My pair just came in!!!
Initial impressions:
Comfort
I love how much lighter these are! Yes it's only around +-60g difference, but you can actually feel it in your hands and head! Because of this, it automatically feels lighter and more comfortable in your head.
Pads wise however, I love the plushness of the old pads. It has this nice pillow appeal when worn. However, this means it kind of compresses harder against your head and creates a vacuum, which some ppl hate about Audeze's memory foam pads.
The new pads feel effortless on the head. There's very little vacuum and and clamp pressure. The plushness is gone, but now it feels airier, lighter and softer.
Sound
Non-eq comparison
Back to back switching between non-eq old and new X is no comparison. The new X just sounds much cleaner. Soundstage somewhat wider, and I'm able to pick out details better in the new X.
Upper-mids are very recessed on the old X in some songs and switching between the 2 makes that more apparent. It's true that with the new X, eq is now completely optional!
EQ Comparison
Both are following Resolve's baseline EQ. I tend to have the same tastes in preferring the harman target, so I do prefer the EQ profile. But I will need to do more testing between eq and non-eq for the new X to confirm this fully.
My immediate impressions switching between the 2 with EQ is that the new X is punchier and more dynamic. The old X sounds slightly sluggish in comparison with less detail in the bass. This is with a 150 hz low shelf @ 4.5db for the new X and 8.5db for the old. At 4.5db, the punch is insane and the clarity and cleanliness is unrivaled. So much so even at 8.5db, the punch and slam of the old X can't come close. The old X sounds slightly muddier in comparison. Boosting up the bass with the new X to 7db gives slightly more punch, but muddies the sound a little.
In terms of rumble, I feel like the old X does sub rumble better than the new. I need to listen to more sub based music in order to verify this. Could be due to the pads distance and the vacuum created through them.
The new X sounds slightly wider in comparison, and imaging sounds just a little more precise particularly in the treble. I am able to pick out hi-hats and separate things a lot clearer with the new X. On the old X, there's slightly more melding of sounds during busy passages. The new X separation gets very extremely close to the Arya by memory, but I'd have to do a side by side comparison to verify this. Loving the details of the treble! They are detailed without being too harsh, whereas the old X gets slightly harsh on the same tracks. This could certainly be due to the difference made by the eq profiles.
These are just my very initial impressions! I will be doing more tests throughout this week and next, and will update with more impressions!
