[Sonic Defender]

Nice write up! Completely agree with you.

Thanks mate. I always seem to be really taken by less talked about designs as of late. The Klipsch HP-3, Pioneer SE Monitor 5 and now this headphone. The treads are quiet, but the audio is sublime.

 

[mixman]

So I am noticing a few very intriguing things. For one, the separation and layering is so good that it almost feels like I imagine it would sound like in mastering where the engineers have dialed in the final mix, but you still hear the individual tracks with more clarity. Saying that, there is an intoxicating softness to everything, not the same thing as smeared detail by any stretch of the imagination. I suspect the transient response for both attack and decay are just slightly rounded which allows the edges to be smoothed, but not so much so that the essences are lost, simply presented with a sweet form of clarity. Likely similar to what the engineers at Sennheiser were going for with the infamous HD650, but made possible with the characteristics that a planar design can bring to the table that when a dynamic design attempts runs into some fundamental barriers.

Yes, the Edition X V2 has a soft presentation, but it is truly lovely and very engaging, a different interpretation of what dynamic can mean. I'm sold.

It’s funny because it seems at the time when these first came out many were commenting how soft and too laid back these sound. I think so much so that Hifiman went the complete opposite direction by making the Ananda too analytical sounding with an irritating peak to many. My thought is they should have just added a little more resolution to the HEX and a slight bit more treble without being irritating, in others words more of a tweaking to the already great sound of the HEX V2, instead of an altogether different sound.

 

[Sonic Defender]

It’s funny because it seems at the time when these first came out many were commenting how soft and too laid back these sound. I think so much so that Hifiman went the complete opposite direction by making the Ananda too analytical sounding with an irritating peak to many. My thought is they should have just added a little more resolution to the HEX and a slight bit more treble without being irritating, in others words more of a tweaking to the already great sound of the HEX V2, instead of an altogether different sound.

I agree. For me the softness is a great addition to my small collection, it is unique in that sense and very pleasing to simply relax into. I made the slight bumps in frequencies that Tyll discussed in his review and I feel that they add that little bit of dynamic hit that I think you are getting at. That is why I grabbed this particular headphone, the seller had purchased too much gear and he wanted a more punchy style than the HEX2 offered so these were about 2 months old and I saved about $500 off of full retail at Amazon.ca where he purchased them.

 

[Sonic Defender]

And the whole notion of not using a too powerful amp with the Edition X V2, please, not at all real. I am currently driving the HEXV2 directly from the speaker terminals of my NAD M3 which delivers 180watts into 8ohms and is stable down to 4ohms. Not an issue as long as you understand how a volume dial works.

 

[Hifiearspeakers]

Thanks mate. I always seem to be really taken by less talked about designs as of late. The Klipsch HP-3, Pioneer SE Monitor 5 and now this headphone. The treads are quiet, but the audio is sublime.

I’ve been touting how good the HEX V2 is for a long while now. I think it’s the second best headphone they’ve ever produced.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I’ve been touting how good the HEX V2 is for a long while now. I think it’s the second best headphone they’ve ever produced.

Yes the more I listen, the more I like this headphone. I can't believe how lucky I was to get a brand new unit at a decent savings. Good score even though it was more than I wanted to spend being in school again, but I have been earning some extra money selling gear used for a very kind and generous friend and it is those proceeds that I used to acquire this headphone so very fortunate indeed.

 

[Paddy]

Hi there,

We are sorry to hear that. can you please email us at customerservice@hifiman.com with your purchase receipt and serial number so that we can look into what’s happened and to see how we can help?

Thank you!

April

Thank you for your response, fortunately it was just the cable and i received a new one within a week so quite happy with that

 

[Paddy]

I'm using a new amp (Ifi xdsd) as i needed a bluetooth amp in the near future as phones are doing away with 3.6mm connections. This headphone is unbelievable, the end game for me. In terms of the lows, mids and highs everything is perfect and the sounstage is very big making you feel your at a live gig. I'm so invested in these that i bought the Hifiman edition XX as a backup pair or travel pair as i heard they sound almost the exact same and so far with just a few hours of listening i tend to agree but i'm still going to test it further

 

[Sonic Defender]

I'm using a new amp (Ifi xdsd) as i needed a bluetooth amp in the near future as phones are doing away with 3.6mm connections. This headphone is unbelievable, the end game for me. In terms of the lows, mids and highs everything is perfect and the sounstage is very big making you feel your at a live gig. I'm so invested in these that i bought the Hifiman edition XX as a backup pair or travel pair as i heard they sound almost the exact same and so far with just a few hours of listening i tend to agree but i'm still going to test it further

I am totally feeling this. I love this headphone, and as hard for me to believe that it could happen so quickly, I think the Edition X V2 just might be my favourite headphone to date. I won't fully say that is the case, but regardless of that consideration, this is an extremely special sound signature.

