Hifiman Edition X

[SodaMeiser]

Initial listening impression is WOW, just wow.  Incredibly spacious and musical, every note is a pleasure.  What is most impressive about his headphone is how smooth the sound signature is without feeling compressed, IMO I've heard Fostex/Audeze cans that seem to smoosh their sound signature together to get their lush presentation, not so here, the soundstage is ample and the music has room to breathe.
 
I'm on cloud 9 right now listening to electronic/synth bands like Chvrches/Flume/Purity Ring, synths have this liquid nature to them through these headphones.
 
More than ample for hard rock, Rise against/Royal Blood were immensely enjoyable.  In fairness not as immidietely visceral as LCD-2's (from memory).
 
The beauty of Rachmaninov's grander work is emotionally devastating.
 
Detail level is impressive, noticing new things in every piece I listen to.
 
I'm not sure where I even need to go from here regarding headphones, they provide a comprehensively engaging sound and I find it hard to imagine something sounding "substantially" better for my personnel needs, keep in mind these are only being amped by an old sony audio receiver I found in my garage, I have no idea of their potential through a proper setup! Maybe a Woo amp in the near future?

 

[Ampeezy]

  I actually only thought Audeze's CS was decent. However when I had my Edition X v2 replaced (right driver was rattling/distorting), HifiMan had a super fast turnaround time for me.

That is good to hear, since I was under the impression that HifiMan's Customer service left much to be desired

  Initial listening impression is WOW, just wow.  Incredibly spacious and musical, every note is a pleasure.  What is most impressive about his headphone is how smooth the sound signature is without feeling compressed, IMO I've heard Fostex/Audeze cans that seem to smoosh their sound signature together to get their lush presentation, not so here, the soundstage is ample and the music has room to breathe.
 
I'm on cloud 9 right now listening to electronic/synth bands like Chvrches/Flume/Purity Ring, synths have this liquid nature to them through these headphones.
 
More than ample for hard rock, Rise against/Royal Blood were immensely enjoyable.  In fairness not as immidietely visceral as LCD-2's (from memory).
 
The beauty of Rachmaninov's grander work is emotionally devastating.
 
Detail level is impressive, noticing new things in every piece I listen to.
 
I'm not sure where I even need to go from here regarding headphones, they provide a comprehensively engaging sound and I find it hard to imagine something sounding "substantially" better for my personnel needs, keep in mind these are only being amped by an old sony audio receiver I found in my garage, I have no idea of their potential through a proper setup! Maybe a Woo amp in the near future?

​Good to hear you're thoroughly enjoying these. While I am not well versed as to how they scale, I would go with the Chord Mojo and never look back with these. If you are looking to add other high end phones to your collection, I would then consider a more versatile setup.

 

[JEspina456]

I just had a good listening session with my HEX V1 using my friend's Schiit Ragnarock and Yggrasil.  Man, I love these headphones.  I cannot imagine how V2 could beat these, but I have heard the HEK and I know it's possible!  

 

[SodaMeiser]

  I just had a good listening session with my HEX V1 using my friend's Schiit Ragnarock and Yggrasil.  Man, I love these headphones.  I cannot imagine how V2 could beat these, but I have heard the HEK and I know it's possible!  

http://www.headfonia.com/review-hifiman-edition-x-v2-want-christmas/2/
 
Thats headfonia's take on on the difference, they say slightly better soundstage and mids, but I've never had the V1 to compare it too.  I do remember thinking the Grado PS-500 was all I'd ever need (still a fantastic headphone) then I heard the PS-500e and the difference was audible in the first 10 seconds, so I understand your pain!  I do know these V2's I bought yesterday are the most enjoyable headphones I've ever had, my previous "summit-fi" cans being LCD-3's and GS-1000's.

 

[JEspina456]

  http://www.headfonia.com/review-hifiman-edition-x-v2-want-christmas/2/
 
Thats headfonia's take on on the difference, they say slightly better soundstage and mids, but I've never had the V1 to compare it too.  I do remember thinking the Grado PS-500 was all I'd ever need (still a fantastic headphone) then I heard the PS-500e and the difference was audible in the first 10 seconds, so I understand your pain!  I do know these V2's I bought yesterday are the most enjoyable headphones I've ever had, my previous "summit-fi" cans being LCD-3's and GS-1000's.

It never ends.  I was in love with the Sennheiser HD650 then I got the HD800.  Now my fav is the HEX.  I've tried the Focal Elear and enjoyed those, but I do want the HEK eventually to replace my HEX. 

 

[Ampeezy]

  It never ends.  I was in love with the Sennheiser HD650 then I got the HD800.  Now my fav is the HEX.  I've tried the Focal Elear and enjoyed those, but I do want the HEK eventually to replace my HEX. 

​I hear the HE-K has a stat like signature to it as a result of the nano grade diaphragm, and that was what I was planning to purchase until I decided to go with the Stax sr-007 which apparently has almost all of the speed of the sr-009 with a more enjoyable signature.
The HE-K is still in my crosshairs but i'm not getting it just yet.

 

[SeaWo|f]

With regards to sound signature changing due to a warranty repair and driver replacement: Unfortunately, due to the handmade nature of the planar drivers in Hifiman and Audeze headphones, one simply cannot expect perfect consistency like that of Sennheiser HD800. Different leagues (dimensions apart) in terms of production capacity and expertise.

That is not what I am talking about Audeze has a long history of deliberately making changes to the overall sound signature of their headphones over the course of their life not simply small unit to unit variation. While i respect that they continue to seek to improve them I REALLY liked the warm lush sound of the old lcd3f. If i had spent 2k on them and the driver failed after a year and when they returned the sound signature while perhaps better in technicalities but the nature of that sound had changed I would be very unhappy.
 
