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Hifiman Edition XS

cheapmessiah

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That's insane. I'm generally 0db gain around 9 o'clock lol. I even use -10db preamp with my Ananda though it's too sensitive headphone. 6db gain 1 o'clock is probably max i do for hype. It actually depends on my mood, listening hour, my sleep etc... I increase the volume at the end of my listening session for 1 or 2 songs.

I don't go above 12 often so i don't know if there is an imbalance there. Generally amps have imbalance at lower volumes (around 9 o'clock).
I know, my deal is basically bone conduction XD.

What does +18dB mean?
Zen can has 4 gain levels labeled in db, 0, 6, 12 and 18.
 

Makafuni

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Makafuni

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Problem seems to have been solved!

After concluding it was something other than the phones themselves, I tried eliminating different possible sources. After no succes with this approach, as a last resort I tried wiping down all cables interconnectors etc. with isopropyl.
And would you know. That fixed the imbalance issue:facepalm: (it also opened the sound up a little)

Jesus christ I feel so pretty fucking dumb right now:rolleyes: Although pretty happy it was just that, and that I can now enjoy my new headphones. I love the sound.

Thx for your help much appreciated
 

Ken Tajalli

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Problem seems to have been solved!

After concluding it was something other than the phones themselves, I tried eliminating different possible sources. After no succes with this approach, as a last resort I tried wiping down all cables interconnectors etc. with isopropyl.
And would you know. That fixed the imbalance issue:facepalm: (it also opened the sound up a little)

Jesus christ I feel so pretty fucking dumb right now:rolleyes: Although pretty happy it was just that, and that I can now enjoy my new headphones. I love the sound.

Thx for your help much appreciated
Glad you sorted it.
FYI, a good contact cleaner is plain steel wool. The plumbers version, not the kitchen version, that one has detergent.
Just blow on the contacts to make sure there are no debris.
Clean the jack ends with it.
Also Deoxit , I swear by.

Steel-wool.jpg
 
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Ken Tajalli

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I suppose it is my turn!
I need a pair of IEMs with very similar sound to Edition XS.
I have £500 ($700), my amp is Chord Hugo2.
- Don't like V shaped FR
- If it needs anything other than no EQ or very very mild EQ, its no good to me.
I already have, among others, Sennheiser IE 400 pro's. The resolution is good, but needs heavy EQ, it is not as open or crisp as I like.
Any ideas?
I am posting here, because I want them to sound like EDXS, as much as possible.
Thanx in advance.
 

cheapmessiah

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I suppose it is my turn!
I need a pair of IEMs with very similar sound to Edition XS.
I have £500 ($700), my amp is Chord Hugo2.
- Don't like V shaped FR
- If it needs anything other than no EQ or very very mild EQ, its no good to me.
I already have, among others, Sennheiser IE 400 pro's. The resolution is good, but needs heavy EQ, it is not as open or crisp as I like.
Any ideas?
I am posting here, because I want them to sound like EDXS, as much as possible.
Thanx in advance.
You are gonna have a hard time finding an IEM that is tunned as good from the pinna gain onwards as the EXS that doesnt track the harman curve on bass as well. And if i was on your position id rather get a well tunned IEM and lower the bass shelf from 200hz downwards until it matches your preference than having to deal with the whole tunning but getting no bass shelf from the begining. Also you might find that harman target on IEMs is less V-shaped than it is on headphones because of the insertion on the ear cannal.

The ones closer in tunning are the etymotic er4xr, but this are deep insertion IEMs, I suggest you do research on them to fully understand what that means.

And the other option on your price range might be the moondrop blessing 2 dusk, it was tunned by crinacle who likes headphones to be tunned like the EXS, these are very technically capable too, but you might want a tad less bass, but most people who have them find them very balanced, and in fact, everything else in your price range thats well tunned comes with higher bass shelf since harman curve sells IEMs like nothing else, but remember in ear harman sounds different than over ear harman.

Other users might have different options to mention, my "expertise" in IEMs is mainly in chinese brands.
 
Last edited:

Ken Tajalli

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You are gonna have a hard time finding an IEM that is tunned as good from the pinna gain onwards as the EXS that doesnt track the harman curve on bass as well. And if i was on your position id rather get a well tunned IEM and lower the bass shelf from 200hz downwards until it matches your preference than having to deal with the whole tunning but getting no bass shelf from the begining. Also you might find that harman target on IEMs is less V-shaped than it is on headphones because of the insertion on the ear cannal.

