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I'll be getting a X2 for Christmas.. coming from a DT880. Pretty excited.

 

[Nijjion]

  I'll be getting a X2 for Christmas.. coming from a DT880. Pretty excited.

 
Me 2, I can't wait... my first 'audiophile' grade headphones. Been using Steelseries/fatality headsets for 10 years with my gaming/films.
 
Plugging into a Creative Soundblaster Z for the moment then maybe trying a few dac/amps with it to see if it's needed/like the change.

 

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Not sure how much the X2 will benefit from an amp with it being 35ohms. I have a asus essence STX which has an amp in it and a matrix-m-stage. I'll try them both and see what the difference is.

 

[patchoncas]

  Not sure how much the X2 will benefit from an amp with it being 35ohms. I have a asus essence STX which has an amp in it and a matrix-m-stage. I'll try them both and see what the difference is.

 
But if the source is subpar, at least a DAC would be an improvement.
And a good amp with unity gain would act as a nice buffer and wouldn't hurt.

 

[obsidyen]

  Not sure how much the X2 will benefit from an amp with it being 35ohms. I have a asus essence STX which has an amp in it and a matrix-m-stage. I'll try them both and see what the difference is.

Make sure the output impedance of Essense STX to be lower than 3 ohms. High output impedance amps with low impedance headphones can cause subpar sound quality.

 

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  Make sure the output impedance of Essense STX to be lower than 3 ohms. High output impedance amps with low impedance headphones can cause subpar sound quality.

I read the matrix-m-stage has output impedance of 5ohms.
 
Essence STX has 10ohm output impedance but optimized for 32-600ohm headphones. Does that make sense? Can you control the output impedance? I haven't played with it.

 

[benbenkr]

  I read the matrix-m-stage has output impedance of 5ohms.
 
Essence STX has 10ohm output impedance but optimized for 32-600ohm headphones. Does that make sense? Can you control the output impedance? I haven't played with it.

 
"Optimizing" makes zero sense. 10 ohms for 32ohms is never optimized, period. Will the X2 (or any other 32ohm headsphones) be driven on the STX? Yes. Even 16ohm IEMs or cheapo $5 headphones can. But that's not "optimized".

 

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"Optimizing" makes zero sense. 10 ohms for 32ohms is never optimized, period. Will the X2 (or any other 32ohm headsphones) be driven on the STX? Yes. Even 16ohm IEMs or cheapo $5 headphones can. But that's not "optimized".

Excuse my ignorance but I don't understand how my matrix-m-stage has a 5ohm output impedance and the STX has a 10 ohm output impedance when the m stage is a much more powerful amp.

 

[lofthanza]

Bitten the bullet :atsmile: .. Ordered in amazon and it is arriving tomorrow.. Hopefully it complements my P7.

Waiting for your impression and comparison with the P7.

 

[Uberclocked]

  Excuse my ignorance but I don't understand how my matrix-m-stage has a 5ohm output impedance and the STX has a 10 ohm output impedance when the m stage is a much more powerful amp.

Power has nothing to do with impedance.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

You can have a very powerful amp with near 0 impedance, and a very weak amp with a 23ohm output impedance (Asus Xonar U3). hell, the Beyerdynamic Headzone has a 100-ohm output impedance and it's not really all that powerful.

 

[dryvadeum]

Just got my X2s and all I can say is a genuine 'wow'! How did Philips make these sound balanced yet so engaging?

The bass is the best I've heard from an open dynamic driver. So deep and clean, yet slightly loose to give a sense of rumble. Tylls review is spot on in my opinion - they seem to accentuate everything yet sound very balanced.

They definitely improve with an amp. Running straight from my note 4 sounded good but once I added my Meier Move (it has a DAC too) they definitely opened up and the bass presence increased.

If you like losing yourself in your music sonjuch so that you don't realise you're toe tapping and bopping your head, then buy these! I can't believe I overlooked them for so long. I think this is one of the first purchases where the hype has lived up to my expectations.

