You can install Equalizer APO and use it with any soundcard including the Sound BlasterX G6. Besides that though if you are coming from the Fidelio you probably want to start with a bass boost, the X2HR are quite bassy for an open back.

/r/headphones soundstage testing playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3nRSh6qyYtTeHfhGM5Q5Iq

I haven't got them yet, they have left China but not here yet.

They're not totally bereft of bass. It's just a little leaner in the mid-bass than something like the Kato or Aria. More than something like the Dioko, which I do find lean. And more sub-bass than the OG Blessing 2.

https://squig.link/?share=Truthear_Hexa,Moondrop_Kato

They are nowhere near a basshead set, but they aren't totally bereft of it either. More mids-forward than bass light I think.

They EQ well, as well, you can add in just a little more bass and this works well.

If you want "warmer", that's what EQ is for. The DX3 Pro+ is an accurate DAC/amp, you can add as much "warmer" as you like with EQ. Or whatever else either.

Try Oratory's Harman EQ, (pdf) I find it works very well with the Clear.

That does EQ down the 1250 shout (1350 in this case) as well, I still find them very dynamic.

I find them less shouty and in your face than something like the HD600, and they do graph darker. New pads could be an issue here, I think it will get darker as it gets older.

https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/graphtool/?share=IEF_Neutral_Target,Clear,HD600_S3_(2020)_(fresh_pads)

I have the Arya Stealth, it has that Hifiman 1-2.5kHz recess which may help but it's a lot brighter than the Clear above that. It probably is less "shouty" specifically though. It's less dynamic, less punchy, but better soundstage, better bass extension and I think a bit better tonally overall, and also more detail and layering. I like the Clear a lot, but if I could only have one, I'd take the Arya Stealth over the Clear (and also over the HD800S, HE6SEV2, LCD-X, and I'd have to think about which vs the Utopia). Arya Stealth is a great all-rounder.

https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/graphtool/?share=IEF_Neutral_Target,Clear,Arya_Stealth

I think that's exactly what the special app is doing, it would be sending the UAC command to change the volume on the dongle. The issue with low volume on Android with the Apple dongle is related, by default it is set to 50% and Android volume buttons only reduce the sample volume. Universal Audio Player Pro is another app people use to be able to control this hardware volume.

My understanding, with BT it is sending a full scale signal either way, some BT devices have the option of their own independent volume but I'm not sure whether you use the volume on the device matters.

With the Qudelix and Android it will show the input at -0dB all the way down to around 35% volume and then below that it does attenuate, but not very much until you get down to the very bottom. I don't think in practice there is any issue using the device volume, not for my devices anyway.

>when you reduce the volume digitally, you are just sending the dac samples that are scaled to the lower register of voltages

My understanding though, this isn't how it works with UAC2 in Windows, it sends a full scale signal along with a number for the volume, and it's up to the destination device to set the volume.

This is the behavior I see with for example the Qudelix 5K, if I drop the master volume in Windows to 50% volume does go down, but the input level displayed by the Qudelix stays exactly the same (very near 0dB for modern music, like it's at -0.08 to -0.09dB at the louder parts of a track, dropping in quieter parts).

Qudelix notes this is how it works for Windows and iOS (and Android over Bluetooth) but states that Android USB Audio does scale down the PCM samples:

>You can control volume in whatever comfortable way, either smartphone buttons or Qudelix-5K buttons, without any sound quality loss. It always keeps and guarantees the best sound quality over Bluetooth or USB. ...

>Smartphone, PC/Laptop volume control: Remotely adjusts the 5K built-in Volume Controller ...

>Unlike PC USB and iOS USB(over Camera Kit), Android USB Audio doesn't support the Absolute Volume Control. The Android Source Volume scales down the PCM sample as the volume gets lowered. For the best sound quality with Android USB Audio, you will need to keep the source volume at maximum.

https://www.qudelix.com/blogs/5k-dac-amp/volume-control

While if I take a track into Audacity and actually reduce the level of the samples, the number the Qudelix shows for input level goes down accordingly- by exactly what I drop it by in Audacity. But that's not what the straight Windows volume control does any more with UAC2, it actually sends a command to the volume control on the device saying "set to this volume" while sending a full scale digital signal. It should be no different than changing the volume directly on the device, if the device supports this.

More high frequency can increase the sense of soundstage, so yes turning it down can reduce that. It's a balance to get something that sounds good both tonally and with regard to soundstage.

Same with my LCD-X, I can't see anything up with them, they seem entirely good. Audeze do say B stock is anything that came back to them for any reason, so could be returns because someone didn't like them, or even unopened returns. A lot of it seems to be more "open box" than really "B stock", and some possibly not even opened. I have seen some say they had small cosmetic or pad issues though. /u/CyberMoose24 though had a pad issue and they sent him new ones, even though it was B stock, which seems very good of them.

