Keep the ifi nano iDSD LE (silver version) for Edition XS or change to something like Topping DX3 Pro+

[Lyralei]

Hello everyone, need some advice here

I recently bought Hifiman Edition XS and they sound really good compared to my previous headphone SHP9500, but I feel like the Edition XS sound a bit hollow or recessed especially on the mids when playing orchestral music, it's mostly fine when playing mainly vocals with minimal music. Also when playing loud or lots of instrumental sound the loud sound gets lowered to match the other sounds and I don't have loudness equalization on.

I don't know if it's ifi Nano DAC/AMP problem not being enough power to drive the headphone or the character of the Edition XS (being U or V shaped some people called it)

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

[staticV3]

Hi @Lyralei! Welcome to ASR.

The Edition XS is a very sensitive headphone, that means it needs barely any output voltage to play loud.

It also has a recessed midrange out of the box, which I would suggest to correct via EQ.

While I would expect the nano iDSD to output enough voltage to play loud, it is a hopelessly flawed product.

So flawed in fact that it may actually audibly impact the sound (pretty rare).

Here are measurements: https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/ifi-nano-idsd/

I would suggest you buy an Apple A2049 Headphone adapter. It's a 1V DAC+Headphone Amp with completely neutral, reference-level sound quality.

That, coupled with EQ should give you at the very least a starting point, though quite possibly an endgame setup for the Edition XS.

 

[Lyralei]

Hi @Lyralei! Welcome to ASR.

The Edition XS is a very sensitive headphone, that means it needs barely any output voltage to play loud.

It also has a recessed midrange out of the box, which I would suggest to correct via EQ.

While I would expect the nano iDSD to output enough voltage to play loud, it is a hopelessly flawed product.

So flawed in fact that it may actually audibly impact the sound (pretty rare).

Here are measurements: https://www.l7audiolab.com/f/ifi-nano-idsd/

I would suggest you buy an Apple A2049 Headphone adapter. It's a 1V DAC+Headphone Amp with completely neutral, reference-level sound quality.

That, coupled with EQ should give you at the very least a starting point, though quite possibly an endgame setup for the Edition XS.

Thanks, forgot to mention I use my headphones on PC only. I tried using without the Nano and plugging it directly to PC and the sound is straight up flat, like no bass and highs and low volume, so I'm gonna use the DAC for now.

Not particularly a fan of a cable, any good DAC/AMP recommendations?
I will try EQ'ing it, saw some youtube guide for EQ'ing XS

Ty

 

[staticV3]

Not particularly a fan of a cable, any good DAC/AMP recommendations?

On a budget, the Topping DX1.

I will try EQ'ing it, saw some youtube guide for EQ'ing XS

Easy:

1. Download Equalizer APO: https://sourceforge.net/projects/equalizerapo/
2. Double-click the .exe and follow the instructions.
   First, EQApo will install, then it will prompt you to install the APO (Audio Processing Object) onto a DAC of your choice.
3. Restart your PC.
4. Open the Configuration Editor
5. Click on -> Basic filters -> Preamp and set it to -6dB
6. Click on -> Control -> Include
7. Download the preset file attached below and move it to C:\Program Files\EqualizerAPO\config
8. Click on the folder icon inside the Include block and open the Preset file

Here's the end result:


You should now be able to click on the on/off button next to the Include block to turn the EQ on and off.

If you'd like to fine-tune the preset, click on the green arrow in the Include block, then follow the instructions at the bottom of this PDF:

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

If you're happy, simply close the Configuration Editor. There's no need to save manually. Everything will stay the same when you restart the PC.