Hifiman Edition XS

[Ken Tajalli]

Desktop.

I don't have personal experience with this one, but on paper, it ticks all the boxes.

Topping L30 II Review (Headphone Amp)

This is a review, detailed measurements and listening test of Topping L30 II. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $149. It comes in a number of colors. Usability could not be better with positive clicking switches for power/pre and gains. Three gains are provided with the low gain...

www.audiosciencereview.com

This is Topping L30 headphone amp. It is cheap, can handle EDXS, has plenty of power, but just an amp.
For now, you can continue to use your existing DAC. Also leaves you plenty of budget left to get a decent DAC in the future.
From experience, EDXS sings beautifully from 500mW upwards (and that is LOUD!).
For as long as you don't EQ the lower frequencies up (EDXS don't need it anyways), you can EQ the 1.7kHz region up by a few dBs, and not bother with any preamp cut! That way, you don't loose any gain.

 

[JeroenNietDoen79]

I don't have personal experience with this one, but on paper, it ticks all the boxes.

Topping L30 II Review (Headphone Amp)

This is a review, detailed measurements and listening test of Topping L30 II. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $149. It comes in a number of colors. Usability could not be better with positive clicking switches for power/pre and gains. Three gains are provided with the low gain...

www.audiosciencereview.com

This is Topping L30 headphone amp. It is cheap, can handle EDXS, has plenty of power, but just an amp.
For now, you can continue to use your existing DAC. Also leaves you plenty of budget left to get a decent DAC in the future.
From experience, EDXS sings beautifully from 500mW upwards (and that is LOUD!).
For as long as you don't EQ the lower frequencies up (EDXS don't need it anyways), you can EQ the 1.7kHz region up by a few dBs, and not bother with any preamp cut! That way, you don't loose any gain.

So, might as well pair it with the DAC to have a nice looking stack? The E30 II that is correct?

 

[graxxus]

So, might as well pair it with the DAC to have a nice looking stack? The E30 II that is correct?

Correct. I've got this same stack with my XS - sound great. And in warm summer weather, also fabulous with some IEMs.

 

[Ken Tajalli]

So, might as well pair it with the DAC to have a nice looking stack? The E30 II that is correct?

Why not!
Still under your budget.
The EDXS is a wonderful pair of headphones. For the money, I can not think of a better one, on sound quality.

 

[JeroenNietDoen79]

Why not!
Still under your budget.
The EDXS is a wonderful pair of headphones. For the money, I can not think of a better one, on sound quality.

Assume an additional cable is required to connect the stack?

I'm very fond of the Edition XS. Chose this over the Sundara due to the larger earcups. On most round earcups the top of my ears touch the inner/upper side of the earpads. Absolutely do not have an issue with that with the Edition XS.

 

[JeroenNietDoen79]

Correct. I've got this same stack with my XS - sound great. And in warm summer weather, also fabulous with some IEMs.

And I assume enough power to make your ears bleed?

Any specific cable required to connect the stack?

 

[Ken Tajalli]

And I assume enough power to make your ears bleed?

Any specific cable required to connect the stack?

Amazon standard will do nicely.

 

[graxxus]

And I assume enough power to make your ears bleed?

Any specific cable required to connect the stack?

Plenty. Medium gain, 10/11 o‘clock is where I generally stop. Lots of power. I use a pair of 0.5 ft RCA I had around.

 

[Blorg]

Desktop.

Consider the Fiio K7. It does a bit over 5V / ~1,700mW measured into 16 ohms balanced, versus the 2V / 250mW on the DX3 Pro+. This is a specific issue the DX3 Pro+ has with low impedance; although 2V / 250mW is certainly louder than I'd listen to with the EXS the K7 does have ~7x the measured power at that impedance.

Measurements of FiiO K7 USBDAC/HeadphoneAmp - L7Audiolab

台式设备 作为国内在HiFi电子产品领域规模几乎是最大的厂商，FiiO的产品线横跨了从数播到小尾巴、台式机乃至于耳塞和线材。前阵子他们联系到我，给我寄来了当时即将上市的 FiiO K7 台式解码耳放，随着飞傲发布了这款产品，测量应该也到了解禁的时候

www.l7audiolab.com

It's $199, or $250 with Bluetooth. It is certainly way more than enough for the Edition XS, I have both. It also has very good power levels into higher impedances, >500mW at 300 ohms.

