HIFIMAN via Amazon has Lightning Deal: HIFIMAN Edition XS Full-Size Over-Ear Open-Back Planar Magnetic Hi-Fi Headphones (Black) for $269. Shipping is free.
Thanks to community member Larry03 for finding this deal.
About this item:
A Major Upgrade of the Popular Edition X: The new Edition XS expands on its predecessor's achievements with several essential upgrades. Featuring Stealth Magnet Technology and the company's NEO supernano Diaphragm, the Edition XS produces a wide, natural soundstage that puts the listener in the best seat in the house. Edition XS from HIFIMAN brings the depth and range of well-recorded music to an affordably priced headphone.
Acoustically Invisible Stealth Magnet: Unlike the sound waves created by a conventional magnet, the special shape of Stealth Magnets enables the waves to pass through the magnets without generating interference. HIFIMAN's advanced magnet design is acoustically transparent, dramatically reducing wave diffraction turbulence that degrades the integrity of the sound waves. The reduced distortion yields pure sonic output that is accurate and full-range.
HIFIMAN's NEO "supernano" Diaphragm (NsD): The new NsD is 75% thinner than previous designs, resulting in fast response and detailed imaging with lush, full range sonics.
The Headband: The light weight, ergonomically accurate offers maximum comfort for hours of listening pleasure. The exterior is refined matte black material, and the interior features high-grade memory foam for the most comfortable fit and elasticity. The headphone's structural design supports overall durability that retains its comfortable fit for years of enjoyment.
The Cable: HIFIMAN's new 3.5mm sockets are similar to those found on most common audio devices. The supplied 3.5mm cable is user changeable and replaceable.
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HIFIMAN via Amazon has Lightning Deal: HIFIMAN Edition XS Full-Size Over-Ear Open-Back Planar Magnetic Hi-Fi Headphones (Black) for $269. Shipping is free.
Thanks to community member Larry03 for finding this deal.
About this item:
A Major Upgrade of the Popular Edition X: The new Edition XS expands on its predecessor's achievements with several essential upgrades. Featuring Stealth Magnet Technology and the company's NEO supernano Diaphragm, the Edition XS produces a wide, natural soundstage that puts the listener in the best seat in the house. Edition XS from HIFIMAN brings the depth and range of well-recorded music to an affordably priced headphone.
Acoustically Invisible Stealth Magnet: Unlike the sound waves created by a conventional magnet, the special shape of Stealth Magnets enables the waves to pass through the magnets without generating interference. HIFIMAN's advanced magnet design is acoustically transparent, dramatically reducing wave diffraction turbulence that degrades the integrity of the sound waves. The reduced distortion yields pure sonic output that is accurate and full-range.
HIFIMAN's NEO "supernano" Diaphragm (NsD): The new NsD is 75% thinner than previous designs, resulting in fast response and detailed imaging with lush, full range sonics.
The Headband: The light weight, ergonomically accurate offers maximum comfort for hours of listening pleasure. The exterior is refined matte black material, and the interior features high-grade memory foam for the most comfortable fit and elasticity. The headphone's structural design supports overall durability that retains its comfortable fit for years of enjoyment.
The Cable: HIFIMAN's new 3.5mm sockets are similar to those found on most common audio devices. The supplied 3.5mm cable is user changeable and replaceable.
Model: HIFIMAN Edition XS Full-Size Over-Ear Open-Back Planar Magnetic Hi-Fi Headphones with Stealth Magnets Design, Adjustable Headband, Detachable Cable for Audiophiles, Home, Studio-Black
Deal HistoryÂ
Deal History includes data from multiple reputable stores, such as Best Buy, Target, and Walmart. The lowest price among stores for a given day is selected as the "Sale Price".
Sale Price does not include sale prices at Amazon unless a deal was posted by a community member.
The Hifiman Edition XS are widely considered in the audiophile community to be one of the best headphones available below $500, and are an extremely good deal at $269. They're normally $379 new, refurbished edition xs have recently dropped to $239 and are also an exceptional deal. Still, for only $30 more, I'd get a new pair rather than refurbished.
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.com/index.p...nty-policy
Overall, if these headphones would fit your use cases, this is an excellent deal.
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BeigeRoad455
The Hifiman Edition XS are widely considered in the audiophile community to be one of the best headphones available below $500, and are an extremely good deal at $269. They're normally $379 new, refurbished edition xs have recently dropped to $239 and are also an exceptional deal. Still, for only $30 more, I'd get a new pair rather than refurbished.
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.com/index.p...nty-policy
Overall, if these headphones would fit your use cases, this is an excellent deal.
The Hifiman Edition XS are widely considered in the audiophile community to be one of the best headphones available below $500, and are an extremely good deal at $269. They're normally $379 new, refurbished edition xs have recently dropped to $239 and are also an exceptional deal. Still, for only $30 more, I'd get a new pair rather than refurbished.
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.com/index.p...nty-policy
Overall, if these headphones would fit your use cases, this is an excellent deal.
I came here to post this exact thought, word for word. Thank you for saving me the time.
The Hifiman Edition XS are widely considered in the audiophile community to be one of the best headphones available below $500, and are an extremely good deal at $269. They're normally $379 new, refurbished edition xs have recently dropped to $239 and are also an exceptional deal. Still, for only $30 more, I'd get a new pair rather than refurbished.
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.com/index.p...nty-policy
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.
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.
Last edited by herbsprovence July 10, 2024 at 04:01 PM.
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.
Yah I did look at rtings and it had a difference in the "neutral" score of 0.3 which is negligible. I am not going to blindly trust a random SD'er but I do like to see opinions (both good and bad).
I paid $499 for these when they first came out and even then I thought they were totally worth it. You definitely need some kind of amplifier to drive them, but if you are shopping for headphones in this range you probably know that and/or have one. Using a harman-like EQ (I use one from oratory1990) makes them really shine.
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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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.
The XS is a great headphone and great value but headphones is one area I highly recommend against using Rtings. They have good measurements and info to pour over but their ridiculously arbitrary number ratings they come up with for such a subjective item are next to useless imo.
Yes, these are well regarded in terms of sound quality.
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.
Yes, these are well regarded in terms of sound quality.
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.
I had similar experience with Hifiman headphones in the past. They make great sounding headphones but their build & quality control is usually below average.
That fellow with the most upvotes speaks like your typical chat GPT that doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings. In reality, if you want to be completely unimpressed by the sound quality these cans can produce, sure thing, drop the Amp. It will be matter of days until you set them aside and never touch again, wondering if "audiophile" cans are for nerds, and you should just get back to 6xx or whatever the heck people consider a high quality sound these days.
Dang, I missed it. I was just researching these headphones too. It was between this and the Zeus Elite, but at this price, I would've got these.
I was in a similar boat. I was trying to figure out if these would pair well with my Walkman, and I think they would, but I guess I'll have to wait for another sale.
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Top Comments
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.
15 Comments
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank BeigeRoad455
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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