[Pace]

I'll share my experiences in this thread aswell.

I bought the X-meridian couple weeks ago. I was thinking about upgrading my whole rig except my headphones (DT-880s) during the next few months. I had to sell my Aria before I could buy a new amplifier, and it was a clear downgrade to go from Aria to the stock OP-amps on the x-meridian. The bass was gone, as was the definition; shrill was the best word to describe the sound. Considering the relatively low cost of new OP-amps, I thought I'd give them a go before buying the new headphone amplifier, so I ordered five OPA2134s; which were the only ones I could find easily in Finland.

Installed op-amps, and I for one was very pleasantly suprised. The bass was back and more prominent than it was with the Aria! Though didn't have the same level of definition as with Aria, the warmth that these op-amps brought suit the DT-880s more than well. I'm so content with the sound that I'm thinking about postponing the purchase of a new headphone amplifier.

I was honestly suprised to find out how much of a difference the OP-amps really made; I guess the OPA2134s just like driving the load that the DT-880s are...

 

[ROBSCIX]

@Pace an others, I have tried the OPA2134's aswell as others and while the 2134's are not bad there are better ones. The LM4562's are very nice but very unforgiving and revealing. They are no good for playback of porrly encoded MP3 etc. If your really heavy into bass music Rap, techno etc. I would suggest giving the 2227's a try. I got my LM's from a group buy and I was blown away.
Actually I have 2134's, 2227, 2107's if anybody is interested PM me...

 

[oqvist]

For those who like to mod but don´t want to solder and stuff the X-meridian is great. I mean to customize the sound on my elite PRO I need to get an external amp which add to the cost. playing with equalizer never seem to give you the same effect as changing opamps. The Elite PRO is already more expensive than the X-meridian.

What would have been so cool for us headphone owners is if we say could run one set of opamps on at least 2 outputs and then just switch output when we want to use another opamp lol. For headphones you don´t need to change all four opamps however I guess if you run dolby headphone it may be preferred?

Elite Pro though to my ears is a step above the X-meridian even with the 5462s in term of sound quality. Partly because I really like the X-fis sound signature. The Elite PRO has more in common with the X-fis sound signature just much fuller and complete then the X-meridians.

I also noted that with this CMSS3D don´t screw up the sound as much as on my x-fi... However my X-fi had definiatly passed it´s prime so maybe just that... Going to rma it.

But as for the X-meridian by the reviews I read I got the impression that it would be ever so slightly better than the X-fi so I wasn´t to disappointed with it even if I ended up exchanging it for the Elite PRO.

In the end it´s the way they present the music that matters since they both can output clean sound

 

[ROBSCIX]

I personally think the E-Pro is slightly lacking when compared to the stock X-Meridian setup properly. Compared to the X-Meridian with LM4562's and proper configuration, X-fi can't touch it. That's to my ears though, I have had the LM installed for quite a while adn my X-Meridian is set up perfectly. I still have more mods to do to increase the sound quality further. The are both very clear and nice sounding cards.
It's possible I am just very used to th sound of the XM.