Everything

Nothing at this price point

What an incredible piece of audio gear. This sounded fantastic, right out of the box. I was actually not expecting this level of performance.

Fluid, quick, TONS of detail, no harshness or over emphasis of any kind (that I can detect).

This version "V2" is so much better than the original X-Cans, it should have been given a completely new model designation.

The best headphone amp I've heard so far, and I haven't even upgraded tubes or the power supply! Even beats out (with the excepted area of deepest bass extension) my Wheatfield HA-1 @ $600.

Perhaps because mine is a late model, I've experienced NO noise or other anomolies that others here posted.

A definate "must buy" if your a serious "can head" (with kids) like me.

The folks at Musical Fidelity are to be commended and congratulated.


Used with;
Sennheiser HD600
Mark Levinson no. 39 CD
B.A.T. VK-P5 tube phono stage
Reference Line Preeminence 1B pre-amp
PS Audio P300
Alpha Core and Silver Audio interconnects
Sonic Horizon power cords used throughout

Similar Products Used:

Antique Sound Lab MG-HeadDT, X-Cans (original), Wheatfield HA-1

great sound

no on/off switch small cheap volume knob

great sound with my senn 580's lots of depth and detail.able to listen for hours without ears hurting. much better than reciever headphone output!!!

Similar Products Used:

none

Good sound quality.ability to change sound characteristics using "tweaks"

harsh treble,fair bass control no on-off switch

Maybe I missed something,But this amp has yet to impress me.I had to buy it mail-order, without an audition of course, and have to say I would have passed.

Even after break-in the upper ranges on this amp seem to be very harsh.It is less pronounced on higher impedence headphones such as the Sennheiser HD600 but it is almost unbearable using Grados.Perhaps an impedance switch or some type of impedence sensing circuit would help.I tried a few different tubes to see if I could smooth out the sound to no avail.This amp seems to have been engineered to work best with high impedance headphones and here is where its strength lies.Bass that can be clearly separated between say,a bass guitar and a drum beat on other amps seems to be muddled in to one beat on the Xcans amp.On some heavy bass laden music such as fusion jazz the bass is hard to discern between the lower bass producing instruments.While it suffers with this type of music it shines with vocals.The vocal reproduction with this amp rivals the best I have heard.
I have been told a reengineered product will soon be introduced by Musical Fidelity and I hope that it builds on the strengths of this amp and cures the weaknesses.This amp does not seem to stack up well against the solid state amps and takes a beating at the hands of the Acoustic Soundlabs Mg head DT.I will offer my Xcans V2 for sale on ebay soon.

Similar Products Used:

MG head DT,Creek OBH-11,Grado RA-1

Sound Quality
Build Quality

Harsh in treble but I expect it will smooth off after running in.

I connected this to my Linn CD player with Linn's own interconnects. Gave it about half an hour to warm up and played Dire-Straits Alchemy through my Grado 125s. Suddenly I could hear new stuff going on - on and off stage - frankly the detail is astounding. On other recordings treble seems a bit harsh but I guess this is something that will fade after running in. If you have a decent CD player and use the headphone outputs get this or at least try it you will be astounded. BTW Linn is useful as it has two sets of line-outputs meaning you don't need to stick the amp into a tape loop or mess about with other cabling.

Next to try: upgrade power supply, tubes, interconnect.

Similar Products Used:

None

When you have th eright tubes and interconnects the sound is unbeatable at this price range.

Crappy tubes and wall wart power supply that comes stock means very hard & shrill highs untill you tweak things some

Update from my previous review here. Already went on about the tubes and interconnects so read that on the earlier post. recently bought a tube pre amp for main system and learned how much ANY TUBE GEAR BENEFITS FROM PROPER ISOLATION!!!!! So I tried it on theX-Cans/X-PSU & the difference was very significant. Went the cheap tweak first and just set them on some bubble wrap to decouple them from the shelf and then added about 10 LBs of lead shot on top of each. The diffference was VERY noticable. The bass got tighter and more tuneful. Since I already had much BIGGER bass due to teh NOS Amperex/Mullard tubes and Gutwire G-Clef power cord for the X-PSU this tightness and improved articulation was amazing. Get the lead shot from any firearms store for like $10 for 25 lbs and use it on top of everything. I later did it right and got a 12" inner tube and blew it up about half way. I then set a thick piece of MAPLE! on top the tube and then the MF gear. Maybe a Bright star would do better but for the money the inner tube & Maple block works great.
I also rerouted things to the X-Cans. Instead of gong from the Bel Canto DAC into the integrated home amp then into X-Cans I now run the DAC straight into the X-Cans first using Cardas Golden Interconnects. Then I use the outputs on the X-Cans to go into the home amp via the Pro Silway MKII interconnects. The difference in sound for the home amp is small but the difference in the headphone amp is very big! Granted, this is my second system and mostly the home amp there is used while shooting pool or lifting weights so I don't notice a lot of difference through the speakers. Can't say for sure if I would try this upstairs on my main system? Probably not. However, in the basement I do my critical listening every morning through the Grado Cans and this helped immensly. Last new development was the addition of the Acoustic Zen MC2 digital cable into this equation. I run the Cardas L-15 digital from CDP into Monarchy DIP then MC2 digital from DIP into the Bel Canto DAC. Now the X-Cans actually has that SHIMMER to the cymbals that I get from a mega buck set up in the main room. Other digitals have given me great sound but the MC2 really lifted the X-Cans highs to another level. Don't try this though if you still have the stock tubes or your ears will bleed from the terrible brightness of all this silver!

