JM Audio Editions XTC Headphones

[rlawry]

I think any answer to your question as to which JMAE model is more complicated than you might think as there are a number of open-back and closed-back models, different compositions and impedance of drivers, and a multitude of tunings, from warm and bass-prominent to airy and detailed. I personally have owned two closed-back models, necessary due to privacy reasons, but whose presentations are different due to varying impedances and tuning. The best advice I can give is to give John Massaria a call or email and discuss the type of sound you desire to give John a target for sound preferences. The great news is that if you aren't completely enamored of the initial attempts at your type of sound you can send them back to JM for a retuning for only the cost of shipping. I can say that John successfully hit my target sound the first time and I never had to send them back for a retuning.

There are others here who have bought multiple JMAE cans and can more fully advise you on what type of phones you might start with. Personally, I am not a fan of warm, dark, and bass-prominent sound so I tend to gravitate toward those phones, planar magnetic and ribbon, that with prominent speed, detail, transparency, and spaciousness like my Dan Clark Audio Stealth and RAAL SR-1b phones. That being said, there are those recordings, particularly in pop and rock music that seem to need that bass foundation for which JMAE phones excel, especially since both closed-back phones I have owned excel at adding bass without, as you put it, bleeding into higher frequencies and overwhelm the music to the point where it becomes fatiguing, at least to my ears.

I think you will be pleased with what JM offers. I have to note that I in no way profit from JM's sales, only a dedicated fan.

 

[Patswalker]

Hey everyone. I stumbled on this company yesterday and am slowly making my way through this lengthy thread, so bear with me.

I've been listening to open-back planar magnetic headphones since I got my LCD-2 in 2013, and the one thing that's always bothered me about almost all open-back flagship planar magnetic headphones...sub-bass suffers, even with systems exhibiting excellent synergy with the headphones. I think this is, in part, a deliberate tuning choice in order to ensure a lack of bleed into the higher frequencies and thus make the headphones sound more "detailed". But, at some point, "planar bass" has a certain tonality and impact that can come across, to me, as a bit dull.

I've been spending a lot of time with my Susvara. And I mostly love it. The tonality, resolution, and lack of fatigue in the treble region are all miles ahead of other headphones I've heard. But I can't fully enjoy some tracks due to the sub-bass deficiency of Susvara relative to the 2018 AE OE Harman target. EDM, for example, just isn't as enjoyable as it should be, and rock, pop, and metal from the 70s and 80s needs some help in the bass to prevent some of those mixes from sounding too lean. I am now firmly of the belief that headphones need a sub-bass shelf in their default tuning. Sure, I can EQ, but this alters the balanced tuning of Susvara too drastically. And EQ-ing on a per-track or per-album basis is very tedious and should not be necessary.

So...I am basically looking for a Susvara with deep, impactful sub-bass that doesn't bleed into the upper-bass and mids.

Therefore, in my search to experience better quality, lush, impactful sub-bass and bass, I am ready to move to a dynamic driver after 10+ years with planar headphones.

Given all this, what are your recommendations for a JM Audio headphone? I am not opposed to moving to a closed-back design if the presentation is similarly airy and the sub-bass is richer and deeper than the open-back design. I am also unsure about beryllium vs. nano biowool and what impedance I should choose if I went with the XTC2. I have a LAiV Harmony HP2A headphone amp, which has been great for Susvara.

Thanks for taking the time to read through this, and I appreciate all your suggestions!

The first thing I would do is email or reach out to John. I have a collection of his headphones and I have described to him every time what I wanted. I would describe what I wanted from other headphones in this headphone as well as the listening experience I want. He is super helpful. He has nailed it on the tuning of all my headphones, and when I wanted a change 6 months in, I sent it to him for a free re-tuning. What he cannot to is replace the drivers for free. Each of the drivers he uses has a different sound signature to it and a few posts earlier from this one I described my personal experience with three of his open back headphones with different drivers. Take a look at that post and shoot John an email and he can help you. Of course feel free to ask any questions to any of us and I'm game for you to direct message me if you feel like it. One of the best parts of this for us is the amazing community we have found here on this thread so we are all here to help

 

[amele]

Can you help me choose between XTC2 open and XTC2.5 closed, what can I expect from them

 

[Audio Addict]

Unless you really need a close back, I would go with the XTC 2. I have both. I just got my XTC 2.5 tuned the same as the XTC 2 and both are outstanding.

 

[amele]

is there any difference in the bass or can it tune the same

 

[Patswalker]

Can you help me choose between XTC2 open and XTC2.5 closed, what can I expect from them

In my experience the sound stage on the XTC2 models are huge and vast. As good as the 2.5 is, and trust me it’s AMAZING, the soundstage just cannot be as good as it is on the 2.0. The different drivers in my 2.0 in my models have different soundstages but they are all bigger than the 2.5 so if soundstage is your obsession go for the 2.0. The texture of the bass, not necessarily how low the bass goes but the details of the bass are great on the 2.0 but to my ears is better on the 2.5. Neither are bass cannons, it’s all very well balanced.

If you chose the same drivers tonally the 2.0 and 2.5 will be similar but the listening experience will be a bit different due to the nature of the sound stage, one being open and one being closed.

Look at the foundation of the tonal presentation like this…

The Beryllium drivers have a bit more detail and focus on the highs and upper mid details. So that experience will be a bit brighter and sparkly and energetic.

The biowool driver, which is only in the 2.0 for now, has more focus on the bass, the low and lower mids. This was described to be by John as being wrapped in a warm blanket of music with very good detail and wonderful lows. I agree with this.