I find it powers even the HE6SEV2 satisfactorily, it's the only headphone I have that is close to testing it.

 

[Tallulah]

Now the Topping DX3 Pro+. To achieve the same daily usage volume compared to the G6 I have to run it at -20db on low gain. -35db on High gain. Now if I want to achieve a good listening volume on low gain I've to go to -15/-10db and at that point I feel as if the highs are becoming distorted. Everyhing sounds not as clean. But in general, seems as if there's barely power left and it's pushing the Topping to it's limits where it starts to sound bad. On high gain the same effect can be heard, it's just a little more power available.

I'm a bit confused while reading this... are you keeping the volume control knob at the same position and only changing the volume from your computer? -35 dB on the digital signal is very low and the amplifier has to do a lot of work to amplify that to your "daily usage volume". In order to optimize the audio chain quality you should use 0.0 dB (100%) volume on your computer and use the volume control knob on the device. Even if you have the computer at -10 dB it's already like using only 50% of the volume on Windows. Also make sure that you're using the highest bitdepth that the DAC supports (32 bit).

 

[JeroenNietDoen79]

I'm a bit confused while reading this... are you keeping the volume control knob at the same position and only changing the volume from your computer? -35 dB on the digital signal is very low and the amplifier has to do a lot of work to amplify that to your "daily usage volume". In order to optimize the audio chain quality you should use 0.0 dB (100%) volume on your computer and use the volume control knob on the device. Even if you have the computer at -10 dB it's already like using only 50% of the volume on Windows. Also make sure that you're using the highest bitdepth that the DAC supports.

For the Topping DX3 Pro+ the volume in windows was always 100%. I mention the windows volume percentage for the Creative as the volume knob of the G6 directly controls windows volume.

 

[Tallulah]

For the Topping DX3 Pro+ the volume in windows was always 100%. I mention the windows volume percentage for the Creative as the volume knob of the G6 directly controls windows volume.

Oh, then you mean that these settings gave you the same listening volume?

· Creative G6 on low gain with Windows volume at -20 dB (27%)
· Creative G6 on high gain with Windows volume at -35 dB (10%)
· Topping DX3 Pro+ on high gain with Windows volume at 0 dB (100%)

 

[Robbo99999]

For the Topping DX3 Pro+ the volume in windows was always 100%. I mention the windows volume percentage for the Creative as the volume knob of the G6 directly controls windows volume.

Just as a note, might not be relevant to what you're talking about, but I have the Creative G6 and I found out that is uses hardware volume control - it essentially hijacks the Windows Volume Control slider and turns it into hardware volume control - so the windows Volume Control Slider is no longer a software volume control when you're using a Creative G6 DAC. Following is where I worked out the G6 uses hardware volume control:

Ending the Windows Audio Quality Debate

I have seen 32bit Integer output devices, but not FLOAT. Been looking for some just out of curiosity, but no luck. The Thesycon and XMOS USB drivers support both 32-bit float and integer. I don't know if there's a distinction in the Windows sound settings. RME devices accept 32-bit float...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Of course you can still use software volume control in your music player software or in EqualiserAPO, but the G6 seems to hijack the main Windows Volume Control Slider and is essentially hardware volume control happening within the DAC.

 

[JeroenNietDoen79]

Oh, then you mean that these settings gave you the same listening volume?

· Creative G6 on low gain with Windows volume at -20 dB (27%)
· Creative G6 on high gain with Windows volume at -35 dB (10%)
· Topping DX3 Pro+ on high gain with Windows volume at 0 dB (100%)

No, the G6 directly controls Windows volume. The Topping has Windows volume at 100% and than the volume knob controls itself. The minus dbs I mention is what I read of screen.

So to achieve daily use volume for Discord chat, Teams meetings, play games, so not listening to music:
- Creative G6 20% windows volume low gain
- Topping DX3 Pro+ -20db low gain (Windows volume 100%)
- Topping DX3 Pro+ -35db high gain (Windows volume 100%)

Look at how much room the G6 has left compared to the Topping.

 

[Robbo99999]

No, the G6 directly controls Windows volume. The Topping has Windows volume at 100% and than the volume knob controls itself. The minus dbs I mention is what I read of screen.

So to achieve daily use volume for Discord chat, Teams meetings, play games, so not listening to music:
- Creative G6 20% windows volume low gain
- Topping DX3 Pro+ -20db low gain (Windows volume 100%)
- Topping DX3 Pro+ -35db high gain (Windows volume 100%)

Look at how much room the G6 has left compared to the Topping.

