Not trying to disagree with you: what you hear is what you hear. But I just don't hear sibilance in my X2s...not to any real/significant degree. I just cued up a number of cuts that are borderline bright, depending on electronics and headphones. And through the X2s, they're just not bright, neither vocalists or instrumentals. In fact, the bass and soundstaging are so fine that I keep forgetting my little "mission" (find the sibilance in the X2s) & get sucked into this or that earhole.
Maybe it's my electronics, all carefully chosen to avoid unnatural brightness (to which I'm extremely sensitive) and give me tonality that I hear in live music. Right now I'm listening through the Violectric V281, which is not inherently bright--though it is almost absurdly dynamic, and those shocking transients can sometimes be mistaken for brightness (they're not--in fact, the notes roll in with a wallop from top to bottom of the frequency range). The V281 is a bass monster, and the X2s are right there, keeping up. My DAC is the non-oversampling R2 R design from Audio GD, the NOS 19. It's the least "digital" DAC I've ever heard: zero glare or tonal thin-ness; instead, a full, organic, relaxed sound with excellent, slightly "wet" sounding bass (ie, not dry, cut-outs of instruments, but full-bodied & impactful).
The X2s sound AMAZING through this equipment. They also sound pretty amazing through all my other HP amps, also quite good through my favorite el cheapo delta-sigma DAC, the Peachtree Audio DAC iTx (transients are sharper than w/the NOS 19, for sure...but the X2s still don't really sound sibilant/bright).
(I'll have great difficulty getting the X2s off my head tonight)
Anyway, I'm hearing what I always hear from the X2s...rich, expansive soundstaging, the kind sealed designs never quite get; a relaxing, friendly sound with lots of bass, mid-bass, and lower midrange energy--and little or no glare, brightness, sibilance, etc. I'm not sure if the X2s are V-shaped, U-shaped, or just a little tipped up in the bass and slightly down in the mids. I've surely heard headphones sound "bright" (just not these).
I've heard other headphones that do "technicalities" better than the X2s--but so what? For $200 they're not only a screaming bargain, but they suit my sonic preferences as well as any component I've heard in ~40 years of audiophile wandering.[/QUOTE]
FWIW the way you describe them are identical to the way I feel about them. Maybe we just got equally old ears
Like you I also have great systems to connect it too and soundstage for example is much better through the Burson V2+ than it was through my old FiiO E12 (which had a very narrow presentation, even the Cayin C5 was much better in that area), to my ears the soundstage is on par with that one my Q701's but feels more natural. Like you said: no one is wrong and we do all hear things different but amplifier, source, pairing and music/recordings does also play a part in the whole picture.
Edit: don't know what happened with that quote, this new site........ sigh.......
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