expired Posted by Larry03 • Jul 10, 2024
Jul 10, 2024 4:02 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expired Posted by Larry03 • Jul 10, 2024
Jul 10, 2024 4:02 PM
HIFIMAN Edition XS Full-Size Over-Ear Open-Back Planar Magnetic Hi-Fi Headphones
+ Free Shipping$269
$499
46% offAmazon
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Rtings review: https://www.rtings.com/headphones...ed
A few basics to get out of the way first, since I know people wander onto these headphone deals not realizing these are audiophile cans for critical listening: these headphones are wired only (no bluetooth or wireless connections of any kind), have no form of active noise cancelling, have extremely poor sound isolation (you can hear whats going on around you, and everyone around you can hear what you're listening to), and are extremely heavy and bulky. They are designed to be used at home with a dedicated audio setup.
With a weight of 0.93 lbs (421.8 grams) they are somewhat heavier than average headphones, and may be uncomfortable for extended use depending on fit. They use the standard hifiman headband, which while not bad isn't anything amazing (at least in my experience), though this is obviously a matter of personal preference. The earcups are absolutely enormous, and the overall fit of this headphone is best for large heads, if your head is on the smaller side these headphones may not fit well.
The edition xs has an impedance of 18 ohms and a sensitivity of 92db. The combination of quite low impedance along with fairly low sensitivity means these headphones are moderately difficult to drive, but as long as you're not planning on using eq (equalization) you can probably get away with not using an amp if you have a high quality integrated audio solution on your motherboard. To be clear, sound will likely be improved with a dedicated audio setup, but these headphones aren't hard enough to drive that an amp is entirely necessary to get good sound. These headphones are not designed for portable use, and most phones and cheap usb-c to 3.5mm dongles probably won't do a very good job of driving them. If you'd be eqing these headphones to any meaningful degree (negative preamp of more than 3db or so), an amp is recommended. As planar magnetic headphones with low distortion they take rather well to eq, so eq is highly recommended if you have an amp.
The largest issue with these headphones is hifiman's quality control, unfortunately hifiman is infamous for poor quality control and poor product longevity. Poor driver matching, driver failure after months (or less) of use, crackling or rattling sounds when moving your head, and more are all relatively common complaints with hifiman headphones including the edition xs. This is not by any means guaranteed, the majority of purchasers receive headphones without glaring issues or premature failures, but hifimans quality control and product longevity still stands out as being distinctly worse than that of other major brands.
The edition xs come with a 1 year standard warranty, from what I've heard hifiman's customer service tends to be decent (at least in the US), but obviously ymmv.
Hifiman's warranty policy can be found here: https://store.hifiman.c
Overall, if these headphones would fit your use cases, this is an excellent deal.
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Rtings review: https://www.rtings.com/headphones...ed
A few basics to get out of the way first, since I know people wander onto these headphone deals not realizing these are audiophile cans for critical listening: these headphones are wired only (no bluetooth or wireless connections of any kind), have no form of active noise cancelling, have extremely poor sound isolation (you can hear whats going on around you, and everyone around you can hear what you're listening to), and are extremely heavy and bulky. They are designed to be used at home with a dedicated audio setup.
With a weight of 0.93 lbs (421.8 grams) they are somewhat heavier than average headphones, and may be uncomfortable for extended use depending on fit. They use the standard hifiman headband, which while not bad isn't anything amazing (at least in my experience), though this is obviously a matter of personal preference. The earcups are absolutely enormous, and the overall fit of this headphone is best for large heads, if your head is on the smaller side these headphones may not fit well.
The edition xs has an impedance of 18 ohms and a sensitivity of 92db. The combination of quite low impedance along with fairly low sensitivity means these headphones are moderately difficult to drive, but as long as you're not planning on using eq (equalization) you can probably get away with not using an amp if you have a high quality integrated audio solution on your motherboard. To be clear, sound will likely be improved with a dedicated audio setup, but these headphones aren't hard enough to drive that an amp is entirely necessary to get good sound. These headphones are not designed for portable use, and most phones and cheap usb-c to 3.5mm dongles probably won't do a very good job of driving them. If you'd be eqing these headphones to any meaningful degree (negative preamp of more than 3db or so), an amp is recommended. As planar magnetic headphones with low distortion they take rather well to eq, so eq is highly recommended if you have an amp.
