[Pedro Oliveira]

It was the drivers not being balanced (one sounded louder than the other?) or something right?

 

[Mr Trev]

It was the drivers not being balanced (one sounded louder than the other?) or something right?

I think that may have been an issue even before Gibson took over

 

[Pharmaboy]

But i remember reading something here about avoiding gibson pairs or somethings.... Anyone remembers what it was?

As I recall that was mostly about the pads being glued on, which is a drag. I never got it straight whether the pads were both glued on AND locked into place by the bayonet mounts on the facing side of each earcup (my guess); or were glued on. Of course, the irony of the "glued on pads" complaint is that Phillips never sold replacement pads for these headphone anyway.

There were also some other issues people were having for a 1-2 year period of time (this was 6+ years ago), things like volume imbalances between drivers, actual driver failures, etc.

When I was looking for my X2, Amazon had taken the drastic step of dropping the listing for the headphone because they were having to replace too many of them.

Supposedly X2s with a certain legend on the box involving "Woox" were better, no glue, less prone to quality issues. The only I got from ebay (unopened/unused) was in that category, and sure enough, it has been perfect in every way.

 

[Plumbus the Wise]

Newb here to the x2hr. Really enjoying them so far, have them EQ'ed about where I want them (once I boosted subbass and found the pesky 3500k-400k spike that was killing me). My question is if its worth getting a separate amp (I have a couple decent ones, just not able to use them currently)...I am currently just running them out of a JSUAX dongle dac/amp. My listening volume after turning down APO EQ preamp gain to the correct levels is about 50%.

Would these cans (specifically the bass response) improve with a more powerful amp? I would hate to purchase another one for placebo, which is often the case. I believe these are 30 ohm 100db/mw, so pretty efficient for what they are.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Newb here to the x2hr. Really enjoying them so far, have them EQ'ed about where I want them (once I boosted subbass and found the pesky 3500k-400k spike that was killing me). My question is if its worth getting a separate amp (I have a couple decent ones, just not able to use them currently)...I am currently just running them out of a JSUAX dongle dac/amp. My listening volume after turning down APO EQ preamp gain to the correct levels is about 50%.

Would these cans (specifically the bass response) improve with a more powerful amp? I would hate to purchase another one for placebo, which is often the case. I believe these are 30 ohm 100db/mw, so pretty efficient for what they are.

My X2s are 6 years old. Never heard X2HRs...not sure what people mean when they talk about an upper midrange spike (that's clearly not present in my X2). Regardless, I want to answer your question.

The X2s were my first serious headphone, the first that really pleased me. After hearing the X2 and realizing how well its sound matched my longtime audio/sound preferences, I started feeling this hobby might have more in store for me.

I had no standalone amp or DAC at that time. I was using the humble FiiO e110 DAC/amp, a tiny thing that worked well. The X2 sounded very nice out of that. Then I got the urge to try a full-size DAC and amp, so I picked up a new Lake People G109-A, a powerful single-ended amp made by the company that owns Violectric. The first time I plugged the X2s into that amp, my mind was totally blown. Everything I already liked about the X2s was so much better & more present.

You don't have to spend crazy money to get a good amp for this headphone.

 

[Plumbus the Wise]

My X2s are 6 years old. Never heard X2HRs...not sure what people mean when they talk about an upper midrange spike (that's clearly not present in my X2). Regardless, I want to answer your question.

The X2s were my first serious headphone, the first that really pleased me. After hearing the X2 and realizing how well its sound matched my longtime audio/sound preferences, I started feeling this hobby might have more in store for me.

I had no standalone amp or DAC at that time. I was using the humble FiiO e110 DAC/amp, a tiny thing that worked well. The X2 sounded very nice out of that. Then I got the urge to try a full-size DAC and amp, so I picked up a new Lake People G109-A, a powerful single-ended amp made by the company that owns Violectric. The first time I plugged the X2s into that amp, my mind was totally blown. Everything I already liked about the X2s was so much better & more present.

You don't have to spend crazy money to get a good amp for this headphone.

I was probably just going to get a Schitt Magni or something since that would be more than enough power, however this sound profile I feel like would be a great way to try tube headphone amps. Iv owned a few tube guitar amps and always been impressed with them when driven hard.

And regarding the upper mids, Im sure its me lol. Pretty much every iem/headphone/speaker I try I have to EQ down around 4-5k as the vocals sound obnoxiously shouty to me. It goes to show you have our preferences and physical ear shape can affect how we perceive something.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Pharmaboy]

I was probably just going to get a Schitt Magni or something since that would be more than enough power, however this sound profile I feel like would be a great way to try tube headphone amps. Iv owned a few tube guitar amps and always been impressed with them when driven hard.

And regarding the upper mids, Im sure its me lol. Pretty much every iem/headphone/speaker I try I have to EQ down around 4-5k as the vocals sound obnoxiously shouty to me. It goes to show you have our preferences and physical ear shape can affect how we perceive something.

Thanks for the reply!

Garage1217 has several handsome, inexpensive little tube amps that people say sound really good. As long as the tube amp is transformer coupled, it should sound at least very interesting with this headphone....and maybe more than interesting.

 

[Mr Trev]

Garage1217 has several handsome, inexpensive little tube amps that people say sound really good. As long as the tube amp is transformer coupled, it should sound at least very interesting with this headphone....and maybe more than interesting.

