Upgrade from Philips X2HR's?

[Nango]

Think Amazon is the seller/re-seller. You'll find today the price for new ones, tomorrow same price for refurbished, next day again same price for new again, it's like a lottery. I had them 3-4 times and they even smelled like new but were never sealed.

 

[solderdude]

They are absolutely ALL refurbished or open box or 2nd hand even if quoted as "brand new", QC doesn't apply here.

I actually feared this would be the case.
But ...closed box, original seal, brand new in perfect condition.
The price was back up the next day again.
Absolutely positively brand new unopened.

 

[Azeia]

I actually feared this would be the case.
But ...closed box, original seal, brand new in perfect condition.
The price was back up the next day again.
Absolutely positively brand new unopened.

Is this recently? I notice on Amazon the marketplace seller that is selling them right now is "PHOTOTECH", they have 98% positive feedback and 32,000 ratings total; the same seller seems to be on Amazon.ca as well, only with 99% positive and 700 ratings. The order is fulfilled by Amazon for both USA and Canada storefronts, so shouldn't be too hard to return I guess if I have problems with it, but I'm wondering if you bought from the same seller?

 

[solderdude]

It was black Friday on the German Amazon (It was sent from France).
Amazon EU S.a.r.L.
Also one should notice that of the 3 I measured only 1 had good channel matching

 

[audiomike]

Hello everyone. I've bought my X2HR recently at amazon.de but shipped from uk. Reading all this comments about "channel imbalance" I got a little scared so I've decided to check my unit. At times I feel like my pair might have imbalance issue, and I don't know is it becasue of the wide soundstage and a lot of songs doing confusing sound effects or because of driver... I've listened channel imbalance test videos on youtube and couldn't notice any difference between L and R so I dunno I guess after all my unit may be fine. Too bad I don't have any pro gear to measure it. One guy gave me a link to some audio site https://www.audiocheck.net/soundtests_headphones.php I've tested several of my cans using audio file called "driver matching" and to my surprise all of them exhibited some minor imperfections here and there on the frequency spectrum. No headphone was 100% perfectly correct, but I really had to play that file over and over again on each headphone to notice anything at all. I was able to hear some rattle/buzz at high volume on most of my headphones L, R or both channels. On my X2HR I can hear it in the right channel for 3 seconds it makes my ear focus on it so it gets me into thinking it's the lauder one, but I suspect it's just a confusion. I guess no headphone is really perfect in regards of this issue, but I'm also guessing my X2HR pair is not bad. Might try to order replacement just to have a piece of mind.

 

[PenguinMusic]

Hi,

Have several headphones at the moment.
Philips X2HR is one of them.
And I must say that switching to it after listening to the AudioQuest Nighthawk or Sennheiser HD700, it seems a little "thin".
But after 2/3 minutes, it is really enjoyable because to my ears it has bass without sounding "shady", has really "fleshy" mids and has trebles with no "sssshhhh".

I have even decided to give up the search for the ultimate DAC/amp thing.
I have a little bear B4 headphone amp (70€ I think) and I simply hook it up to the jack output of the computer motherboard.
And I tell my OS (GNU/Linux Arch-Based Manjaro distro) to play music using QuodLibet configured to use the ALSA output directly.

That has only one drawback : that jack output doesn't accept 88.2Khz files and so plays them about 10% too fast :-(

Overall, it might be the best sounding and thus, the X3 is awaited here

Regards.

 

[Nango]

I just received my HD600 and Sundara. Instantly the HD600s are going back.

The Sundara's just feel good for all the music I listen to so far. Haven't tried gaming. I don't even want to go back to my Philips X2 now. I was missing some bass and the treble seemed to sharp... Now I feel like the Philips were trying to hard. The bass, while possibly more, was not the same quality. I really didn't think I would enjoy these as much as I do. They pair perfectly with the Fiio K5 Pro on low gain.