Neither loses out, the beryllium still has nice bass but the focus is obviously on the upper areas and the biowool still has good detail and highs but it focuses on the lower registers. The cool thing is even with those two foundations you can also ask John to focus the tuning on things like super detail or warmth or detail and warm.

So for now the beryllium is offered in the 2.0 and the 2.5 and the biowool is offered in the 2.0 only.

 

[amele]

what do you think about the NRG, maybe they would suit me better because I like bass

 

[UberHaxorMarty]

what do you think about the NRG, maybe they would suit me better because I like bass

How much do you like bass since John could make a bass cannon like a subwoofer if you want, but that could cause you discomfort depending on how sensitive your ears are.

All the headphones he makes can be tuned for a lot of bass, but if I were you I would find bass boosted tracks on youtube, and see how bass you can actually handle before requesting a massive amount of bass.

For reference even my XTC Open with scalpel tuning has great quality bass and that's the detail focused tuning. I have a Opus X which is tuned more bassy and the bass does bleed directly into the mids because of how elevated it is, but it's fun to listen to sometimes.

 

[amele]

I thought they would be comparable in sub-bass to the Fostex th900 mk2

 

[rlawry]

If you really like your bass wild and wooly, check out the SubPac wearable subwoofer link below. I have had one on preorder for almost 3 years now and they certainly are way late with delivery but if it works there isn't much else out there for headphone bass extension and tactility.

http://www.subpac.com

 

[amele]

I don't think it's for me, I just want my music to sound good, especially bass, because I listen to that kind of music, mostly techno

 

[Patswalker]

what do you think about the NRG, maybe they would suit me better because I like bass

The NRG uses the biowool driver so it will have more bass presence than the XTC2.5 which uses the beryllium driver.

Are you a listener that needs wide soundstages or is that not a big focus of yours?

In my experience and in all the models of John's headphones I have the deepest bass I hear is in the XTC2 (open) with the biowool driver. The bass is more detailed, controlled, and textured in both of the closed backs he makes but there is something magical with the XTC2 (open) biowool for me. Not everyone loves it, most people go for the beryllium models for the detail. The biowool driver responds and scales extremely well. So the more money I invest in my components the more I get out of that headphones. But it still sounds great on anything. Just okay on dongles. John's origional description of it when we were trading emails when I was deciding was something along the lines of "With the fuzzy pads on the biowool It's like being wrapped in a blanket." this holds true to me. The soundstage can be amazing on the biowool XTC2 (open) depending on what equipment you conenct it too.

Another question to consider is what are you using to power the headphones. What amp/dac? What is the chain?

I would highly recommend messaging John and letting him know all the equipment you are using and what you want out of your headphones. We're here to share our experiences and we love doing so. One of the great things that comes with John's headphones is this community. But none of us are going to be able to make the decision for you, so the highest recommendation after you sort out everything you can here in this chat is to reach out to John to let him know what you want and what ideas you have gathered from our help. Then cross-check with him if he feels that it is correct, he is the actual engineer. We all are just people with opinions. .

 

[amele]

The NRG uses the biowool driver so it will have more bass presence than the XTC2.5 which uses the beryllium driver.

Are you a listener that needs wide soundstages or is that not a big focus of yours?

In my experience and in all the models of John's headphones I have the deepest bass I hear is in the XTC2 (open) with the biowool driver. The bass is more detailed, controlled, and textured in both of the closed backs he makes but there is something magical with the XTC2 (open) biowool for me. Not everyone loves it, most people go for the beryllium models for the detail. The biowool driver responds and scales extremely well. So the more money I invest in my components the more I get out of that headphones. But it still sounds great on anything. Just okay on dongles. John's origional description of it when we were trading emails when I was deciding was something along the lines of "With the fuzzy pads on the biowool It's like being wrapped in a blanket." this holds true to me. The soundstage can be amazing on the biowool XTC2 (open) depending on what equipment you conenct it too.

Another question to consider is what are you using to power the headphones. What amp/dac? What is the chain?

I would highly recommend messaging John and letting him know all the equipment you are using and what you want out of your headphones. We're here to share our experiences and we love doing so. One of the great things that comes with John's headphones is this community. But none of us are going to be able to make the decision for you, so the highest recommendation after you sort out everything you can here in this chat is to reach out to John to let him know what you want and what ideas you have gathered from our help. Then cross-check with him if he feels that it is correct, he is the actual engineer. We all are just people with opinions. .

I dont need wide soundstages , my amp/dac is Audio gd R28 mk3
I think I just go with XTC2 open with heavy bliss

 

[Patswalker]

I dont need wide soundstages , my amp/dac is Audio gd R28 mk3
I think I just go with XTC2 open with heavy bliss

That’s a good choice. I have an XTC open bliss and it’s great. It’s a super good do all sound amazing.

And I love my R28mk3.

You’re in for a treat

To me, to my ears, the NRG is like a middle ground between the bliss beryllium sound and the biowool sound just contained and very accurate within the closed back. If you’re ever itching for a 2nd pair I’d think about that.

To me these biowool xtc2 is super fun in a collection but not the best for a do-all one and done.

 

[fidgeraldo]

That’s a good choice. I have an XTC open bliss and it’s great. It’s a super good do all sound amazing.

It's only me, but I always choose closed-back headphones when I am listening to Techno.
For other music, always open-back headphones.
My pick would be XTC2.5 for Techno.

Cheers!