I know things change in life and things can change in tech with one firmware update. It can make the unit better or it can make the unit worst. However the beauty about the wired audiophile game, firmware updates aren’t coming to a none Bluetooth headphone. What you have out of the box is what it is for the default state of the headphone. In fact, unless there is some kind of variant difference that is far to the left or right of the standard performance … you never have to worry about a difference in sound from unit to unit. Now some could consider that a bad thing because they are used to Bluetooth headphones coming out with defects that actually result in the need for the firmware to correct. Not the case with the Audiophile headphones in the world. The only job they have is to be a source to pump the analog signal through for sound reproductions. This results in better and higher quality sound because the unit is dedicated to the sound and the sound only. They are not there for phone calls or to contact google assistance. There is a place for this type of headphone and earphone but this is just not that place.
Now where things get interesting is when it comes down to EQ software. To some audiophiles out there..they are considered taboo or a way to cheat. To others, they are just simply another source of perfection that can be added to an already stellar piece of equipment that just needs a little extra to push them over the top. To the purest …they hate this idea because it makes buying their 15th headphone for just a little more bass, irrelevant. And so they would rather buy another $1500 headphone to get 10% more bass out of the headphone that they just got 5 months ago. For people like me …I see no point in spending $1000’s to get 10% gains. What I spend in cash better equates to the same amount of sound boost from what I had prior. If not then it’s not worth it. Hence why the XS edition of the Hifiman headphone is PERFECT. It’s the very first headphone that gives actually delivered the sound doubling of the previous headphone version, The Sundara. The Edition XS cost $499 and the Sundara’s MRP was $499 but can be found for $350. And the XS is everything that the Sundara is but Doubled in every area which makes the cost of the $500 so much worth it.
This finally leads me to this point. Bass… one of the complaints on the Sundara was that the bass was not as strong as it could have been. I personally didn’t have a problem with it because I always used my default settings above on my Peace software EQ for all my headphones and it’s so good that no matter what I put on it …it creates the perfect balance of the sound across the spectrum of sounds. But when the XS edition was added to my setup with this EQ it created the first PERFECT headphone. Omg …The bass is so rich and full and yet still balanced and cut off from the rest of the mids, highs, and vocals. Never bleeding into them and always only present when needed. So to hear some YouTubers claim that the XS doesn’t have a lot of Bass…I’m left scratching my head. Because this is so far from the truth. EQ is no different from color amps and Dacs that add more warmth or bass to the traits of the headphones that are plugged into them. All the EQ is doing is revealing the capability of the headphones. I can plug up the Sundara to the same setup and the headphones still won’t sound like the XS because it physically doesn’t have the ability to sound like it. The EQ can’t make it sound like the XS …it can only give it a chance to max out its potential. So Bass….OMG…YES, yes the XS Edition has plenty of bass to the point that it’s the best bass I’ve heard on any piece of hardware ever. It’s flat-out master level and with the oval earcups that create an environment that is vast and expansive in its feeling and surrounding openness, it’s no shock why it’s the best headphone under $1000 today. So make sure you add your EQ …it doesn’t have to be mine but make sure you seek out your own for the XS Edition because the narrative that this headphone can’t produce needed bass is completely false. It has the ability to deliver on bass…you don’t need another headphone to show you this…just an EQ.
Tech-N-Things 