[LEGACY] Encore of Hifiman Edition XS – Endnotes and Comparison to HE6SE and GL2000

At last, Resolve my favourite reviewer has posted his review. I encourage you to check it out. Now I can be super biased and gush out some personal opinions of the XS. I actually prefer the XS over the Ananda by quite a large margin. A major feature of the hifiman egghead planar is the airy presentation that some have described as being a bit lean, even delicate or fragile sounding. This is true especially on the Ananda, whereas Arya and HEK got more body, slam and punch in the bass. The XS, with the slightly elevated bass-upper bass region IMO balances out the delicacy very well.

The only thing I am unsure is whether or not the hot upper treble is a result of the stealth magnets. I understand that the Arya SE also display such a change, but I have always felt that the XS is more tamed in the upper registers than the Ananda or the HEK V2. Maybe it’s something about CSD, or maybe it’s just unit variation. Anyway, great review from Resolve as always!

Size matters: IMO the key feature of the egghead series is simply their large driver size, which allows for an immersive listening experience that you don’t get with the majority of other headphones. They should legitimatly be called ear speakers instead of headphones. You get huge soundstage, big images in an extremly open, airy and transparent way. The fact that you can now have these at around $500 is quite remarkable.

Comparing to Gold Planar GL2000: the GL2000 is what I would describe as ‘mainstream’ headphones. Pop, rock and other modern genres sound a lot better than accoustic or classical music on them. ‘Mainstream’ because they can sound a bit plain. The good thing is that they are hardly ever offensive or tiring. Tonally the GL2000 is more mid-centric than the XS. Vocals are fuller, more forward on the GL2000. Conversely the XS got more bass and treble, and can replay instruments with better clarity. Resolution and layering I feel the XS defintely has the edge. Soundstage and imaging on the GL2000 is actually surprisingly decent for mid-centric cans as they are. XS is still wider though. Build quality the winner I have to say is the GL2000, and it also comes with two-year warranty. The XS is a lot more comfy being more than 100 grams lighter though.

Comparing to the HE6SE V2: I always think of the higher-end hifiman cans as two distinct product lines: the egg-shaped ones versus the round ones. The former represented by the Ananda, Arya and HEK series are known for transparency and expansive soundstage, with a brighter or more U-shaped tuning for listening enjoyment. The round series represented by Sundara, HE560 and HE6SE are more precise, controlled and authentic to the music. The tradeoff is there’s less of a wow-factor. In the case of comparing the XS to the HE6SE V2, you can immediately note that the 6SE is technically more capable: bass is tighter, soundstage more is realistic, and their laser focused imaging is rarely found on other planars. It’s again the fun tuning (albeit still very close to neutral) of the XS that’s its own saviour: there’s more bloom in the bass and more sparkle in the highs. Both are quite aggressively priced and you should choose based on your preference. I think you can’t go wrong with either.

In this hobby we are often tricked by the false belief that expensive stuff sound better. There are too many counter examples. It’s also worth pointing out that theres a lot of cost cutting in case of the XS. You no longer get two cables or the fancy leatherette case with the Ananda. Also in China the two are now priced almost the same. My advice would be just to hear it for yourself. I trust the XS won’t let you down.