Hifiman Edition XS

[Ken Tajalli]

do they collect also custom duty? Because when you import something, you must pay first custom duty's and then after adding the duty's percentage, sum the product price, to the duty's and then the shipping and then on that number, add the VAT.

So if they only collect the VAT, then some customs will stop the product to ask and extra payment for products that are required to pay custom duty's. For example, computer hardware is exempt from duty's but a pair of trousers would not for most of the countries. I don't know the situation in this case with the UK tbf

As far as I know, if the seller is Amazon themselves, you will have no issues, if it is not - god knows!
Sometimes, if you are in USA (or another country), Amazon may redirect you to US Amazon, with different prices.
You only know, if you try.

 

[Fordski]

I have ordered some products from Amazon UK to Mexico and they've eliminated the VAT and added the customs duty and local Mexican taxes to the order. No additional charges are added on delivery. It's very straight forward and no surprises. However I have no experience with returns but I believe I'd be responsible for any shipping charges to return products to the UK.

 

[cheapmessiah]

I feel tempted to return my recently arrived XS, but i dont know if saving 40€ is worth it when I get an extra warranty year (so 3 years) and I wont have to send it to the UK if anything happens.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

I feel tempted to return my recently arrived XS, but i dont know if saving 40€ is worth it when I get an extra warranty year (so 3 years) and I wont have to send it to the UK if anything happens.

No wonder Donald Trump despised the Chinese (and Amazon) so much.
They are shipping even to Mordor!

 

[cheapmessiah]

Seems like my units right diaphragm touches the fazor or the magnet array in 2 different points of the driver with frequencies between 50hz and 75hz, left side doesn't do it at all... guess it's RMA time

Worst part is my he400i does the same on the right driver too and I did change cable sides to check on both units.

 

[odyo]

Seems like my units right diaphragm touches the fazor or the magnet array in 2 different points of the driver with frequencies between 50hz and 75hz, left side doesn't do it at all... guess it's RMA time

Worst part is my he400i does the same on the right driver too and I did change cable sides to check on both units.

How did you noticed ?

 

[Jimbob54]

Seems like my units right diaphragm touches the fazor or the magnet array in 2 different points of the driver with frequencies between 50hz and 75hz, left side doesn't do it at all... guess it's RMA time

Worst part is my he400i does the same on the right driver too and I did change cable sides to check on both units.

The more reports you read about these kind of issues with Hifiman, the more you have to think the issues might lay more with poor design than poor manufacture/ QC

 

[cheapmessiah]

How did you noticed ?

Was listening to think by kaleida and at like 1:35 bass notes happen without any other sound and I could hear the driver flutter against something, and I tried the tone generator after that to confirm it.

The more reports you read about these kind of issues with Hifiman, the more you have to think the issues might lay more with poor design than poor manufacture/ QC

It's low standards of manufacturing, they can make good drivers reliably, but they seem to not see the value of tightening the tolerances to lower the warranty costs on that have to be for sure eating enough of their profits to make it justifiable to do it right from the beginning. Or at least make the QA looser on looks and tight it on sound relevant tolerances, you can't sell 500+€ gear to the snobiest of audio listeners and hope that the one quality they seek is not secured.

 

[cheapmessiah]

Got the replacement unit this monday, ratling now happens on left cup, and at a wider range od frequencies, also I recieved my unit in packaging thats different from these 2 boxes:

a much simpler cardboard box but with a foam headphone stand inside:

I wonder if the packaging revision comes with a ghost revision on the headphones with lower QA, or if I'm just unlucky and got 2 units from a bad batch.

 

[mr.at]

Got the replacement unit this monday, ratling now happens on left cup, and at a wider range od frequencies, also I recieved my unit in packaging thats different from these 2 boxes:

a much simpler cardboard box but with a foam headphone stand inside:

I wonder if the packaging revision comes with a ghost revision on the headphones with lower QA, or if I'm just unlucky and got 2 units from a bad batch.

wow WTF, Hifiman QC go brrrrrrrr....
How much lower are they going to go with the packaging?

And now at this stage, what seemed like a GREAT DEAL don't seem like that at all no more.

 

[cheapmessiah]

wow WTF, Hifiman QC go brrrrrrrr....
How much lower are they going to go with the packaging?

And now at this stage, what seemed like a GREAT DEAL don't seem like that at all no more.