The ones closer in tunning are the etymotic er4xr, but this are deep insertion IEMs, I suggest you do research on them to fully understand what that means.

And the other option on your price range might be the moondrop blessing 2 dusk, it was tunned by crinacle who likes headphones to be tunned like the EXS, these are very technically capable too, but you might want a tad less bass, but most people who have them find them very balanced, and in fact, everything else in your price range thats well tunned comes with higher bass shelf since harman curve sells IEMs like nothing else, but remember in ear harman sounds different than over ear harman.

Other users might have different options to mention, my "expertise" in IEMs is mainly in chinese brands.
thanx.
 

BriamR

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Thank you for your review, specially the pictures!
I got mine recently and I agree with most of your review.
Here is where we differ:
- Cans are made of Aluminium! Even the grill and the thin black insert just under the top plastic fitting where screws go in.
Because the cans are oval and not round, the sides can get squashed where the yokes are attached, so the metal back grill and the thing black plate help to keep its shape.
- To me there is a (usual) mid midrange suck-out around 1.5kHz to 2.5kHz (by ear), which can make them sound a bit hollow.
- There is a little upper bass/lower mid peak that makes them sound a little woody.
- They have an Ear Thumping effest on bass which I like, makes the kick drums pop up - some may call it Slam!
- I am not a fan of the headband, I prefer the leather strap type, I probably will add one later on.
A little EQ (do mean little) can help, though I agree they are very listenable out of box.
For amps, I have Chord Mojo and Chord Hugo2 - I must say, Mojo is a better match! not only it can drive them very well to deafening levels with ease, but Mojo's natural darker voice helps with Editions brightness and tames it down.
Over all very good, I am keeping mine.
Mojo can drive edition xs correctly?
 

ngs428

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For those of you using Equalizer APO / Peace, here is the Oratory1990 preset..
 

Attachments

  • Hifiman ED XS - Oratory1990 - PEACE EQ Preset - 2022-03-18.zip
    787 bytes · Views: 130

raistlin65

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Mojo can drive edition xs correctly?

Yes. But it's not a good price/performance value. You could spend a lot less and achieve the same results.

Topping NX7 portable amp/DAC would work as well or better. And cost way less. Or Topping DX3 Pro+ desktop amp/DAC.
 

dreamscene

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For portable use, from laptop and Android mobile phone, will a cheap Dac/Amp like the Ibasso DC05 be enough to run the Edition XS 'well enough'?

ibasso.JPG


DAC chip: ES9219C*2
Maximum output level: 2Vrms (3002 Load), power is about 13mW
Maximum non-distortion level: 1.73Vrms (32Q2 Load), power is about 93mW
Maximum undistortion level: 1.5Vrms (16Q2 Load), power is about 140mW
Noise floor: 1 55pVrms
SNR: 121dB
THD+N: -105dBA (32Q2 load)
Output impedance: <0.5Q2
PCM: support 32bit/384kHz
DSD: Native DSD64, DSD128, DSD256
MQA: Support 16X expansion
Weight: about 9g
Length: Approximately 105mm
 

Ken Tajalli

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For portable use, from laptop and Android mobile phone, will a cheap Dac/Amp like the Ibasso DC05 be enough to run the Edition XS 'well enough'?

View attachment 196506

DAC chip: ES9219C*2
Maximum output level: 2Vrms (3002 Load), power is about 13mW
Maximum non-distortion level: 1.73Vrms (32Q2 Load), power is about 93mW
Maximum undistortion level: 1.5Vrms (16Q2 Load), power is about 140mW
Noise floor: 1 55pVrms
SNR: 121dB
THD+N: -105dBA (32Q2 load)
Output impedance: <0.5Q2
PCM: support 32bit/384kHz
DSD: Native DSD64, DSD128, DSD256
MQA: Support 16X expansion
Weight: about 9g
Length: Approximately 105mm
No not enough juice!
USB powered DACs may be OK with IEMs, but don't have enough power for big planars.
 

Χ Ξ Σ

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For portable use, from laptop and Android mobile phone, will a cheap Dac/Amp like the Ibasso DC05 be enough to run the Edition XS 'well enough'?

