Wow Kintsaki, that was a much appreciated hands-on impression. Just 2 clarifications:
1. You said "Go for it", assuming you mean the xCAN and argon Mk3 combo. But you also said on Normal mode, 950mW @32ohm is almost not enough to drive your Argon! The balanced output of the xCAN is 1,000mW @32ohm so how come you recommend i go for it? It is no where near the 1,600mW turbo mode which you found adequate.
2. Mayflower vs Argon mods: you said Argon has wider soundstage but is less refined and not as good mids and highs. Which one does that make it better for FPS gaming? I know you already said the argons are more tailored for that but clean mids and highs is important for FPS gaming.
Will definitely contact Argon and/or Mayflower eventually
1) my ifi Micro DSD has a switch that allows me to limit the Power going out.
The switch has 3 positions one for very sensitive IEMs, a second one for regular dynamic phones and a third one for very difficult to drive phones.
I used the middle position , called "Normal" mode that only outputs 950mW yo 32 Ohms, not the third position called "Turbo" that outputs 1600 mW
yo 64 Ohms.
and with this (Normal mode) I drove the phones and turned the volume control all the way up for an extremely loud volume. But after half an hour of listening I lowered it to the 1 o'clock position for a comfortable very loud but not extremely loud listening.
This why I said go for it.
2) The Argon because it is louder, has better sound-stage and imaging.
The slightly less refined mids and highs will make bullets, explosions etc. slightly
more painful. The mids and highs of the Argon are cleaner and sweeter than most 2,000 $ sets
they are only slightly less sweet when compared to the Mayflower.
The only problem with the Argon is the 8 week waiting period.
The differences between the two are not major and can be fine tuned.
The major difference is in the ZMF pads not in the Argon or Mayflower tuning.
The Mayflower is user mod-able, the mode is user reversible, and user tun-able.
The Argon is also reversible and tun-able but you may have to send it back to Ryan
(with no waiting time for fine tuning it).
If I was you,
in order to save time and money
I would buy a T20 RP if loudness is not enough I would sell it,
If loudness is enough and you feel you need tuning, I would buy the ZMF pads.
If I still feel I need tuning
I would buy the 30 dollar kit to convert it to Mayflower
and if I was still not satisfied with the tuning (not very probable),
I would then send it to Ryan to Argonize it.
whatever you do keep, the stock T20 RP, baffle ring foam and don't send it
in you will need it later. And of course the real leather ZMF pads.
The T20 can easily be turned into a T40 or T50 by the user
because the T20 grill is fully transparent, the T40 completely closed and the T50
semi-transparent.
Today, I’ve modded my T20 to balanced flavor.