Personally I think that flashy/luxurious packaging in general is unnecessary, wasteful, and also decieving to the customer, since in the end, it is us the ones paying for it in the product price, and thats money that ultimately goes to the landfill since no performance nor any other useful quality is gained from it.

I would have apreciated better QA rather than what seems poorer one in exchange for the packaging, but it seems that EDXS is coming down in price permanently, much like sundara did on its day, and that it is at the expense of the pruduction quality.

 

[selthier]

hi kinda have question, so just got my XS today, but the headband is really loose, up to when i move my head, the headphone move too
i heard its only for earliest batch? or its all like this?

also wow, with 85% volume in my s21 (+samsung dongle), its already "loud enough", i thought many people said that its harder to drive than sundara ... for sundara its not loud enough even with full volume (i have full setup at home, but still havent tried it yet)

 

[odyo]

I'd be interested if you get the Arya at the same time as the Edition XS your thoughts as to the differences. Mine sound very very similar.

So i just received the Arya Stealth and did a very quick comparison side by side(3-4 half songs). The first impression is that Arya Stealth seems to have quite a bit tighter sound. More precise, defined, tighter and punchier. It's fast. XS sound rounder and looser in comparison. XS seem to have more air up top above 10k. Arya seems to have more crunchy, energetic and fun treble below 10k. Arya have sharper ''pluck'' sound from top to bottom if that makes sense. These differences jumped out at me so far with a quick listen. In terms of soundstage (very early impression) XS seems bigger but Arya have better separation and more separated imaging.

The fit is really nice. They seem to have even tighter clamp than Ananda when you hold them but it just fits very nice when you wear them. XS doesn't have clamp but feels heavier due to headband. For reference, i had a clamp and stiffness issues with Ananda's fit, XS hit and miss. Sometimes it feels perfect, sometimes very annoying due to light clamp and most of the time feels little heavy and uncomfortable up top in headband region. Arya's fit is just right so far but will see how it will fare in long listening sessions.

 

[Blorg]

@odyo I think having listened to both a bit more that would agree with my impression, the Arya is a touch more detailed and precise and the Edition XS does sound a bit looser and less defined but also sounds a bit "bigger" and more spacious in terms of the soundstage as a result. This is my general impression after listening to either for a while... but then sometimes I do an A/B swap and wonder am I imagining it. I do still feel they are very close, at least.

I also find the Ananda clamp sometimes a bit much, it digs in particular into the lower jaw. For me, not to the point it's a problem, but the Arya is noticeably more comfortable in contrast when I got them, I only started noticing the Ananda clamp really after I tried the other two. The Arya for me is supremely comfortable, it's just tight enough that it's very secure, but not any tighter (the Ananda is also very secure- but tighter than it needs to be). Edition XS is the other way, stock for me was much too loose, to the point I'd be feeling they were going to fall off at any moment, but I bent them and now find them pretty comfortable, arguably more comfortable than the Ananda but still more loose feeling. Of the three the Arya is certainly the best balance comfort wise, I could wear that indefinitely. It's also less prone to creak against my glasses arms than the XS is (due to being more stable). The creak issue with the Edition XS is entirely down to glasses, goes away if I take them off (but then I can't see anything).

 

[Blorg]

@cheapmessiah this is the new packaging they are using across the line, it's the same packaging now even for the Arya. The new Ananda Stealth also comes in a box like this. I'm with you that I don't particularly care about fancy packaging, I have the fancy faux leather box Ananda and the box is just sitting in a cupboard taking up space. My Arya Stealth came in a box like this too (this isn't my box, from Reddit):

 

[Blorg]

hi kinda have question, so just got my XS today, but the headband is really loose, up to when i move my head, the headphone move too
i heard its only for earliest batch? or its all like this?

I don't know if this is something they fixed in a later batch but my one (which would have been early, I got it before they jacked the price) was incredibly loose stock, to the point it was just impossible. I tried various fixes like Dekoni Nuggets which did help a little but were ultimately unsatisfactory. I eventually fixed it by bending them, but you have to take care to bend them in the right place- you want to bend inwards the metal arms immediately above the yoke to increase the clamp force. I initially tried just bending the whole top of the headband and that only made it worse. When bending, try to do it evenly and right, and don't get into a situation where you have to bend back and forth, because it's aluminum and can fatigue and break (theoretically- I haven't broken them, but I have broken other stuff made out of aluminum from bending it back and forth).

