So my Philips X2 have minimal bass, upgrade?
Oct 23, 2016 at 5:47 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 4

shortstuff

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Bear in mind here I am running them from my pc motherboard with no amp currently. However they have been amped for months with the same amp I use for all of my headphones.
 
I bought a used pair of Philips X2 from amazon, and they were awesome. Deep deep sub bass, epic. But faulty wiring, would cut out. I sent them back and ordered a brand new pair... these are just like new except all that lovely sub bass - completely missing. The strange thing is that they are still WOOX ones, the pads pull off - no glue, so they are not the new revisions.
 
I didn't mind for all these months as I listen to a lot of ambient electronic music - think Aphex Twin SAW2, Woob, Gas, The EM:T label, etc, which tends to be light on the bass front, though certain Aphex tracks sound hollow where there should be bass, a great example of this is Schottkey 7th Path, which has a proper, 30hz esque bass tone to it, and these headphones either miss it completely or just produce some hollow noise. The X2's I had to send back however, it was like being in a car with a pair of 15's in the back, thats the closest I can describe it. Or, combine HD650 midbass and treble with the sub bass of DT-770's and you get the old X2.
 
Now I could sell these, they sound just like HD650's to me but are cheaper so could be a bargain for someone, and then get another set of X2's, but this seems like a risk because they could sound bad also.
 
Otherwise, I could upgrade...but to what? And what amp should I buy for them? Due to change in living arrangements my floorstanders and amp are surplus to requirement. I should sell them and have around $500 to spend on a headphone amp. And $$$? to spend on different headphones.
 
Either way it annoys me, I don't get my bass fix anymore unless I use my DT-770 Pro's and then, whilst the bass is excellent, the rest of the tone sound muddy.
 
Oct 23, 2016 at 8:08 PM Post #2 of 4
To me it seems either you have a bum pair of X2's or your PC is really under powering the headphone. The latter being the most probable. When you mention that amp you have been using can you test the bass with it now and give us a brief update?
 
Try this track so we can help narrow down the problem:
 
Artist: Taste of Honey
Track: Never Tear Us Apart (Robot Needs Oil Remix)
Album: Never Tear Us Apart (feat. Lukash) - Single
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPF0zwQiOig
 
Use the iTunes version if you can as it sounds better.
 
With my HE-400i's it sounds very bassy. First go from you PC then to that mystery amp and see if the bass improves.
 
Oct 24, 2016 at 7:23 AM Post #3 of 4
They are bassy with the amp but ONLY if I turn the bass part of the bass/treble/balance to around 70 degrees, at which point the soundstage closes in. The old ones had all the lovely wide soundstage but incredible bass as well. Alternatively I can put it on flat but in foobar2k I have to do this to get any bass

 
 
Looking at peoples comparison threads it seems these are the better made pair but the sound doesn't stack up.

What I have noticed is they are...competent at bass when at high volume, ie near the hearing threshold of good music, but at low or medium volumes there is not much. Can hear a lot if I put my ear to the outer mesh, more than if I put my ear to the inner pad.
 
Oct 24, 2016 at 7:52 AM Post #4 of 4
I must admit though, lack of sub bass aside, Depeche Mode - It's No Good (Ultra) sounds AMAZING at loud volume through these X2's. Even moreso when I realised I was listening to 233kbps MP3 and then realised I had the album in FLAC 2852kbps as well.... I am hearing things in the background that I never even knew existed!!!
 
There is little bass but I am not sure there is supposed to be in this amazing track.
 

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