Alright you talked me into doing it. These are uni hybrids and to my surprise it doesn’t change the sound much. A tad bit more bass is the only change I’m hearing right now.
These don’t seem to be as dramatic as the 9500 when it comes to pad swaps.
Hmm, tough call.
So X3 is definitely a bit of a power requiring headphone. Shp9600 over there can actually be ran off my phone or motherboard granted I have to really crank the volume to get loud but it still works meanwhile x3 is fussy about that… it struggles to be powered on my xdsd portable amplifier and actually loses bass while becoming more sibilant I had to switch over to a heftier unit to back this one up which is rather annoying at 30 ohms. Still it has some slight scaling it seems depending on the amp… meanwhile shp9600 doesn’t really seem to care as long as you have ample power… lacking power kills that extra bass and makes it sound relatively veiled to my ear.
X3 definitely has more bass but the impact comparison is noticeable… I think the shp9600 may have more natural sounding bass and quite an enjoyable weight and depth behind it’s drums it has a noticeable thump. Meanwhile while yes the x3 is still a warm deep bass it just doesn’t have that noticeable impact to it… it sounds rather light to me.
Mids, I gotta give this to the x3 I feel they sound cleaner and more airy very present and well tuned. Despite them sounding rather pushed back they are very enjoyable and definitely sound higher quality than the shp 9600 not to say the 9600 is bad just that I feel the sound is better on the x3 in this regard.
Highs this is a toss up for me… Personally I have to side with the 9600 here. The highs on the x3 are too much and I can see this being a big deal breaker. It’s not very smooth sounding and has quite the peakyness to some songs. Depending on my volume it would get bright enough to cause me to turn it down a bit and I am barily if any treble sensitive. I think the biggest one was when Faded from Alan Walker came on from my file list which tends to make or break it with bright headphones… it become very apparent and in some cases slightly brighter than the 880
Soundstage: current impressions lead me to fully believe the x3 wins this handsdown… that stage is completely massive and crushes most of the headphones in my current collection it sounds spectacular it rivals the Tygr and I think it may actually be even larger on the levels of the HD800S. The soundstage to the shp9600 sounds roughly the same maybe ever so slightly larger than the 9500 though pad swapping this changes that fairly quick and it can lose that extra soundstage by swapping to a suede or thicker material
Imaging: this is a hit or miss for me… I think it’s good but not laser accurate the more I listen. I think it’s good… good enough for gaming at least but since tygr is cheaper than the x3 I can’t see the merit here. x3 is definitely a brighter headphone it’s very V sounding to me yet DT 990 is in the same boat and has better imaging here. 9600 again I think it’s better more accurate than the 9500 which was kind of sloppy this time around I do feel it’s better so thats a plus but definitely not competing with the beyers.
Honestly? No, I would take the DT 990 or x2hr over the x3 any day of the week currently as far as my initial impressions are concerned. However, time will tell if that changes However, would I take the 9600 over the 9500? Debatable but very possible. Can the 9600 replace my tygr? No, seperate signature tygr has the bigger stage and better imaging
noticed that it depends on the pad. Hybrids are like your balanced pad though. I tried that too got the same result. I kind of like the hybrids a bit more but that’s just my enjoyment from the bass.
Editory note: I should add that changing the pads on the x3 doesn’t appear feasible… its a solid piece and snap on adapters as well. unless you get the adapter scraped off(good luck with that one in this case not as easy) or get a 3d printed adapter I don’t see pad swaps happening here. I would definitely 100% pad swap the x3 to a suede to not only help that bass get a bit heftier but dial in that brightness I personally think that would do wonders for this headphone.
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I suppose I can add though for musicality… the x3 does sound gorgeous if you can deal with brightness. The detail retrieval is fantastic though I am unsure if it could best the DT 880 in that regard thats a bit of a stretch
ZMF hybrids are completely solid pads (no perforations) and on the 9500 have the same sound signature as the suedes. Just tried on the hm5 sheepskin pads and It’s about the same as the zmf pads but with a touch more mid bass.
I think the drivers in the 9600 are different and don’t react much to a pad swap.
@JayDee Note remarks here are subject to change as I burn them in and further listening is done.
