rtsy
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 30, 2002
- Posts
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My wife and duaghter got me one for Fathers' Day. I've used it about 2-3 hours a day for 4 days now with my NAD 502, vdH D102mkIII, Senn HD 495.
The instruction says the unit is designed to be left on all the time. It gets darn hot. I've used other (albeit entry level gear like NAD 304, Nakamichi IA-3, NAD T760) for extended periods but these haven't gotten as hot as the X-Cans v2. Do X-Cans v2 users on this forum really leave it on all the time?
Fresh out of the box, the bass was one-note and lumpy (e.g., on plucked upright bass). I noticed bass became a tad more tuneful after about 20 minutes of use. This is why I hardly tured it off since (I only turned it off when I tried it with my Pioneer DV-525 as source).
4 days later, I noticed a tad more tunefulness on the bass. I'd like to try the X-PSU or some better power supply to see if bass gets better. I liked its pace/timing.
Also fresh out of the box, the highs were very harsh and there was a lot of sibilance. I only usually hear sibilance on "S's" but this one's so bad I hear sibilance even on "F's!" I could not listen to (bright) commercial Pop CDs as it is so ear-piercingly annoying. Only well recorded ausiophile discs highs were acceptable.
Warming it nor 4 days of use didn't change this one bit. Is it really like this? Is it my entry level HD495? It certainly isn't the NAD as I've known it to be quite warm.
Where I think my system excels is the midrange. Vocals, male and female, are oh so sweet (except for the sibilance on bright discs). Earth Chants by the MAdrigals of Sta. Barbara high School, Ella's XRCDs, Snow Rose, HArry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall, Livingston Taylor sound oh so amorous! So are strings and wind instruments. Stikes on percussion (except kick drums) was realistic but not its decay.
Piano improved the most over the past 4 days. At the start, piano sounded like the hammers striking the strings had too much velvet that made the keystrokes soft. Now it's much better.
Another thing I likes is the resolution of detail. There is such so many new sounds coming from favorite discs. On the downside, I don't like the exagerrated left-right soundstaging.
Depth perception is there but my perspective is quite strange. Instead of being near the front row center, it's like the band is right at my face.
I noticed that simple recordings sound great but busy ones like reggae or pop with lots of synthsized tunes are not as palatable.
So what do you think, folks? How do I get deeper, tighter, more convincing bass (what is the headphone equivalent of adding a REL sub)? How do I tame the sibilance and harshness on the highs while retaining the sweetness of the mids? How do I give my gear more control of dense, busy music?
Thanks!
The instruction says the unit is designed to be left on all the time. It gets darn hot. I've used other (albeit entry level gear like NAD 304, Nakamichi IA-3, NAD T760) for extended periods but these haven't gotten as hot as the X-Cans v2. Do X-Cans v2 users on this forum really leave it on all the time?
Fresh out of the box, the bass was one-note and lumpy (e.g., on plucked upright bass). I noticed bass became a tad more tuneful after about 20 minutes of use. This is why I hardly tured it off since (I only turned it off when I tried it with my Pioneer DV-525 as source).
4 days later, I noticed a tad more tunefulness on the bass. I'd like to try the X-PSU or some better power supply to see if bass gets better. I liked its pace/timing.
Also fresh out of the box, the highs were very harsh and there was a lot of sibilance. I only usually hear sibilance on "S's" but this one's so bad I hear sibilance even on "F's!" I could not listen to (bright) commercial Pop CDs as it is so ear-piercingly annoying. Only well recorded ausiophile discs highs were acceptable.
Warming it nor 4 days of use didn't change this one bit. Is it really like this? Is it my entry level HD495? It certainly isn't the NAD as I've known it to be quite warm.
Where I think my system excels is the midrange. Vocals, male and female, are oh so sweet (except for the sibilance on bright discs). Earth Chants by the MAdrigals of Sta. Barbara high School, Ella's XRCDs, Snow Rose, HArry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall, Livingston Taylor sound oh so amorous! So are strings and wind instruments. Stikes on percussion (except kick drums) was realistic but not its decay.
Piano improved the most over the past 4 days. At the start, piano sounded like the hammers striking the strings had too much velvet that made the keystrokes soft. Now it's much better.
Another thing I likes is the resolution of detail. There is such so many new sounds coming from favorite discs. On the downside, I don't like the exagerrated left-right soundstaging.
Depth perception is there but my perspective is quite strange. Instead of being near the front row center, it's like the band is right at my face.
I noticed that simple recordings sound great but busy ones like reggae or pop with lots of synthsized tunes are not as palatable.
So what do you think, folks? How do I get deeper, tighter, more convincing bass (what is the headphone equivalent of adding a REL sub)? How do I tame the sibilance and harshness on the highs while retaining the sweetness of the mids? How do I give my gear more control of dense, busy music?
Thanks!