Similar Products Used:

Creek SE

Good value, great sound. Dynamic, detail and smooth

At zero volume, some slight signal can still be heard on left channel

Just purchased the X-Cans V2 to go along with my old Sennheiser HD580.
Made a tremendous improvement in sound over standard headphone outlets on my Adcom GTP-350 tuner/preamp. Sound was more dynamic, more detailed, more spacious but yet smoother.
I purchased it together with the Musical Fidelity X-PSU power supply. When compared to the standard power supply of the X-Cans V2, the X-PSU was less congested, had better bass and punch. I would recommend getting the X-PSU.
In fact I enjoyed the X-Cans V2/X-PSU combination so much that I have bought the Sennheiser HD600 headphones to go with it. The HD600 is a little cleaner, slightly more detail compared to HD580.

Associated equipment:

Musical Fidelity X-Ray CD player
AudioQuest AC-15 power cord with RFI filter
Alpha-Core Goertz Micro-Purl Silver Interconnects (Highly recommended)
Sennheiser HD580 and HD600 headphones
Musical Fidelity X-Cans V2
Musical Fidelity X-PSU
Adcom GTP-350 tuner/preamp
Adcom GFA-5200 power amp

Similar Products Used:

None

a bit bright (10 hour breakin with XLO CD)
microphonics on right channel

the short form:

Music Fidelity X-CanV2
It has a tube sound (detail but not the expected warmth). The upgrade power supply and a change of tubes may help the warmth and get rid of the brightness. Found it to be a good match with my Cambridge Audio D300 (which has a warm and less demanding output in terms of detail) and a pair of Sennheiser HD600s(extended/exagerated bottom).

Wheatfield HA-1
At nearly twice the price (but it has a great power supply already) it is warm, smooth, with great detail and balance (and yes you could say sweet). Found it to be a great match with my Arcam Alpha 8se (which supplies a lot more detail) with a pair of AKG 501s (detail plus - if you like acoustic instruments these cans deliver).

Given the difference in cost, either of these combinations are reasonable choices. Definately go for the Wheatfield if price is not an issue.

Similar Products Used:

wheatfield HA-1

Value!

some noise

I have lived now for one year with the predecessor of the X-CAN V2, the original X-CANS, and was ready to get the V2 after reading the impressions here at this forum.

To start with the minor disadvantages, I have to mention, that the V2 has two weak points. These are first the cheap poti, which tends to be louder on the left channel at very low to zero listening level. Second there is some hum noise at extreme listening level (level position at 12). I did not experience any noise from the original X-CANS.

But leaving away these minor (but nevertheless a bit anoying) disadvantages, this is a bang of a headphone amplifier.
Lots of dynamics, bright but never harsh treble, extremely deep though perfectly tight and timbered bass. And lots of air around each instrument and vocals.
I don't know how this can be done better, I never experienced very expensive headphone amplifiers such as the Sennheiser. Well, maybe I have heard some music through a combination of valve amplifiers and conventional speakers (magnetostats) delivering a bit more in terms of colors, but that's the only point where I can imagine some minor development. I'll try the X-PSU.

This little headphone amplifier makes the maximum in music experience affordable to everyone, and it can act as reference to any, even the most expensive, audiophile stereo chain.

I made all experiences with my SONY MDR-CD1700, which are the most appealing and affordable headphones for me personally, having owned and tested Beyers, AKGs, Koss and Sennheisers.

I'm absolutely satisfied now with what I've got, there is no need for anything 'better' or more costly.

Similar Products Used:

MF X-CANS

fantastic clarity & build for the money

Those horrible cheap stock Phillips tubes! Replace ASAP w/ vintage Amperex

Compared head to head w/ the Creek and the V2 was the winner for me. Originally had Senn 580 cans w/ it and in the search for better bass bought a set of Grado 325s! What a great investment that was. I also bought the X-PSU power supply a couple months later and that helped some too. I lived w/ the stock tubes for about 4 months and just could not get rid of the brightness even w/ the Grados. So I bought Harmonic Tech Pro-Silway MKII interconnects and they helped some but it still bothered me. So I finally decided to try some different tubes. HOLY MOLY! What a difference! Trash your stock tubes the same day this thing arrives at your door. So Far I have tried the Amperex 6DJ8 Bugle Boys, US WHite Labels, 7308 Gold Pins, and PQ A-Frames. I just ordered a set of Mullard ECC88s from Hong Kong but not here yet. So far the Amperex PQ A-Frames are the best for this unit. Very DEEP bass w/ great impact and slam! Very extended highs but still smooth, never bright. Beautiful pronounced mid range that makes female vocals feel like they are getting ready to reach out and brush their lips up against your face. This is a great unit by itself, but TO REALLY MAKE IT SHINE YOU NEED TOP SHELF INTERCONNECTS AND VINTAGE 1960'S TUBES! Beware of Richardson Electronics that will sell you a Phillips tube w/ Bugle Boy on the side. Get the real deal. At $20 to $60 per tube you will find yourself thinking it was worth every cent.

Similar Products Used:

Creek SE

Plenty of dynamic range and volume

At zero volume, some sound is heard on left speaker but not right

One of the reasons why I chose my Senn's 590 instead of 580 was because I didn't want to buy a headphone amp - I tested OBH-11 and couldn't hear much difference between it and my portable's headphone output.

My portable still has problem with bass at high levels. So, after procrastinating for 1/2 year, I asked a local dealer to get XCANv2 for a trial. Within first minute I heard enough.. Clarity, dynamic range and Volume. Sold!

I reckon Sennheiser should say "best used with XCANv2" on their headphone packaging. Like all specialty products this is an expensive investment (but if you're going to pay upper-end of quality in headphones an amp should be part and parcel of this decision), hence 'Value' can't be 5. Because of 'weakness' above, 'Overall' can't be 5 - MF fix this stupidity!

Similar Products Used:

obh-11