I suppose this is what you were wondering. My current comparisons are this after several matches of competitive. Shp9600 does indeed have more bass and with it does come slightly more rumble… however, instead of boring and perhaps slightly under neutral the bass now sounds slightly above neutral with a fantastic impact and quantity. In other words, it’s more fun sounding. In competitive this can be a bit of an issue though I noticed easily that just by removing I want to say about maybe 2 db in the bass region it wiped out the extra rumble so not that big of a deal.
Comfort: I prefer this head clamp a hell of a lot more than the 9500. It’s still loose don’t get me wrong but seriously the 9500 could literally fall off my head from practically zero clamp and the bass wasn’t there due to this. The 9600 could definitely use more clamp. I stand by what I mentioned that if you pad swap it to a thicker pad it responds well, like jj just confirmed as well with the hybrids. The pad swaps can in some cases barily alter the sound at the same time offering more clamp and comfort which is a very nice touch in my opinion.
Imaging: this is very important for us gamers. What better way to test this than Escape From Tarkov? This thing is rather exhilarating in sound as the extra bass provided me with some added and much need in my opinion fun and immersion to the game. At the same time I definitely feel the imaging has been improved here by a fairly good margin. It’s quite accurate. Not remotely on the same level as the beyers but definitely strong enough for me to say that I can confidently recommend this one in this regard.
Soundstage: I think this is a miss here. It sounds relatively the same maybe ever so slightly bigger than the 9500 which I feel they could definitely have improved on much like the imaging. Not bad but not great. I wouldn’t say this is better in soundstage than the x2hr fidelios which is unfortunate considering the price tag.
Brightness: The shp9500 had some rather nice brightness but it was fairly unrefined… in this version it’s now much smoother and to the point so well tuned I at first thought it wasn’t all that bright at all. After a lot of listening and more break in I did start realizing it is indeed just as bright(made more noticeable by hallway gunfights). I can definitely say the brightness should not be an issue here less the person is very treble intolerant.
Mids: neutral, clean, crisp, essentially what you will find in the 9500 as well just a bit more refinement here it sounds cleaner.
Bass: quite nice actually, good impact, nice natural sound with weight to it. Switching the pads can alter this by a good amount but nothing as insanely muddy as the x2hr or to the point of the 9500 where it can become practically a cannon
Price point: $130 range? hmm, actually… I think this might be worth that. While I don’t think it competes with the beyers I do think it’s worth it’s price
Really? don’t own the zmf’s figured maybe it’d be more prominent. That’s actually interesting… I assume that’s what I am primarily hearing affected by the suedes… The crazy thing is suedes are like my least favorite of the pads next to alcantara and yet I think I prefer the sound the suedes provide this headphone not so much for competitive gaming leave it velour for that but for regular listening? It’s very nice. Nothing overblown or muddy. It sounds similar to the x2hr to me except not muddy or bleeding but like… just right. Tightened and on the level of the tygr in that regard
The strange thing here is that both headphones seem to be responding more to burn in… so perhaps my opinion will change more as they get burned in?
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@Falenkor thank u so much!!
Seems I’ll go with 9600
So I just got my x2hr and it definitely sounds nice with music and the base is so cool! But gaming felt weird.
Like, it sounded hollow or echoey without the echo. I know its open back but i could hear my pc which was loud and i was quite surprised at how distracting it was
I cant tell if my motherboard sucks or what. I dont know my exact motherboard right now but i know it has an old cpu housing that accepts intel i5 3570K Cpu but not the newer CPUs
My hyperx cores sound perfectly fine on pc— the sound seems fuller or more complete.
Whereas with the x2hr i could barely hear my own footsteps as they sounded far away.
Is there a way to fix this? I had to turn my audio almost all the way up for them to sound “full” or “rich”
Sorry if this is off topic
You can definitely get that with such a massive soundstage and the bass provided by the x2hr. It’s not very impactful it’s just deep with a ton of rumble and it bleeds into the mids and vocals while sounding pretty muddy not to mention it’s rather loose sounding so kind of all over the place in that regard… That isn’t to say it’s bad it’s definitely not hell I can buy one for like $90 potentially less soon considering x3 is out so I think it can now be considered an amazing headphone for budgeting people but ever since I touched the shp9500 I thought it had more pleasant bass and especially against the tygr… the tygr wipes the floor with the x2hr in sound qualities like there is practically no competition there… it’s pretty much a straight upgrade.
