Anyone still interested in owning an XCan V8?

[ADD]

Hi,
 
After several months trying different headphones and IEMs, I have come to the conclusion that I can only use IEMs or an actual speaker system. I have a long term neck injury and even wearing headphones as light as the HD25 / Momentum cause neck issues after about 30 - 40 minutes use. As a classical listener, this barely gets me through a classical period overture and symphony, let alone a longer symphony.
 
I have tried a number of IEMs over the last few months and the only one that did not hiss like crazy with my XCan V8 was the Etymotic ER4S. The output from the XCan is simply too high for almost all IEMs and adding impedance adapters just causes mismatching unless the IEM was designed for one in the first place (such as the ER4S). But as much as I liked that IEM, I had other issues with it and decided it wasn't for me. And whilst there were IEMs that I really liked, such as the UM3X, the hiss levels were too high for classical music listening even with an impedance adapter.
 
It follows then that should I go down the path of IEMs, speakers or even the "Baby Stax", my XCan V8 amps are unfortunately of no further use to me. A pity because I love the sound of them.
 
I am therefore wanting to know if there is any interest from other members here in owning this model of amp? I don't want to virtually give them away because they cost me a fair bit originally and they were at the time a pretty solid mid-tier hybrid tube amplifier. But then again I would probably sell them for some price that was not insulting. I can't really put an ad up in the For Sale / Trade forum since I have not decided to sell them yet - I want to gauge first if there is any interest or not. I don't want to be left with one of them, I would rather sell all three of them or none at all.
 
If anyone is genuinely interested, please let me know. I am happy to put the proper adds up either here at Head-Fi or on eBay - to your preference.
 
I have three of them - the first of them has been in regular use since purchase (a few years old I think) and has Mullard CV4109 tubes in it (purchased from Tuebmonger for around $300 the pair). The second unit is completely un-used except for a 24 hour burn-in straight after purchase, has never been opened, etc. It was bought for use at work, however I had to take early retirement due to my injuries and it has therefore sat in a cupboard and has never had any use at all apart from the burn-in. The third was a spare in case one of the first two went belly-up and needed to be sent overseas for repair (which would have meant losing it for several months), but there have been zero failures or reliability issues, so it too is completely un-used from new except the 24 hour burn-in and like the second has never been opened. The first has obviously been opened to upgrade the tubes to the Mullard CV4109 series.
 
Anyway, if anyone has any interest please PM me. Depending on the interest, I will then decide if I sell or hold onto them for the time being. As mentioned, I really would either need to sell all or none, since the replacement equipment needed to work with IEMs as well as the IEMs themsevles would likely cost as much as what I would get from selling all of the XCans.
 
Incidentally, I have been using Sennheiser PXC300 all this time with the XCan, since they are feather light and do nothing to my neck. But the noise cancelling hiss annoys me and they are not "voiced" to work properly without it.
 
 
Thanks

 

[pekingduck]

Have you taken a look at Heir Audio Tzar 90 and 350, and EarSonics SM64? They are all high impedance IEMs especially the Tzar 350( 350ohm!!) Which I suspect could be a good match for the warm V8.

 

[ADD]

I did previously have a look at the Hier Audio products, but the difficulty in purchasing (only one supplier?) and the inability to audition prior to purchase (or return for refund) means I really have to give that brand a miss.
 
I did not know about the SM64 at all. I had thought only the ER4S and the Hiers were the only high impedance IEMs. That said, the SM64 could still hiss like crazy too, despite the 98 ohm impedance. The biggest hisser of all (UM3X) has a 56 ohm impedance, for example, yet it hisses just as much as typical 16 ohm models. So the sensitivty comes into it as well and the SM64 has pretty good (i.e possible bad for the XCan) sensitivity.
 
I see they are available from Sound Earphones, however I would hesitate to buy from them again - not because the service was bad, but because I bought the UM3X from them and returned them because of hissing issues. They might not be happy about me buying the SM64 and returning them...because of hiss issues.
 
I'll look to see if there are other suppliers who allow returns though, but in the meantime, any interest in the XCans please let me know.
 
And thanks for the heads up about the SM64. I am definitely going to spend sometime looking into those.

 

[haejuk]

I know that people loved the Xcan V8 amps with the old Denon line of headphones (D2000, D5000, D7000) and a few months ago I was looking for one.  I would assume there is still a healthy interest in them.  If I did not already build a Beta22, I would certainly sell whatever I had in order to try one of these.  You could always put up an interest check thread in the for sale / trade forum and see what kind of responses you get.  I am sure the unused ones would generate some interest.

 

[ADD]

Given there has thus far been absolutely zero interest, I have decided to hold onto the amps. I think it would be extremely unlikely I could sell these and fund an IEM amplifier and IEM with the proceeeds.
 
Admin, please feel free to delete or lock this thread.
 
Thank you.

 

[davidcotton]

Before you do that have you put an add in the trade section here?

 

[ADD]

It would not be fair or ethical for me to do so. I really have to sell all three and get what I am asking. Otherwise there just wont be sufficient funds. So it wouldnt be fair to someone who, say, definitely wants one, but they can't have it unless two other people commit the same way and within a tight deadline. Such an arrangement would almost certainly be against the intent of the sale forum as well. It is for selling, not testing the waters and not having to commit to anything.