[Mink]

" this week I ordered a pair of Avantone Planars "
Look forward to hearing your thoughts on these

Yeah, looking foward to my thoughts as well

 

[Riversalt]

I couldn't resist hitting the hammer U $ 89 promo / aliexpress
Fidelio X1s

 

[Youcan1]

First sound impressions for music, I agree with a lot of what has been said. They toned down the bass and upped the treble compared to the X2. In some tracks the bass is fine, others it feels lacking. The midrange seems similar to what was on the X2. Maybe pulled forward a little bit. The soundstage feels a little smaller to me too. I definitely get more treble energy out of these which can be good or bad depending on the song.

 

[trellus]

I couldn't resist hitting the hammer U $ 89 promo / aliexpress
Fidelio X1s

Wow, that's a great price, is that still going on? Which seller?

 

[Jonfairway]

I couldn't resist hitting the hammer U $ 89 promo / aliexpress
Fidelio X1s

wow cheap !! Bargain !!!

 

[Riversalt]

Wow, that's a great price, is that still going on? Which seller?

I used discount coupon for drop price U$110 >> U$89

U$106
https://pt.aliexpress.com/item/1005...68#1000022185#1000066059#0_668#3468#15608#141

 

[Mr Trev]

I think I remember reading somewhere that those X1s were made specifically for the Chinese marketplace.
They may have a different tuning

 

[cel4145]

Those of you who have been on the fence, Phillips X3 just dropped to $215 on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Philips-X3-Headphones-Multi-Layer-diaphragms/dp/B0884XTXS8/

 

[Youcan1]

Gaming is pretty good on these things. Not quite as good as the X2 due to the lack of sub-bass, but still rock solid. I tried it with the new Amnesia and with a shooter.

 

[soundblast75]

I got these too and they completely took me by surprise, i vaguely remember hearing x1 or was it x2 (no idea) long ago and being totally unimpressed.
X3 i find fun and highly enjoyable, classical is awesome and while bass isn't supposed to be a fun one it still made my gf dance to the new Faithless and concluded that this was a high end experience
That came mostly from Woo W11 lol

Ps. Don't get the hostility X3 gets, why, it's such a great experience, perhaps too sibilant chifi gear used and softer cans sound better on most of these reviews..

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

Well that was all very interesting 77 pages of info
I know this is gonna throw a cat amongst the pidgeons so to speak but
The X2HR ( one of the very many headphones I own ) can be modded to tame the slightly annoying metalic sibliance it has with some recordings very easily

I seem to recall it has been mentioned before .. I added some fine cotton wool face wipes ( split into 2 from 1 ) and a HD 25 felt pad under the original pads ( takes a bit of hit and miss ) but this reduces the "splash" it has in that grating female vocal area .. and by some margin improved "bass extension" for some reason ( no idea why ) !
.. for me this kept the FUN aspect of the X2HR and tamed the vocal issues it has..
after all this tampering
why not just save up and buy a Audeze LCD 2 classic ?

The X2HR is great with electronic music ...
The LCD 2 classic is great with just about anything..

Just thought I would mention this also.. I have an old pair of Grado SR125i's modded with the "holes mod" ( 4 of them ) and the Bowls cups .. and they sound frighteningly like the X2HR's !!! Fun ,Lively, open and detailed.... and cost pennys second hand with just a bit of playing about

The LCD-2C isn't good with all music. Recessed mids, heavily, making female voices sound muted. Male voices sound harsh due to the 1k peak, which is the dominant aspect of the 2Cs FR. Bass on the 2C is linear, so natural decay isn't present resulting in a plastic timbre and almost weak sounding base. Audeze headphones are basically like an uncalibrated TV or monitor they need EQ to fix the issues otherwise they don't sound right out of the box.

 

[cel4145]

X3 is going to have more new competition in addition to the HD560S in this price range. The Drop special edition HE5XX goes on sale tomorrow for $220: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/drop-x-hifiman-he-5xx.945708/

It was a big blunder of Philips to release it at such a high MSRP. Between how everyone expects the price to drop, and then the HD560S and now HE5XX. They priced too high to capitalize on the excitement of a new release.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

The LCD-2C isn't good with all music. Recessed mids, heavily, making female voices sound muted. Male voices sound harsh due to the 1k peak, which is the dominant aspect of the 2Cs FR. Bass on the 2C is linear, so natural decay isn't present resulting in a plastic timbre and almost weak sounding base. Audeze headphones are basically like an uncalibrated TV or monitor they need EQ to fix the issues otherwise they don't sound right out of the box.

Not sure I can agree there. The LCD-3 was one of the most godlike experiences I've ever had with headphones.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

X3 is going to have more new competition in addition to the HD560S in this price range. The Drop special edition HE5XX goes on sale tomorrow for $220: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/drop-x-hifiman-he-5xx.945708/

It was a big blunder of Philips to release it at such a high MSRP. Between how everyone expects the price to drop, and then the HD560S and now HE5XX. They priced too high to capitalize on the excitement of a new release.

It's really got me second guessing my zeal to pick up a pair. The X2 I thought was well worth the $200+ at the time and even beat my beloved HD650 in some cases but this seems like a misstep.

The search continues...

 

[xRaptorxPunisher]

Not sure I can agree there. The LCD-3 was one of the most godlike experiences I've ever had with headphones.

I used to own the LCD-3. Started as a pre fazor, drivers failed, so new drivers had the early fazors, failed in 2017 so had the "improved fazors" the original version I enjoyed the extra resolution bump from the LCD-2 but apart from that they didn't offer anything special at all. It depends on your definition of godlike but as a guitarist they destroy strings with their off timbre and female vocals are heavily recessed. Audeze phones all offer clean low end extension but many people seem to have it in their head Audeze phones have this incredible bass, they really don't without EQ it's just flat, undistorted bass which is nice for EQ calibration.

Natural timbre to me is the most important aspect of a headphone, along with distortion. Why I didn't list FR is if you have the other two traits, the FR is yours to play with using EQ. Even Audeze know their headphones need and sound better EQ, their target is off, that tent at 1k after a linear response is off and the massive dip then rebound at 6k or 5k depending on the lottery of the drivers adds more oddities.

The Philips X3 has a more natural response then the LCD-3. The LCD-3 though like most planers are technically semi open so they will have their inherent traits but strictly timbre, cohesion, X3 is even favord.