Hello folks!
This is my first time here. I just received a pair of X2s this afternoon. This is my first semi-serious set of earphones. (I'm coming from Sennheiser PX100s, aka budget tier.) I live in an apartment with people above and below me. That prohibits me from using my receivers/speakers/subs at anything other than a low volume, so I thought that maybe it was time to invest in some slightly nicer headphones. I had almost made up my mind to go with the Senn 598s at one point, but decided to pull the trigger on the X2s after reading a lot here and watching some reviews on youtube.
Been listening to these for a couple of hours now...to say that they're a step up from the PX100s would be an understatement. I'm hearing subtle things in familiar tracks that I've never noticed before, and the overall clarity is beautiful. The thing that surprised me the most about them was the bass...it's so heavy that I actually had to lower that end of the EQ to stop it from overpowering everything else. If the bass is even heavier on the X1s, I can't even imagine! Needless to say, I am not a bass head, although I appreciate it being deep and full when called for by the source material. I may test listening to FLAC files later, but right now my music is 320K mp3 so that my entire collection can fit onto a 32GB microSD card.
The stock cable is way too long for my purposes, so I grabbed one of these: http://www.amazon.com/KabelDirekt-3-5mm-Stereo-Audio-Cable/dp/B00DI89Z8E/ref=pd_sim_e_4?ie=UTF8&refRID=15M2H1YEQCP1B0EG2WBM Happy to report that it sounds identical.
I went into this knowing that I might also need to invest in a portable amp (I have 2 Yamaha home theater receivers, but most of my listening will be done on an Android tablet with PowerAmp.) I can't say that I'm really leaning in that direction after listening to the X2s. With the volume slightly over 50%, it's as loud as I would ever want it to be, and it sounds good enough that I'm asking myself why I'd bother spending more on an amp. I guess the one reason would be if they drained the tablet's battery a lot faster than the PX100s did...we'll see how that goes.
The only complaint I have right out of the gate is the comfort. The earpads are very comfortable to me, but this headset is clamping in on the sides of my head too hard and giving me a headache. Hopefully, it will lessen as these get broken in, or I can try to stretch it out a little. They are a little heavy, but I think I'll get used to the feeling.
Overall, the X2s seem to offer a lot of bang-for-the-buck, assuming that I can do something about the clamping pressure. I'm glad that I went with these...thanks for all the info that helped me make this decision!
P.S. No leaking alien fluids thus far. I will report any abductions, probes, etc promptly if they occur.
I doubt it's objective.