The largest issue with these headphones is hifiman's quality control, unfortunately hifiman is infamous for poor quality control and poor product longevity. Poor driver matching, driver failure after months (or less) of use, crackling or rattling sounds when moving your head, and more are all relatively common complaints with hifiman headphones including the edition xs. This is not by any means guaranteed, the majority of purchasers receive headphones without glaring issues or premature failures, but hifimans quality control and product longevity still stands out as being distinctly worse than that of other major brands.
The edition xs come with a 1 year standard warranty, from what I've heard hifiman's customer service tends to be decent (at least in the US), but obviously ymmv.
Hifiman's warranty policy can be found here: https://store.hifiman.c
Overall, if these headphones would fit your use cases, this is an excellent deal.
Rtings review: https://www.rtings.com/headphones...ed
A few basics to get out of the way first, since I know people wander onto these headphone deals not realizing these are audiophile cans for critical listening: these headphones are wired only (no bluetooth or wireless connections of any kind), have no form of active noise cancelling, have extremely poor sound isolation (you can hear whats going on around you, and everyone around you can hear what you're listening to), and are extremely heavy and bulky. They are designed to be used at home with a dedicated audio setup.
With a weight of 0.93 lbs (421.8 grams) they are somewhat heavier than average headphones, and may be uncomfortable for extended use depending on fit. They use the standard hifiman headband, which while not bad isn't anything amazing (at least in my experience), though this is obviously a matter of personal preference. The earcups are absolutely enormous, and the overall fit of this headphone is best for large heads, if your head is on the smaller side these headphones may not fit well.
The edition xs has an impedance of 18 ohms and a sensitivity of 92db. The combination of quite low impedance along with fairly low sensitivity means these headphones are moderately difficult to drive, but as long as you're not planning on using eq (equalization) you can probably get away with not using an amp if you have a high quality integrated audio solution on your motherboard. To be clear, sound will likely be improved with a dedicated audio setup, but these headphones aren't hard enough to drive that an amp is entirely necessary to get good sound. These headphones are not designed for portable use, and most phones and cheap usb-c to 3.5mm dongles probably won't do a very good job of driving them. If you'd be eqing these headphones to any meaningful degree (negative preamp of more than 3db or so), an amp is recommended. As planar magnetic headphones with low distortion they take rather well to eq, so eq is highly recommended if you have an amp.
The largest issue with these headphones is hifiman's quality control, unfortunately hifiman is infamous for poor quality control and poor product longevity. Poor driver matching, driver failure after months (or less) of use, crackling or rattling sounds when moving your head, and more are all relatively common complaints with hifiman headphones including the edition xs. This is not by any means guaranteed, the majority of purchasers receive headphones without glaring issues or premature failures, but hifimans quality control and product longevity still stands out as being distinctly worse than that of other major brands.
The edition xs come with a 1 year standard warranty, from what I've heard hifiman's customer service tends to be decent (at least in the US), but obviously ymmv.
Hifiman's warranty policy can be found here: https://store.hifiman.c
Overall, if these headphones would fit your use cases, this is an excellent deal.
Rtings review: https://www.rtings.com/headphones...ed
A few basics to get out of the way first, since I know people wander onto these headphone deals not realizing these are audiophile cans for critical listening: these headphones are wired only (no bluetooth or wireless connections of any kind), have no form of active noise cancelling, have extremely poor sound isolation (you can hear whats going on around you, and everyone around you can hear what you're listening to), and are extremely heavy and bulky. They are designed to be used at home with a dedicated audio setup.
With a weight of 0.93 lbs (421.8 grams) they are somewhat heavier than average headphones, and may be uncomfortable for extended use depending on fit. They use the standard hifiman headband, which while not bad isn't anything amazing (at least in my experience), though this is obviously a matter of personal preference. The earcups are absolutely enormous, and the overall fit of this headphone is best for large heads, if your head is on the smaller side these headphones may not fit well.
