[squee116]

Hello guys, I Need ti buy an headphone (a good upgrade from my superlux hd 681 evo) and i'm very undecided between the new sennheiser hd599, the Fidelio x2, I read a lot of thinks about Fidelio but i can't find a lot about the sennheiser hd599 and i'm afraid that fidelio is a bit too dark, Can anyone help me? Thanks so much

They are very different beasts, but before I get into it, I'll say the rumors of the X2's darkness are greatly exaggerated.
They certainly have a present bass, and a warm signature, but not "dark" like other headphones can be. The color isn't so exaggerated as to prevent you from enjoying most music or applications. That said, I have a separate gripe for the X2s.

I find them very uncomfortable after long listening periods, largely because of their weight. I've got some decently heavy weight headphones, but their headbands and suspension systems make long term listening a bit more comfortable.
The other thing is that if you are using these for gaming, I don't find their imaging as accurate other headphones, like the Senns. Other than that, it's probably just preference.

 

[squee116]

Hello guys.
I just want to be sure, that i did not get a faulty X2 unit.

I have AKG K 712 next to me and i bought X2 last week and i have been listening to them for quite some time now.
And i found they sound different than i expected from the reviews online.

To start of: The build quality is spectacular and i got a Gibson unit that has removable pads.

Lets get to the problem:
Everywhere i keep seeing and hearing that X2s have smooth heights. My X2s are on the edge of being sibilant in the treble.
My X2s have very detailed, punchy, tight and emphasised bass. The mids are not as up front as the K 712 mids are.
The X2s have quite a lot of treble or some peak in the treble region which makes the voices sound like if they lack a little lower body ( even though they certainly don't lack body compared to my K 712 ).
Cymbals, claps and things like that are pushed right at me, and if it is a treble heavy song it is on the edge of being sibilant, my K 712 have much less sibilant treble to me.

For instance if you listen to George Ezra - Listen to the Man, immediately as the song starts playing i notice the rattle in the background, very in my ear, on the edge of being sibilant ( "sss", "sss" ), this is not the worst song, it is one of those that are quite light on the treble and it still irritates me.
And the male voice "peaks" ( what i hear is: "sssssseling usssss anyway", "lissssten to the man", "eazzzy eazzzy" ) and sounds unnatural, has some "grittiness" to it. It gets even worse in a song like MIKA - Popular, the female voice sounds very sibilant and "peaks" with ssss sound.

This is not what i was expecting when people were comparing them to HD 600 which have the least treble i have heard in a headphone .
Is there something wrong with my X2s?

That's an interesting experience. I had similar issues, and burn-in did help some, but I found the spike in the 712's was much more irritating after burn-in. That said, it resolved better, and definitely handled plosives and other such sounds with aplomb, and vocals were nearly transcendent.
It's also plausible you received a lemon, but if you don't mind my asking, are you running off these an amp/dac or direct from source, and is it possible it's just revealing nastiness from bad recordings that your other headphones are somehow covering for?

 

[peter123]

So I have had mine for quite some time now. I ran them for many months using foobar 2k, a high end speaker amp (whos poweramp output runs the headphones no less) and now for a few weeks just been using realtek motherboard output with no amp. They sound pretty good, I run them with no EQ at all now. I think the eq I was running (real bass exciter) has run them in, because there is plenty of bass now whereas they sucked before. FWIW I started with DT770, which BOOMED but sounded muddy, bought AKG 702's which sounded lovely but NO BASS AT ALL even EQ'd with the "bass mod", bought 2nd hand X2's which sounded like AKG's combined with subwoofers...but these had a faulty solder. I sent these back to Amazon and spent £100 more on some brand new X2s, these sounded flat! No bass again! I stuck with them.

Now I am quite happy, and thinking of pairing them with a Chord Mojo, even though I hate the aesthetics of the mojo, I think it would be awesome for both mobile and desktop use. Does anyone have Chord Mojo partnered with X2's? What do you think?

Headphone wise the only logical upgrade for me is LCD 2's and I won't be buying used again thanks to this experience so...£1000+ just for headphones and I don't have an amp currently...

I don't have the Mojo available any longer but I had is for almost a month (for a review) and FWIW it was a very nice combination IMO, one of the best I've ever heard with the X2's.