So, one thing I will say is if your using motherboard audio definitely change to an amp even if it’s a cheap one. The sound difference is exponentially drastic. It’s potentially one of the biggest changes in sound quality you will gain outside of maybe if you compare a $50 amp to something in the $600 range. As for your issue with hearing your pc? This is how open backs are you hear your outside surroundings as they aren’t meant for isolation. If your hearing your pc that’s your fans probably and I would recommend some quieter fans or a more insulated casing as it can help that issue… I have corsair ml120 fans(8 of them infact) with a big noctua dh-15 triple fan air cooler plus a triple fan graphics card yet I cannot hear my pc running at all(and the inside feels rather cold honestly lol may have over done it a bit)
this is because gaming headsets are literally designed to run on anything. However, with all the cutting of the corners you lose an absolute ton of sound quality. The hyperx cloud series is based off a headphone known as the Takstar Pro 82 and while the clouds are nice they don’t hold a candle to the original the only copy that stands up to that headphone is the MH751 from coolermaster and even then it’s a stretch. Gaming headsets cut so much quality of your sound out it’s absurd. The terms of ease of use / access when it comes to gaming headsets makes them more reasonable as for a cheap cost you get what we are raised to believe is just fine in gaming. I know a lot of gamers I know used to think I was nuts when I first bought the DT 990 and a $200 dedicated amp and dac setup(Liquid Spark and Topping D10 to be exact) and yet the sound quality was so insanely different and drastic I was blown away my first time around… I could actually pinpoint my enemy so insanely easily hear footsteps crystal clear and my game stepped up to the point I thought it was cheating… granted I am an ex professional gamer(playing casually anymore still prefer competitives though), by this I mean I attended tourney venues and the like, so my KDA ratios are usually pretty high but it was a very noticeable difference.
I came from using the Hyperx Cloud II as my last gaming headset as I had to step back since the arctis pro from steel series had broke on me. The other thing that’s noticeable is just the fact that sound becomes more enjoyable so much more so when you actually have a headphone that suits your own sound preference… one of the things gaming headsets do is try hard to cater to both casual and competitive while failing miserably. Hyperx Flight is a fantastic example of this… it sounds good(it’s actually a W signature which is very uncommon) but the bass is so unbelievably deep and rumbly it’s damn near unusable viably in competitive gaming at the same time the mic sounds rather sub par in comparison to just a mod mic.
Yes actually. Amp aka Amplifier is what boosts that sound… At the same time if a headphone is not properly powered it will sound strange or off… somethings will sound distant hell in some cases it will sound like there is no bass at all or in bright headphones it will be horribly sibilant to the ear. Granted some headphones like the DT 880 really do just sound a little hollow in the bass lack of fullness if you will… just part of its sound when you get this trait it can be resolved by a Tube amp to my experience so far but not completely
Not really off topic, insightful information but still talking about the current headphones I see as fine but thats up to the moderators. I am sure M0N is skimming this now and again.
I would recommend before further purchases look into an amplifier of entry level. Ifi zen dac if you really need to cut corners or Schiit Fulla 3. If you need console gaming go with soundblasters g6 as the dac is actually good with the amp being decent. Otherwise save up to around $200 and pick up a dedicated setup… think of it as an investment as once you have this you won’t really need to upgrade less you really want a better sound quality or a different trait like I tend to chase after lol(drains the wallet though doing this forewarning).
Something like a Fiio E10k may also work as a heavy budget option but it’s definitely not as strong or as good sounding as a dedicated setup.
If you really want to grasp straws you can buy a straight amplifier and wire it with an rca - 3.5mm jack cable straight to the computer using the computer as a Dac until you save up to pick up the dac later. Dacs will clean up that signal more and clear up any potential issues. Your amp offers the biggest difference in sound.
