[Pablo67]

Value proposition not stretched. The XTC competes and compares easily with flagship headphones. What music do you listen to? Anything modern or bass driven will be better on XTC.

XTC ².5 Euphoric Xtreme Trip

These came in last week and are in the process of burning in. They sound AMAZING!! as of right now. They are tuned as 'warm with detail" + a page of additional notes on mids, bass, highs etc. They have about 50-65+ hours on them at the moment with the "copperhead" cable...JACKPOT! Value? WITHOUT QUESTION...and they are only getting better...and better...

 

[simonatsea]

No - definitely not lacking too much in bass - not a bass monster (like JM Audio closeds) but certainly hold their weight. Clarity/detail retrieval is impeccable and soundstage is pretty big too.

Great, sounds like I can’t go wrong either way. I do feel that in the long run a dynamic driver might hold up better than a planar. It seems there are a lot of dead Audeze out there and my MrSpeakers Primes had a bad trace on them as well requiring a replacement driver.

 

[Zhon]

XTCs definitely the best headphone at $799. No question. Competes well against flagships such as utopia, susvara, meze elite, etc.

 

[MakeItWain]

Great, sounds like I can’t go wrong either way. I do feel that in the long run a dynamic driver might hold up better than a planar. It seems there are a lot of dead Audeze out there and my MrSpeakers Primes had a bad trace on them as well requiring a replacement driver.

I'm still planning on rocking planars in my line up but I love my Opus Open Back (precursor to the XTC line up). Only reason why I'm going to part with them is specifically to go with an XTC closed back version instead.

 

[monkey4054]

No - definitely not lacking too much in bass - not a bass monster (like JM Audio closeds) but certainly hold their weight. Clarity/detail retrieval is impeccable and soundstage is pretty big too.

I should specify only lacking for my tastes and the music I listen to. For non bass heavy music like Jazz etc. It would be fine. But for genres like metal, pop, rap etc. Not enough imo.

 

[andrewchoppa]

I should specify only lacking for my tastes and the music I listen to. For non bass heavy music like Jazz etc. It would be fine. But for genres like metal, pop, rap etc. Not enough imo.

Fair enough too-it’s why this hobby is so subjective. All I listen to is metal, hard rock, metal, classic rock and a little bit of metal haha… I don’t find them lacking although the Jm closeds are magnificent for bass. I also eq (analogue) so I usually turn bass up on stealths but I took eq out of system a little while back and haven’t missed it at all. Play polyphia’s playing god on the stealths-I reckon they slam.

 

[andrewchoppa]

I'm still planning on rocking planars in my line up but I love my Opus Open Back (precursor to the XTC line up). Only reason why I'm going to part with them is specifically to go with an XTC closed back version instead.

You will NOT be disappointed...

 

[MakeItWain]

You will NOT be disappointed...

100% sure I'll be satisfied when I do pick one up.

 

[phoneslave86]

What are you guys with the 2^5 Xtreme Trip doing to manage the ports? I've been temporarily using grey tack putty. It's been useful to learn how I like it but it's not ideal for the longer run. So far I like it all closed up or 2 or 4 of the smallest ports open out of the 10 total ports. It would be nice to find something that isn't permanently sealing it closed and could be removed.

 

[Pablo67]

What are you guys with the 2^5 Xtreme Trip doing to manage the ports? I've been temporarily using grey tack putty. It's been useful to learn how I like it but it's not ideal for the longer run. So far I like it all closed up or 2 or 4 of the smallest ports open out of the 10 total ports. It would be nice to find something that isn't permanently sealing it closed and could be removed.

Not sure on that... all of my ports are open. I might say reach out to John, see what he suggests...

 

[phoneslave86]

Not sure on that... all of my ports are open. I might say reach out to John, see what he suggests...

You should get some putty for sure and start playing around with closing them. It is huge how the sound changes. Even just opening 2 of the tiniest ports can make a difference. The uppers are clearer, more separated and pushed more forward and less canceled out closed up. Huge difference. Much less bass/boomy reverb like that that can cancel out some of the clarity. It's pretty amazing you can tune the bass texture/tone as well between ports. Best upper midbass accuracy/texture/tone is 4 smallest ports open so far I think but I'm not sure yet. Just 2-4 smallest ports open the bass hits harder and the texture changes from all closed up. The big ports on top are too much for me on most songs very boomy but can sound great on the right song. So far if I had to pick one version it would be the 2 tiniest ports open or all closed up.

 

[Pablo67]

You should get some putty for sure and start playing around with closing them. It is huge how the sound changes. Even just opening 2 of the tiniest ports can make a difference. The uppers are clearer, more separated and pushed more forward and less canceled out closed up. Huge difference. Much less bass/boomy reverb like that that can cancel out some of the clarity. It's pretty amazing you can tune the bass texture/tone as well between ports. Best upper midbass accuracy/texture/tone is 4 smallest ports open so far I think but I'm not sure yet. Just 2-4 smallest ports open the bass hits harder and the texture changes from all closed up. The big ports on top are too much for me on most songs very boomy but can sound great on the right song. So far if I had to pick one version it would be the 2 tiniest ports open or all closed up.

Interesting. Ever encounter a slight “veiled” effect to the sound? Nothing really thick… it’s slight, but there. Weird because clarity and details are happening as this occurs…crazy.
What port might address this? If any…

 

[kehadnb94]

And what tuning did you choose? I’ve heard about a new “reference” tuning-can someone with experience please explain that? Thanks heaps in advance.

Is the reference tuning the 1db per octave downwardslope tuning??

 

[kehadnb94]

Halloween Special dnb mix

I use my xtc bery open back reference tuning in every situation. They are nice

 

[oldson]

just got my 1st otl tube amp today, so really fancy an XTC of some description , 300 ohm of course!

choosing open or closed is not easy, cant do both sadly.