[Mmet]

i mean veiled : not clear .. muddy or something like that ... The predator dac - amp compo is warm too but the mid range is away cleaner than the x3's headphone out 

 

[DavidA]

  i mean veiled : not clear .. muddy or something like that ... The predator dac - amp compo is warm too but the mid range is away cleaner than the x3's headphone out 

Guess we have to just agree to disagree on this one.

 

[Mmet]

Quote:

  Guess we have to just agree to disagree on this one.

 

[lostinthesauce]

  yes there is some veil with the HD598 with the X3 ... but it is not the 598's fault the x3 has that veil in mids but through its headphone out only ... with a proper amp there is no such thing

Was even worst than that; as I remember it was through my old Note 2.  So they were most likely starved for power.

 

[Mmet]

Was even worst than that; as I remember it was through my old Note 2.  So they were most likely starved for power.

with note 2 sure it is a power thing ... but in the x3 I don't think so .. it still one of the most powerful daps out there and the HD 598 is not that hard to drive ! ... actually i don't know for sure why is that .

 

[DaniTheGirl]

  @DaniTheGirl, what genre of music do you like to listen to?  Some headphones just work better with some genres than others.  I'm one that likes different headphones for their different sound signatures and just enjoying the music.
 
 

Hi again,
 
Mainly I listen to stuff like the Chili Peppers (who unfortunately have some notoriously badly mastered albums which will never sound good, so I've been seeking the so-called 'unmastered' versions with some success), Modest Mouse, Smashing Pumpkins, John Frusciante.....which I guess is kind of in that rock/indie/guitar-led genre (aside from Frusciante, who really should have a genre of his own!)  I like female vocalists too, a little bit of country is always good, Led Zep...also Bowie of course!
 
I play traditional fiddle, so I also like to listen to a lot of folk stuff, both with vocals and without.  I'm hoping to take up bass playing and I tend to gravitate towards bass lines in any track, I don't necessarily like it to be totally in-your-face but I am a fan.
 
I also adore Peter Gabriel's stuff, some of which can be quite complex with unusual instruments or full blown orchestras, and there's nothing like a full orchestra through some good quality kit. The first time I used a pair of proper audiophile headphones (which I'd borrowed) I listened to a track that Brandi Carlisle did with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra to test them out and the music sounded so good that I honestly had tears in my eyes. It was the strings section of the orchestra that did it - blew my mind and I immediately started upgrading my kit! 

 

[DavidA]

  Hi again,
 
Mainly I listen to stuff like the Chili Peppers (who unfortunately have some notoriously badly mastered albums which will never sound good, so I've been seeking the so-called 'unmastered' versions with some success), Modest Mouse, Smashing Pumpkins, John Frusciante.....which I guess is kind of in that rock/indie/guitar-led genre (aside from Frusciante, who really should have a genre of his own!)  I like female vocalists too, a little bit of country is always good, Led Zep...also Bowie of course!
 
I play traditional fiddle, so I also like to listen to a lot of folk stuff, both with vocals and without.  I'm hoping to take up bass playing and I tend to gravitate towards bass lines in any track, I don't necessarily like it to be totally in-your-face but I am a fan.
 
I also adore Peter Gabriel's stuff, some of which can be quite complex with unusual instruments or full blown orchestras, and there's nothing like a full orchestra through some good quality kit. The first time I used a pair of proper audiophile headphones (which I'd borrowed) I listened to a track that Brandi Carlisle did with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra to test them out and the music sounded so good that I honestly had tears in my eyes. It was the strings section of the orchestra that did it - blew my mind and I immediately started upgrading my kit! 

