so I donât believe there should be a problem.
The price I think you should be looking at is between $439-$441, excluding shipping.
Now the shipping time and any duties you have to end up paying is how you could decide.
This also often depends where you are located.
Also - should there at all be any problems, then youâd probably have to ship them back to China so that may or may not work for buyers. Thatâs a very rare chance however.
So well - it really is up to you.
The product is still new and I donât think many may have received it yet from AliExpress so probably why not many experiences shared there.
My pair from HiFiGo arrived today, it took a little over 3 weeks. No defects that Iâve noticed. I have a big head and big ears, and many headphones donât fit comfortably, but the XS feels like it was made for me. I think they might be problematic for folks with smaller than average heads. The ear pads are a little warm, could be an issue in the summer, probably no worse than most Hifimans though.
Too early to really comment on the sound, but Iâm not at all disappointed. They leak sound like a mofo, anyone nearby will be able to hear them almost as much as you can.
Yeah everyone gets a concert with these. The natural tendency of most open backs, but I canât care much about people around - am usually alone in my home environment, and these def not for office/subway/outdoor or crowdy space use.
Yeah pretty big overall - I go maybe 2, 3 notches tops. I see how these may even fit a Norwegian Troll so never running short on the size part.
Do let us know more soon - would be good to know how all of us feel, and if thereâs any coherence to what weâre perceiving hereâŠ