That's a good deal. Hifiman support is good and helpful but very slow. My Ananda died and it was a little over a year old just like yours. I paid $40 for an Edition XS replacement however return of my dead Ananda turn out to be a problem because of the ridiculous shipping costs. I will also have to pay custom tax when XS arrive here so in total, it will be quite expensive. I'm hoping that i will bypass the custom tax with my luck and Hifiman will not ask for return of the dead Ananda. Maybe i can return it to local authorized dealer instead of Poland. The Ananda died out of nowhere prematurely which is a big pain in the ass but Hifiman support trying to help so kudos to them.
Hifiman Edition XS Launched
- Thread starter kamikazeing
- Start date
Similarity is interesting. I think we see the effect of stealth magnets above 10k.
blorg
100+ Head-Fier
If you bought them from a retailer in the EU, your contract is with that shop, it's up to them to sort it out. The seller must be a commercial enterprise, a private sale there is no warranty. The manufacturer, Hifiman in China, has no relation to this and doesn't have to do anything for you. There is no mandated warranty between businesses, so their liability to their reseller, if any, is up to their commercial arrangement. Manufacturer warranties are totally voluntary and the terms are totally up to the manufacturer, the EU does not mandate them. Many manufacturers do offer 2 year guarantees in the EU just to keep everything simple, but they don't have to.
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/faq/index_en.htm
Uebelkraehe
500+ Head-Fier
Of course your point of contact is the retailer, but unless it's grey imports, no retailer will sell a manufacturers goods if said manufacturer doesn't cover the legally mandated guarantee. And private sales indeed aren't automatically covered by a guarantee from the private seller, but this afaik doesn't imply that the guarantee from the original retailer isn't valid any more unless it has expired anyways.
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blorg
100+ Head-Fier
In terms of legal minimums and consumer rights, your contract is with who you bought the thing from. You don't have any legal relation, contract or claim on the third party that they bought it from.
Now in practice- many manufacturers may well extend warranty to anyone, although many don't- while it is common to see manufacturer warranties which do transfer it's also common to see a warranty within the EU limited to the original purchaser.
Example: Panasonic: "This warranty is non transferrable."
Logitech: "Logitech warranties are only valid for the original purchaser of the product and are non-transferable. An original sales receipt or a valid copy of the receipt is required to establish the purchase date and the original purchaser."
Other manufacturers do allow warranty transfer, but this is down to their policy and is not mandated. Some want the original proof of purchase, others will just look up the serial and if it's still within warranty they will fix it, whoever you are. And in practice, if you get the original receipt from the person who bought it, and the receipt may well be anonymous, then sure you can go back to the same shop and get service. Some shops (or manufacturers) may accept products back even with a receipt made out to another person, as a matter of policy.
But we are talking in terms of legal minimums for EU consumer protections, and they are between the consumer (private person) and the first sale (professional shop) ONLY. There is no EU mandate of manufacturer warranty. Business to business transactions are not covered, private sales are not covered, and there is no mandate for a warranty to transfer to subsequent purchasers, because the whole thing is hung on the initial contract between the EU professional seller and the EU consumer and neither the manufacturer nor subsequent parties are involved in this.
There's also a presumption with the legal EU guarantee, if it is past six months, that the problem was not there at purchase and is not covered by warranty, and it's up to the consumer to prove it is, which is difficult. It's only in the first six months that the presumption is any problem was there, and the burden to prove otherwise is on the manufacturer. Now again- in practice many manufacturers/shops do not apply this, and treat the full 2 years on the same basis, with presumption all problems are covered. But the minimum legal protection in the EU, the burden of proof shifts to the consumer after six months.
https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/consumers/shopping/guarantees-returns/faq/index_en.htm
The EU 2 year guarantee is far more limited than most people think it is. What has happened is in practice, most large manufacturers have settled around standard 2 year manufacturer warranties for EU sales, because this is simplest and best for customer relations. But it's not universally the case, and it's important to realise exactly what rights you do have as an EU consumer- and that's zero against a Chinese manufacturer, zero if you buy the headphone from a private seller, and pretty hard after six months even from a commercial seller, unless they themselves just have a good customer policy (and many stores do- but your legal protections are less than you think.)
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Oratory1990 did measure a couple pair of these a couple days ago if anyone missed it..
https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory199...&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
https://www.reddit.com/r/oratory199...&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
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Review alert! Josh Valour
Did he just said Sundara is wider ?
FullBright1
Headphoneus Supremus
-Hifiman Edition XS Mini Review. : 11-03-2021
Box : Typical Hifiman, has the dark lush soft packing.
