I'm way more curious about how you thought the X3 and DX50 matched up with the G2.
This is the beauty of ASG-2s, I left EQ flat, no bass boost, and they sounded great with all the players I've used in the shop. Maybe I'm becoming a little sensitive to bass, but I could even have decreased bass a little to get them more "neutral".
Nothing like my SE535Ltd, which always require a light bass boost and some trele adjustment to sound their best.
Conclusion: great sound with most players, but I found myself more attracted to the AK100/120 because they sounded exactly like my Cowon X7.
X3 was dirt cheap (~160$) but the lack of a real EQ and the limited capacity/battery (why the hell 8Gb FiiO, you're not selling a Sansa Clip !!!) just pissed me off. These days, 32Gb of good flash memory are less than 25$ and manufacturers still refuse to propose
affordable players with 32/64Gb of memory (+ slot). What?
DX50 was nice as well but 8Gb again and not in stock (the guy had 1 demo unit, 10 of them already booked and was waiting for another 10 units).
DX100 was nice as well but I just didn't bear the clunky Android UI, I was looking for a music player, not a hemiplegic smartphone.
Actually I kinda felt bad about it (like a blackhole in my wallet), but I bargained such a nice discount on the A&K players that I ended buying th AK120 for the equivalent of 1000$ (no VAT plus 10% discount). Brand new box + perfectly legit receipt = intense satisfaction (morally, not financially!).
Sorry for the offtopic, but in the end, I have finally made a short stop in my quest for perfect IEMs (for my taste).
I was disappointed after 2 hours testing IE800, K3003 and the latest Cardas IEMs. The Cardas especially. Only the K3003 found grace in my eyes, very detailed sound, natural and delicate, but a bit to shy in the mids for my taste, and so-so ergonomics (at least they use standard wide-bore tips).
IE800: again terrible ergonomics, with the proprietary tips and awful cable, good big bass for those who like strong, but not my thing.
The Cardas (the golden ones): never seen a heavier cable in my life on IEMs (honestly this is terrible when wearing them), and the sound, although quite detailed, was too cavernous (probably the "magical golden ratio" which is written on the box, nice commercial BS as I suspected, too much space behind the driver for sure). Also treble are quite recessed (no roll-off but way too much in the back) For the price asked by Cardas, a damn shame. At least you get your load of precious metals.