Beyerdynamic Xelento!

Jun 20, 2019 at 5:13 PM Post #1,651 of 3,065
I know most of you on this thread have owned the Xelento for a while, and I've only owned them for a few weeks now, but these are just incredible IEMs. They have excellent PRAT, cohesion, fullness, truly makes all my music a joy to listen to, especially when powered well with a proper amp.

Are there any full-size Beyer headphones that sound just like the Xelento? I often hear people referring to Beyer headphones as bright. If they'd overall have a similar sound to the Xelento, it's not bright to me.
 
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Jun 21, 2019 at 1:26 AM Post #1,652 of 3,065
I know most of you on this thread have owned the Xelento for a while, and I've only owned them for a few weeks now, but these are just incredible IEMs. They have excellent PRAT, cohesion, fullness, truly makes all my music a joy to listen to, especially when powered well with a proper amp.

Are there any full-size Beyer headphones that sound just like the Xelento? I often hear people referring to Beyer headphones as bright. If they'd overall have a similar sound to the Xelento, it's not bright to me.

T5P 2nd is probably the closest.
 
Jun 21, 2019 at 2:42 AM Post #1,654 of 3,065
I know most of you on this thread have owned the Xelento for a while, and I've only owned them for a few weeks now, but these are just incredible IEMs. They have excellent PRAT, cohesion, fullness, truly makes all my music a joy to listen to, especially when powered well with a proper amp.

Are there any full-size Beyer headphones that sound just like the Xelento? I often hear people referring to Beyer headphones as bright. If they'd overall have a similar sound to the Xelento, it's not bright to me.
Don't think it will give you the same bass impact though. From my experience, full sized Beyers (T1 level) tend to shy on bass impact as they focus on bass quality, accuracy etc. Compared to them, the IEMs sound bloated. Which to me is perfect because I am a basshead.
Perhaps the DT1770 will be a better comparison. Check it out and see.
 
Jun 21, 2019 at 11:03 AM Post #1,655 of 3,065
Hey guys,

I'm a Beyer fanboy, and have a set of slightly modded Dt 1770's as my overear (which I love and sound amazing), and Sony XBA Z5 for my iem. The Z5 is the first iem that sounded like an overear to me. Most iem's sound congested and tinny to me. Would the Xelento be an upgrade over the Z5? Does anyone have both that can comment?

Thx
 
Jun 22, 2019 at 9:01 AM Post #1,656 of 3,065
I was almost about to think that this was my worst spending in the last 4 years UNTIL I found the correct tips. These IEMs can be AMAZING only if you can find the proper tips (and sadly - SHAME ON YOU BEYERDYNAMIC - the correct tip is none of the ones provided). Believe me, I love Beyers - I owned the Tesla T1 and expected Xelento to be a T1 inside my ears but it was worse than 20 bucks chifi ones till I found the right tips. I was kinda dumbfounded, how this crap can come out of Germany especially Beyers whom I love. But no, their driver is just as advertised and I am happy now but no thanks to Beyers for the tips.

Now the price is justified. Thank you.

Please experiment with more people before providing stock tips (in case Beyerdynamic is reading this).
 
Jun 22, 2019 at 10:17 AM Post #1,657 of 3,065
I know most of you on this thread have owned the Xelento for a while, and I've only owned them for a few weeks now, but these are just incredible IEMs. They have excellent PRAT, cohesion, fullness, truly makes all my music a joy to listen to, especially when powered well with a proper amp.

Are there any full-size Beyer headphones that sound just like the Xelento? I often hear people referring to Beyer headphones as bright. If they'd overall have a similar sound to the Xelento, it's not bright to me.
Try the Aventho Wireless and make sure to personalise the sound to your hearing. VERY close to the signature and resolution of the Xelento.
 
Jun 22, 2019 at 12:24 PM Post #1,658 of 3,065
I was almost about to think that this was my worst spending in the last 4 years UNTIL I found the correct tips. These IEMs can be AMAZING only if you can find the proper tips (and sadly - SHAME ON YOU BEYERDYNAMIC - the correct tip is none of the ones provided). Believe me, I love Beyers - I owned the Tesla T1 and expected Xelento to be a T1 inside my ears but it was worse than 20 bucks chifi ones till I found the right tips. I was kinda dumbfounded, how this crap can come out of Germany especially Beyers whom I love. But no, their driver is just as advertised and I am happy now but no thanks to Beyers for the tips.

