[Costas]

I am considering purchasing a MF XCans v2 headphone amp.

I have a few questions:

1. What is the difference between the original XCans and V2?

2. Is the X-PSU power supply essential or will the supplied power supply suffice?

3. What is the expected life of the tubes? How will I know when they need to be replaced?

4. Do I need to leave this unit constantly on or should I switch it off after use? Does this affect tube life in any way?

Thanks.

 

[ai0tron]

1 The difference between xcan and xcanv2 is simply that the v2 is better. From what I have read one of the main points is an increase in bass extension. I feel the v2 has full bass extension, it is however slightly rolled off, but it did not seem to be alot less than my obh-11 when I had it. AndI felt that the obh-11 had slightly boosted bass. Personally i think bass should stay out of the music unless an actual bass note is played. the xcanv2 keeps the bass well extended yet under control. However despite being controlled the bass is not very tight, it is very well controlled, highly musical yet open and lush. It is my favorite bass for instruments like piano and the cello or double bass. Its trully musical and wonderfull sounding bass. It is a good idea however to buy a cable with wide open bass response of the which will help improve the bass response of the xcanv2 dramatically.

2. the xpsu is essential if you want to hear the full potential of the MF xcanv2.

3. the expected life of the tubes is around 10,000 hours.

4. leaving the unit on is generally regarded as the proper way to care for any tubed equipment. also being on for days on end will allow the unit to becom fully warmd up and sound at its full potential.

 

[SumB]

- The V2 uses better op amps and is more transparent.

- It's not necessary, but the bass will be much improved with he X-PSU.

- If left on at all times the tubes should last 8 months to a year.

- No but the amp sounds better after several hours of warm up.

 

[Duncan]

I'll add a question if i may...

Question 4 from Costas, re : leaving the amp on continually... What about the "Standard" PSU (Wall-Mart) this runs hot after just a couple of hours, won't it melt down if i leave it on permanently?

(As you can tell, I don't leave my X-Cans V2 on all the time... just wondering how much it'll improve the sound quality to cook it for a week or two?)

 

[davidcotton]

Hi Duncan!

As you know I have the X-cansv2 and the X-psu. I got the Xpsu in the same week mainly due to fairly reliable rumours that they were being discontinued so I grabbed one (ooer

) while I could!

Like you I was a bit unhappy with the amount of heat the set top plug transformer was chucking out, it was red hot after about half an hour or so

I really wasn't confident with the amount of use I'd get out of it before it might pack up.

To be honest I feel (though this is just me remember!) that it didn't make THAT much difference to the sound. What it did do though was bring more peace of mind that the thing suddenly wouldn't go pop! It's a hefty little begger as well, feels like it weighs twice what the x-cans does, tried carrying it out the shop one handed, big mistake

It also runs vey cool and doesnt even get warm leaving the x-cans on all day!

Leaving the x-cans on all day to me, just makes the sound more consistent as you don't have to worry about warm up time or anything like that, of course the usual caveats about unplugging when you go on holiday still applies folks!

 

[Hamsta]

I've heard from a fairly good source (the guy who makes all the "standard" power supplies for the X-ponents that are brought into NZ) that the X-PSU only functions at its peak performance when powering the maximum 4 other Xponents. I found this quite "counter-intuitive" as I would have thought that more X-ponents would have placed a bigger current draw on the X-PSU. The guy figured this out while testing the X-PSU powering other Xponents to help design optimum power supplies for them. (Rumour has it that they're better than the ones MF makes for the UK market.)

Raymond - you have 2 X-ponents. Why don't you do a wee trial of your Xcans with the X-PSU both with and without your X-DAC attached to the X-PSU and tell us if you think there's a difference in either direction.

Cheers
Hamsta

 

[raymondlin]

Hamsta, I haven't thought about doing that as I don't use the X-Dac with my CD player, letting it sitting there powered up but not use seems point less to me. But I'll do that sometime in the week just to see what improvement it'll or not bring.

I was actually thinking of buying the X-pre, found one with £80 off but held back cos I had more important things to buy "Gasp!".

 

[ai0tron]

David I noticed that you are using the 565 ovations. you may see more obvious improvements from adding the xpsu by using 580's or 600's.

 

[Beagle]

You can leave the X-Cans on until Haley Comet comes around and change the tubes 24/7 but it will not improve the rolled off frequency extremes. I find the bottom end really lacks oomph. The midrange is marvelously wide open however.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Can I add another question? Where does one get one of these fixed? The jack into which I plug in my phones is loose, and I keep losing the right channel. I tried opening it up and looking at it, but it's a "black box", so I can't just bend the things back into place...