For brighter headphones if you can get one I recommend the Liquid spark(can range in price from $70 - $100) from Monoprice it does a fantastic job for bright sounding headphones and has a lot of power behind it to the point it can power headphones such as the 600 ohm with power to spare. Alternatives to this are something like Jds labs Atom, Schiit magni 3+, archel + enog combo amp and dac(usually I just recommend pairing these two as they just sound so much better when put together)
Dacs I would just say pick up a Topping D10 to start honestly as it’s a fantastic entry level there are alternatives but I find this one to be actually exceptionally nice
Thanks folks
So im trying the headphones on my ps4 thru the controller and it sounds good
But on pc, id say it sounded off. I usually plug in to the front of the pc but im now connecting it to my gfx card in the back through a splitter cable but the mic isnt working on it. So i have to figure out those pc issues
I doubt my pc sound card is that bad? These philips headphones are supposed to have very low impedance
Maybe it was just the game, apex legends
Anywho an amp sounds good but arent these philips headphones supposed to not really benefit from it?
How is this: FiiO D3 (D03K) Digital to Analog Audio Converter - 192kHz/24bit Optical and Coaxial DAC https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B009346RSS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ZJauFb329C744
I wont be able to afford thos $100 amps
Would this work fine on PC?
You’d be surprised. Just because it’s low impedance doesn’t mean it’s not demanding… the x3 over there is 30 ohm impedance and yet my portable amplifier phone and motherboard cannot run it whatsoever the amp can run it but it sounds horribly off and has to be cranked to maximum.
could be a world of things such as the driver failed, bad plug, bad cable, hard to really nail that one down. Haven’t really had the issue so can’t say for certain.
Any and all headphones can benefit from an amplifier… the only ones that really don’t are the gamers headsets and of course things such as ear buds
that is only a dac not an amp you need both amp and dac. May be hard to find something in canada considering prices… if you can find it cheap enough grab the Fiio E10k then if budget is that harsh you should be able to find them for around $50 - $75 they are both an amp and a dac combined unit. The only issue is that this amp cannot be used on your console. In order to make use of an amp/dac on a console it needs an optical cable port on the back(or in the dedicated setups the dac has to have the optical port)
scratch that, dsd portable does run it… had to switch the settings over to the other mode as I had it running in duel mono S-balanced. Switched modes powering it fine at around 68% volume
Maybe I’m missing something here - how do you pad swap them? The 9500 were glued onto the plastic underneath ring and I had to follow a YouTube tutorial to rip them off (permanent decision), remove the excess glue and foam, then work the new pads (Brainwavz hybrid pads were a fit) over the ring and reattach them.
I think he’s referring to this mod for a more convenient approach to pad swapping the 9500
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This is correct. The pads are still glued onto the ring however this time around the clips are backwards so the modhouse adapters will not work as originally intended where they just snap into place… I had to get some tape and tape them on. Works decently enough just annoying… in the event I keep this headphone probably going to liquid cement the adapters on or just cut the pads adapters free from their adhesive.
I have to give philips some negative feedback on this… theres no damn reason to keep using adhesive on the pads like this. In the case of the x3 over there while you could definitely change the x2 as there was a lip(sorta) that you could just throw a larger pad over and it would work in this case though it’s not so feasible I don’t see much reliable means of changing out the pads outside of cutting the adapters off the pads.
also incase your wondering what pad size… around 100mm or rather Beyerdynamic pads fit damn near perfectly on the shp series if you can get them on as sometimes you have to fit with them a little.
correct however, unfortunately due to the clips being backwards now these no longe snap into place you have to use some sort of glue or something to keep them on.
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So my motherboard is ASRock Z77 Pro3.
I assume it’s just not strong enough, but can anyone confirm if this motherboard is the issue?
The headphones sound loud and full on my DUalshock 4 and Iphone 6s+ so I assume the motherboard is the issue.
I guess Ill need to invest in a DAC AMP. Can I have thoughts on these please:
https://www.amazon.ca/Behringer-UCA222-Ultra-Low-Latency-Interface/dp/B0023BYDHK
The Fiio10K is $100 CAD, isnt this double its original price?? https://www.amazon.ca/FiiO-Olympus-Headphone-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00LP3AMC2
Hmm, I am probably not the best here to inquire information for budget amp/dacs with good sound qualities. Recommend making a thread asking for some more insight as I see this may derail this particular thread.