Got my PX-100ii out of desk drawer and I had forgotten how good they are with the X3.  After listening to some of the artist you listed I can't think of any headphone in your price range that will be a worth while upgrade to the PX-100ii.  All of the headphones that sound better are in the 250-400 euro range:
Good: Grado SR-225e, SRH-1840, K7XX and HE-400i ($200 to $500)
Great: HD-700, EL8-open, custom built Ypsilon, and Grado RS2e ($400 to $700)
Note that these are all open headphons
 
For closed I would suggest DT-1770 and the standard MDR-7506, ATH-M50x, V-Moda M-100 and Momentum ($85 to $450)
 
PS: Brandi Carlisle w/ Seattle Symphony is awesome

 

[Mmet]

beside of quality headphones too ... interesting finding i experienced at my first days with my x3 ... was with my friend in a cafe and he had iphone 4 with its apple old earbuds ... then for the sake of fun want'd to try the earbuds on the x3 and damn .. they sounded so good and smooth and full with the x3!! didn't expect that  ... with iphone .. well i think the majority here know how they sound with it 

 

[DaniTheGirl]

  Got my PX-100ii out of desk drawer and I had forgotten how good they are with the X3.  After listening to some of the artist you listed I can't think of any headphone in your price range that will be a worth while upgrade to the PX-100ii.  All of the headphones that sound better are in the 250-400 euro range:
Good: Grado SR-225e, SRH-1840, K7XX and HE-400i ($200 to $500)
Great: HD-700, EL8-open, custom built Ypsilon, and Grado RS2e ($400 to $700)
Note that these are all open headphons
 
For closed I would suggest DT-1770 and the standard MDR-7506, ATH-M50x, V-Moda M-100 and Momentum ($85 to $450)
 
PS: Brandi Carlisle w/ Seattle Symphony is awesome

Oooh I have a pair of PX-100ii, I think the left hand channel is on the blink so I haven't used them for a while. I might have to dig them out, they're still under guarantee so I might just take them back for a new pair. That's the third pair of PX-100ii that this has happened with for me, same thing with my HD205s. Each pair went around the 6 month mark, so now if a pair of headphones survives into the 7th month I breathe a sigh of relief! To be fair my PX-100iis did get pretty heavy usage and I had them with me everyday in my bag getting bashed, folded and unfolded etc, but I was still pretty shocked that each pair went so quickly! I think I'll have to borrow a pair to try them out with my X3 - everyone in my family has a pair!
 
Too true about the Brandi Carlisle album with the orchestra, it's such an amazing recording. The musicians sound fantastic and her voice is great.  When she gets the crowd to sing the sections of Turpentine in harmony it's hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck stuff!
 
I'm working a 13 hour day today but there's a chance my X3 will be waiting for me when I get home....let's hope so!

 

[DavidA]

  Oooh I have a pair of PX-100ii, I think the left hand channel is on the blink so I haven't used them for a while. I might have to dig them out, they're still under guarantee so I might just take them back for a new pair. That's the third pair of PX-100ii that this has happened with for me, same thing with my HD205s. Each pair went around the 6 month mark, so now if a pair of headphones survives into the 7th month I breathe a sigh of relief! To be fair my PX-100iis did get pretty heavy usage and I had them with me everyday in my bag getting bashed, folded and unfolded etc, but I was still pretty shocked that each pair went so quickly! I think I'll have to borrow a pair to try them out with my X3 - everyone in my family has a pair!
 
Too true about the Brandi Carlisle album with the orchestra, it's such an amazing recording. The musicians sound fantastic and her voice is great.  When she gets the crowd to sing the sections of Turpentine in harmony it's hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck stuff!
 
I'm working a 13 hour day today but there's a chance my X3 will be waiting for me when I get home....let's hope so!

 , I've been through 5 PX-100ii but they where used to build SennGrado's, only the last one I bought is in its original form.  The other economical headphone is the HD-239, a touch better than the PX-100ii but they have gone up in price a lot from the $42 that I got mine for.

 

[DaniTheGirl]

 

 , I've been through 5 PX-100ii but they where used to build SennGrado's, only the last one I bought is in its original form.  The other economical headphone is the HD-239, a touch better than the PX-100ii but they have gone up in price a lot from the $42 that I got mine for.

Just found a pair of HD239 for £60 ($75 I think is the equivalent in dollars), what do you make of the price? They're on offer for 30% off. Nice looking headphones actually!

 

[DavidA]

  Just found a pair of HD239 for £60 ($75 I think is the equivalent in dollars), what do you make of the price? They're on offer for 30% off. Nice looking headphones actually!

