Hifiman Edition XS dac amp?

[trynuoclanh]

Hi, I just bought my first serious headphones ever - a Hifiman Edition XS. The cans are second-hand and the seller replaced the original 3.5 cable with a 4.4 one. The price is surprisingly good, only 250$ including shipping. So I want to buy a balanced DAC/AMP that can fully exploit their potential without changing or affecting the sound (could be portable or desktop). My sources are my phone and laptop. My budget is 150$. My questions are:

1. What do you all recommend? I'm thinking about Fiio Q3 MQA.
2. Could you share your experience with the XS?
3. Should I buy a second-hand DAC/AMP?

Thanks!

 

[solderdude]

1: no experience with it, the bass boost function may be desirable for the XS.
2: my experience:

Edition XS (2023)

back to HIFIMAN back to measurements home published: June-04-2023 NO SMOOTHING is applied to the shown plots. Most measurement sites have some smoothing applied which ‘irons flat’ sharp peaks and …

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

3: second hand is always an option. When it is a portable device you should consider that internal batteries have a limited life-span. Also some people are careless with USB cables and USB sockets have a tendency to break.

 

[trynuoclanh]

1: no experience with it, the bass boost function may be desirable for the XS.
2: my experience:

Edition XS (2023)

back to HIFIMAN back to measurements home published: June-04-2023 NO SMOOTHING is applied to the shown plots. Most measurement sites have some smoothing applied which ‘irons flat’ sharp peaks and …

diyaudioheaven.wordpress.com

3: second hand is always an option. When it is a portable device you should consider that internal batteries have a limited life-span. Also some people are careless with USB cables and USB sockets have a tendency to break.

Appreciate the answer, mate. The seller gave me a 4.4 so it might be the only port I would use. Can you please tell me do planars get damaged if the power of the amp is way too low or too high? And balanced output can double the power, right?

 

[solderdude]

Only too much power could kill it. In this case it would be several Watts but your ears would not have liked that volume.
Laying them on a desk and using them as desktop speakers driven directly from a speaker amp would be needed to kill it.

 

[trynuoclanh]

Only too much power could kill it. In this case it would be several Watts but your ears would not have liked that volume.
Laying them on a desk and using them as desktop speakers driven directly from a speaker amp would be needed to kill it.

Haha, got chu!!! Will neva do that tho!

 

[Dunring]

I've had those a couple of times and they're fun, a little more bass than the Ananda original. A 3.5mm cable from Youkamoo on Amazon is affordable. The SMSL C200 is really good on those, just got another recently. For portable the Tanchjim Space is the best for those at $89 and both have a 4.4mm plug.

 

[christaras]

I paired them with the c200 very satisfied. Previously with the K7 also very satisfied.

 

[trynuoclanh]

I've had those a couple of times and they're fun, a little more bass than the Ananda original. A 3.5mm cable from Youkamoo on Amazon is affordable. The SMSL C200 is really good on those, just got another recently. For portable the Tanchjim Space is the best for those at $89 and both have a 4.4mm plug.

So, sorry for the late reply. I just got a deal with the second-hand IFI ZEN stack (Zen Dac v1 & Zen Can) bundle for 160$ including shipping. What will you say or have any experience with these dac/amp combo??

 

[trynuoclanh]

I paired them with the c200 very satisfied. Previously with the K7 also very satisfied.

Why did you change to c200? Any qc issues with K7??

 

[christaras]

No balanced output for my Lp6v2.

 

[Dunring]

I got another SMSL C200 a few days ago and it's really impressive. No issues when changing bit rates, plenty of power, and low noise floor even with IEMs. Amazon has them used sometimes for $125 and you can't go wrong at that price. Listening to the HE5xx and only need low gain, and the Moondrop Variations that just came in today sound excellent too. Going to use this as a daily driver until it sells and test it on the HD800s that coming in soon. Balanced RCA out in case I need to plug a heavy hitter amp in for something. I doubt it, high gain has some power for almost anything. Optical works great on DPLL 1 for connecting to a desktop with noisy USB ports too.

 

[Dunring]

So, sorry for the late reply. I just got a deal with the second-hand IFI ZEN stack (Zen Dac v1 & Zen Can) bundle for 160$ including shipping. What will you say or have any experience with these dac/amp combo??

I'd check the review here, the measurements weren't that good on it.

Amazon has the SMSL C200 used for $125 currently and it's a much better performer with perfect channel matching since it's an all in one.

If you want the best deal possible, I just posted a new one here for the Aliexpress sale coming on the 18th.

 

[trynuoclanh]

I'd check the review here, the measurements weren't that good on it.

Amazon has the SMSL C200 used for $125 currently and it's a much better performer with perfect channel matching since it's an all in one.

If you want the best deal possible, I just posted a new one here for the Aliexpress sale coming on the 18th.

Oh, fam I've purchased the Zen stack bundle. The seller gave me a 4.4 to 4.4 cable so I'm not having to buy one. I'm happy with this purchase, those seem to give enough power for my EDXS though. Thanks for your recommendation btw!!!