[Pickaxe]

  Hey all,

I recently acquired the X2s and want to share the impressions that i had. Note this is my first decent headphone pair. The best one i had was an old plantronics 7.1 closed back with its own soundcard (think it was about 50 euros). Also i'm not an audiophile and i don't know all the jargon concerning audio.

''Fidelio x2s sound great off the bat on any portable device (mobile, laptop)''
So after plugging this in in my htc one m7 and then trying it out on my 400 euro laptop, i couldnt say that they sounded great off the bat. I listened to FLAC's off both of the devices and they sounded a bit better than the 320kbps ones from spotify. However in a lot of songs on spotifiy(yes 320kbps was turned on) whenever the songs have a quiet moment i can hear some background hiss, i hear this in a bit more that half of the songs i tried.

And somehow the sound quality seems to be slightly off, like it's not as clear as i want it to be. Its worse on my laptop (it must have a **** soundcard and with all the computing going on i would expectthis) than on my phone. The old plantronics with its own soundcard sounded better on the first try than these.  I'm not saying its terrible, its just that i expected it to sound GREAT right off the bat, after reading all those hyped up reviews. Maybe they meant that its ''able to run'' on portable devices instead of ''sound good/great right off the bat''

The bass also sounds a little off sometimes like its not extending enough and sometimes sounds a little grainy and distorted. But i think that has something to do with the one song i listened to. The bass for movies is great though but again the sound quality for example on the star wars trailer on youtube, is not optimal and i know these headphones must be able to perform better with a DAC and amp and give me a cleaner sound. The vocals and the soundstage are amazing on these, i expected nothing less . I was going to get the mixamp(acts as a DAC) with the magni 2 for use with the ps4 as i will be using these headphones mainly for gaming and movies. MAybe some thoughts on mixamp with surround processing vs schiit modi for ps4? 

Im hoping that an external dac will solve at least the hissing and that an amp could do something about the SQ. Because im a bit scared. If this is what a 250 euro low impedance headphone gives me, than i wouldnt wanna know how the 598s would have sounded. Any fi'ers here with the same issues? Again im not here trying to bash on these phones but i honestly dont know how people were labeling it as ''great'' when played from a laptop or mobile device. 

Sorry for my jittery English and not so fluent transition of the sentences.

There is absolutely zero audible difference between FLAC and 320kbps. As for background hiss, it's indeed an issue with your source.

 

[Quinto]

  Hey all,

I recently acquired the X2s and want to share the impressions that i had. Note this is my first decent headphone pair. The best one i had was an old plantronics 7.1 closed back with its own soundcard (think it was about 50 euros). Also i'm not an audiophile and i don't know all the jargon concerning audio.

''Fidelio x2s sound great off the bat on any portable device (mobile, laptop)''
So after plugging this in in my htc one m7 and then trying it out on my 400 euro laptop, i couldnt say that they sounded great off the bat. I listened to FLAC's off both of the devices and they sounded a bit better than the 320kbps ones from spotify. However in a lot of songs on spotifiy(yes 320kbps was turned on) whenever the songs have a quiet moment i can hear some background hiss, i hear this in a bit more that half of the songs i tried.

And somehow the sound quality seems to be slightly off, like it's not as clear as i want it to be. Its worse on my laptop (it must have a **** soundcard and with all the computing going on i would expectthis) than on my phone. The old plantronics with its own soundcard sounded better on the first try than these.  I'm not saying its terrible, its just that i expected it to sound GREAT right off the bat, after reading all those hyped up reviews. Maybe they meant that its ''able to run'' on portable devices instead of ''sound good/great right off the bat''

The bass also sounds a little off sometimes like its not extending enough and sometimes sounds a little grainy and distorted. But i think that has something to do with the one song i listened to. The bass for movies is great though but again the sound quality for example on the star wars trailer on youtube, is not optimal and i know these headphones must be able to perform better with a DAC and amp and give me a cleaner sound. The vocals and the soundstage are amazing on these, i expected nothing less . I was going to get the mixamp(acts as a DAC) with the magni 2 for use with the ps4 as i will be using these headphones mainly for gaming and movies. MAybe some thoughts on mixamp with surround processing vs schiit modi for ps4? 

