[tinyman392]

I just found this deal from Woot. It's refurb, but price is just too good.
https://electronics.woot.com/offers...ar-headphones-blac?ref=w_cnt_lnd_cat_elec_5_8

Woot is legitimate. I'm not sure if it's actually a refurb or not since it still has a 1 year manufacturer warranty (I'd probably ask them if the warranty is true). If the warranty is true, I'd bet on it being open box. Also note that the price isn't too outlandish. I bought my pair new from B&H Photo Video for 130 bucks during black Friday.

 

[iFi audio]

Woot is legitimate. I'm not sure if it's actually a refurb or not since it still has a 1 year manufacturer warranty (I'd probably ask them if the warranty is true). If the warranty is true, I'd bet on it being open box. Also note that the price isn't too outlandish. I bought my pair new from B&H Photo Video for 130 bucks during black Friday.

If that supplier is legit, $110 for X3 is a sweet deal though

 

[tinyman392]

If that supplier is legit, $110 for X3 is a sweet deal though

That's a good question whether Philips considers Woot an authorized supplier. Woot is owned by Amazon, but I'm not sure whether Philips would consider them authorized. Question for Philips. Woot does advertise the 1 year manufacturer warranty on their page though (which they don't always do if the product doesn't have it). 110 for these is a killer deal.

 

[iFi audio]

Woot is owned by Amazon

I haven't used Woot, but I reckon that this would make it a safe place of purchase for customers? That's what I meant by 'legit', thanks!

 

[tinyman392]

I haven't used Woot, but I reckon that this would make it a safe place of purchase for customers? That's what I meant by 'legit', thanks!

You will receive the product as advertised. Woot is a one-day sale site owned and operated by Amazon. Though recently I've seen more multi-day sale items on their site too. A lot of the products sold actually will ship through Amazon's warehouses and networks.

 

[ultraman31]

I haven't used Woot, but I reckon that this would make it a safe place of purchase for customers? That's what I meant by 'legit', thanks!

I have bought many stuffs, including TV, soundbars, and even computer parts, from Woot before. They are Amazon company so it is legit. They are also easy to return just like Amazon.

 

[iFi audio]

You will receive the product as advertised. Woot is a one-day sale site owned and operated by Amazon. Though recently I've seen more multi-day sale items on their site too. A lot of the products sold actually will ship through Amazon's warehouses and networks.

I have bought many stuffs, including TV, soundbars, and even computer parts, from Woot before. They are Amazon company so it is legit. They are also easy to return just like Amazon.

That's what I though, much appreciated chaps!

 

[Elegiac]

Big difference in running this balanced? I've had a little keyword search through this thread and I still can't form a clear enough impression.
My temptation is to to get an X3 and run it balanced off my MF02s... thing is the X2HR already sounds great on there.

Trying to calculate the possible amount of improvement lol

 

[iFi audio]

Big difference in running this balanced?

It would in large part depend on an amp. Some sound better if they're used as balanced designs. Hope this helps, thanks!

 

[Elegiac]

Yeah, that's the conclusion I came to. Still deciding though.

Cos I'd still want to use the X2hr for something, so it's a matter of re-jigging other parts of my setup.

 

[iFi audio]

Yeah, that's the conclusion I came to. Still deciding though.

If that's of any help, our ZEN range features fully balanced products meant for cans, so that's one of many options you might want to consider if you're willing to find out what's what with the balanced topology. Thanks!

 

[ballard3]

Based on what you all are describing, I’m certain this is most likely what Philips is doing with the wiring:



This is the only explanation as to why the cable only works when L/R is plugged in properly, but doesn’t work at all when L/R are reversed.

It’s a stupid idea. My guess is that it was their lame attempt at trying to make the cable proprietary.

This would also ensure that the headphone would not work at all for anyone who accidentally or knowingly tried to plug a normal stereo AUX cord into only ONE cup (like the X2).

So I guess their logic does sorta make sense in a stupid kind of way.

Assuming I’m right, this means that ALL 3rd party cables will have to be custom wired for the X3, or at least a cable will have to have the ends cut off and resoldered to be compatible.

I don’t know if or when I’ll ever get the X3, but if I ever do, the first thing I’ll be modding is reconfiguring the female sockets in the earcups themselves to be ‘normal’ (assuming I’m right on the goofy proprietary wiring).

Based on what you all are describing, I’m certain this is most likely what Philips is doing with the wiring:



This is the only explanation as to why the cable only works when L/R is plugged in properly, but doesn’t work at all when L/R are reversed.

