​wait, so let's say you had an HD650, you wouldn't consider the onkyo a big step up compared to the 100R?

​The exact reason why open back usually has less bass impact than closed. The simple answer would be that the closed environment allows for more reverberated bass impact

just a heads up to you all. After buying the X1A on ebay, my jacks were loose and I sent them back to the seller, who also confirmed they were loose.     Funny enough, onkyo japan said "there is no defect, this is the way the item was made"   ^just a warning, apparently they're saying it...

​just my two cents, but I really enjoy the HD650 balanced (and also unbalanced) at home. I'm a person that likes a bit of an emphasis of vocal clarity in songs, and also I'm not a big fan of distant sound stages. just so you know where I'm coming from.   If you're going for strictly at home I...

​at home or on the go?

    I have the X1A, in balanced mode it drove the HD650 pretty well.

​in my case, it got loose and then completely distorted the sound coming through.   then I got curious and noticed the 3.5mm jack could also be "toggled" around. So I sent a video to the seller and they were like "oh... yeah that's definitely not right.. we'll send you a replacement"    ...

​Yes I got the X1A for 540 so I don't want to get a refund actually. thankfully I sent a video to premium-japan and they will replace my device and pay for shipping.

​I don't know how to fix it, the only audio coming out of the balanced jack is coming through the right ear and it blaringly distorted and loud, regardless of the volume

This was the x1a model. So be aware that while it might work, I guess it's extremely fragile

Well, after 1 week of balanced usage, the jack got loose and broke. Needless to say, contacting for a refund.

Any word on when you will send them to Adorama?

Yeah... waiting to hear about this

Try other streaming music players and players like neutron/poweramp and let us know what results you get. I'm using Spotify with no issues at all

​At this point, I'm not sure if more power means better quality of sound though, because wouldn't balanced have sounded better? I thought it was fatiguing