The edition xs has an impedance of 18 ohms and a sensitivity of 92db. The combination of quite low impedance along with fairly low sensitivity means these headphones are moderately difficult to drive, but as long as you're not planning on using eq (equalization) you can probably get away with not using an amp if you have a high quality integrated audio solution on your motherboard. To be clear, sound will likely be improved with a dedicated audio setup, but these headphones aren't hard enough to drive that an amp is entirely necessary to get good sound. These headphones are not designed for portable use, and most phones and cheap usb-c to 3.5mm dongles probably won't do a very good job of driving them. If you'd be eqing these headphones to any meaningful degree (negative preamp of more than 3db or so), an amp is recommended. As planar magnetic headphones with low distortion they take rather well to eq, so eq is highly recommended if you have an amp.
The largest issue with these headphones is hifiman's quality control, unfortunately hifiman is infamous for poor quality control and poor product longevity. Poor driver matching, driver failure after months (or less) of use, crackling or rattling sounds when moving your head, and more are all relatively common complaints with hifiman headphones including the edition xs. This is not by any means guaranteed, the majority of purchasers receive headphones without glaring issues or premature failures, but hifimans quality control and product longevity still stands out as being distinctly worse than that of other major brands.
The edition xs come with a 1 year standard warranty, from what I've heard hifiman's customer service tends to be decent (at least in the US), but obviously ymmv.
Hifiman's warranty policy can be found here: https://store.hifiman.c
Overall, if these headphones would fit your use cases, this is an excellent deal.
Have the Sundaras and been happy with them. Would the Edition XS be a step up or just a side grade? Not even sure what is the next level to go to.
https://www.rtings.com/headphones...ed
https://www.rtings.com/headphones...nd
There's some stuff on slickdeals where regardless of how many thumbs up a comment may have, I'm going to take it with a grain of salt. Audiophile gear is definitely one of those fields, partly because it's all subjective and partly because audiophile stuff (just imo within the categories I look at) is one of the most egregious categories for false statements, confirmation biases, and placebo effects. I trust subjective opinion as a jumping off point on what to research, look at objective data, and then digest it subjectively to what I would like.
https://www.rtings.com/headphones...ed
https://www.rtings.com/headphones...nd
There's some stuff on slickdeals where regardless of how many thumbs up a comment may have, I'm going to take it with a grain of salt. Audiophile gear is definitely one of those fields, partly because it's all subjective and partly because audiophile stuff (imo and also in deals I look at) is one of the most egregious categories for false statements, confirmation biases, and placebo effects. I trust subjective opinion as a jumping off point on what to research, look at objective data, and then digest it subjectively to what I would like.
The quality control issues are real. The most common issue is the "creaking". When I got them they immediately did it. Any time I flexed my jaw, they would creak loudly, enough for other people to hear it. I eventually got an RMA for them after several rounds of back and forth and including a video of the issue. The replacement pair I got had the same exact issue. I found some people online who suggested twisting the ear cups hard or clamping down above them helped, I tried everything, and some combination of manual manipulation has mostly fixed the issue. I saw one user say they were denied an RMA because they purchased through Amazon, but so did I and I was able to RMA.
All that said, they sound amazing and if this is near your budget its a no brainer IMO.
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https://www.rtings.com/headphones...edition-xs [rtings.com]
https://www.rtings.com/headphones...ndara-2020 [rtings.com]
There's some stuff on slickdeals where regardless of how many thumbs up a comment may have, I'm going to take it with a grain of salt. Audiophile gear is definitely one of those fields, partly because it's all subjective and partly because audiophile stuff (just imo within the categories I look at) is one of the most egregious categories for false statements, confirmation biases, and placebo effects. I trust subjective opinion as a jumping off point on what to research, look at objective data, and then digest it subjectively to what I would like.
But they're basically considered to be disposable headphones: They have a high failure rate, and if they break, you cannot buy parts to repair them, and good luck getting a response from customer service.
So if you have no kids, and will only use these at your desk, where they cannot possibly ever fall onto the floor, then they're probably great for you.
But they're basically considered to be disposable headphones: They have a high failure rate, and if they break, you cannot buy parts to repair them, and good luck getting a response from customer service.
So if you have no kids, and will only use these at your desk, where they cannot possibly ever fall onto the floor, then they're probably great for you.
A large ongoing topic on the XS: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/h...ed.960155/
Reviews: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/h...ed.960155/
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