krash3x
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Nov 13, 2010
- Posts
- 33
- Likes
- 10
In January I finally bit the bullet and bought x11i. I would have to say that the packaging was very impressive. I almost didn't want to take them out of the packaging. It looked like a display in a museum. At first I wasn't all that impressed with the "improved" build quality. They seemed like they were pretty much the same thing until I got my x10i out to compare them The cables are square instead of being round or flat,are a little better at not tangling and seem a bit more stiff. The strain reliefs are definitely more sturdy as well. They don't feel like a cheap piece of shrink tubing anymore, but instead it seems like plastic. As far as the sound goes for some reason it seems like they have more bass compared to my x10i. They have the exact same drivers so that doesn't really make since but also I did put shrink tubing on the x10i a few times and that requires high temperatures that might have altered the air driver casing and strain reliefs decreasing the seal since things expand when heated. It could also be driver burn (even though I'm not sure BA drivers do that), or I'm having the placebo effect and am just really stupidly enthusiastic. I read a professional review that said they have less bass but when my experience has been the complete opposite. The thing that I don't like about these is the jack seems like its exactly the same as the x10i. That was the first thing to go on the x10i for me even being careful. At the time of purchase they were $350 which is 3x the price of the x10. Hopefully they last 3 times as long. I also have the Astell and Kern AKR01 which are an amazing set of IEMs. I was going to compare them but I think I might go to bed instead. If you guys are interested in a comparison let me know and I'll give you one maybe in the next few days. I will say that they are mostly what we have been waiting for for the last 4-5 years correcting most of the durability issues that have plagued these headphones. I don't know why but the uniqueness or the size and sound quality just seems to captivate me.