Great advice! That's really cool you had the same setup. The XS sound amazing to me through the E07k so I'll just run this setup for a few months and then upgrade to the K7.

you might notice the bass of 560s is way different.

I just plugged them into the back of my motherboard as I heard an amp isn’t required

The mid to upper treble spikes

> In the case of x9000 vs 009s, like many others have pointed out the x9000 does have a rather more laid back sound to it compared to the 009s, and things sound further away, yet with such width and separation it doesn't detour the center image of say like a vocalist, and doesn't leave me wanting more intimacy from it often.

> Compared to 009s, which I considered to be very natural sounding to begin with, the vocal naturalness and imaging/stage sounds much more correct and well placed to me on the x9000, and it's also slightly more resolving sounding but unclear whether there are more details from x9000.

Geez. I already thought the 009 sounded like every instrument was COVID social distance apart and I was standing at the other side of an arena listening in. I wished it had more intimacy, maybe like halfway to the LCDs which sound like everyone's playing an instrument while they hug you.

They don’t need an amp. They benefit from a good dac but it is not necessary

I actually had the same setup, Fiio E07k and the original M50!

The E07k actually sounds really nice and has just enough power. Never tried driving any planars from it though.

The Fiio has a bit of a softer sound in the details, but it's nice. When I upgraded to something "nicer", I actually missed the softer sound.

The differences are subtle though! If your budget allows, upgrade. But if I were you, I'd get used to the sound of the XS and Fiio for a while, you'll notice more of a difference if you are very familiar with the sound, as the upgrade will probably be very subtle.

what piercing treble?

900* lol sorry

What's your source material? What are you using these on?

Haven’t tried the 990s! Are they warmer sounding then the 900 pro x’s?

I used to with "peace" PEQ but after I thought I like the EQ I went back and I prefer it stock EQ setting. Sometimes I might EQ the bass for the HD800s but thats it. HD660S I don't EQ at all.

I tried some eq profiles and I like one in particular after I tweaked it. I tweaked it so it was warmer and it definitely sounded better, maybe I just got to give them a little more time

Yeah, I think its actually one of the least explanatory videos the headphone show ever made. I wouldn’t show it to anyone who is new to the Hobby honestly. To make it short: graphs give you a pretty good idea about a headphones tonality. And if you know what you like and how the headphones you like measure you can often tell how another headphone sounds in comparison through the graphs. But since your ears work different than a measuring rig you will always need to listen to the headphone to actually know if it sounds good to you.

Interesting, I could probably swing the K7. I may pick one up in the near future and keep the E07k as a portable solution if needed.

If you like the piercing treble of the 990s then you might like the 1990s but they aren't much of an upgrade.

So now I know that:

1. frequency response doesn't actually tell you anything.
2. oh wait, actually frequency response tells you literally everything you could possibly want to know.
3. but yeah no actually it doesn't really tell you anything lol

cool...

I would experiment with Equalizer settings with the DT 900 before thinking about upgrading to see if it's the sound signature that you don't like, and see what signature you do like

I got the new Fiio and its with the THXAAA related chips. Supposedly its beefier performance wise.

That is perfectly valid, a lot of people buy technically capable headphones and EQ its mediocre tonality to something they like. But like others said, that isnt always possible.

Frequency response is also NOT subjective. Perception of FR is, but the measurement itself is objective. Whether people listen to the reviewer's subjective interpretation of the graph is up to them.

Also keep in mind this is my first time using audiophile headphones so I don’t know that much about audio

Don’t get me wrong it’s an amazing pair of headphones, I think it was just my expectations vs the reality that let me down. They sound worlds different and better than the Astro’s. But not as good as I thought they would

Following- about to pull the trigger on 900 pro x….

I don't have an opinion one way or another. My only experience is with the Fiio E07k. Sounds like upgrading the DAC/amp wouldn't do much for me anyway.

Almost gave up and sold it, but with raptgo hook silicone eartips its bearable, can’t use any other eartips. I tried like 20+ pairs of different eartips all of them have their own problems. Yeah the fit sucks