View attachment 196506

DAC chip: ES9219C*2
Maximum output level: 2Vrms (3002 Load), power is about 13mW
Maximum non-distortion level: 1.73Vrms (32Q2 Load), power is about 93mW
Maximum undistortion level: 1.5Vrms (16Q2 Load), power is about 140mW
Noise floor: 1 55pVrms
SNR: 121dB
THD+N: -105dBA (32Q2 load)
Output impedance: <0.5Q2
PCM: support 32bit/384kHz
DSD: Native DSD64, DSD128, DSD256
MQA: Support 16X expansion
Weight: about 9g
Length: Approximately 105mm
Enough for today's loud songs. For classical recordings though, You may have to max it out and leave no headroom for EQ if you also need to use that.
 

Χ Ξ Σ

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That being said, subjectively I always feel the XS sounds better on my L50 than L&P W2. I would still recommend using a high quality desktop setup over a dongle.
 

raistlin65

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For portable use, from laptop and Android mobile phone, will a cheap Dac/Amp like the Ibasso DC05 be enough to run the Edition XS 'well enough'?

View attachment 196506

DAC chip: ES9219C*2
Maximum output level: 2Vrms (3002 Load), power is about 13mW
Maximum non-distortion level: 1.73Vrms (32Q2 Load), power is about 93mW
Maximum undistortion level: 1.5Vrms (16Q2 Load), power is about 140mW
Noise floor: 1 55pVrms
SNR: 121dB
THD+N: -105dBA (32Q2 load)
Output impedance: <0.5Q2
PCM: support 32bit/384kHz
DSD: Native DSD64, DSD128, DSD256
MQA: Support 16X expansion
Weight: about 9g
Length: Approximately 105mm

If you don't listen extremely loud or plan on boosting the bass with EQ, it could work well. Here's a headphone power calculator to help you out
 

dreamscene

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If you don't listen extremely loud or plan on boosting the bass with EQ, it could work well. Here's a headphone power calculator to help you out
Thanks. Do I enter the Sensitivity Rating in db(1mw) or db(1VRMS)? Edition XS has 92db Sensitivity and 18 Ohms. (Loudness - dBSPL) I am using 95 (I am assuming that's pretty loud). This is what I get.

edition xs.JPG



So looking at the above, it looks like the elcheapo $65 portable amp / dac Ibasso DC05 should be ok to run this very well, correct? Or is 95db not loud enough for planars?

Ibasso DC05 Specs
Maximum non-distortion level: 1.73Vrms (32Q2 Load), power is about 93mW
Maximum undistortion level: 1.5Vrms (16Q2 Load), power is about 140mW
 
Last edited:

dreamscene

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That being said, subjectively I always feel the XS sounds better on my L50 than L&P W2. I would still recommend using a high quality desktop setup over a dongle.
I have a Topping DX3Pro+ for desktop. I asked for portable use on my laptop and phone. My friend gave me a brand new Ibasso DC05 that he bought 4 weeks ago but never opened it thus I am asking. I can always buy a more powerful portable usb dac/amp but I got this one for free and don't want to replace it if I don't have to as it measures really well apparently for an elcheapo unit.
 
Last edited:

raistlin65

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Thanks. Do I enter the Sensitivity Rating in db(1mw) or db(1VRMS)? Edition XS has 92db Sensitivity and 18 Ohms. (Loudness - dBSPL) I am using 95 (I am assuming that's pretty loud). This is what I get.

View attachment 196583


So looking at the above, it looks like the elcheapo $65 portable amp / dac Ibasso DC05 should be ok to run this very well, correct? Or is 95db not loud enough for planars?

Ibasso DC05 Specs
Maximum non-distortion level: 1.73Vrms (32Q2 Load), power is about 93mW
Maximum undistortion level: 1.5Vrms (16Q2 Load), power is about 140mW

92db is mw not V.

Then the volume needs to include dynamic range. Not just what you imagine the loudest average volume you might use.

The default 110db is typically more than enough for most people.
 

dreamscene

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92db is mw not V.

Then the volume needs to include dynamic range. Not just what you imagine the loudest average volume you might use.

The default 110db is typically more than enough for most people.
Ok, so I entered new parameters you gave, 92db in mW, 18 ohms and 110db loudness target for the Edition XS. I get this amp power requirement.

edition xs dc05.JPG

Ibasso DC05 Amp / Dac Specs
Maximum non-distortion level: 1.73Vrms (32Q2 Load), power is about 93mW
Maximum undistortion level: 1.5Vrms (16Q2 Load), power is about 140mW

So am I correct to assume the Ibasso DC05 portable dac/amp has more than required power plus plenty in reserve to run the Edition XS? Or did I punch in incorrect parameters?
 
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