The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live (the Beans) actually do have this.

As others have said, the lack of a seal hurts isolation and this negatively impacts the ANC, which doesn't work anywhere near as good as something that does seal, but apparently also isn't totally useless.

>The Samsung Galaxy Buds Live is a baffling product: the earbuds boast noise cancelling without the crucial ability to seal to the ear. Yet, the noise cancelling actually works to some degree. ...

>While the noise cancelling doesn’t meet the hubristic claim of muting 0-600Hz frequencies, the technology quiets low frequencies to the point where they sound about half as loud as they would without ANC enabled. The ability to dispel low frequencies without a proper seal is no small achievement: having an unsealed ear canal makes it nearly impossible to combat outside noise in real time. Let’s not mince words—the Samsung Galaxy Buds Live’s noise cancelling performance is nowhere near the best, but it is impressive considering the conditions it operates under. The software has to work much harder to reduce background noise without the help of good passive isolation.

>The noise cancelling performance is impressive given the conditions, but there’s no getting around the fact that passive isolation is the cornerstone of all the best cancelling headsets, and that requires a proper seal to form between the earbuds and your ear canal. If a seal doesn’t form, well, that introduces outside noise to your music. No matter how effective a noise cancellation system is, it can’t completely make up for a tenuous fit.

>I prefer traditional noise cancelling earbuds, but understand the Galaxy Buds Live’s appeal most when walking around. I enjoy hearing my surroundings without any sort of software passthrough, which normally sounds unnatural and grating. Even then, I don’t notice a big difference between enabling and disabling noise-cancelling though.

>You can learn about the ins and outs of feedforward and feedback noise cancelling, but all you have to know from this Samsung Galaxy Buds Live review is that noise cancelling works, but will not mute your surroundings.

https://www.soundguys.com/samsung-galaxy-buds-live-review-37245/

The Truthear Zero is not overly thin sounding, IMO, the subwoofery bass gives it substantial body. It's probably less thin sounding than either of the CRN or Truthear Zero. The bass on it comes across as more than in the graph. I never EQ an IEM to Harman, I do find that too thin, but this one actually isn't. It's very well tuned.

They are also $1,199 at headphones.com which is a Focal dealer.

Personally, I'd take the OG Clear for $839, I'd take it even if they were the same price though. And did. The OG Clear certainly isn't too bright, but they went and made the Clear MG darker.

The main difference is in the upper mids and low treble, rather than the high treble, between around 2.5-5.5kHz:

https://crinacle.com/graphs/headphones/graphtool/?share=IEF_Neutral_Target,LCD-X_(2021),Arya_Stealth

The Aryas are a LOT brighter, but in this case a lot brighter is also a lot more correct and normal sounding, for me.

By target curve adherence, I'd say the Aryas are a little over target in that area, but the LCD-X is way under target. EQ largely fixes this. I'd still take the Arya Stealth over it if I could only have one though. Better soundstage, detail, and sounds more natural. Bass slams harder on the LCD-X though.

They are very different headphones, the Arya is closer to the Focal Clear and HD800S (or for that matter the HD650) than it is to the LCD-X. The LCD-X is the outlier that is totally different from the others, all of which have more correct pinna gain.

You need to get one that says it will fit the IE300/IE600/IE900 as it's recessed. None of my regular MMCX would fit. Apparently you can possibly mod a regular MMCX if it has plastic red and white/clear bits at the end by cutting them off, I haven't tried this. Regular MMCX for sure won't fit though.

Stock is a terrible cable. It was riding up on my ears too. I replaced it with this one, under $10, AliExpress link is on the Imgur page.

Key is the MMCX connector needs just about 1mm of golden bit, so it will fit. I have seen some other MMCX cables that look like they would fit, but there are enough advertised to fit that I just got one that says specifically for the IE600.

>HD800S and an LCD-X

They're almost opposite headphones. HD800S is bright and very light and ethereal sounding. Bass lacks impact. It's not like the bass is not there, there is bass and it's very high quality. It also takes EQ very well, and this helps, but even after EQ it's still somewhat thin and ethereal sounding. It's actually a very "planar" sounding headphone despite using a dynamic driver, it's also extremely fast and detailed.

LCD-X the bass is seriously impressive but tuning (for my taste, which is basically Harman) is terrible out of the box, it's a muffled echoey mess with severely recessed upper mids. Oratory1990's Harman EQ transforms it but I do still feel the HD800S sounds more natural, with better timbre. The bass on the LCD-X is something else though. It has far more impact and presence than the HD800S, it's a lot more "fun" and "engaging".