I use my X2 with the Vali2 and the match is pretty good.
I've talked with a couple folks regarding OTL with the X2 and it's pretty much a no go - too low impedence.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I use my X2 with the Vali2 and the match is pretty good.
I've talked with a couple folks regarding OTL with the X2 and it's pretty much a no go - too low impedence.

Yup. OTL is a bust w/the X2s. When I first got my Woo WA3 OTL I tried the X2s on it and was shocked by how distorted the sound got in the low midrange on down.

It's not the headphone's fault. Low impedance dynamic driver headphones just don't work well w/OTLs, though ironically, low impedance planar driver headphones often work very well with them.

 

[jonathan c]

Yup. OTL is a bust w/the X2s. When I first got my Woo WA3 OTL I tried the X2s on it and was shocked by how distorted the sound got in the low midrange on down.

It's not the headphone's fault. Low impedance dynamic driver headphones just don't work well w/OTLs, though ironically, low impedance planar driver headphones often work very well with them.

Because ‘planars’ have a much flatter / flat resistance vs frequency curve.

 

[Plumbus the Wise]

Amazon has some used (like new sets) of x2hr's for 79.99 currently.

That's only 40 more than new pads lol.

 

[MisterMudd]

Amazon has some used (like new sets) of x2hr's for 79.99 currently.

That's only 40 more than new pads lol.

Got one in today. I own an OG pair from October 2014 and can already hear some differences. More on this later. My pair looked and felt totally new. Helluva bargain. Will be keeping both.

 

[Nirvana Woman]

I also recently got an OG Fidelio X2 because the X2HR was giving me problems with the treble. I'd owned original X2's before and didn't recall that treble issue so I jumped on a chance to retry the OG's.

I have to say I really really believe there's a noticable grain in the X2HR's treble that isn't there on the X2. After spending hours trying to EQ the HR's I'm convinced this is not a frequency response issue but something qualitative. I'll stick with "believe" since my HR's are gone but from the same amps the HR's consistently gave me this complaint, whereas from the start these oldschool X2's have not bothered me in that way. Strange, I don't know if it's just me. I'd say it's probably just me but still would be interested to hear other people's experience who have heard both.

Anyway, these headphones kick ass. What I love about the Fidelio's is the low end grunt they have, not just bass but the entire low/lower mid register has so much oomph, it's very noticable when compared with my DT990's. Those have a nice bass, but there's a thinness to them that seems to always be there regardless of equalization. I find it hard to enjoy certain music genres with the 990's such as rock, metal, and electric guitar in general, whereas the X2's really shine there imo. Neither beyers nor sennheisers really give you that kick ass experience, they're either too analytical (beyers) or just don't have the low end (sennies).

 

[phthora]

I also recently got an OG Fidelio X2 because the X2HR was giving me problems with the treble. I'd owned original X2's before and didn't recall that treble issue so I jumped on a chance to retry the OG's.

I have to say I really really believe there's a noticable grain in the X2HR's treble that isn't there on the X2. After spending hours trying to EQ the HR's I'm convinced this is not a frequency response issue but something qualitative. I'll stick with "believe" since my HR's are gone but from the same amps the HR's consistently gave me this complaint, whereas from the start these oldschool X2's have not bothered me in that way. Strange, I don't know if it's just me. I'd say it's probably just me but still would be interested to hear other people's experience who have heard both.

Anyway, these headphones kick ass. What I love about the Fidelio's is the low end grunt they have, not just bass but the entire low/lower mid register has so much oomph, it's very noticable when compared with my DT990's. Those have a nice bass, but there's a thinness to them that seems to always be there regardless of equalization. I find it hard to enjoy certain music genres with the 990's such as rock, metal, and electric guitar in general, whereas the X2's really shine there imo. Neither beyers nor sennheisers really give you that kick ass experience, they're either too analytical (beyers) or just don't have the low end (sennies).

I've found somewhat the opposite, that the HR sounded a bit cleaner in the treble and was the version that I preferred, though the difference was small. I'm pretty sure that X2HR wasn't re-tuned, just shipped with slightly different pads. Everything else remaining the same, that shouldn't produce a big shift in the sound. I wonder if this discrepency is a matter of unit to unit variation. We are talking about an inexpensive headphone from a company who has changed manufacturers and has in the the past had verified production problems. Whatever the case, I'm glad you found a good pair! The X2 is a legendary headphone as far as I'm concerned.

 

[MisterMudd]

I've found somewhat the opposite, that the HR sounded a bit cleaner in the treble and was the version that I preferred, though the difference was small. I'm pretty sure that X2HR wasn't re-tuned, just shipped with slightly different pads. Everything else remaining the same, that shouldn't produce a big shift in the sound. I wonder if this discrepency is a matter of unit to unit variation. We are talking about an inexpensive headphone from a company who has changed manufacturers and has in the the past had verified production problems. Whatever the case, I'm glad you found a good pair! The X2 is a legendary headphone as far as I'm concerned.

I bought, still have, use, and love my OG X2, which will celebrate it's 8th anniversary next month. Recently bought the X2HR at a great price as a backup pair. I'm with you on the sound difference, and find the upper region to have a smidge more clarity, which my older ears appreciate. Can't go wrong with either one! Perfect for my preferred genre of Rock, Rock, and more Rock. No other headphone makes me smile as much!