egokun
100+ Head-Fier
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Quote:
Actually, I've posted some impressions in post #353 of this thread.
Yesterday I've been listening some more, and I can only confirm the first impression. The Xenos does a splendid job with the K701, and with IEMs too. The Shure E4c suddenly grew bass, which I'm positive wasn't there before, not even with the PA2V2. I was thinking about selling the E4c and keep only the UM2, but the Xenos brings out some really impressive bass from them, it's truly like I never auditioned the E4c before. As for the UM2, they seem to benefit less, but they're already impactful enough straight out of an iPod. They do sound better, but the gain in SQ is more subtle compared to the gain in volume.
Concerning the K701, I've had another splendid night with them, thanks to the Xenos. I've tried this combo with CDs rather than with MP3s, and I've discovered some differences between recordings I never knew were there. To make a concrete example, I've listened first to some songs from the album Spiceworld (yeah, I know, I was a teen and all), then to some songs by Elio e le Storie Tese, a pretty famous Italian band. With the K701, the Spice Girls' songs felt like there were music playing against an empty background; I could feel that there was something "missing" in the music, as if an entire layer of silence was artificially added to the song. A visual analogy came to my mind, it was like the girls were singing in front of a wall of fog (eh, the things that come to your mind at 3 in the morning
). Then I switched to Elio, and it was like the wall of fog was lifted. There was no "missing layer" in the music, everything was clear, detailed, impactful and involving. I had never heard something like this before, it was truly an eye-opener on the quality of different recordings. Tells something about the goodness of the Xenos+K701 combo, I daresay.
Even if I only own 2 portable amps, I'm beginning to understand how much fun it must have been for Skylab to do his 9-amp comparison
| Originally Posted by supermite /img/forum/go_quote.gif Please report back. I'm really struggling to shed light on how the Xenos compares to the more common portables, especially in a home environment. I have to say I haven't laid my eyes on many an explicit comment in this thread 
|
Actually, I've posted some impressions in post #353 of this thread.
Yesterday I've been listening some more, and I can only confirm the first impression. The Xenos does a splendid job with the K701, and with IEMs too. The Shure E4c suddenly grew bass, which I'm positive wasn't there before, not even with the PA2V2. I was thinking about selling the E4c and keep only the UM2, but the Xenos brings out some really impressive bass from them, it's truly like I never auditioned the E4c before. As for the UM2, they seem to benefit less, but they're already impactful enough straight out of an iPod. They do sound better, but the gain in SQ is more subtle compared to the gain in volume.
Concerning the K701, I've had another splendid night with them, thanks to the Xenos. I've tried this combo with CDs rather than with MP3s, and I've discovered some differences between recordings I never knew were there. To make a concrete example, I've listened first to some songs from the album Spiceworld (yeah, I know, I was a teen and all), then to some songs by Elio e le Storie Tese, a pretty famous Italian band. With the K701, the Spice Girls' songs felt like there were music playing against an empty background; I could feel that there was something "missing" in the music, as if an entire layer of silence was artificially added to the song. A visual analogy came to my mind, it was like the girls were singing in front of a wall of fog (eh, the things that come to your mind at 3 in the morning
Even if I only own 2 portable amps, I'm beginning to understand how much fun it must have been for Skylab to do his 9-amp comparison
