So, I recently purchased this
XTC2 Open (Beryllium 65 ohm) from
JM Audio and have spent some solid time with them over the past 5 weeks (around 500+ hrs burn-in time). I posted something similar today on the 2 big Facebook headphone groups but anyway...this is my "review" of them...I guess.
I was one of the very few customers who chose the 'Scalpel' tuning which is basically the most detailed, revealing and most transparent that John is willing to go without it sounding over the top. 'Scalpel' tuning is borderline approaching sibilant so it's not for everyone, however, I can safely say that I'm extremely happy that I went with this tuning. Why you may ask? Because my other reference daily driver headphone is my
Meze 109 Pro.
For those that don't know...the 109 Pro could be described as "neutral-bright" with very good bass/sub bass extension also with a tiny bit of warmth. I LOVE this sound signature and through dozens of back and forth emails, I kindly requested for John to tune my XTC2 Open to a similar sound profile to my Meze's, i.e. the 'Scalpel' tuning.
John did good. REAL damn good.
I would like to express what a pleasure it was working with John. Extremely friendly, helpful and responsive to emails. He couldn't have made the process more easier and enjoyable. Thanks for putting up with me throughout the process John lol.
I'm really glad I gave the drivers of these cans some time to settle in a bit, as well as my brain lol cause at first...I could tell immediately that they sounded good but my goodness...how they sound now is something else.
Over the interwebs, I heard basically everyone who owned these XTC2 Open's mention how incredible the soundstage was. Again, initially when I first got them, I thought...yeah these are pretty good in terms of width, height, depth etc...now they appear to be doing some crazy things lol. It's quite shocking how 3 dimensional everything is. I often experienced moments of euphoria and it became extremely addictive.
For context, I have a stack from
Gustard connected to my gaming PC.
U18 DDC + X18 DAC as well as recently purchasing Gustard's new high end 'flagship' amp...the
H26. (Around 5-6 watts pc at 32 Ohms)
Vocals on the XTC2 Open are beautiful. I asked for John to have a revealing and present midrange, however, not too forward...no super elevated upper midrange "honk"...with the tiniest dip around the 2-3kHz region of the frequency response to aid the idea of "spaciousness". This was nailed almost perfectly. These headphones are very revealing lol and can show you how good (or bad) your source is, heh. Instruments and timbre appear very realistic and grounded. Imaging is very precise and combined with the large holographic soundstage...sounds just get plucked out of mid air from nowhere and will sometimes have you looking over your shoulder out of sheer paranoia lol.
Separation of notes/instruments/voices is actually quite mind blowing. It does this so effortlessly like it's nothing. A significant step up compared to my Meze cans.
The treble is equally stunning. Not only is it very extended but it is very smooth too...only showing sibilance if it's in the recording. As much as I love my Meze 109 Pro, there's a fairly well documented peak in it's treble between 6-8kHz which was very bothersome for many. I could hear it occasionally but it was never that bad for me personally except only with some truly awful recordings. I'm in my 40's now and the last time I checked...I can hear comfortably up to around 16kHz which ain't great but maybe not completely horrible. Anyway...my XTC2 Open certainly had the 109 Pro beat in the highs because I couldn't detect ANY peaks. It's basically buttery smooth.
The real star of the show is the bass and sub bass. Bloody hell...never in my headphone "journey" have I heard such a robust articulated low end. There is so much goddamn texture and nimbleness. Because I opted for the beryllium coated driver, the bass is friggin fast too lol. As mentioned before, I opted for the 'Scalpel' tuning as this is the most neutral, brightest and most detailed sound profile offered by JM Audio, so....because of this...naturally the bass is less emphasized compared to, for example, a 'Warm yet Detailed' tuning. This is exactly what I wanted, John can easily dial in more bass for YOU if that's what you want for your own personal flavour. Hell...he can tune your headphones to be legitimate bass cannons if you want lol.
On a technical level, these headphones are amazing. What strikes me the most is just how effortless they are at basically everything you throw at them with almost all genres of music. I asked John to emphasize speed, strong attacks and decays...I guess similar to a Focal Utopia. Man...he certainly delivered here cause these things are dynamic as hell. When called upon...these XTC2 Open's will smash you to pieces lol.
The only negative for me is the headband. When I first put these cans on my head...they actually felt extremely comfortable. 2 hrs in...they were not so comfy and I got a hot spot at the top of my head. I guess this is not really a negative though because my head shape resembles a small free range egg. I think most people with larger, better built, sexier head shapes would have zero issues. In fact...the vast majority of reviews/impressions mention how extremely comfortable they are.
Taking advice from a fellow XTC2 owner...I purchased a ZMF suede Co-Pilot head strap which helped out my comfort issues a bit but unfortunately was impractical cause the ZMF pad didn't fit the headband properly. I found another much cheaper solution (wool headband cover with 2 small leather headband cushions inside of it) which totally solved my issue.
To try and sum up...these headphones seemingly punch WAAAAAAY above their weight. Please take all of what I say with a grain of salt though because I've barely heard any "summit fi" flagship cans outside of a few at Canjam London in a noisy environment. Many say that all XTC headphones (Open & Closed) compete with the high end flagships from all the major big boy manufacturers. I can't make this claim personally, however, I can compare to what I already own...which is my Meze 109 Pro and
OG Focal Clear Pro.
You might've noticed that I've mentioned absolutely nothing about my Focal Clear compared to my new XTC2 Open...until now. This is because, in my opinion...my Focal's don't compare. The XTC2 is in a different league. Personally, I thought my Meze 109 Pro was much better than my Focal Clear...even though the Clear is probably the 'technically' better headphone. Hence why I think the Clears are not even in the running lol.
Honestly, I don't see how you can go wrong here cause John from JM Audio tunes your headphone to your own preference. If you're not entirely happy with your tuning...you can send it back to him for a re-tune...free of charge. (You only pay for shipping one way). You can choose 2 different drivers (Biowool or Beryllium) and with different impedances if you pick the beryllium driver (32, 64 or 300 ohm).
For £900, these headphones REALLY don't suck lol