There is a liquidity and poise along with the most astounding layering and imaging abilities, all presented in a sleek and composed signature with wonderful dynamics. The smooth easy presentation style is very nuanced and the listener really needs to just relax into the sound and let the headphone create a sound tapestry, which is exactly what I feel it does. Absolutely some of the really on the edges of tones and notes up top are truncated, but it is artfully done I feel leaving a banquet of well presented detail.

As I mentioned previously, I feel that the HEXV2 has a very interesting presentation style. You get that naturally expansive and every so silky diffusion of sound that comes with a well designed and implemented planar, but the sound really feels like listening to the final mix on the boards in studio, the catch? That studio is in a smoky and intriguing little hole in the wall jazz club in New Orleans. Things just integrate in such a pleasing fashion with one of the most unique bass signatures I have encountered. There is a certain type of impact that we associate with a well done dynamic headphone, here the HEXV2 knows what it isn't supposed to do so for music that has that percussive impact it can't match the impact of the dynamic driver, but the HEXV2 has a trick up it's sleeve. You had mentioned the live feel and I so get what you mean. So adding to the versatility of the headphone, it also seems to match well with certain bass frequencies so when they are mastered into the recorded to provide an impact (and recording engineers/producers of course use many different low frequency effects) there is copious amounts of impact, just not always.

Here is the wonderful trick up the sleeve of the HEXV2 I mentioned, and it goes to your point of the live feeling you were talking about experiencing. The bass is really well scaled and occupies all of the space that it should underneath the signature and is presented as a realistically large and nicely controlled field of bass. The real kicker for me is how much speed and reactivity it exhibits, but somehow in a very easy to relax into way, not dominant, but just right. There are tones and notes so rich and distinctively presented, and there is the sense of the field of sound, underpinned by that ever so slightly in the background bass, nice bass. What it gives up in ultimate tightness, it makes up for in richness and tonality of bass elements. It is like the bass has a little romantic veil, but it is really exquisite and just so darn good. This is in my experience a unique tuning.

I wish I had time to do a proper review, but I am actually right in the middle of a two year long Master's degree and I write so many papers and assignments (I am actually in classes even over the summer) that I just don't have it in me. I would love to review this headphone as well as the Klipsch HP-3 and Pioneer SE Monitor 5. Hopefully that will happen. Anyway, totally misappropriated your comment to go on a bit of a self indulgent ramble. Really glad that those of us posting here really seem to mesh with what this headphone is all about.

 

[Sonic Defender]

This headphone is so working for me. The lower frequencies, while not perfect are extremely competent, even potent, artful and so interestingly voiced. There is the really perceptible region of tonally rich and dense bass, and yet it hangs ever so slightly unanchored from the sub floor. You get this palatable sense of space and energy, fabulous layering and imaging and I think a very fast tracking ability. There are textures everywhere, and tones, assuming the recorded material has it.

I just completed a very nice listening session using the FiiO Q5 with the 4.4mm input on the new AM3D amp module. Simply sublime. I played some stunning electronica from Bluetech - Somatic Serenade, Saint Germaine des Pres Café Vol 15. - Never Gonna Reach me, and Thievery Corporation - Dance on Vaseline. I also played some wonderful small ensemble jazz from Holly Cole - Get Out of Town, then of course Hotel California live from Hell Freezes Over, and I finished up with Genesis - Hold on My Heart. I have played the drums off and on for a solid 30 years, since about 1981 maybe 82. Despite really enjoying listening to percussion, I often get taken into bass guitar lines and this last session was perhaps the most enjoyable experience I have had with lower frequencies, perhaps ever. In fact I have to say the most enjoyment ever.

I was following along these rhythmic and moving bass lines, running and plunging around and the notes were distinct, flowing and very realistic and natural sounding. And there is impact there when the music gives it up, but as you would expect, the planar sound is somewhat diffused (or so I have always perceived it as sounding) over the large, energetic membrane and you get that field effect rather than a more concentrated point of origin approach as with a good dynamic. The dynamic driver can be tighter and more impactful, very distinct and powerful, but I feel the crackling nuanced and running feel of bass and just the tonal density and depth of it, with a good planar is quite special and worth experiencing.

I also think that it helps like I like louder playback volumes, never met anybody who listens louder as of yet, and that may wake the softness of the signature up. Props to Tyll, I used his equalization settings as described in his HEXV2 review. I completely agree with Tyll on many points, in particular the imaging ability. I have just now dropped in a slight equalization nudge around 30Hz but haven't heard the results yet.

The entire signature just meshed and hung together sounding very composed,, engaging and yet somehow quite peaceful. I just kept finding myself so relaxed and inside the music, in the best sense that this can be meant. The presentation has an organic and naturalness about it, things sound right together and it is all underpinned by the expansive and I think tonally deep and dynamic lower frequencies field. I don't even want to say bass field as I don't think it does the capabilities and signature of the headphone enough justice. There are plenty of micro-edges around many notes in all frequency ranges, but the field isn't brightly lit so you give up a just a little inner clarity at times, but I think you are more than compensated for it by all of the other qualities and that nimble yet chill signature. A very crafty headphone that can just come at you with this intensely well integrated and tasty signature.