It’s around $75 here so slightly more expensive.
I would never recommend an audio interface for an amplifier.
cant really speak on the other amp there
Yeah, that’s not the best audio chip. Probably why your getting such issues
So, spent the day with the two and heres some things I noticed note this is going to be just some constructive criticism you are fully welcome to disagree but just some food for thoughts from me so far. This isn’t to say the headphones are bad by any means necessary. In fact they are pretty good there is just some conflicting thoughts I have about these.
SHP9600 is a hard recommend for me at it’s price tag considering you can find the 9500 at around $48 and they are very similar in characteristics and sound quality. The clamp may be better as well as the bass but this is a hard justification for practically 3 times the price. Don’t get me wrong it sounds fantastic and looks amazing but they really missed some key areas such as not using adhesive on the pads, a better padded head strap, better imaging, and better soundstage to a certain degree. If anything the x3 made much more improvements in sound than the shp9600
X3 on the other hand I cannot by any means justify it’s price tag right now. I can find the x2hr fidelios for around $90 potentially cheaper. This on the other hand, It’s borderline $400, 4 times more expensive, which is in the same ball park range as the DT 1990 if you dig around for a more used copy. The x3 has quite the rumble to it and is more of a V signature while the x2 is much more warm and smoothed out this version has a lot more brightness to its sound. It sounds like a beefed up DT 990 honestly without the imaging qualities, and of course not as ethereal or sibilant on the brightness. Considering it’s price tag I honestly, as of current, find this a very hard sell considering it’s competition. If I recall the x2hr fidelio had the same ordeal where it started out much higher and than had a significant price drop. The quality of sound definitely improved going from x2 to x3 on the fidelios as the bass no longer bleeds, isn’t muddy, but still lacks some impact(very unfortunate) at the same time it now sounds like the mids are a bit too pushed back in my opinion and the treble is raised to the point of being fairly sharp but not sibilant which to me isn’t particular a good thing as the x2hr struck a good balance in it’s tonality and the biggest issue you hear people mention is just the bass was too overblown and muddy. Going in this direction of sound rather confuses me as I really do enjoy the x2hr’s especially at their price they are fantastic this on the other hand it just feels like I am listening to a poor mans beyerdynamic with an enormous soundstage(at least as of current this headphone noticeably is changing in sound as I burn it in). The soundstage is absolutely massive bigger than really anything in my collection as of current but unfortunately the imaging isn’t on par with that soundstage(less it gets better once burned in) and is a unfortunate characteristic as if it would have been better it would be more worth it to me personally. The imaging is still very good but definitely not anything like tygrs where it’s laser accurate. It just feels like an attempt at what Sennheiser did with the HD800S however HD800S definitely doesn’t pull punches and is quite something(though it damn well better be at that price tag)
As it stands competing in the same price brackets at $400 headphones considering DT 990 can do the X3’s job as they share a signature just the x3 has the better sound stage while 990 has the better imaging it’s a pretty hard sell. X3 does definitely have great detail retrieval and in some cases I noticed it can be revealing even but when you go into bright headphones your up against beyers who just have a natural knack for great imaging and a larger soundstage and are built like tanks.
Maybe it’s just me but I cannot justify the pricetag on the X3 at this current point in time it just doesn’t feel worth it. Not when you have others in it’s price bracket that can do the job better and others in the cheaper brackets that are similar saving you practically hundreds and are a bit more versatile to boot as the pads on this just seem downright unchangeable which is a huge missed opportunity from philips on both headphones.
The other downside I see for the X3 is utilization of balanced cabling… is it really necessary to need balanced when you are only using 30 ohms? When I see planars like Audeze or aeons it makes a bit more sense or like T1 at 600 ohms but in this case it really isn’t very power demanding at all in fact it is barely using power from the liquid spark and definitely doesn’t need something as crazy as an asgard powering it. Granted it does need some power and has some scaling but I feel as though they could have added more use case by keeping it singled ended detachable. I don’t particularly see the addition of duel sided cables as a good direction for this headphone considering the x2hr over there can go full on wireless like its 9500 and now 9600 brothers at the same time utilize boom microphones making it a gamer friendly option as well.
