Since I got the XTC 2.5 they have been amazing. Superb sound that gave me no space to improve it further with some EQ settings. Still there was a small setback in terms of their fit. I have a small head and I really struggled to make the clamp force and seal good enough for my liking. Their seal caused some issues as the bass was good but not great and the surrounding sounds were leaking in. Although I tried to fiddle with the headband to make it more tight I could not achieve this. On the other side my D7200 fits perfectly with great slamp force and excellent seal.
So, I managed to get a new headband and was very keen to try it. Although it might look simple to replace the headband like this, the opposite was true. It took pretty hard work to lose the rods on both sets and then replace them as shown. But on the other side the hard work paid off. The clamping force is perfect and the seal too. What this did to the sound is just amazing. There were improvements across all the frequencies. Well this works with every headphone if you push the cups against your head you will hear the difference.
What was supposed to be just an experiment ended up as a big success for me. I am well impressed with the XTC now and as I wrote before there is almost nothing to complain about. The results are not perfect though... The clamp force and isolation improved but the comfort and overall weight lost their positives. Even the extra headband padding the comfort with the original headband is better. For me it's not a major thing as I can use these for 5+ hours and they do not bother me. Their amazing sound is a priority. As a bonus they are looking as the legendary Sony R10 now.
I just wanted to share my experience, my mini project the XTC Custom.
Thanks to John for this amazing sounding headphones.
I will post some more photos later on.
Happy Listening