Now the price is justified. Thank you.

Please experiment with more people before providing stock tips (in case Beyerdynamic is reading this).

Stock tips sound great to me. I get a good seal with them. Alternatively the Spinfit CP100 and Spiral Dot work well for me too, though it appears to sound a touch brighter than stock tips with spiral dots. Stock tips definitely most comfortable.
 
Jun 22, 2019 at 12:37 PM Post #1,659 of 3,065
Stock tips sound great to me. I get a good seal with them. Alternatively the Spinfit CP100 and Spiral Dot work well for me too, though it appears to sound a touch brighter than stock tips with spiral dots. Stock tips definitely most comfortable.

Good for you then my friend. But I never had any issue with any stock tips collection with any IEM in the past for me - possibly because the nozzles are too short. However yes, Spinfits did the magic for me. Raised the highs and a great deal of detail along with it.
 
Jun 22, 2019 at 12:42 PM Post #1,660 of 3,065
I know most of you on this thread have owned the Xelento for a while, and I've only owned them for a few weeks now, but these are just incredible IEMs. They have excellent PRAT, cohesion, fullness, truly makes all my music a joy to listen to, especially when powered well with a proper amp.

Are there any full-size Beyer headphones that sound just like the Xelento? I often hear people referring to Beyer headphones as bright. If they'd overall have a similar sound to the Xelento, it's not bright to me.

I fully agree with @atoniolin 's reply. Your best/closest bet is the Tesla T1 (many reviews will call it too bright or sibiland but to me it was amazing clarity, detail and best of both lows and highs). Compared to the full sized T1, the midbass is really quite accented on the Xelento. If you remotely like the Xelento, you would fall MADLY in love with the T1. Next comes T5p.
 
Jun 23, 2019 at 2:59 AM Post #1,662 of 3,065
Can't speak for the T5p2, but between AKT8ieMKII (which imo has similar sound to Xelento) and T1, the difference is in the bass and treble. Mids have similar tuning imo.

Bass on T1 is tight and high quality. You can hear every bass note, every shift between one note to the next. On the T8II, midbass and upperbass is slightly emphasised, so you get plenty of bass quantity especially for EDM, modern pop, which makes it a really fun headphone. The bass pump during a Skrillex playlist is something to die for. However, for the T1, I find it less suitable for modern pop / billboard top 50 kind of songs because first they aren't always recorded / mixed with at the best quality, so garbage in garbage out happens. The lack of bass quantity in the T1 also makes modern pop sounds rather flat because they rely heavily on bass beats as the main body of the song. You get a clean sound from the T1 that's for sure, but whether it's enjoyable, then YMMV. T1 bass is very good for concertos, orchestras, percussion, etc as that is the intended use case.

Treble wise, T1 has some peaks which applies well for wind instruments and cymbals etc found in percussion, orchestras etc. But I find that it can be a bit sibilant for female vocals on less well recorded tracks. T8II also has good treble extension but the bass and mids are so pronounced that treble tends to get drowned out, or in other words, less emphasised. They are present but not thrown in your face, so you have look out for the details.

Soundstage wise, I am 100% sure T1 has a much better 3D soundstaging and instrumental layering thanks to its bigger, angled drivers. That's something that so far in my experience, only the HD800 can rival. T8II's soundstage is quite good for a closed back IEM but is deeper than it is wide, thanks to its excellent bass response. My rough estimate is maybe 3 meters radius around you.

Overall, T1 is much better for classic, orchestra, "audiophile" grade type of tracks, but to me it fails to impress as a modern pop music headphone or any bass-heavy content. T8 on the other hand is amazing in those modern pop genres but can get a bit cramped for genres requiring absolute sound staging and layering. As such, they complement each other and which you pick depends on your music preferences and priorities.