In gaming I found both very interesting. X3 steals the show from the 9600 by a pretty large margin and the biggest draw back, much like the DT 990, is the bass. It’s imaging is still strong and that soundstage is absolutely massive so it’s still great for competitive meanwhile 9600 I wouldn’t claim is better than 9500 it’s just more “fun” and has slightly better imaging but around the same soundstage still to my ear.
However, I do not like the X3 at all in casual gaming. The brightness became fatiguing after a few hours of using it and I found myself wanting to put it down switching back to the more smooth and less bright 9600. In terms of all rounder use? 9600 is definitely better in my opinion to the x3 right now at a fraction of the cost… it’s more fun, immersive, has great impact I found myself actually saying wow during some songs when that weight and heft of the bass really kicked in from the snares and kick drums as its quite detailed and a higher quality than the 9500 can put out.
I will however, give the x3 extreme props for build quality. The thing is sturdy and made from some great materials… I love the fresh leather smell and the build material I think may last quite a while it seems very sturdy my only concern is that the cups don’t have swivel and the outside cloth seems like it could tear pretty easily if you mishandle it or have a pet(as some people have cats that can be destructive).
I think it’s a big missed opportunity as well considering the x3’s price and how its supposed to be this premium variant to the x2 over there that we only get a bag to store the headphones in, instead of an actual case. I know quite the few headphones that give us a pretty nice case at around $200 range so being in the $400 I kind of expected a bit more not going to lie.
Again though, these are my current assessments these are very subject to change and I plan to switch out to some amps later on to see if anything changes for the better(and yes I do plan to try the x3 on a tube amp to see if maybe itll gain some more impact and warmth).
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Thank you for your thougts. I was planning to get the X3 as replacemant for my X2. But now i think i’ll keep my X2 and the tygr and will give the 9600 a try. Maybe i’ll keep them, but i think i’ll not feel the need to own them for a longer period since the X2 and the tygr are on my desk already.
I was really hoping that the X3 will be a big stepup from the X2 in sound, but this is really disappointing now
Considering to me budget is a bit less concerning I may actually keep the 9600 I am just not sure at this moment… Those are very initial thoughts on it. Though I don’t particularly see x3 as a replacement for x2hr if anything I find it a step up from the original x2 as that was the brighter headphone and this just feels that same way. @JJPablo gotta say I am interested to hear your thoughts on the shp9600 as well honestly. I am actually kind of torn. SHP9500 just can change it’s sound to such a hefty degree it’s so hard for me to think better of the 9600 considering how well it keeps to the signature after a pad swap lol. Still, I definitely appreciate the better highs and lows of the 9600.
If I were to compare the x3 to anything it seems they are trying to compete with HD800S and T1 as the signature is shockingly similar to the T1 from Beyerdynamic which is why I made the remark of poor mans Beyerdynamic. I am going to sit and do some comparisons between my own T1(this is literally like one of my favorite bright headphones so considering these two are similar I am curious.) and this x3 using the same setup that I feel really can wake up the T1. I am curious to see if perhaps the x3 is a bit setup picky considering how the sound changes after I switched the amps.
In terms of quality of sound I do think it’s a step up from the x2hr it’s just a bit of a step in the wrong direction for the x2hr in particular as the sound signature is now changed as is the overall versatility. Hopefully there is some potential to release an x3hr instead which will be a direct upgrade. As it stands of current though I would say pick up a pair of Tygr 300 R for gamers wanting a step up in price bracket and sound quality… If you really want a large step up though look into the Aeon Flow Open RT from Dan Clark as it too is another subtle V signature like the x2hr but the sound quality is a lot better and I would definitely say is a massive upgrade.
Edit: I will spend this weekend with these two. Should have some better thoughts and opinion on them later
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So I plugged in my X2HR to the front of my PC and it sounds much better than when I plugged it into the back/motherboard.
My SHP 9600 should arrive any second now. Im curious to try them both