Smooth sound cures treble/listening fatigue, looks, build.

No bass, humming noise (QC issue), very little difference made to cheaper cans, expensive.

Given that most things in HiFi are all opinion the following are my findings on this product. I bought the X-Cans on recommendation to cure the lack of bass and harsh treble I was experiencing from my Sennheiser HD580''s. The X-Cans managed one feat, curing the treble, but the 580''s still have no bass to speak of. I feel that bass moves music along, and provides warmth and smoothness, but the X-Cans don''t give me the sound I want. I tried it with my Technics closed back phones and found no difference (worthy of the money I had spent) between it, and the headphone output on my Marantz CD6000OSE. I understand that tweaking may give a certain amount of difference, but having already spent over £200 on a headphone system (insane money to some people I told), more money could not be justified. They also had a constant hum coming from the left hand channel when no signal was being passed through them. They helped my 580''s a little, but did little for my Technics. On the whole disappointing, and now up for sale along with my 580''s.

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Standard Outputs

Smooth sound cures treble/listening fatigue, looks, build.

No bass, humming noise (QC issue), very little difference made to cheaper cans, expensive.

Given that most things in HiFi are all opinion the following are my findings on this product. I bought the X-Cans on recommendation to cure the lack of bass and harsh treble I was experiencing from my Sennheiser HD580''s. The X-Cans managed one feat, curing the treble, but the 580''s still have no bass to speak of. I feel that bass moves music along, and provides warmth and smoothness, but the X-Cans don''t give me the sound I want. I tried it with my Technics closed back phones and found no difference (worthy of the money I had spent) between it, and the headphone output on my Marantz CD6000OSE. I understand that tweaking may give a certain amount of difference, but having already spent over £200 on a headphone system (insane money to some people I told), more money could not be justified. They also had a constant hum coming from the left hand channel when no signal was being passed through them. They helped my 580''s a little, but did little for my Technics. On the whole disappointing, and now up for sale along with my 580''s.

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Standard Outputs

Good value and great sound. Dynamic, detail and smooth. With better tubes and X-PSU power supply, sound is even better. I like the fact that the product can be improve and extended to realise its full potential.

Despite my best attempts, there is still slight sound coming form left channel at zero volume. This was present even after swapping tubes. However, it does not distract at all during listening.

This review is a follow up to the one I wrote below. Have been using the X-Cans V2 with X-PSU now for more than 6 months and it continues to grow on me. Having read the reviews from Dan of Columbus, Ohio and after communicating with him, I finally took the plunge and swap the standard JAN Phllips 6992 tubes in the X-Cans with a matched pair of NOS Bugle Boy Amperex (Holland)ECC88. This is a fairly easy task to perform. I have to agree with Dan''s observation that this does improve the X-cans noticeably. I found the sound smoother and more tuneful with greater air/presence around the instruments. I have also found a pair of used Mullard ECC88 but have yet to try these. Will write a follow up once I have done so. Besides swapping the tubes I have also made the following changes: 1) Swap the Alpha Core Goertz Silver Micropurl Interconnects with Van Der Hul D102MkIII Interconnects. The Silver Micropurls were a tad too bright and the Van Der Hul tame the highs and added more body. Highly recommended. 2) Added the AFA Zeus power cord ($180 good value) to the CD player and replace the standard Musical Fidelity power cord with my previous Audioquest AC15 power cord. These changes brought more detail to the system. Have experimented swapping the power cords between the CD player and X-PSU. It seems that the X-PSU was not as sensitive to power cord chnages as the X-Ray CD player. Nevertheless I would recommend changing the stock power cords supplied with the X-Cans for something better. 3) Have been using the Audience Auric Illuminator CD stoplight and static reduction solution. The improvements to most most CDs can be discern arising mostly from an increase in detail and a cleaner sound. You can try this out by simply using a black marker pen and blacking out the outer and inner rim of a CD. I did this and convince myself that this tweak does work and subsequently bought the Auric Illuminator. System: Musical Fidelity X-Ray CD player Van Der Hul D102MkIII Interconnect Audiophiles For Audiophiles (AFA) Zeus power cord Musical Fidelity X-Cans V2 headphone amp Musical Fidelity X-PSU power supply Audioquest AC15 power cord Sennheiser HD-600 headphones

Crystal clear sound.

None

Got this baby about 3 monyhs ago, I connected my Denon DCD 1650AR via my Transparent audio Link 100 Interconnects and all this to my Philips HP 910 headphones.
This gave me a quality sound, with crystal clear mids, treble and bass.
Perfect if you want to listen but don't want to bother others.
Remember that this headphone-amp needs quality headphones, the Philips that I use is almost a little to cheap to bring out all the qualities that this amp can bring, that is if you have a good cd player connected to it.
A good alternative to late-night listening or when you bring forth your secret black-metal collection *smile*

A good product to a very sensible price.

Attractive and rock solid build. Open sound with fabulous midrange and soft highs. Dead silent. Tons of gain.

Entire line of X-Ponents has been discontinued. Bass may be a bit soft for those who like a lot of slam.

This amp is built better than most amps costing 4 times the price, the build is simply impeccable. The sound is well, airy, soft and nuetral with lush vocals. Sennheiser's high end headphones are a perfect match with this. They'll give you an extremely smooth sound with good dynamics and gorgeous mids. It's tragic Musical Fidelity decided to discontinue these as you'll have to spend more than twice as much to get a better sounding tube amp.

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Headroom Airhead.

Quality of build and sound.

My wife despises the appearance.

The sound quality of this unit is simply breathtaking. Through Sennheisser 565's the shear depth of the music is remarkable, bringing sharp percussion and rich musicality to a range from Acousticmania through Nick Drake, John Cale and psychadelic rock to Bach organ music.

At first the sound seems confusing - eventually you realise that this is the exceptional tonality of the signal.

rtg

Valve

None

I have not heard this amp but Im thinking of getting one. It's a toss up betweem this one and the Head. I'm supprise the MG head isn't listed here. I've great review on it. I've also read great reviews on x-cans. I beleive all tube components are good and this one is no exception esp on analytical headphones from Sennheiser.

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Antique sound Labs Mg Head

Valve

None

I have not heard this amp but Im thinking of getting one. It's a toss up betweem this one and the Head. I'm supprise the MG head isn't listed here. I've great review on it. I've also read great reviews on x-cans. I beleive all tube components are good and this one is no exception esp on analytical headphones from Sennheiser.

Similar Products Used:

Antique sound Labs Mg Head

deep bass; stereo resolution; good for simple music, maybe for jazz; dynamic

uncomfortable sound; not good for classical; cannot handle time events

Guys already give 4-5 stars for it. I doubt it.
I have been using X-CAN.v2 for 3 weeks. I have pretty
cheep turn table - ProJect 1.2 with Audio Technica 440ML,
plus pretty good phone preamp - AudioElectronicSupply PH-1,
which was built by myself. Cable - MIT Terminator 2.
Headphones - Sennheiser HD580.
I guess that's enough to get pleasure from classical
music, or to spend hours listening to it.

So, I am not satisfied, I don't like it, and I believe,
the problem is in X-CAN. It sounds sharp and uncomfortable.

On the other hand this little guy could be good for simple
music, like techno, ambient, or even rock. Probably it could handle jazz.

Finaly, I opened it, and found two
JAN 6822 tubes, bunch of cheep capacitors&resistors. And even transistors! So it looks like this is a hybrid!
Thanks.