It’s a stupid idea. My guess is that it was their lame attempt at trying to make the cable proprietary.

This would also ensure that the headphone would not work at all for anyone who accidentally or knowingly tried to plug a normal stereo AUX cord into only ONE cup (like the X2).

So I guess their logic does sorta make sense in a stupid kind of way.

Assuming I’m right, this means that ALL 3rd party cables will have to be custom wired for the X3, or at least a cable will have to have the ends cut off and resoldered to be compatible.

I don’t know if or when I’ll ever get the X3, but if I ever do, the first thing I’ll be modding is reconfiguring the female sockets in the earcups themselves to be ‘normal’ (assuming I’m right on the goofy proprietary wiring).

Well, technically there are a few possible wiring scenarios that would explain this behavior that people are describing. The one I showed is 1 possible one.

The bottom line is that there are doing something non-standard with the wiring pinouts (causing the reversed cable no sound behavior), which is going to make it hard for people that want to use an off-the-shelf aftermarket cable.

Based on what you all are describing, I’m certain this is most likely what Philips is doing with the wiring:



This is the only explanation as to why the cable only works when L/R is plugged in properly, but doesn’t work at all when L/R are reversed.

It’s a stupid idea. My guess is that it was their lame attempt at trying to make the cable proprietary.

This would also ensure that the headphone would not work at all for anyone who accidentally or knowingly tried to plug a normal stereo AUX cord into only ONE cup (like the X2).

So I guess their logic does sorta make sense in a stupid kind of way.

Assuming I’m right, this means that ALL 3rd party cables will have to be custom wired for the X3, or at least a cable will have to have the ends cut off and resoldered to be compatible.

I don’t know if or when I’ll ever get the X3, but if I ever do, t

I would guess that the headphone ends are wired correctly for L or R, ie. L is tip, R is ring, and Gound is sleeve, but they just don't wire the ring on the left cable or the tip on the right cable. For the unbalanced cable, there is no reason they couldn't just wire both ends identical, and have the correct sound no matter which way you'd plug in the cable, but for the balanced cabled with separate grounds, you'd need to make sure the two ends were in fact labeled and wired correctly.

A quick way to test would be to use a standard 3.5mm<->3.5mm cable, plug it into one cup, and play something that identified the right and left channels. I would expect plugging it into the right cup you'd get the right channel and plugging into the left cup you'd get left channel. But the best would be to take an ohm meter to the unbalanced cable and just see how it's wired. The results so far don't necessarily rule out the ability to use a standard replacement. I'd guess they've not wired the unbalanced cable to have both left and right go to both ends is so that it won't work backwards. I suppose if you're using the balanced cable, you're already going to be making sure you've got the left and right connected properly.

Is the scenario mentioned above only happening with the Non balanced cable or both? I heard there were two sets of cables included, one Balanced 2.5mm on amp end, and a Non balanced cable with the 3.5mm on the amp end.

Based on what you all are describing, I’m certain this is most likely what Philips is doing with the wiring:



This is the only explanation as to why the cable only works when L/R is plugged in properly, but doesn’t work at all when L/R are reversed.

It’s a stupid idea. My guess is that it was their lame attempt at trying to make the cable proprietary.

This would also ensure that the headphone would not work at all for anyone who accidentally or knowingly tried to plug a normal stereo AUX cord into only ONE cup (like the X2).

So I guess their logic does sorta make sense in a stupid kind of way.

Assuming I’m right, this means that ALL 3rd party cables will have to be custom wired for the X3, or at least a cable will have to have the ends cut off and resoldered to be compatible.

I don’t know if or when I’ll ever get the X3, but if I ever do, the first thing I’ll be modding is reconfiguring the female sockets in the earcups themselves to be ‘normal’ (assuming I’m right on the goofy proprietary wiring).

Here is the wiring scheme provided by Philips

 

[oryan_dunn]

Here is the wiring scheme provided by Philips

Nice, just as I figured.

 

[CADCAM]

I have the Loxjie P20 and have just ordered the X3, is there a reasonable priced adapter available so I could try it balanced from the P20?

 

[oldkid]

I have the Loxjie P20 and have just ordered the X3, is there a reasonable prices adapter available so I could try it balanced from the P20?

Something like this should work :
https://www.amazon.fr/équilibré-Bro...19-97ed-9f6de1c30c1f&pd_rd_i=B07MD9BMYD&psc=1