 

[FULLAUDIO]

That's an interesting experience. I had similar issues, and burn-in did help some, but I found the spike in the 712's was much more irritating after burn-in. That said, it resolved better, and definitely handled plosives and other such sounds with aplomb, and vocals were nearly transcendent.
It's also plausible you received a lemon, but if you don't mind my asking, are you running off these an amp/dac or direct from source, and is it possible it's just revealing nastiness from bad recordings that your other headphones are somehow covering for?

It might just be a source related problem. Because i don't have my setup with me and i was testing them straight out of integrated sound card, portable sound card asus xonar U3 and samsung galaxy s3. I will be testing them with xonar essence ST in a few weeks, when i return home.
And i probably don't hear the peak you are referring to in the K 712 can you describe it?
For the treble in the K 712 i have to really focus and then i can hear that it sounds somewhat sibilant in some recordings, but for normal listening it does not sound sibilant at all to me.

And don't get me wrong it is not ultra sibilant on the X2 either, its just not what i was expecting from a headphone that is said to be smooth in treble and gets compared to senn HD 600 ( which as i said had the most polite treble i have heard in a headphone ).
It was just something that i was not expecting and the only concern i now have is that i wish it is not a faulty unit and it will get better with time and source.

 

[squee116]

It might just be a source related problem. Because i don't have my setup with me and i was testing them straight out of integrated sound card, portable sound card asus xonar U3 and samsung galaxy s3. I will be testing them with xonar essence ST in a few weeks, when i return home.
And i probably don't hear the peak you are referring to in the K 712 can you describe it?
For the treble in the K 712 i have to really focus and then i can hear that it sounds somewhat sibilant in some recordings, but for normal listening it does not sound sibilant at all to me.

And don't get me wrong it is not ultra sibilant on the X2 either, its just not what i was expecting from a headphone that is said to be smooth in treble and gets compared to senn HD 600 ( which as i said had the most polite treble i have heard in a headphone ).
It was just something that i was not expecting and the only concern i now have is that i wish it is not a faulty unit and it will get better with time and source.

There's a small spike in the upper mids, and a huge one in the highs. I listen to a lot of ska, so female vocals reaching for upper registers and brass instruments are basically poking holes in my ears. I can turn the volume down, and that works all right, but I find the rest of the music less engaging as a result. My dad's listened to them, and didn't have that same problem, but his hearing is also starting to go. He said I'm overly sensitive to treble. He might not be wrong.

 

[FULLAUDIO]

There's a small spike in the upper mids, and a huge one in the highs. I listen to a lot of ska, so female vocals reaching for upper registers and brass instruments are basically poking holes in my ears. I can turn the volume down, and that works all right, but I find the rest of the music less engaging as a result. My dad's listened to them, and didn't have that same problem, but his hearing is also starting to go. He said I'm overly sensitive to treble. He might not be wrong.

It might also be affected by the listening levels, most of people say that i am listening at "whispering" levels and turn the music up from my 60% to 90% for me absolutely no-go level for longer listening ( i am one of the people that have to hold their ears on a concert or wear a in-ear sound dampeners ). It is true that there is a peak in the higher mids that makes them sound dry-ish, the peak in the treble is there too, but it is something that is not nearly as prominent and sibilant as the peak in the X2. If i want to turn the music up to a really loud level the K 712 gets very peaky too and is almost unlistenable and the X2 does not change much when turning the volume up, the bass keeps it quite in-check from going nuts like the K 712.

 

[doktorkarate]

The X2 does have a removable cord though. You can use a V-MODA BoomPro with it. One single cable.

That's what I do for gaming most times. X2 are awesome for gaming.

 

[pierpaolo452]

They are very different beasts, but before I get into it, I'll say the rumors of the X2's darkness are greatly exaggerated.
They certainly have a present bass, and a warm signature, but not "dark" like other headphones can be. The color isn't so exaggerated as to prevent you from enjoying most music or applications. That said, I have a separate gripe for the X2s.

I find them very uncomfortable after long listening periods, largely because of their weight. I've got some decently heavy weight headphones, but their headbands and suspension systems make long term listening a bit more comfortable.
The other thing is that if you are using these for gaming, I don't find their imaging as accurate other headphones, like the Senns. Other than that, it's probably just preference.