Don't buy the LCD-X unless you are prepared to EQ it, for me it is trash without EQ. After EQ it's a different headphone, some headphones EQ is minor tweaks, adding a bass shelf, removing a single 6kHz peak- not this one, it needs a complete do-over. The LCD-X has extremely low distortion and takes EQ very well.

For classical I'd pick the HD800S. For hip-hop the LCD-X.

They really are polar opposite headphones.

If you were looking for more of an all rounder, two other options that are I think better all-rounders.

The OG Focal Clear is a direct upgrade to the HD650 with a very similar overall tonality, but much punchier with better technicalities. Much better soundstage and imaging than the HD650, but this is a low bar. Soundstage is still much smaller than the likes of the HD800S or Arya. At the current $830 sale price on headphones.com it's a bargain, I'd run not walk and buy it.

The Hifiman Arya Stealth would still be the one I'd pick if I could only have one. It has it all- great soundstage, linear bass extension, great stock tonality, even better with a little EQ. Very comfortable. Works with every genre, like for me the HD800S and LCD-X are definitely headphones I would use for specific things, but not other things. The Arya Stealth I'd use for anything and it would sound good.

I just checked again myself, coupon is gone now, it was there yesterday.

It's KZ's own site.

KZ's own site, with the discount code (I already had bought the OG PR1).

They are same price, even slightly cheaper with $40 off coupon from "KZ Franchised Store" on AliExpress for that matter.

[AliExpress] /item/1005004966718640.html - add coupon for $40 off once in your cart, I get price of $40.17 with coins.

I have them on order. The OG PR1 is not bad at all technically, it's just the tuning, too much bass and too much high treble. With a simple 2-band EQ dropping both it was substantially better.

This one seems to substantially address those two points. Like you say, bass now looks same as the S12 (or Timeless) which is fine.

It still has A LOT of treble, but from the look of it, it's basically what I EQ the OG to, around -3dB high shelf, and for me, it's actually OK, it's certainly bright but I don't find it offensive. The treble on the Pro also looks particularly smooth on Paul's graph.

From a quick Google I got:

>When I got my K7xx, they didn't ding me. However, other items over time they have. I'm not sure what's their criteria. I will say, in general, the smaller the item, the likelier they will just let it by. However, if they do decide to value it, you will be charged $9.99 (fee) + HST/GST on (CAD$ converted value). There was no duty on my audio gear. 

There's also another guy in this thread saying he wasn't charged for importing something to Canada. I'd expect to be charged but it's luck of the draw to an extent.

That doesn't sound unreasonable to me. I am European, I currently live in Thailand, in both importing stuff from outside we need to pay customs duty, VAT and the shipping company handling fee.

$10 CAD plus only the GST (5-15%) just doesn't sound unreasonable to me. Most of this is tax, that's a thing we all pay, this is what gets you schools and healthcare. It's still a good price for this headphone.

I explicitly said, expect to pay VAT on import. Sometimes, depending on country, it does just slip through, but I expect to pay it on anything I import. You pay it on anything you buy within the country, it's just baked into the price by the importer already (in every country that isn't the US or Canada, prices are quoted tax inclusive).

I paid $60 shipping on a headphone from Adorama, $105 from Audeze. The tax and shipping company fee is on top, I still have to pay that. And with couriers like these use, it's unavoidable, they always charge you. If something is sent USPS as it sounds like Drop do, there's a chance it won't be charged.

So yes $15-20 looks very reasonable.

I don't know, I have never tried them.

Sure it does, I don't disagree. I EQ it to Harman using Oratory1990's preset. It's a better headphone. But it's still not the same experience and I still enjoy listening to the HD6XX.

I find it extremely comfortable, if anything the Clear is more comfortable than the HD6XX/HD600 because the clamp force is lower. It's not too low, it's still perfectly stable, just right. The HD6X0s aren't problematic for me, but I feel the clamp more, the Focals just dissolve away more. The HD800S is also very comfortable and with a light clamp, incidentally, but the Focals feel just a bit more stable.

For my head, at least, Focal make extremely comfortable headphones, I can wear them indefinitely. I did add a headband cover which spreads out the contact a bit but it's comfortable either way.

One issue with the Clear, it has a bit of a creak. It's not a major problem actually on the head but it does creak a lot putting it on, or handling it off the head. Just sort of a "$1,000 headphone shouldn't really do this" sort of thing.

$15 shipping to the EU, if you get the $10 first order discount that's $204 total shipped.

I put this in my comment, they do ship this internationally at a very reasonable rate.

Yes you'd need to pay VAT on import, if it's stopped. Americans need to pay sales tax on top of the price as well.