[Natsukawa]

When i returned to the audiophile World back then . . . i did with the Superlux 681 Models. First thing I thought was: "What the Hell . . . thats how 19€ Cans sound like nowdays? BRILLIANT! They sound awesome." Then I became mad and bought and tested every Can i could get. I realised very, very soon . . . that the Superlux Models were veeeery special exceptions, espiacially for their Price. I've heard many many cans which are much more expensive (200-400 euros) which didn't stood a chance VS the Superluxes. So the Superluxes were and still ARE special Cans for me, bringing me back to the audiophile world. As you can see in my Profile, i have many, much more expensive cans. The Superluxes are still good ~ despite their price! And in my opinion, they belong to the 200-300 euro class.
 
Back then, when the X1 came out . . . i bought one. I was fascinated by its look! Then i heard it . . . and i wasn't impressed . . .and the sound was very familiar . . . those days i did'nt had any superluxes to compare, but i could swear . . . it sounded like an Superlux EVO! NOW, last week i bought 2 X1s and one X2, to compare them. When i heard them, the same feeling as back then strucked my mind. I said to my self: "No...no it can't be . . . no...that would be too cheap of you Philips . . .ridiculous!" I unpacked my EVO and compared it with the X1. They sound the ******* same! The EVO sounds a little bit more detailed / sibilant in the highs . . . but Soundstage, Bass, Instrument Seperation etc. are identical. Now i know, how much a piece of felt and other dampening material can influence the sound and frequency response. The X1 is more damped than the superluxes, it has velour pads instead of pleather , a different chassis . . .and angled drivers. That is more than enough to explain the very small diffference in sound and the frequency responses. I compared the X1's curve with the 668B and HD681- Look at the similarity (click to enlarge):
 

 
. . . scary, isn't it?  You know, whats even scarier? Both, the X1 and the Superlux 681 Line (668B and EVO too) . . . have 50mm drivers . . . and they look exactly the same. like twins. Take a look for yourself:
 
X1 Driver:
 

 
 
Superlux Driver:
 

 
 
. . . thats a little bit toooo much fo a coincidence. The Graphs, the size of the driver, the looks of the driver, the same sound . . . i'm sure, if i would take out the dampening material of the X1, it would be 1:1 the EVO.
 
 
So guys, take out your EVO, compare yourself and tell me what you think, let's discuss ;D Funny thing is, i always praise how good the superluxes are (especially the 681-B) and i always said, they can compete against the 200€-300€ class.  What ansers did I get? "Are you mad . . . how can a 19€ can stand against 300 euro cans? You are mad!" Now take the Superlux Driver.....install it into a beautifull shell . . . and let the people listen . . . and voila  . . . the sound is now for the 300€ class, no matter if the sound is the same   ;D

 

[thatBeatsguy]

Huh. Interesting, but 500mm drivers? 

Sorry about that, I just found it a little too funny to overlook.
 
Then again, drivers do tend to look similar to each other IMO. 

 

[Beagle]

Utterly ridiculous. Those drivers look nothing alike. I really can't take this place seriously anymore. Far too many posting here who've been genetically altered, either accidently or on purpose.

 

[Natsukawa]

OMG thanks, i corrected it. Yeah . . . but so many coincidences? what abut the sound? the sound almost identical. The EVO sounds 95% the same . . . and i'm sure, if i would put some more felt on the driver, it would be 100% ;D  Or the other way around . . . if i would remove the felt on the X1 driver . . . it would 100% sound like the EVO. Even the superluxes sound different to each other because of dampening etc. and the share the same driver. Now the X1 and EVO doesn't even sound that different . . .almost exactly the same x___X  . I just think its a little naughty of philips to sell an optically more beauitiful superlux evo (27€) for 299€ (X1) ~ for the same sound.

 

[Natsukawa]

  Utterly ridiculous. Those drivers look nothing alike. I really can't take this place seriously anymore. Far too many posting here who've been genetically altered, either accidently or on purpose.

What? that black plastic thing over the superlux driver with the logo is NOT the driver. You have to look, what lies behind it LOL that is the driver. Shpould i Mario Paint it for you to see? Sorry to talk like that but your writing style is very personal.
 
