He is absolutely right, high-end audiophiles just have to justify their expensive purchases.
Thereās lots of misinformation out there spewed by reviewers and taking it as gospel is dangerous, just as with accepting information on any topic you have zero experience in. Parroting something does not mean you understand it and more importantly spewing something you heard from a reviewer is just second hand stupid if what they said was flat out wrong to begin with. Scroll up this thread a little and read peoples actual experiences. Several people have been shocked by how big of a difference an amp can make on the XSā¦not to mention non-cable believers being humbled left and right despite refusing to believe. Keep the attitude that ASR has and youāll never find anything past mediocrity.
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That cable looks sick. Does it come in other terminations? Where did you get it from? Thanks!
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Yes, this turned out to be a really nice cable. I got mine from Amazon, where there are termination options to fit most headphones. Amazon offers 1.5M and 2M lengths and three different colors. Looks like the most options come from the Linsoul site, as @Nr48 has shown. I donāt think you will be disappointed if you decide to try one. It wears so well, itās almost like functional jewelry for your cans! 
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Iāll leave this here for those interested: HIFIMAN Edition XS Planar Headphones Review | TechPowerUp
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Ha ha ha ha ha. 
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Iām in the process of making my own SW cable supreme + (takes me ages lol) but am about to have some fun rolling with pads. OEM pads there and about to try the other two. Both sheepskin, one completely fenestrated and the other partial inner fenestration (inside walls), both use memory foam.
XS too bright you sayā¦ flavor tamersā¦ wooohooo
edit: if any are interested this is where I got them on AliExpress
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Sheepskin fenestrated pads 'n my new SW-XSive cable Iāve just finished, thatās what Iāll be listening with tomorrow mornā¦ 
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Wow, thatās a beautiful cable!
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chonk weave cable
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Yes I did.
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Finally got them, ngl Iām conflicted, thereās a ton of treble glare, which really annoys me, but also they kinda ruined all my other headphones once I tried switching from themā¦ Maybe the best bass Iāve heard in headphones, soundstage is amazing with how tall it is, but width, Iād actually give it to my pad swapped he400iās (donāt have them anymore), itās just the treble and the metallic timbre that holds them back.
Love the comfort tho, finally found headphones that fit my giant head lol.
BNIB? Dare I sayā¦hold open the possibility that treble will sweeten. They needed about 30-40 hours of hard driving before they settled in. They still have a HiFiMan treble presentation, but it sounds like thatās not an issue for you. Itās not just a brain thing either. Iād let them go over night for a few nights without listening. Put them on one morning and suddenly they werenāt sending daggers down my ears.
Either way, they are amazing at $500. I canāt think of something near that price thatās a better overall package.
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Yeh theyāre new, ngl donāt super believe in burn in, but might as well do the experiment now that I got these fresh, Iāll try to leave them playing pink noise when not using them, hopefully they do soften lol
i played pink noise at around 90-95db for a couple days and they really softened up and they didnāt sound so stiff. bass decay became really noticeably more present and overall smoothness got quite a bit better.
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Fwiw. I had the same experience with the Sundaraā¦give that XS some Time.
Found some dekoni pads measurements with the XS on a small german review channel called āminiklangwunderā (=mini sound wonders). Thought I share here as Dekoni offical measurements are quite useless.
Overall he preferred the solid sheepskin because it removes the dip at 1.5k, reduces the treble and brings it closer to harman.
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Those fenestrated ones look kinda nice, not dropping the $100 + shipping and import tax tho, might try some from aliexpress at some point lol