For me, as a frequent traveller and commuter, portability is king, so I chose T8 three years ago, and I'd do it all over again. IE800 and Katana would be my alternatives. And now that true wireless headphones are out, I chose the Momentum True Wireless. Amazing SQ in such a tiny package and half the price of the T8. Did I mention it is wireless? But that's a story for another day.
 
Jun 23, 2019 at 10:16 AM Post #1,663 of 3,065
Surprised you like the momentum TW. I thought they sounded like $20 headphones. I tried different tips, and adjustments, but thought they were a massive sound compromise. Admittedly, I also thoughts the t5 2 were overrated. My modded 1770s sound much better, as did the Amiron.
 
Jun 23, 2019 at 11:08 AM Post #1,664 of 3,065
Can't speak for the T5p2, but between AKT8ieMKII (which imo has similar sound to Xelento) and T1, the difference is in the bass and treble. Mids have similar tuning imo.

Bass on T1 is tight and high quality. You can hear every bass note, every shift between one note to the next. On the T8II, midbass and upperbass is slightly emphasised, so you get plenty of bass quantity especially for EDM, modern pop, which makes it a really fun headphone. The bass pump during a Skrillex playlist is something to die for. However, for the T1, I find it less suitable for modern pop / billboard top 50 kind of songs because first they aren't always recorded / mixed with at the best quality, so garbage in garbage out happens. The lack of bass quantity in the T1 also makes modern pop sounds rather flat because they rely heavily on bass beats as the main body of the song. You get a clean sound from the T1 that's for sure, but whether it's enjoyable, then YMMV. T1 bass is very good for concertos, orchestras, percussion, etc as that is the intended use case.

Treble wise, T1 has some peaks which applies well for wind instruments and cymbals etc found in percussion, orchestras etc. But I find that it can be a bit sibilant for female vocals on less well recorded tracks. T8II also has good treble extension but the bass and mids are so pronounced that treble tends to get drowned out, or in other words, less emphasised. They are present but not thrown in your face, so you have look out for the details.

Soundstage wise, I am 100% sure T1 has a much better 3D soundstaging and instrumental layering thanks to its bigger, angled drivers. That's something that so far in my experience, only the HD800 can rival. T8II's soundstage is quite good for a closed back IEM but is deeper than it is wide, thanks to its excellent bass response. My rough estimate is maybe 3 meters radius around you.

Overall, T1 is much better for classic, orchestra, "audiophile" grade type of tracks, but to me it fails to impress as a modern pop music headphone or any bass-heavy content. T8 on the other hand is amazing in those modern pop genres but can get a bit cramped for genres requiring absolute sound staging and layering. As such, they complement each other and which you pick depends on your music preferences and priorities.

For me, as a frequent traveller and commuter, portability is king, so I chose T8 three years ago, and I'd do it all over again. IE800 and Katana would be my alternatives. And now that true wireless headphones are out, I chose the Momentum True Wireless. Amazing SQ in such a tiny package and half the price of the T8. Did I mention it is wireless? But that's a story for another day.

Thank you. I really appreciate it.
 
Jun 23, 2019 at 11:31 AM Post #1,665 of 3,065
Surprised you like the momentum TW. I thought they sounded like $20 headphones. I tried different tips, and adjustments, but thought they were a massive sound compromise. Admittedly, I also thoughts the t5 2 were overrated. My modded 1770s sound much better, as did the Amiron.
Did you own it for a while or did you try it at a store? When I tried it the first time at the store, I also thought it was just meh. Quickly moved on and tried some other IEMs.

Then a few weeks later, I tried it again at the official Sennheiser store and got a good fit and good seal and made sure the equalizer was turned off (set to default). SQ was much much better because during my first try the other customers adjusted the EQ to some muddy bass setting.

I can see why many people who try it at the store are unimpressed: poor fit, poor seal (you need to master the twist and lock way to wearing the IEMs) and bad EQ setting by previous customers. Even then, only on day 3 did I finally understand the sound the MTW was going for and finally fell in love with the whole package.

After that, if you still don't like the sound signature, then I guess it's just personal preference.
 

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