I actually had to force myself to take them off as it was getting late. I think people who have nice solid state amps and not a valve amp, but who want to hear the pleasing perceptual tactility that valves can bring should listen to this headphone with the settings Tyll mapped out. For certain people who really prefer a full exposure of their music with no soft spots anywhere would likely find the HEXV2 pleasant, but perhaps a little unexciting and not quite their thing. But those who like a tasteful and artful approach to warming things up with just the right amount of softness will love the HEXV2. Certainly it can have that dynamic and energetic speaker sound. Likely due to the layering capabilities as the psychoacoustical side of things would use those layers, imaging and separation abilities to portray a well spread out sound field. Not the very deepest, but quite adequate depth wise and just quite nice everywhere else. The words natural and effortless seem to fit.

I am deliberately gushing as I think this headphone was gushing with great sound so I thought one good turn deserves another.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Want to enjoy the Edition X V2 sounding absolutely wonderful, full and controlled, but you can't break the bank for sources? And to make things harder, what if you really need a small footprint rig? No problem at all. I will post this shot of my FiiO Q5 with the new THX AAA amplification module. I feel the Q5 is perfectly capable of delivering end game sound for some people. I know, I have been hearing it and really believe this little device can do it.

 

[bagwell359]

I just got the Dekoni nuggets which really help getting those cups high up. Many complain about the soft treble. You've got to get the bottom of the cans right up under your ear lobs, that lines up the center of your ear with the center of the driver. Also gives the best soundstage and image definition.

I think the HEX v2 is a fine can, but, I do think my modded HE-500, the HE-6, and HEK v2 are all better cans than the HEX v2 (haven't heard the HEK se and Arya yet), pretty good still because its the 2nd cheapest.

 

[mixman]

I just got the Dekoni nuggets which really help getting those cups high up. Many complain about the soft treble. You've got to get the bottom of the cans right up under your ear lobs, that lines up the center of your ear with the center of the driver. Also gives the best soundstage and image definition.

I think the HEX v2 is a fine can, but, I do think my modded HE-500, the HE-6, and HEK v2 are all better cans than the HEX v2 (haven't heard the HEK se and Arya yet), pretty good still because its the 2nd cheapest.

Hey when did you get the HEK V2? How do you like them?

 

[bagwell359]

Hey when did you get the HEK V2? How do you like them?

About 7 months ago. They are very nice in many ways, but as a born critic its easier for me to talk about what they don't do. The highs overall are perhaps 1.5 db down. Details in the mids and highs are short of other cans I know: heavily modified HE-500, HE-6, HEK v2, Voce, Stax 007, 009, and a few others. Both of those issues are mitigated by getting the cups up on your ears so that the center of the cup is right over your ear tube. That helps, but, is not a cure. Also junking the garbage cables (HFM has yet to ship a can with a good cable) in favor of something decent (mine came with Arctic Cables Cardas) which also helps def/treble.

The bass goes to about 22 Hz, but the attack is a bit dispersed unlike say the HE-6 which punches you hard. I think they are terrific late night or morning cans because they don't annoy. They have a tall and wide stage. It's like a very accurate can with a slight gauze - perhaps spiritual descendants of the HD-650, but not as warm and murky.

They are part of my trilogy of cans that I listen too: HE-500 mods (50%), HEX v2 (35%), HD-600 (15%). However, the HEX v2 is the most likely to get booted since the resale is decent, and my next target is liable to be either the E2 or Voce (which both are fairly close to the profile of the HEX v2). It's stupid to sell the 600 given what I could get, and nobody gets my 500's away from me

 

[mixman]

About 7 months ago. They are very nice in many ways, but as a born critic its easier for me to talk about what they don't do. The highs overall are perhaps 1.5 db down. Details in the mids and highs are short of other cans I know: heavily modified HE-500, HE-6, HEK v2, Voce, Stax 007, 009, and a few others. Both of those issues are mitigated by getting the cups up on your ears so that the center of the cup is right over your ear tube. That helps, but, is not a cure. Also junking the garbage cables (HFM has yet to ship a can with a good cable) in favor of something decent (mine came with Arctic Cables Cardas) which also helps def/treble.

The bass goes to about 22 Hz, but the attack is a bit dispersed unlike say the HE-6 which punches you hard. I think they are terrific late night or morning cans because they don't annoy. They have a tall and wide stage. It's like a very accurate can with a slight gauze - perhaps spiritual descendants of the HD-650, but not as warm and murky.

They are part of my trilogy of cans that I listen too: HE-500 mods (50%), HEX v2 (35%), HD-600 (15%). However, the HEX v2 is the most likely to get booted since the resale is decent, and my next target is liable to be either the E2 or Voce (which both are fairly close to the profile of the HEX v2). It's stupid to sell the 600 given what I could get, and nobody gets my 500's away from me

Well I didn't see HE 1000 V2's in your sig. I do remember you getting the Edition X V2 a while back.