[SpiderNhan]

I own the XS and had the Urbanite on-ear for a short while. In terms of sound, comfort, style and portability I think the XS is better. The Urbanite definitely had better isolation, but the recessed treble and awkward fit (they kept sliding off my head) made me get rid of them.

 

[Lorspeaker]

u tried hair pins?   

 
ya..i tried it again...might be a problem staying on smoothheads.

 

[depleted]

So guys I tried the XL today and I was pretty surprised, I didn't think these would be this good. The bass is strong and deep, but not overpowering. Actually it felt stronger than my XB500, that has a mellower, softer bass. The mids are warm but not recessed, Adele didn't sound "crystal clear" but wasn't cavernous and dark either, the highs are defined but not fatiguing to me (and I am very treble sensitive). The highs could have a little more detail but they weren't far from my X2. The comfort is great, the cups could be bigger but to me they were perfect. Build quality is stellar. I really liked them, I'll consider buying myself a pair!

 

[Lorspeaker]

Great, what gears did u hear it thru?

 

[depleted]

I am temporarily without amps, so I tried them like "on-the-go", with my iPhone 4S, iPad mini 2 and Macbook Pro, they sounded pretty much the same with either.

 

[lawrecedent]

So guys I tried the XL today and I was pretty surprised, I didn't think these would be this good. The bass is strong and deep, but not overpowering. Actually it felt stronger than my XB500, that has a mellower, softer bass. The mids are warm but not recessed, Adele didn't sound "crystal clear" but wasn't cavernous and dark either, the highs are defined but not fatiguing to me (and I am very treble sensitive). The highs could have a little more detail but they weren't far from my X2. The comfort is great, the cups could be bigger but to me they were perfect. Build quality is stellar. I really liked them, I'll consider buying myself a pair!

I also tried a pair recently and totally agree with your observations. Comfort and style were also really good, a bit like beats but for people who actually like music and have a real sense of style and design. I found straight out of my Note 3 I had to turn the volume up quite high to get the best out of them but through my fiio e18 they sounded really good across the whole frequency range. I got them for £90 BNIB from ebay which made them a steal in my book.

 

[depleted]

90£ is an excellent price!

Anyway today I tried the on-ear ones in a store, memory wise, the bass feels a bit stronger and the highs just slightly more recessed, but they sounded very very similar, they were comfortable too (albeit more time is needed to know the long term comfort). So very good cans in both their versions!


Inviato dal mio iPad utilizzando Tapatalk

 

[DisCHORDDubstep]

The original solos are way worse, just to tell u that. The solo 2 is still quite an outrageous mess, but it is still an improvement

... I find the solo2 a lot better than the urbanite. Tyll doesn't find it to be a mess...

 

[TripBitShooter]

I do find the solo 2 to be a mess due to the heavy bleeding of the bass into the mids, muddying them up. It is still better than the urbanite though, i forgot to mention. The urbanite is quite heavily recessed in the treble and sounds very closed in, while the treble on the solo 2 is still decent

 

[depleted]

Next time I'll go to a store I'll try the solo2, I tried it once but didn't remember it as particularly good. But maybe was just preconceptions, the brain will trick us to believe what we want to believe, it's very hard to be subjective sometimes, in particular with polarizing matters, like the infamous Beats 

 

[Lorspeaker]

i think the XL needs an amp to shine...

 

[depleted]

  i think the XL needs an amp to shine...

 
If a phone is enough for the on-ear, it will be enough also for the XL, as they have the exact same driver. Also rated at 18Ohm and made precisely to work with phones, ipods and the like, I don't think they'll benefit from an amp. I'm actually a bit skeptical on amps latey, my X2 performed better without than with the E10K.

 

[thatBeatsguy]

 

  i think the XL needs an amp to shine...

 
If a phone is enough for the on-ear, it will be enough also for the XL, as they have the exact same driver. Also rated at 18Ohm and made precisely to work with phones, ipods and the like, I don't think they'll benefit from an amp. I'm actually a bit skeptical on amps latey, my X2 performed better without than with the E10K.

Well, IMO impedance doesn't dictate whether a headphone/IEM will sound better with or without an amp. There are a lot of other factors that also affect how they perform when given more power. Then you also have the amp's sonic charactersistics (which I don't really believe in).
 
But in the end, best way to find out is to actually try it yourself.

 

[lawrecedent]

i think the XL needs an amp to shine...

Definitely true in my humble opinion. I owned a pair for a few weeks and tgey sounded OK straight from source when the volume was cranked way up (which I wasn't expecting as they seem aimed at the straight from iphone market) However, with my Fiio e18 in the chain it was a totally different story. Clarity and seperation between frequencies improved enormously, as did bass presence and soundstage.
When I tried some Solo 2 the other day they just sounded amateur in comparison. The Studio 2 on the other hand sounded OK amped.

 

[depleted]

  Well, IMO impedance doesn't dictate whether a headphone/IEM will sound better with or without an amp. There are a lot of other factors that also affect how they perform when given more power. Then you also have the amp's sonic charactersistics (which I don't really believe in).
 
But in the end, best way to find out is to actually try it yourself.

Yes, what I meant is that these cans were designed to work on-the-go, they are made for young listeners to be used in a city, so I guess Sennheiser made the driver able to sound well even without powerful amps. It's not an HD650 after all. And at the same time, as they share the driver, the XL will perform the same as the on-ear, with the same source. Obviously the differences due to the cups size will remain. On a sidenote, I noticed too that they needed a bit more volume than other cans, used with my iphone/ipad, so they are not that sensitive, despite the low impedance, compared to other cans. But still loud more than enough, and sounding "full" in all the spectrum.