[iFi audio]

Anyone have recommendations on cable upgrades?

You may check FAW's Clair series. Works brilliantly for us!

We've also heard some good stuff about Audiophile Ninja cables, if you're after something affordable.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I just bought a pair.

It’s not a Gibson or a Woox version, assuming it’s the latest batch. Should I return it?

Straight out the box these does not sound good. Bass is muddy, no midrange, and the treble is harsh. After 30-40 hours of burn in the bass became controlled, and the harshness dissolved. The midrange is not in your face but it’s there abd now sounds good. It all depends on the quality of the recording imo.

These are some handsome headphones, It could give Beyerdynamic a run for its money in the design department.

Anyone have recommendations on cable upgrades?

Yup. Ghent Audio has the least expensive, best made single-ended cables I've had. Bought 3 or 4 of them for my X2s and other headphones.

Ghent Xu is an honest, helpful person. Just ask him for what you need.

The one you want is D05 (link below). It's configured with 2 X 6.35mm jacks, but you can ask Ghent to swap out one of those for the 3.5mm jack that plugs into the X2s. A 2M length of this cable configured for the X2 is $16. You simply can't beat that.

https://ghentaudio.com/products/d05?VariantsId=12464

BTW, when I plugged in this D05 cable in my X2s in place of the stock cable, I got a small but noticeable bump in clarity of the headphone. These are great sounding headphones and will justify any upgrade expense you apply.

And BTW, burn them in some more. Somewhere between 100 and 150 hrs they finally stabilize and sound as good as they can sound.

 

[Ufasas]

Steelseries style on X2HR ? Anyone tried? Just got a pair from Aliexpress looking to try, tried pleather, they gave quite bassier sound than original fabric ones, heh. Now time for these, also seem like they will gather dirt less, i hope, lol

PS. Once on, they look fricking awesome

 

[dstarr3]

I love the X2HR, and I honestly enjoy it with stock pads just fine. But I've never found another pad that didn't wreck the tuning for me. With the stock pads, the treble is just on the still-enjoyable side of grainy, but every other pad I've tried pushed the treble graininess into too-much territory for me. Interested to learn how those pads sound.

 

[Twizzleshnizzle]

I love the X2HR, and I honestly enjoy it with stock pads just fine. But I've never found another pad that didn't wreck the tuning for me. With the stock pads, the treble is just on the still-enjoyable side of grainy, but every other pad I've tried pushed the treble graininess into too-much territory for me. Interested to learn how those pads sound.

I liked the Dekoni suede pads but they did change the tuning. I think inevitably we have to remember the driver has a performance ceiling. An improved sound will generally mean an upgrade in headphone.

Although I'm saying that with my X2HR sat next to my ZMF Verite Closed. X2HR is amazing for gaming. Nothing beats it for me.

 

[powerlifter450]

how does size/fit compare on X2 vs. X1?

 

[Ufasas]

This steelseries style pads make X2 sound is changed, bass is warm, moving, enjoyable, I used LG Quad DAC phone (tried LG v60, didn't even force High Impedance mode, it was still enjoyable, the fun sound maintained) + UAPP app, modern jazz (Mammal Hands saxophone + piano, goosebumps are there on the skin), progressive metal (Fallujah) / melodic death metal (Dark Tranquility) / synthwave (Betamaxx) sound extremely fun, moving, ears do not get tired, and I want more songs to be replayed from favourite lists. Though on Fiio K5 DAC @ desktop PC + AIMP 3.5 player music sounds slightly more boomy, bassier, than with original pads, i believe, feels like i need to EQ sound with AIMP sliders a tiny bit, or my head will get tired of that sound. In FPS games like CS:GO, i wouldn't say soundstage changed compared to original ones, probably about same like with original pads (AKG k702 kills X2 easily in terms of soundstage). Need more tests on Fiio k5 DAC + pc

 

[Nirvana Woman]

how does size/fit compare on X2 vs. X1?

Really depends on head size, for me the X1 fit absolutely perfectly, like a soft glove. The X2 tends to slide off my head, it's more bulky, and sags on my ears a bit. But if you have a bigger head then it may fit perfectly, I know for some people the X1 fits too small. I would still consider both of them very comfortable, regardless.

 

[Chap Of Steel]

These arrived yesterday and really like the sound of them.

Can anyone recommend a nice carry-case?

Also, I will mainly be using these with an iPhone or iPad. Should I invest in an amp?

Thanks

 

[Pharmaboy]

Should I invest in an amp?

Yup. These aren't hard to drive, but that doesn't mean they sound their absolute best driven by the inexpensive IC in a phone or tablet.

These headphones actually scale with higher quality sources. When I first got mine ~6 years ago, I listened to it via the original FiiO e10K miniature DAC/amp. I loved the sound, thought it couldn't get any better. Later I had a separate DAC feeding a Lake People G109A amp. Wow, so much better!

 

[Thomasr]

Should I invest in an amp?

Yes. Multiple amps. This is HeadFi.

 

[rez11]

Woo baby, after my HE-400i's plastic piece broke, i needed a new headphone, for 120 on amazon i got the X2HR's, wow talk about bass.
Paired with my modi2u and Project Polaris amp this sound is pretty fun. Really enjoying them, some of my musics vocals are drowned out some but It could just be my ears used to Planar for years and years.