I am literally speechless by how good these sound before they burn-in. I hope they don't get worse.

Which amp using with Sundara pls?

 

[Nango]

I think that "burn-in" should be renamed to "get used to" because this is what it really is.

I am also wondering why burning-in is absolutely ALWAYS for the better. Absolutely always.

 

[solderdude]

I am also wondering why burning-in is absolutely ALWAYS for the better. Absolutely always.

Because the opposite of burn-in is burn-out and that is never better for any device so burn-in must be better by definition

 

[Nango]

Excuse me but there must be in between of better or worse another state like neutral, i.e. it makes nothing.

 

[Yayoming]

Can anyone recommend any upgrade to the X2HR? Not Sundara, its seems to be doing everything ok but have no WOW enjoyment factor like X2HR.

 

[PenguinMusic]

Can anyone recommend any upgrade to the X2HR? Not Sundara, its seems to be doing everything ok but have no WOW enjoyment factor like X2HR.

Hi,

This is really a vast question and recommendation you're looking for.

I can recommend a lot of things that I do like...
But will you like those ?
Not that sure :-(

I have had the Fidelio X2HR.
It's nice.
But after I gave ears to the B&0 H9, to the Oppo PM-1 or the Sony MDR-Z7, I think the X2HR is no match to those :-(

Of course, I am comparing the X2HR to headphones that were 2, 3 or even 4 times it's price, so comparison isn't really fair.

But what you could try is the HifiMan Deva. I like it a lot too... And it's in more or less the same price league. I think it has some sort of WoW factor, even if not superb. But at least, you're not disappointed once the Wow has gone

RegardS.

 

[luft262]

Hi everyone,

My main headphones are currently the X2HR and MH-751 (comfort king for closed gaming). I love everything about the X2's. It comfortable, sounds fun, good sound stage, and seems accurate.

I tried the Senheiser 58x, but preferred the X2 sound and comfort. The X2 also pairs well with my GSX1000 for gaming. Is there a direct upgrade path from here? I assume there won't be an X3HR?

I primary game and use Spotify with my headphones.

I was looking into the HiFiMan HE5se; however, the reviews lead me to think they are not going to be comfortable.

I have the X2 HRs and they are great, especially with EQ, such as Wavelet. I prefer the HiFiMan Sundaras, but the difference is small. If you're happy with them just keep using them and don't bother with an upgrade. I own several headphones and although there is a difference, once EQ is applied the difference is slight. If you want to add to your collection maybe look at some closed back headphones, such as the AKG 371's. I don't like closed cans as much, but they are better in a noisy environment and it would be a different experience to the X2HRs whereas another pair of open backed headphones will probably be similar. If you're not using EQ (and why wouldn't you?) then something from Dan Clark might be more accurate if you have the money for it.

 

[Nango]

Can anyone recommend any upgrade to the X2HR? Not Sundara, its seems to be doing everything ok but have no WOW enjoyment factor like X2HR.

That would be certainly an X2HR with no channel mismatch ;-) .

 

[Yayoming]

That would be certainly an X2HR with no channel mismatch ;-) .

LOL now I can hear it ...

Good I have no way to measure how bad/good my pair is.

Some would say Denon or Fostex could be an option, listening to TH600 now just they are to V shaped. Closed back getting to hot quickly and if they sound good, there is almost no sound isolation so that defeat the purpuse.

Not sure if EQ will help as even Solderdude could not make that bass behave with mods (his review on diyaudioheaven).

If Sundara is coming back everywhere mean it is the only option...

 

[Nango]

Might be a "beats" has even more WOW than X2HR. https://www.beatsbydre.com/

 

[Yayoming]

Might be a "beats" has even more WOW than X2HR. https://www.beatsbydre.com/

wow we have different definition of wow ... to be honest beats are impressive as they induce gag reflex.

For me wow is more like 'oh what a nice mattress, just right soft and firm at the same time, could just lay down and enjoy'