That's a good price from a quick look on Ebay, most were in the $100+ range and direct from Sennheiser is $90 so the $75 is good deal. 
 
FWIW Tyll still has them on his "Wall of Fame" for open on-ear category so they can't be bad.

 

[DaniTheGirl]

My X3 is here! I love it, it's amazing! I've been loading it with FLAC files so far. I had some audio in pretty low quality mp3 and was pleasantly surprised to find FLAC versions in the Tidal store so all in all I've had a good day archiving my music and transfering to the X3!
 
I have a 64gb sd card formatted to FAT32 but so far I can only see how to upload to the internal storage. I'm sure it's pretty easy to put files onto the sd card, am I missing something blindingly obvious?!
 
Headphone wise I'm only using my AKG K81djs at the moment and I'm already super impressed so I cannot wait to get some high end kit plugged in to this little beauty! My friend is going to let me try his Bose set (not sure which model) so we'll see how that goes on Monday.
 
I think I'm going to rethink my budget for 'phones based on what has been said here and how impressed I am so far. This player deserves something really great sounding! Does £150-£250 sound more reasonable? ($180 - $300)

 

[lostinthesauce]

  My X3 is here! I love it, it's amazing! I've been loading it with FLAC files so far. I had some audio in pretty low quality mp3 and was pleasantly surprised to find FLAC versions in the Tidal store so all in all I've had a good day archiving my music and transfering to the X3!
 
I have a 64gb sd card formatted to FAT32 but so far I can only see how to upload to the internal storage. I'm sure it's pretty easy to put files onto the sd card, am I missing something blindingly obvious?!
 
Headphone wise I'm only using my AKG K81djs at the moment and I'm already super impressed so I cannot wait to get some high end kit plugged in to this little beauty! My friend is going to let me try his Bose set (not sure which model) so we'll see how that goes on Monday.
 
I think I'm going to rethink my budget for 'phones based on what has been said here and how impressed I am so far. This player deserves something really great sounding! Does £150-£250 sound more reasonable? ($180 - $300)

Have you updated the firmware yet?  Go here: http://fiio.me/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=39932&extra=page%3D1 and get the "【FiiO X3】FW3.4".  Follow the instructions here: http://fiio.me/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=39952&page=1&extra=#pid105416 .  You then have an option to either have the player report itself as a DAC or a mass storage device.  HOWEVER! I've found that using the sdxc -> SD adapter is much faster than using the player as a way to copy over.
 
Opening up your budget like that will do wonders!  I am a huge Audio Technica fan, So I'd definitely point you towards the WS1100 if you want bassy semi-open design; the MSR7 for a more 'hot' sound, my favourite ESW9 for a smooth 'tubey' sound, the ATH-900X are breath taking with the X3, but you'll look like an amateur radio operator wearing them and they are fully open.  The old ES88 look stylish and go well with the X3 also, but they are on ears.  The M70X is a good studio headphone, but will just grate your ears on bad recordings.
 
Hope this post helps.

 

[DavidA]

  My X3 is here! I love it, it's amazing! I've been loading it with FLAC files so far. I had some audio in pretty low quality mp3 and was pleasantly surprised to find FLAC versions in the Tidal store so all in all I've had a good day archiving my music and transfering to the X3!
 
I have a 64gb sd card formatted to FAT32 but so far I can only see how to upload to the internal storage. I'm sure it's pretty easy to put files onto the sd card, am I missing something blindingly obvious?!
 
Headphone wise I'm only using my AKG K81djs at the moment and I'm already super impressed so I cannot wait to get some high end kit plugged in to this little beauty! My friend is going to let me try his Bose set (not sure which model) so we'll see how that goes on Monday.
 
I think I'm going to rethink my budget for 'phones based on what has been said here and how impressed I am so far. This player deserves something really great sounding! Does £150-£250 sound more reasonable? ($180 - $300)

Its much faster to load the micro SD card with an adapter you can plug in to your computer.
 
Your budget of $180-$300 opens up your choices to some pretty good headphones: HE-400i, HE-400S, MDR-1A, HD-700 (there is one for $250 used), HD-650, HD-600 and others that hopefully others will chime in with.