Anyone have any experience with ZMF pads on these? I have ZMF Ori Lambskin pads but i noticed these have pegs that the pads clip onto, is this a problem for these kind of pads without holes?

 

[Pharmaboy]

Woo baby, after my HE-400i's plastic piece broke, i needed a new headphone, for 120 on amazon i got the X2HR's, wow talk about bass.
Paired with my modi2u and Project Polaris amp this sound is pretty fun. Really enjoying them, some of my musics vocals are drowned out some but It could just be my ears used to Planar for years and years.

Anyone have any experience with ZMF pads on these? I have ZMF Ori Lambskin pads but i noticed these have pegs that the pads clip onto, is this a problem for these kind of pads without holes?

This is a very long thread. Some years back I and another member posted results of our pad-swapping experiment.

You can fit pads onto these earcups: you wrap each pad's flap up and around the housing of the earcup itself. When you're done, the pad's thin backing fabric rests on top of the four clips on the face of each earcup base (surprisingly enough, you don't feel them when you put the headphone on)./

Your biggest challenge will be to carefully poke a hole in the flap of the pad on the earcup with the headphone jack--to allow the cable's jack to be inserted fully in the receptacle. Care is needed because the flap stretches quite a big, so a small hole gets bigger quickly.

As for material of the pads: pad-rolling tends to go wrong pretty quickly when your new pads are finished with a very different material than the stock pads they replace; and/or when the new pads have a significantly different profile (ie, outer & inner diameter; thickness; etc) than the stock pads. This headphone's stock pads are velour, which freely allows air movement through the pads; and they are all one thickness, with no thick side vs thin side (unlike the Ori pads). The ZMF Ori pads are terrific pads, but deviate from the stock pads quite a lot (unperforated lambskin vs velour, so I would expect them to really alter the sound a lot--especially by bumping up the bass.

The pads I tried were (if memory serves) Brainwavz 100mm diameter pleather. The shape and profile matched the stock pads, but the material did not. Those pads bumped up the bass too much to be acceptable.

The only pads I could really recommend for this application are Brainwavz 100mm velours. They're inexpensive, and they're as close as you'll get to the stock pads:

https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/coll...ts/headphone-memory-foam-earpads-round-velour

 

[Jasius]

I'm not super happy with the comfort of my x2HRs, I've stretched them and they're loose now, but almost too loose. The sound is a little muddy.

I some of the music I enjoy:

• The National
• Aurora
• Dave Matthews Band
• Ghost
• The Black Keys
• Taylor Swift
• The Hellacopters
• Rival Sons
• Of Monsters and Men
• Hans Zimmer
• CHVRCHES
• Biffy Clyro
• Bear's Den

Also gaming, but nothing too competitive, the occasional Overwatch 2 and some FPS games.

I'm on the fence about dealing with these and getting a below $200 dac/amp or getting new headphones.

I'm between the HD560s and Tygr 300r, does anyone have all 3 and experience with the difference? I'm leaning towards the HD560s only because of how comfy the HD555s are. Are the Tygr 300 better?

One of my comfort issues is when I put my head back on my chair, the roundness of the cups bump against the chair when I turn my head(I have 2 monitors).

I even bought Denoki pads for these and it's not much better, they really push hard on my temple... or id until a long time of bending at various points.

I have:

• X2HR well stated above how I feel.
• HD555 very light and comfortable but the sound quality isn't 100% there
• HD630VB what an awful headphone, was gifted air miles and got them from there
• ATH50 meh, uncomfortable, terrible sound

I know it's more of a sidegrade than an upgrade, but in Canada these prices are stupid higher than they should be.

 

[Ufasas]

I'm not super happy with the comfort of my x2HRs, I've stretched them and they're loose now, but almost too loose. The sound is a little muddy.

I some of the music I enjoy:

• The National
• Aurora
• Dave Matthews Band
• Ghost
• The Black Keys
• Taylor Swift
• The Hellacopters
• Rival Sons
• Of Monsters and Men
• Hans Zimmer
• CHVRCHES
• Biffy Clyro
• Bear's Den

Also gaming, but nothing too competitive, the occasional Overwatch 2 and some FPS games.

I'm on the fence about dealing with these and getting a below $200 dac/amp or getting new headphones.

I'm between the HD560s and Tygr 300r, does anyone have all 3 and experience with the difference? I'm leaning towards the HD560s only because of how comfy the HD555s are. Are the Tygr 300 better?

One of my comfort issues is when I put my head back on my chair, the roundness of the cups bump against the chair when I turn my head(I have 2 monitors).

I even bought Denoki pads for these and it's not much better, they really push hard on my temple... or id until a long time of bending at various points.

I have:

• X2HR well stated above how I feel.
• HD555 very light and comfortable but the sound quality isn't 100% there
• HD630VB what an awful headphone, was gifted air miles and got them from there
• ATH50 meh, uncomfortable, terrible sound

I know it's more of a sidegrade than an upgrade, but in Canada these prices are stupid higher than they should be.

heard good things about 300R, but will not try, at this point i think it's too much to be spent. But got x2hr, hd560s and akg k702, the last two are ten times better for online competitive gaming than x2hr for me, x2hr can get too boomy in online games compared to the other two, hard to pickup sound cues.. Comfort wise hd560s like most of the same shape sennheisers - very comfy, k702 also very comfy, but will look too big on your head.