Edit:: If i had sent in a V1 HeX or v1 HeK and they were returned as a V2 i would be totally ok with that because they improved on the technicalities of the headphones but the fundamental sound of the headphones is still the same.

 

[elwappo99]

 

  I just had a good listening session with my HEX V1 using my friend's Schiit Ragnarock and Yggrasil.  Man, I love these headphones.  I cannot imagine how V2 could beat these, but I have heard the HEK and I know it's possible!  

http://www.headfonia.com/review-hifiman-edition-x-v2-want-christmas/2/
 
Thats headfonia's take on on the difference, they say slightly better soundstage and mids, but I've never had the V1 to compare it too.  I do remember thinking the Grado PS-500 was all I'd ever need (still a fantastic headphone) then I heard the PS-500e and the difference was audible in the first 10 seconds, so I understand your pain!  I do know these V2's I bought yesterday are the most enjoyable headphones I've ever had, my previous "summit-fi" cans being LCD-3's and GS-1000's.

 
It is headphonia, so take anything said with a grain of salt....or more realistically 
 
 

 
 
It's interesting you went from the LCD-3 to GS1000 to Edition X. It's like you went Dark --> Light --> Somewhere in the middle

 

[seamon]

http://store.hifiman.com/index.php/ultrapad-for-he1000.html
 
Can anyone tell me if these are v1 pads or v2 pads?

 

[donlin]

http://store.hifiman.com/index.php/ultrapad-for-he1000.html

Can anyone tell me if these are v1 pads or v2 pads?

They are v1. V2 has micro fiber instead of velour.

 

[almarti]

I posted this question in Chord Mojo forum but I need your point of view.

Hi friends,
after reading a lot, analyzing all your points of view and your recommendations aligned with my tastes of rock (70% of time) and jazz (30%) I have built the short list of my self-present for my 50th birthday to these 2 options to be connected almost all time to Mojo: Hifiman Edition X V2 or MrSpeakers Ehter Flow (open version)
No doubt that HEX will pair fantastically with Mojo, but is Mojo enough powerful to drive Ether Flow?
In Spain there is a 600€ (aprox $700) of price difference between them (HEX cheaper). In case Mojo can work with both of them, is it worth the difference?
It is only one shot of buying the geatest headphones I may have had.

Thanks for your final opinions.

 

[AudioBear]

Only your ears can answer the question if the difference is worth $700.  Some will tell you HEX is better than Flow, some will tell you FLOW is better than HEX. That's because their tastes are different.  Both are great cans.
 
The Mojo has more than enough power for the Flow.  It's actually powerful for such a small device,  but there are those who will want a separate amp.  Do some searching and you'll find posts like:
 
post #3543
 
and there are others.  

 

[casper3127]

I posted this question in Chord Mojo forum but I need your point of view.

Hi friends,
after reading a lot, analyzing all your points of view and your recommendations aligned with my tastes of rock (70% of time) and jazz (30%) I have built the short list of my self-present for my 50th birthday to these 2 options to be connected almost all time to Mojo: Hifiman Edition X V2 or MrSpeakers Ehter Flow (open version)
No doubt that HEX will pair fantastically with Mojo, but is Mojo enough powerful to drive Ether Flow?
In Spain there is a 600€ (aprox $700) of price difference between them (HEX cheaper). In case Mojo can work with both of them, is it worth the difference?
It is only one shot of buying the geatest headphones I may have had.

Thanks for your final opinions.

If you're really interested in the HEX V2s Almarti, do please have a look at Auriculares-hifi.com (A Spanish Hi-Fi Forum), where actually two mint HEX V2 can be found for 945 and 1050Euros each. You can trust in those forum-colleagues, when something is depicted as mint, it is really spotless...
 
If your main listen is at rock and some jazz, perhaps you should have a look at the Focal Elears or the Flow Cs. My HEX V2 do pretty well though with jazz and rock but perhaps for your taste they're too neutral. (Right now while writing, listening at Radiohead). 
 
Another option is to go and try for yourself these cans at Supersonido, BCN...
 
 
Saludos.

 

[almarti]

Only your ears can answer the question if the difference is worth $700.  Some will tell you HEX is better than Flow, some will tell you FLOW is better than HEX. That's because their tastes are different.  Both are great cans.

The Mojo has more than enough power for the Flow.  It's actually powerful for such a small device,  but there are those who will want a separate amp.  Do some searching and you'll find posts like:

post #3543

and there are others.  

I read those posts, thanks. Your approach is right and I would like to find a physical shop in Barcelona (Spain) or as close as possible to test Ether Flow as HEX V2 is easier to find. Thanks for your point of view.

 

[almarti]

If you're really interested in the HEX V2s Almarti, do please have a look at Auriculares-hifi.com (A Spanish Hi-Fi Forum), where actually two mint HEX V2 can be found for 945 and 1050Euros each. You can trust in those forum-colleagues, when something is depicted as mint, it is really spotless...

If your main listen is at rock and some jazz, perhaps you should have a look at the Focal Elears or the Flow Cs. My HEX V2 do pretty well though with jazz and rock but perhaps for your taste they're too neutral. (Right now while writing, listening at Radiohead). 

Another option is to go and try for yourself these cans at Supersonido, BCN...


Saludos.

Supersonido is in my list but they don't sell Ether Flow for a sound comparisson with HEX V2. I have only found them in Vinaroz, 2.5 hours driving from home. I will give a look to the proposesd website for secon hand option.
Thanks a lot.