You'd have to put the G6 on High Gain to compare it to the Topping DX3 Pro+ High Gain. -35dB is the equivalent of running 9% Windows Volume. -20dB is equivalent of running 26% Windows Volume. You can know this dB to windows volume % relationship if you change Windows to display levels in -dB rather than % in the Sound Control Panel for Windows. But anyway, you'd have to change G6 to High Gain and then volume match that against your Topping DX3 Pro+ in High Gain, and then you could compare your -dB to Windows Volume % relationships to work out which was giving you most headroom.

EDIT: and that's assuming you don't get any clipping in the DACS at max output, which you do actually get clipping at max output on the G6. The G6 has to be run below -2dBFS to avoid clipping in the bass - as seen in Amir's review of the G6. (So I always make sure I have at least -2dBFS configured into the playback chain when using the G6 DAC).

 

[JeroenNietDoen79]

You'd have to put the G6 on High Gain to compare it to the Topping DX3 Pro+ High Gain. -35dB is the equivalent of running 9% Windows Volume. -20dB is equivalent of running 26% Windows Volume. You can know this dB to windows volume % relationship if you change Windows to display levels in -dB rather than % in the Sound Control Panel for Windows. But anyway, you'd have to change G6 to High Gain and then volume match that against your Topping DX3 Pro+ in High Gain, and then you could compare your -dB to Windows Volume % relationships to work out which was giving you most headroom.

EDIT: and that's assuming you don't get any clipping in the DACS at max output, which you do actually get clipping at max output on the G6. The G6 has to be run below -2dBFS to avoid clipping in the bass - as seen in Amir's review of the G6. (So I always make sure I have at least -2dBFS configured into the playback chain when using the G6 DAC).

I'm not sure what you're asking. I'm not interested in exact measurements of each dac on each gain. I just want to achieve listening volumes on a dac, and I compare by what I hear and list the setting it is on. And I notice the DX3 has little headroom left and has issues in that remaining headroom. Where as the G6 has a ton of headroom left.

It also don't matter as the DX3 Pro+ has been sent back.

 

[Robbo99999]

I'm not sure what you're asking. I'm not interested in exact measurements of each dac on each gain. I just want to achieve listening volumes on a dac, and I compare by what I hear and list the setting it is on. And I notice the DX3 has little headroom left and has issues in that remaining headroom. Where as the G6 has a ton of headroom left.

It also don't matter as the DX3 Pro+ has been sent back.

You seemed to be using a combination of -dBFS and % Windows Slider settings to compare your DACS on your various setting, I was just saying that in order to do that you need to know the relationship between Windows Slider % and dBFS, and you also need to have your G6 DAC in High Gain as that's untapped potential (as you only listed your Topping being in High Gain). But ok, you've sent back your DX3 Pro+, in that case it's irrelevant, but the point remains on the G6 DAC, make sure you're not running it above -2dBFS as it will clip in that territory in the bass, as per Amir's review, so that's a snippet of information you can use.

 

[raif71]

 

[JeroenNietDoen79]

You seemed to be using a combination of -dBFS and % Windows Slider settings to compare your DACS on your various setting, I was just saying that in order to do that you need to know the relationship between Windows Slider % and dBFS, and you also need to have your G6 DAC in High Gain as that's untapped potential (as you only listed your Topping being in High Gain). But ok, you've sent back your DX3 Pro+, in that case it's irrelevant, but the point remains on the G6 DAC, make sure you're not running it above -2dBFS as it will clip in that territory in the bass, as per Amir's review, so that's a snippet of information you can use.

I also listed the Topping in low gain. Actually, that's where I started off to compare. I only used high gain once I figured there wasn't much headroom left.

As for using -dBFS and % Windows slider, yeah, I can't read it any other way

 

[Blorg]

I'm not sure what you're asking. I'm not interested in exact measurements of each dac on each gain. I just want to achieve listening volumes on a dac, and I compare by what I hear and list the setting it is on. And I notice the DX3 has little headroom left and has issues in that remaining headroom. Where as the G6 has a ton of headroom left.

It also don't matter as the DX3 Pro+ has been sent back.

You can't compare power/volume levels like this, by how much there "feels" to be left because of the position of a knob or the number.