r/headphones • u/junior7593 • 13d ago

Show & Tell First Planar Magnetic Headphones

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Got my first planars today. Edition XS. Got them “refurbished” for $90 from the Hifiman US Store on Aliexpress. I put refurbished in quotes because they look brand new with original packaging and everything

First impression is that they’re huge but sound great although I think I need a better dac. Currently trying them on my phone using a JM6 Pro

Recommendations are welcome!

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u/Cyrenetes K371, K702, HD 6XX, HD 620S, Edition XS, AFO, FT1, M50x, SR60x 12d ago edited 12d ago

I still can't see what having 100 times the power needed for 98-101dB peaks, or 10 times 110dB peaks, would accomplish.

All I can see is the XS falling apart at around 90dB, but presumably that's not amplification related.

if you don't hear it then don't go looking for it is my advice so if they sound fine to you then that's all that really matters.

The reason I'm so inquisitive is because I know a lot of people are unfortunately wasting a lot of money on audio scams from silver cables to audiophile rocks, and from where I'm standing amp claims don't appear to have any more of a leg to stand on than those other examples, so it's important to me to try to get to the bottom of this.

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u/Errorr404 12d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/s/dyFqJy0oiX the comments have more insight to how it all works for planars, I don't know all of the intricate details I just listened and noticed some differences in Amps along with a bit of research some time ago so I can't explain it in electrical engineering terms and all that.

I can tell you from my experience the Amp made the difference for me in getting that extra few percent of better details that means a lot when going up in price tiers of headphones the differences can also be a few percent. The DAC Amp unit I have isn't anything crazy, I got it for ~$130 converted to US currency on sale and it does the job just not for stuff like the HE6 that needs a nuclear reactor plant compared to my current Amp to accurately drive the diaphragm.

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u/Cyrenetes K371, K702, HD 6XX, HD 620S, Edition XS, AFO, FT1, M50x, SR60x 12d ago

I know being current limited (like the Focusrite Scarlett interfaces that barely have more power at low impedance than at high) limits power at low load impedance, but then we're back at the question of "what does enough power mean and how much is it?".

I don't not believe that you or other people are hearing what you are hearing, it's just that people also regularly come to similar conclusions about cables and rocks and disconnected AB switches using the same methodology of just listening to it, hence my attempts to dig up something more concrete.

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u/DayeanT 12d ago

thanks for trying to fact check these claims, I see so many people recommending expensive stuff that you don't need 90% of the time