đŸ”¶ Hifiman Edition XS

Cant imagine your struggle to get those beyer pads on lmfao. Looks like 1990 pads since they arent heavily slanted

Why remove the Zeus pads. Best pads I ever had.
Added a tygr 300r filter disk? Okay, in my opinion the Zeus treble is already on the smooth side.

Yes, these are the dt 990 beyer pads. I had to remove the original pads because of massive ink loss. I had the ink everywhere on the cable, on my bright wooden desk surface, etc. I really don’t want to have too much skin contact with this sh*t.



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Can recommend the brainwavz XL suede. Similar material to Zeus pads. More comfortable than the Dt990 pads because of the bigger inner diameter and contact surface(for me).

https://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-Upgrade-Earpads-Suitable-Headphones/dp/B07H4F5Z8H

Have you been able to resolve the issue? I think I have the same issue. Left side creaks when I move my head. Happens maybe half the time I move. I can’t seem to tell where it is coming from


Yes it was the swivel in the headband making this sound. Got it replaced, new model doesn’t do this.

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I actually thought that the swivel could be the problem, and in fact the left part sometime did some creaking, but on the right side the sound was different and definitely matched the description of the planar crinkle. In any case I sent them back for a replacement, fingers crossed that I’ll get a better pair lol

Hey there,

so i’ve spent a couple of hours with the xs. The short conclusion: The xs is for me like a more refined version of the sundara.

In my opinion it is one league above the sundara and the zeus. Compared to the sundara the xs has wider soundstage, noticably better seperation and better bass.

The sundara has a more prominant vocal presence due to a narrower soundstage. I personally prefer headphones which adress this kind of presentation, so i was torn between the xs and the sundara at the beginning, but the longer i am comparing these two, the better the xs gets. One example: Christina Aguilera - Reflection 2020. This song is on my headphone play list. The vocals are very upfront and strong in this song. The orchestra is too much recessed compared to the vocals, but needs also a wide soundstage in order to keep it up with Christinas voice. Many headphones with decent soundstage or/seperation struggle with this kind of mixing. Personally i like the natural or some kind of upfront voice presentation the sundara does with this song. When i am switching to the xs, the voice is a little bit more far away or distant (just the way like you would the song through a speaker or in front of a stage), but the seperation of the instruments is much better on the xs. Get me right here, it is no point of critism on the xs, that the vocals are recessed or distant. It is just another way of tuning or presentation, which Hifiman want to achieve here. The wide soundstage of the xs achieves really a “speaker like” experience and the transition throughout the whole frequency range is really awsome.

I am not quite shure about the punch between these two yet. Sometimes i think that the sundara is still the winner here, but i have to verify this. But i can say that the xs is still a very punchy headphone for a planar.

I will keep comapring these two, but i think, that i will sell the sundara and keep the xs instead

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Had the exact same experience and sold my sundara.

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Mine are going out today to Hifiman for replacement. Same issue you mentioned.

Mine are too lol

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I have the same issue. I will request for a replacement

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Wow, all the LS swivel creak reports
 I lived with it for a couple weeks thinking it would work its way out. It wasn’t horrible, but certainly annoying on quiet parts of songs. Hopefully the replacement is better, knock on wood
. Other than that, loved them
 hopefully the new pair is at my door in 1-5 to 2 weeks. Back to the 6XX for now


I am curious, I wore mine at the smallest setting. Did other with the creak wear theirs at that setting too?

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Mine is a few notches up and still makes the creaking sound. It also doesn’t matter how much I adjust it still makes the same sound.

Thanks for the reply. I kept trying to get rid of the noise. Squished the headband, adjusted it in and out a few times. Put it back on, think you have it and then there it is again. Right side was great, nice and quiet.

Hope your replacement is flawless!

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I’m getting my replacement today. Fingers crossed because I really do like the headphone, but if this second one has the same issue I will probably return it and look for something different.

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Good luck! Let me know how it turns out. They just had me return the headphone only, no cable or box, so I assume they are going to send the headphones only
 we shall see


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Luckily I bought mine on Amazon so they are sending me a replacement while I still get to use my current one in the meantime.

Ahh, good call there!

So far so good with the replacement. Moved both sides around with no noticeable squeak
however I didn’t notice the squeak on the old ones after using them for a week or so until two days ago. Hopefully the creak won’t appear down the road.

I hope yours turns out well. I hate returns :slight_smile:

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