Bend them here, I also got an inexpensive headband cover that helps a bit with the contact area. Photo here is the HE400SE but I have the same one in black on the Edition XS. Source for headband cover on Aliexpress. Or if you happen to be in SE Asia, it's also on Shopee which is where I got it. I've also seen options from Geekeria I think available on Amazon that have a similar design but with a bit more padding there. If buying from Aliexpress or Shopee above, you want the Large option for the Edition XS.

 

[Bleib]

No wonder Donald Trump despised the Chinese (and Amazon) so much.
They are shipping even to Mordor!

oh c'mon..The dude paid states in China trying to establish his own businesses in China.

 

[odyo]

@odyo I think having listened to both a bit more that would agree with my impression, the Arya is a touch more detailed and precise and the Edition XS does sound a bit looser and less defined but also sounds a bit "bigger" and more spacious in terms of the soundstage as a result. This is my general impression after listening to either for a while... but then sometimes I do an A/B swap and wonder am I imagining it. I do still feel they are very close, at least.

I also find the Ananda clamp sometimes a bit much, it digs in particular into the lower jaw. For me, not to the point it's a problem, but the Arya is noticeably more comfortable in contrast when I got them, I only started noticing the Ananda clamp really after I tried the other two. The Arya for me is supremely comfortable, it's just tight enough that it's very secure, but not any tighter (the Ananda is also very secure- but tighter than it needs to be). Edition XS is the other way, stock for me was much too loose, to the point I'd be feeling they were going to fall off at any moment, but I bent them and now find them pretty comfortable, arguably more comfortable than the Ananda but still more loose feeling. Of the three the Arya is certainly the best balance comfort wise, I could wear that indefinitely. It's also less prone to creak against my glasses arms than the XS is (due to being more stable). The creak issue with the Edition XS is entirely down to glasses, goes away if I take them off (but then I can't see anything).

It's definitely not an imagination but if you don't pay attention they seem similar yes. The tuning is almost identical.

XS is definitely more spacious so far. Arya Stealth feels almost like a closed back. It's intense. Reminds me my old DT 1990 a little.

I will EQ these like every other headphone. Stock sound is good and the bass is surprisingly present(i can see why people like these) but upper mids too intense. I'm surprised that these doesn't have the same air up top despite having stealth magnets.

I don't wear glasses but my XS have unbearable creaking on the left side. I know they are segmenting their products but i think the XS and Ananda headbands are too flawed. They should just use this Arya headband on all of their headphones. I don't think there is much difference in terms of cost.

 

[odyo]

After a fair amount of listening, i believe i didn't praise the Arya SE enough. This headphone is really very impressive. The soundstage is deceptively big. Detail and imaging quite a step up. The sound is also unexpectedly meaty despite all of it's other qualities.

This is a very clear upgrade from XS and Ananda. I'm honestly surprised how good this headphone turn out.

At first, all i picked up was how busy, upfront and punchy it sounded. Now it sounds like it has a big and layered soundstage in front, uncanny level of realism, transparency and separation. It also makes this stock tuning work because it resolves every detail in an engaging way where it's ''bright'' and doesn't sound thin and hollow. Ananda has less treble on graphs but it's an ear raper in the upper mid area. XS have more treble than Arya SE but it acts like a background noise. With Arya SE, every sound is quantifiable if that makes sense which adds up to it's presentation and realism.

Timbre is a bit vague term but i must point out. With XS some sounds stick out with an unnatural timbre like a loose plastic bag is making the sound. Arya's timbre is very good. Arya's bass maybe little different in terms of timbre. It feels a bit thick and damped.

This is a very good and immersive headphone.

 

[Kremmen]

After spotting the Edition XS comments on this, my favourite hi-fi website, I took the plunge when Amazon were selling them new for £347 last week which is a ridiculously good deal (they soon went back up to £479. Tonight they are down to £423). They do fit a bit loose but I always sit or lie still when listening to my music so not a problem for me and I do find them very comfortable. They do dwarf my fiancé's head though. I must have a big noggin.

I also have no creaking from the ear cups as some have reported here, just a slight squeak when opening the headband to put them on.

I did run a few frequency sweeps and noticed a couple of minor imbalances between the left and right drivers in the higher registers. Nothing I'd notice when playing a wide variety of music though.

Overall I couldn't be happier with these beauties. Mind you, if I had the money I'd be hunting down a pair of Susvara's for audition. One can but dream!