[Shane D]

Has anyone compared Fidelio X2 to Clear ?
On a french forum a fellow reviewer said that Clear is not better in dynamic and immersion, only better for timbre.

There is no comparison at all. I had an X2 a few years ago and it was okay, but not very clear. I wouldn't expect them to be close to the Clear as the price difference is huge.

 

[cfranchi]

Very interesting review between 6xx, Clear and Sundara:

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones...urce=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

I have just re-ordered Sundara at Amazon, 279 eur brand new with 4x payment, I couldn’t resist

 

[cfranchi]

There is no comparison at all. I had an X2 a few years ago and it okay, but not very clear. I wouldn't expect them to be close to the Clear as the price difference is huge.

For what its worth I play my new X2 with Chord Mojo 2, definitely a fantastic pairing, imaging is very good, tonality is very well balanced, mids are very present and clean, treble is by no way grainy.

I don’t know if my new X2 has something special (drivers pairing exceptionally good) or if it is just the pairing with Chord Mojo 2 that fit X2 perfectly.

I had X2 several time in the past, really don’t remember it was so good, I used it previously with Chord Mojo OG and Flux FCN10.

 

[Shane D]

For what its worth I play my new X2 with Chord Mojo 2, definitely a fantastic pairing, imaging is very good, tonality is very well balanced, mids are very present and clean, treble is by no way grainy.

I don’t know if my new X2 has something special (drivers pairing exceptionally good) or if it is just the pairing with Chord Mojo 2 that fit X2 perfectly.

I had X2 several time in the past, really don’t remember it was so good, I used it previously with Chord Mojo OG and Flux FCN10.

I picked one up about two years on an Amazon Boxing week sale. I landed it for $100.00 and sold it within two weeks. I didn't care for it all. I do recall thinking that it was a good piece for $100.00, but it couldn't compete with the headphones that I had at the time. I think the Senn HD58X's.

The Clears are Awesome! But my landed cost was more than ten times higher than the X2.
Landed prices, with taxes in Canada were $115.00 and $1,350.00, so I wouldn't think of comparing them.

 

[dougms3]

I had the Clear OG, not the Fidelio X2, but I think in terms of cleanliness and resolution the Clear is simply in another field.

And the timbre, on the other hand, is one of the things I would question about the Clear, it has that metallic aftertaste that I didn't find exactly pleasant.

I've noticed that some people are very sensitive to what they refer to as a metallic sound in the focal house sound. I'm not one of those people but I understand as I'm very sensitive to sibilance.

To be honest anything with magnesium in it is going to have that metallic sound.

 

[phthora]

Has anyone compared Fidelio X2 to Clear ?
On a french forum a fellow reviewer said that Clear is not better in dynamic and immersion, only better for timbre.

I have the X2 and the Clear and love them both, but they really are not in the same league. The Clear is decidedly and substantially better in every category except soundstage width. For some reason, the X2 has surprisingly excellent soundstage width, superlative in its own price range and surpassing everything I've heard under the Arya. Depending on how important that one characteristic is to a person, that will skew the overall appreciation of the X2 a bit. However, I would struggle to take seriously anyone who places the X2 above the Clear in any other aspect of sound. Maybe I'd give them a pass on something fairly subjective like timbre, but then that guy apparantly said the Clear has better timbre anyway.

 

[jonathan c]

I had the Clear OG, not the Fidelio X2, but I think in terms of cleanliness and resolution the Clear is simply in another field.

And the timbre, on the other hand, is one of the things I would question about the Clear, it has that metallic aftertaste that I didn't find exactly pleasant.

What electronics are you using with Clear? Some combinations are ‘metallic’ / ‘whitish’: Topping + Clear OG, for example. Also, Clear to me has no ‘metallicity’ when a copper / silver interwoven (not plated) cable is used: Forza Audio Works Noir Hybrid, Norne Audio Vykari, for example.

 

[cfranchi]

I have the X2 and the Clear and love them both, but they really are not in the same league. The Clear is decidedly and substantially better in every category except soundstage width. For some reason, the X2 has surprisingly excellent soundstage width, superlative in its own price range and surpassing everything I've heard under the Arya. Depending on how important that one characteristic is to a person, that will skew the overall appreciation of the X2 a bit. However, I would struggle to take seriously anyone who places the X2 above the Clear in any other aspect of sound. Maybe I'd give them a pass on something fairly subjective like timbre, but then that guy apparantly said the Clear has better timbre anyway.

Thanks, the guy didn’t say that X2 was better, just that Clear was not better than X2 in term of dynamic and « immersion » in the music.

 

[sot13]

They do! As long as you're not trying to drown out the voices in your head, the Gryphon does an excellent job as a portable amp/DAC. Battery lasts ~4-5 hours depending on volume and if I'm using Bluetooth or a USB > USB connector. I rarely use any of the DSP functions, but they do add some nice xfeed and a little bass boost if desired. I stream a lot of Tidal and the MQA is a nice added feature.

As for the cable - I'm sure there are plenty of EU makers who can offer you similar.

https://forzaaudioworks.com/en/product.php?id_product=105 comes to top of mind. There's a cable thread that can help HERE.

Cheers!

Much appreciated advice! Thank you

 

[sot13]

They do! As long as you're not trying to drown out the voices in your head, the Gryphon does an excellent job as a portable amp/DAC. Battery lasts ~4-5 hours depending on volume and if I'm using Bluetooth or a USB > USB connector. I rarely use any of the DSP functions, but they do add some nice xfeed and a little bass boost if desired. I stream a lot of Tidal and the MQA is a nice added feature.

As for the cable - I'm sure there are plenty of EU makers who can offer you similar.

https://forzaaudioworks.com/en/product.php?id_product=105 comes to top of mind. There's a cable thread that can help HERE.

Cheers!

Regarding the cable, do you see any advantage in using balanced vs. single ended (I am talking about the specific combination of gryphon with Clear).?

 

[ColSaulTigh]

Regarding the cable, do you see any advantage in using balanced vs. single ended (I am talking about the specific combination of gryphon with Clear).?

You get a bit more volume and SLIGHTLY better separation with balanced. If it's going to be a dedicated cable, I'd say it's worth the investment. If you're gonna move the cable from amp to amp, not so much. You can always get an adapter on Amazon fairly inexpensively...

 

[JaVerde]

Very interesting review between 6xx, Clear and Sundara:

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones...urce=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

I have just re-ordered Sundara at Amazon, 279 eur brand new with 4x payment, I couldn’t resist

Love the Sundaras. My only problem with them is they make my ears hot .

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Love the Sundaras. My only problem with them is they make my ears hot .

How long can you usually wear them?

 

[JaVerde]

How long can you usually wear them?

2-3 Hours

 

[Derivative]

Decided it would be a good idea to buy a spare pair of the OEM earpads for the OG Clear. Went to headphones.com only to find out they don't ship to the UK.
Google doesn't show any OEM pads available for sale in the UK so thought I'd ask here - is there really no way for me to buy a pair of the original earpads in this country?
Any advice appreciated.