Cable : Decent. Rubber. Short. Mild Jank
Headband : The Original Edition X and V2 have a superior headband. The XS headband is softly padded but singular. Just a bar, typical of the older Hifiman frames. Comfort of the headband is : 7.9
Pads and Clamp. : The clamp force is going to be moderate on medium heads and slightly firm on big heads. The Pads are ok, not quite soft at first feel, but this will change with break in time
How do they sound right out of the box?
Typical of Hifman, they have a somewhat airy treble, a very slight "V" shape, and credible bass and plenty of treble extension.
Not a warm or cold sounding headphone, but other then the Susvara, the HE1000 series is more clinical and analytical.....= And so is the XS.
Hifiman Headphones, from HE1000 - Susvara, have a slight V shape and are slightly Treble oriented in Sound.
Less so with the Susvara.
As compared to the original "Edition" series", right out of the box, and not burned it at all, I would consider the XS to sound more like the original Edition X, yet more controlled, FR balanced, and slightly more tonally smooth.
1.) Comfort: The headphones are comfortable, but not as comfy as the HE1000 series.
2.) Treble : Its slightly airy, and very typical of the HE 1000 series, but not quite as hyper extended as you find with the V2 and the HEKSE. Right out of the Box = There is PLENTY of Treble in the XS FR that manifests as extremely clean sound.
3.) Midrange : Hifiman does not design Audeze midrange into their headphones, and so, you wont find that type of "honk" inside the sound of the XS. Mids presented by the XS are very articulate, pleasant, not dry, and very slightly clinical. Vocals stand out, acoustic instruments sound truthful and cymbals are very nicely presented.
Electronic music plays well in the XS's.
4.) Bass : Bass is similar to the Edition X series in tone and layering, but its a bit more controlled in that offers enough power and extension to work well with music that requires it to provide some meat, but its not a Bass Head slamming low end, its more finessed and articulate and balanced.
5.) Soundstage : You are not totally submerged inside a huge room as you find with the V2, yet, its a nicely immersive SS. The height of the SS is good, the depth is good, and the width is not disappointing, but not so wide that you lose the sense of instruments and vocals in front of you. The SS is perceived as "accurate" vs "enhanced".
6.) Timbre : Clean and Precise.
7.) Detail Retrieval : Here is where the XS shines brightest. Its a detailed headphone sound that manages to walk the fine line between being quite detail revealing yet still very musical. This is what Hifiman does so well.. They don't give you that over-cookes lower mid situation that fights the clarity of the treble. Vocals pop in the XS's with a lot of layering. It very impressive.
8.) Instrument Separation : Its very good like all Hifiman's.
9.) Power requirements : These are not going to sound their best out of a cell phone or weak Dac/Amp. They do bloom with Tubes and they do shine sonically their soundstage best best when used with Balanced cables and a little bit of power feeding them.
If you only uses them in SE mode, then the Vocals and the center of the soundstage is more focused and in front.
Final Analysis : A good value. Fans of the Hifiman sound will find much to enjoy. The XS offers what Hifiman does best....the clarity, the details, the soundstage, the treble, and the unique overall sonic presentation that you can only get with a Hifiman Gear.
The XS is designed for listening enjoyment and offers fine detail retrieval and clarity.
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WaveTheory
100+ Head-Fier
I posted a review too:
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Thank you.
I too think that the bundled cable is not good enough, I tried them with a short cable that was bundled with a pair of Focal Clear s and it improved the sound, I finally settled with a DIY (Low cost) single solid core (pure silver) cable costing less than £50 in material, as the best cable. Mind you copper single solid core sounded just as good, but silver is softer.
Also, another thing I noticed which is easy to check, is the fact that the back-grill bars can ring like a bell! just pluck one with a finger nail like a guitar and watch it ring!
The shimmering on treble that you mentioned, I believe, is related to this ringing. Once I stuck a narrow half round bar to the centre of the grill (vertically), using a dot of glue on each bar, the treble crispens up further, the shimmering effect gets almost defeated, no sibilance!
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WaveTheory
100+ Head-Fier
Interesting! Gotta pic of this grille mod?
bagwell359
Headphoneus Supremus
Yes. I recently removed the rear shutter grilles on my pair of HEX v2 (the closest predecessor to the XS) and besides dropping weight some of the sibilance is gone (but I'm not ready to say where and how much) but it's notable. The black gauze over the mostly closed magnet underneath is a lot safer to leave open then my HE-500 and HE-6SE v1 which I have left open for almost two years with no incidence in daily use.
Don't know how to take apart the XS but to get at the HEX you have to take it all apart front to back and the cables are intensely thin (I broke one connection) and I was careful. Don't undertake this if you want to resell or you don't have experience with this sort of thing.
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