 

[SonicWarrior]

Waiting for your impression and comparison with the P7.

In one word spectacular!!!!

 
Please note my below observation and comparison is performed with X2 which has now about 20hrs of usage and P7 with 500+ hours of usage and no amps/dac were used. Also, please note that my personal sound signature preference is about deep extending bass, resolving treble, very good sound stage and definitely not forward mids and my likeness would color based on the above preference (you could guess that I hate Senn Momentum coz they fail on all of the above points )
 
If I have to find a pair of headphones with similar sound signature these two would vie for top spot. Mids are spot on for me (neither forward nor recessed), excellent bass for an open back can, resolving treble (not sibilant) and an extremely impressive sound stage. My P7 initially had a mid bass hump, slightly recessed mids but it started improving as I clocked more hours in it. Once it crossed 200+ hour mark, it settled down nicely and basically it kicked NAD HP50s ass (but HP50 still had better bass extension). At this point, my X2 provides me everything my P7 provided after 200 hours and I am going to assume it is going to get better as it gets more mileage.
 
Bass - Bass sounds very similar to P7 at this point. P7 has slightly more extension but you'd be hard pressed to say if you miss anything in X2. Both are very slightly above neutral.
 
Mids - Mids are exactly where it need to be. Right at the center. Neither forward nor recessed. Tonal quality is spot on. Male voices are very similar between two. Female voices X2 gets the upper hand. Between these two, P7 feels one row behind X2 and both are very near to the centre. No unnatural sweetness and it doesn't feel artificial as if you are sitting in the very first row.
 
Treble - Very resolving and detailed highs but not sibilant or harsh in any way. P7 gets a slightly upper hand in treble resolution which is saying very highly about X2. I haven't heard another can that has P7s excellent treble resolution (whether open or closed). Though I have said both of them are not sibilant, they are very slightly north of neutral and adds a sparkle.
 
Sound stage - For a closed can, P7 has one of the best sound stage but compared with X2, it's X2 all the way. Again, it depends on your source rig (I'll explain below).
 
Source machine:
iphone 6 plus - Both are very similar sounding. In a blind test, I would not be able to tell which is P7 and which is X2. And yes, both of them sounds good but not spectacular. X2 requires more volume to drive (almost 3/4th to sound good).
 
2011 MBP - X2 all the way. Instruments feel very distinct. There is a general airiness with X2 which I don't achieve in P7. At 50% volume, X2 is very very good but for some reason P7 requires more volume than that to achieve the same detail and sound stage.
 
2012 Ipad 3 - Here's the weird thing. P7 sounds much clear and better here at around 60% of volume. X2 sounds better than iphone 6 plus but overall P7 wins here if I just have this ipad to drive. Not sure why but I'll post some more on it after I give my X2 at least 200 hours.
 
I know for sure P7 scales spectacularly well with a proper DAC/AMP and at present I don't have any to see X2. I'll post more on this after I give some more hours in my X2 and also my observations on gaming and movies.
 
But one thing I can say this beautifully complements my P7 and if someone likes P7, they'll love X2. This is the best can I've purchased and I don't see a better allrounder than this till we hit 700-800$ price point. Sure, there may be some cans that can have a wider sound stage or better bass extension but put together everything this is the best bang for buck..
 
Happy listening

 

[lofthanza]

Thank you for your impressions. Very helpful! It seems the P7 can switch gear and scale up better than the X2 with proper amping. However, the X2 is the slightly better all-rounder as i can understand from your impressions.
which one is warmer?
and one last questions, which one would you be able to turn the volume higher while still sounding pleasant and not harsh?
thank you very much!

 

[peter123]

Thank you for your impressions. Very helpful! It seems the P7 can switch gear and scale up better than the X2 with proper amping. However, the X2 is the slightly better all-rounder as i can understand from your impressions.
which one is warmer?
and one last questions, which one would you be able to turn the volume higher while still sounding pleasant and not harsh?
thank you very much!

I agree, great comparison!

Normally I would believe that the X2 would scale better given the fact that it seem to need more power.....