That's an impressive case.I've got my pair of XTC Open on the way! These are a limited run of super hard wood cups and here are the photo's he's sent me. I'll be sure to take more once I have them in hand. There's also a youtube short of them here.
JM Audio Editions XTC Headphones
- Thread starter rlawry
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Buckeyedentite
New Head-Fier
Congrats! I sure love mine!I've got my pair of XTC Open on the way! These are a limited run of super hard wood cups and here are the photo's he's sent me. I'll be sure to take more once I have them in hand. There's also a youtube short of them here.
AetherDrive
New Head-Fier
While I'm waiting for my XTC-O, I was wondering if I could pick everyone's brains for a moment on their preferred gear for these? At the moment my chain is PC (USB) > Geshelli J2 > FOZ SS-X > and a choice between the Drop 789, Little Dot MKII (Mullard Tubes) and the Nitsch Magni Piety. I'm gonna try them all out of course but was wondering what gear you guys thought best synergized with your XTC?
I think the associated gear that you prefer will largely depend on your preferred sound. For myself, I really don't like that dark, overly warm, smoothed-over, bass-prominent sound heard so often. I greatly prefer a fast, detailed, transparent, spacious sound so my preferred chain is Qobuz files streamed through Roon to my network player in my Bricasti M1SE and then to my Benchmark HPA4 solid-state headphone amp. My XTC-Closed is tuned to "nearly scapel" that extends my type of preferred sound. There are many who won't particularly like this kind of sound so they may prefer the sound of a warm DAC and a tube amp along with a warmer XTC tuning. In any case I believe any XTC model, other than how it is tuned itself, will respond positively to whatever gear you pair it with.
Buckeyedentite
New Head-Fier
They’re pretty easy to drive and sound great on my solid state amps, but the best sound comes on my tube amp, the ampsandsound bigger ben. That’s true for every headphone though. Lol
I just received my Xtc closed in cherry wood, Really love the wood, beautiful 
the whole ordering process was super smooth and john really made me feel special, he really cares alot !
I Sold a focal stellia to replace it with that and im truly impressed by the sound. the Xtc feels more detailed with better separation, more and better bass, a bit less tight but thats not a negative at all, the texture is something new and enjoyable my memories of the stellia will fade away quite fast 
the whole ordering process was super smooth and john really made me feel special, he really cares alot ! I Sold a focal stellia to replace it with that and im truly impressed by the sound. the Xtc feels more detailed with better separation, more and better bass, a bit less tight but thats not a negative at all, the texture is something new and enjoyable
my memories of the stellia will fade away quite fast
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XTC is better than the Stellia and it isn't really that close imo.I just received my Xtc closed in cherry wood, Really love the wood, beautiful
I Sold a focal stellia to replace it with that and im truly impressed by the sound. the Xtc feels more detailed with better separation, more and better bass, a bit less tight but thats not a negative at all, the texture is something new and enjoyable
I don’t get the reviewer side things like crinacle, dms, resolve. They get get caught In measuring all the headphones but in the end walk around with crappy equipment it’s ridiculous or headphones that will cost 30 000 euros 
that no one would buy ever and they wouldn’t ever try a headphone like the one from Jm and call it done. It’s all a big scam for the customers those are frauds. Im really angry, even if u look on the headphone discord server the talk is so trash it’s unbelievable, all about measurements and stuck minded ridiculous
that no one would buy ever and they wouldn’t ever try a headphone like the one from Jm and call it done. It’s all a big scam for the customers those are frauds. Im really angry, even if u look on the headphone discord server the talk is so trash it’s unbelievable, all about measurements and stuck minded ridiculous
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Got myself a pair of the beryllium XTC2s tuned warm and detailed a while back and Ive been very very happy with them! First things im not an audiophile so my feelings are my own YMMV. I dont know how John did it but they sounded like open backs to me. It might be the bass ports but the soundstage is nice and wide! Theyre not very heavy and I can wear them for hours without any problems. The clamp force on them is perfect its just firm enough to keep the cups nice and snug. I got mine in black and theyre to die for I love the look of them! The beryllium drivers are amazing Ive been going through old songs and finding new details ive been missing! Even running them off a laptop theyre so easy to drive everything still sounds amazing! Ive been using them for games as well and they hold up extremely well! Hunt Showdown in particular is a very sound cue heavy game since youre constantly on the lookout for other hunters. Ive run into more than a few times where I can hear birds or dogs barking before my team does. If you have the cash and want to get a fantastic pair of gaming headphones these are the cans for you! Even in other games like Darktide its just a pleasure to hear the sounds and music through these headphones. My pair came with three premium earpads but Ive been rockin the pre-installed perforated leather ones. Theyre fantastic and fit my ears without getting too warm or sitting uncomfortably. For the cable I got the 3.5mm copper cable with the matching 7N OCC solder. The cable is beautiful I cant stop fidgeting with it while listening lol. Ive only got good things to say about these cans lol Im extremly happy with them. I wanted a nice pair of headphones to last me a long time and I found my endgame headphones. They do everything I would want them to do and have surprised me more than once with how good they sound! I had ordered another pair of headphones last year from John before called the Magnum Opus, theyre closedbacks with bio-wool drivers. Since I was already a customer I got a good discount on these which helps alot since Im in Canada. Even with customer support and interaction the experience has been top-notch I really do hope John gets more customers because he really deserves them!
TLDR- I love the XTC2s theyre my endgame heaphone!
TLDR- I love the XTC2s theyre my endgame heaphone!
John Massaria
Member of the Trade: JM Audio Editions/Headphone Modifications
thank you - it always is very nice to hear how people use and enjoy their XTC's - thank you again! It warms my soul.
Reading all this makes me want to sell my HE1000SE and get the XTC Open. I also will have a pretty high end preamp for sale soon too so it may be in the folds. I only want 1 closed back and 1 open back which keeps me from just ordering the open for now. I am very happy with the XTC Closed. It is also the first headphone that I have ever owned that my wife really loves. She liked the Verite Open because of its looks….but she loves the sound of the XTC Closed.
No problem thank you for making them!
Neceo
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Any chance any of you heard the LSA HP-2 Ultra or HP-1 to compare?
Neceo
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I guess not. I got those two and do enjoy them, but sometimes I feel like more bass. The HP-2 go deep and good bass but guess can use more slam sometimes
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