First of all thanks so much for the answer, i'll use them for the music, rock and indie/pop, i have only the creative x-fi hd, so driveability is a big issue, do you think is a great choice these these hp? (Sorry for the bad english

 

[squee116]

First of all thanks so much for the answer, i'll use them for the music, rock and indie/pop, i have only the creative x-fi hd, so driveability is a big issue, do you think is a great choice these these hp? (Sorry for the bad english

These headphones were designed to be driven from mobile devices, so driveability isn't generally a problem. An amp may help milk out a little extra, but the difference would be marginal. I found their sound was more than pleasant straight out of my PC, my laptop, my DAP (Fiio X1), or my tablets. It shouldn't be an issue. It did sound a bit more "full" when I hooked it up to my DAC/Amp combo, but it wouldn't take a beast of an amp to drive theses to their beste.

 

[pierpaolo452]

These headphones were designed to be driven from mobile devices, so driveability isn't generally a problem. An amp may help milk out a little extra, but the difference would be marginal. I found their sound was more than pleasant straight out of my PC, my laptop, my DAP (Fiio X1), or my tablets. It shouldn't be an issue. It did sound a bit more "full" when I hooked it up to my DAC/Amp combo, but it wouldn't take a beast of an amp to drive theses to their beste.

I mean that i can't buy dt990 250ohm or hd 600 300ohm or k702 becouse these headphone can't bè drived by my creative x-fi hd, so the only choises (open back) are hd59x, fidelio x2 ,grado sr80 and ad900x but i think i'll go for the x2's.
Thank you for expressing your opinion

 

[squee116]

I mean that i can't buy dt990 250ohm or hd 600 300ohm or k702 becouse these headphone can't bè drived by my creative x-fi hd, so the only choises (open back) are hd59x, fidelio x2 ,grado sr80 and ad900x but i think i'll go for the x2's.
Thank you for expressing your opinion

That's not entirely true. I'm not certain what the amp specs are, but for instance, my DT990 250 ohms were driven sufficiently by my Astro MixAmp. I can't imagine it has much more power than the Creative, but it would be something to look into.

 

[ShreyasMax]

So I have had mine for quite some time now. I ran them for many months using foobar 2k, a high end speaker amp (whos poweramp output runs the headphones no less) and now for a few weeks just been using realtek motherboard output with no amp. They sound pretty good, I run them with no EQ at all now. I think the eq I was running (real bass exciter) has run them in, because there is plenty of bass now whereas they sucked before. FWIW I started with DT770, which BOOMED but sounded muddy, bought AKG 702's which sounded lovely but NO BASS AT ALL even EQ'd with the "bass mod", bought 2nd hand X2's which sounded like AKG's combined with subwoofers...but these had a faulty solder. I sent these back to Amazon and spent £100 more on some brand new X2s, these sounded flat! No bass again! I stuck with them.

Now I am quite happy, and thinking of pairing them with a Chord Mojo, even though I hate the aesthetics of the mojo, I think it would be awesome for both mobile and desktop use. Does anyone have Chord Mojo partnered with X2's? What do you think?

Headphone wise the only logical upgrade for me is LCD 2's and I won't be buying used again thanks to this experience so...£1000+ just for headphones and I don't have an amp currently...

Hello,

I use my X2 with the Mojo, fed through my FiiO X3 1st gen a.k.a 'Classic' via coaxial. The Mojo makes the X2 reach their sound performance limit (from my experience), and with quite some room to spare, by which I mean that I don't think the Fidelio X2's would sound better out of any other higher end source. I have had limited comparisons though, and I've heard the X2's sound wider through an iFi iCan compared to Mojo, but detail presentation and naturalness/ realism was much better on the Mojo.

However, I do find a slight treble 'grain' present on the X2, and I hope to step up the headphone ladder in the near future. The Mojo has certainly made listening to the X2's extremely enjoyable, to say the least.

Hope you find your 'right' sound combo soon!

Cheers

 

[Jared Hodgson]

Anyone know if these are still available? Most of the sites I've checked are only offering used. Heard they are releasing an HR model w/ different ear pieces. Maybe they are transitioning? Thanks!

 

[HardstyleLoco96]

Had my X2s for a good while and have gone through many amp and dac combinations. I have finally found my favourite synergy. My HTC 10 running poweramp alpha, connected to my Shozy Magic Dac/amp and connected to the elemental watson hybrid amp. I thought the mojo was good.... well this is most likely the best it can get. I felt that the bass on the mojo didn't give the X2 justice, felt a little weak to my taste even though the mids, highs and vocals were very nice. But I wanted something more, maybe dig deeper in the bass? Maybe a little more texture and micro detail? Maybe better instrument separation? Well I am glad to say In finally got it

 

[thrgk]

Amazon is all out, are these discontinued?