There, look again behind the black spider-like plastic thing whre the superlux logo is printed . . .BEHIND it is the driver. Now tell me again they look nothing alike? you serious?
 
http://cdn.head-fi.org/d/dd/dd842d26_GEDC1538.JPG

 

[Beagle]

Oh, I thought the black plastic thingy with the logo was the driver....a diaphragm-less driver...a first. How silly of me.

 
The drivers look nothing alike. Neither do the graphs. Put down the pipe. Why am I bothering to respond here anyway?

 

[Natsukawa]

Have you even compared an evo to the X1? Even heard one? No? Only been reading and watching graphs / measurements? yes? Then please do and write again, after comparing an evo with a X1. I haven't opened this thread for fun, i wanted to read the opinions of people, who can contribute. people, who have a X1 and an EVO to compare. Not fanboys talking like "noooo its not the saaaame, my phone is much coooler than youuuurs naa nana naa naa." childish -____-  Why has Head-Fi turned into such a place? Children and voodoo priests everywhere!

 

[Head Injury]

I have to agree with Beagle that the frequency responses don't look similar enough to come to any conclusions. That same kind of midbass hump and slope to 1 kHz is very common. The Koss PortaPro has a similar thing. The upper midrange and treble is very different, there's obviously been some major changes. If they do use the same driver, it'll still sound like a completely different headphone. No one knocks the T50RP mods because they use the driver from a $100 headphone, do they?
 
And yeah, a lot of dynamic drivers look like that.
 
If you're going to jump to subjective impressions and abandon the graphs as soon as someone points out a flaw in them, what was the point of posting them in the first place?

 

[asdafaasda]

  Have you even compared an evo to the X1? Even heard one? No? Only been reading and watching graphs / measurements? yes? Then please do and write again, after comparing an evo with a X1. I haven't opened this thread for fun, i wanted to read the opinions of people, who can contribute. people, who have a X1 and an EVO to compare. Not fanboys talking like "noooo its not the saaaame, my phone is much coooler than youuuurs naa nana naa naa." childish -____-  Why has Head-Fi turned into such a place? Children and voodoo priests everywhere!

 
I don't know, you tell me.

 

[Claritas]

It's an interesting conjecture. No reason for anyone to bug out.

 

[depleted]

You must be the one in the german forum I read yesterday looking for X2 reviews.
 
Alas you don't accept criticism. I would have loved to buy a 27$ Superlux that sounded like the X2, LOVED it, but a simple google image search with the terms "headphone driver" will show that many of them just look the same. The graphs doesn't look similar either. 
 
I mean, I don't have a superlux handy (X2 neither yet) so I can't really tell, still you speak like there is a conspiracy, when in reality things like that happen all the time, we all know the 40$ creative Aurvana sounds like a 150$ Denon D1001 because they share the driver, for example.
 
Will be looking into this but I don't really expect to be true sadly.

 

[halcyon]

To the original poster. Even if the elements were same, so what. Most loudspeakers in the world have the same elements from Seas, Dynaudio, Scanspeak, etc.
 
Does that mean the speakers sound the same or that the enclosures, filling, volume, bass-ports, electronics, polarity and the rest of the functionality/ergonomics don't matter?

Of course not. Two loudspeakers, even with identically measuring elements from the exact same manufacturer can and do sound very different. The same can be said of headphones. Headphones are not just their elements.
 
Also, for now you have nothing but conjecture, if you look at all the measurements, they don't support your story AND looking now at X2 measurements, there are significatn differenc3s in the presence region in FR, isolation is different, square waves are far from identical and ringing in impulse response also differ. Yes, some resonance modes in the THD spectra look to be in almost exact same regions, but this is a measurement artefact (it's the same for almost every single headphone).

BTW, based on the images you showed, the drivers do not look identical.

 

[Jakkal]

X2 has been measured by Innerfidelity -
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/PhilipsFidelioX2.pdf

 

[mrk]

Lol is this for real.
 
Give over.

 

[Fegefeuer]

yeah, that's the guy from hifi-forum.de 
 
Unfortunately I'm already used to reading his stuff so this isn't surprising