Im hoping that an external dac will solve at least the hissing and that an amp could do something about the SQ. Because im a bit scared. If this is what a 250 euro low impedance headphone gives me, than i wouldnt wanna know how the 598s would have sounded. Any fi'ers here with the same issues? Again im not here trying to bash on these phones but i honestly dont know how people were labeling it as ''great'' when played from a laptop or mobile device. 

Sorry for my jittery English and not so fluent transition of the sentences.

Don't worry, dac/source will do a lot for the X2. it can't give you what's not there

 

[FredrikT92]

Nobody heard X2 with Woo Audio? Specificly WA6-SE? 

 

[voldemortnbk]

  Nobody heard X2 with Woo Audio? Specificly WA6-SE? 

Yeah, i had follow this thread for a very long time and saw only few guys pair X2 with tube amp, seems like people don't think about pairing X2 with a tube amp. The only tube amp i remember appeared in this thread is a Little Dot.

 

[lhayati]

This story terrifies me. My well used pair of HD650s may end-up on eBay if this holds-up on my end.

Although to be fair to the HD650's I don't think I was ever able to amp them to their "full potential" currently only have a Fiio e10k in my possession, so since these are much easier to run that could be why the difference is so large

 

[madwolfa]

So after plugging this in in my htc one m7 and then trying it out on my 400 euro laptop, i couldnt say that they sounded great off the bat. I listened to FLAC's off both of the devices and they sounded a bit better than the 320kbps ones from spotify. However in a lot of songs on spotifiy(yes 320kbps was turned on) whenever the songs have a quiet moment i can hear some background hiss, i hear this in a bit more that half of the songs i tried.

Yeah dude, your source is a toast. I agree that they might work OK from a phone/laptop but FAR from optimal.

 

[TStewart422]

Although to be fair to the HD650's I don't think I was ever able to amp them to their "full potential" currently only have a Fiio e10k in my possession, so since these are much easier to run that could be why the difference is so large

Seriously, get yourself an O2 + ODAC, man! You can get them cheap on Massdrop right now!

 

[tonyo123]

Dragosto
 
The hiss is likely the laptop electronics and the files you are listening to. A good DAC and well recorded 24 bit FLAC file (or other lossless format) will get rid of that. The headphones contribute minimal distortion and hiss and likely you won't hear it anyway. Break them in by playing them for 2-3 days before you make critical listening judgement. The reason the Planktronics may have sounded 'better' is that they don't have the extension into the highs or the lows like the X2s. Without a good source and well recorded music they will sound cleaner which you may perceive as better. If you want to buy a reasonably priced DAC get a Meridian Explorer or an Audioquest Dragonfly or a Musiland Monitor 02. There are plenty of choices in the USB DAC area.

 

[Uberclocked]

  Although to be fair to the HD650's I don't think I was ever able to amp them to their "full potential" currently only have a Fiio e10k in my possession, so since these are much easier to run that could be why the difference is so large

The e10k should be able to power the HD650.

 

[mysticstryk]

The e10k should be able to power the HD650.

Listenable, yes, but far from optimal.

 

[TStewart422]

Out for delivery! If they can manage it before I get home from work, I won't say anything bad about USPS until next year!

 

[arcwindz]

After reading Tyll's review @ Innerfidelity overnight I rushed to amazon's site & put the X2's in my shopping cart 59 seconds before the 3 AM Deal of the Day deadline. I then mulled it over for about 40 minutes before finally making the purchase. I certainly didn't need another set but I'm a sucker for good bang-for-the-buck headphones that punch above their weight. Using my Discover card for payment I earned 5% Rewards which will eat most of the shipping cost. I hope the X2's mate well with my iFi ICAN Micro amp & Parasound ZDac. 

Yes! Please do a review of X2 on ifi micro
I pretty much want to know more about this pairing.

 

[madwolfa]

Out for delivery! If they can manage it before I get home from work, I won't say anything bad about USPS until next year!

 
I have my fourth pair out for delivery too, LOL. 

 

[Hi-Fi EDU]

   
I have my fourth pair out for delivery too, LOL. 

Good, you decided to go for it. I would have too. You know what they say, "fourth times the charm."

 

[madwolfa]

  Good, you decided to go for it. I would have too. You know what they say, "fourth times the charm."

 
Yeah, I couldn't miss the deal too.