[BuddhaBruce]

I run mine balanced, but on the low gain setting of my amps. I am also pretty careful with the volume.

Balanced from the Audio-GD NFB-1Amp here; works like a charm! Haven't noticed any downsides yet. Balanced the imaging seems a bit better and the bass is tighter; but really by a small margin.

That seems like a very logical reason, although I kinda wonder if not including a balanced cable has gimped these in some way, because so much high end source gear is designed around balanced. A lot of reviewers are comparing these on unbalanced through a bargain bin source to competitors running on balanced on a preposterous $3000 tube monstrosity of some kind. Or they're comparing them on an amp designed around balanced but with its inferior-sounding unbalanced port.

I ran mine balanced with my Jot with low gain and the volume pot around 11. I'm not sure if that was the reason or not but a week after use, my left driver went dead

I've already sent it to hifiman for an out of warranty repair but it was just extremely unfortunate. I'm trying to single out the point of failure and that was the only reason I could guess it happened.

 

[dcguy73]

I've read about multiple incidences of the drivers failing on the Xv2 on the Head-Fi forum and elsewhere. Some Xv2 detractors blame it on the Xv2's not-great-for-the-money build quality. I wonder if there are inherent flaws in its design that cause driver failures or if it is truly just an issue that the drivers are easily overpowered, especially in balanced setups.

 

[Vatnos]

Driver failure seems to be a planar thing in general. I'm also following the LCD-X thread, as I'm pretty much deciding between this or that. The grass is no greener, though.

 

[SBranson]

I'm finally getting a set of these tomorrow (local deal) and am a little concerned about all this driver failure with balanced set ups talk. I can't imagine this would apply to using the balanced out on my AK300 though....? It's not like it's putting out a lot of power...

 

[Hedonism]

I'm finally getting a set of these tomorrow (local deal) and am a little concerned about all this driver failure with balanced set ups talk. I can't imagine this would apply to using the balanced out on my AK300 though....? It's not like it's putting out a lot of power...

No you wouldn't need to worry about that. I think the manual says that you shouldn't exceed 2W output into your headphones or else risk damage to the drivers.

 

[SBranson]

No you wouldn't need to worry about that. I think the manual says that you shouldn't exceed 2W output into your headphones or else risk damage to the drivers.

Ha... thanks! Pretty sure the ak300 is a little under 2W..

 

[LugBug1]

Fang actually recommends you don't drive them with 1W as a recommendation. These are super efficient and are advertised as. I personally think 1W is fine but I'm a low volume listener. Seriously all the complaints above equate to not reading or knowing your product. :/ I'm sure you could wack 2W into these but at 11 oclock I'd be questioning why I need it that loud! Full respect to all concerned.

 

[youngarthur]

Its a shame, that there is not some sort of swap club, where we could try each others headphones. I would like to try Edition X. Someone might want to try 1060/HD800, or whatever.(As my Grand children say!!.)There must be some way to do this, say over 150 posts,or over 300 trades on eBay, or .........

 

[Arghavan]

Ha... thanks! Pretty sure the ak300 is a little under 2W..

Actually output power of AK300 is much lowerl than 2Watts. It's 1.97Vrms that is roughly around 80mW AFAIK.

 

[SBranson]

Actually output power of AK300 is much lowerl than 2Watts. It's 1.97Vrms that is roughly around 80mW AFAIK.

Thanks... I was being sarcastic ...

 

[SBranson]

I picked up my Edition X's today and at first I mostly noticed the size of the sound. I still have my HE560s to compare them to and the HEX's make the HE560's presentation seem like watching the music on a screen, or peering into a room through a window. The details are there but the whole scale just seems small like if you're a giant or as if the world had been shrunk down... I'm not sure if that makes sense but with the HEX's it's more like being in a giant space with the music. But... there is the roll off in the highs. The HE560's have more energy up top but after a while, a lot of it started to sound a little grainy and piercing.. But there is still a little information missing in the HEX's, like that first bite of the rosin on a bow as it starts a violin string vibrating. There's an attack sound that is kinda smoothed over in the HEX's but present on the HE560s..

I'm using a Norne Draug 3 cable that is way better than the stock cable but I wonder if a silver cable would help draw out a bit more of the highs?? My amp is a Lake People G-109P and source is AK300 (from single ended). I tried the balanced out straight from the AK300 into the HEX but there was a big collapse of the soundstage and it brought everything up closer.

Anyone figure out how to eke out a bit of sparkle? With that extra bit, these would be perfect for me..

 

[doraymon]

Anyone figure out how to eke out a bit of sparkle? With that extra bit, these would be perfect for me

Yeah, it's called HE1000

 

[SBranson]

Yeah, it's called HE1000

Ha... I kinda expected that but I'm not thinking I can afford the HEK in this lifetime.. I got a smoking good deal on these HEX's..

 

[doraymon]

Ha... I kinda expected that but I'm not thinking I can afford the HEK in this lifetime..

Lol
Sorry just a silly joke
Try a good pure silver cable, it will help.
Norne has good value for money!

 

[SBranson]

Lol
Sorry just a silly joke
Try a good pure silver cable, it will help.
Norne has good value for money!

Thanks. I really like Trevor's cables..