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BigGreg
67
Oct 10, 2017
I received my headphones over the weekend and wanted to give some first impressions.
I'm a little skeptical about speakers and other components needing to be "broken in", but in the case of these headphones, it seems to be a real thing. Out of the box... they sounded bad. Sort of "muffled", with not much top end detail.
The closest headphones I have to them in terms of price are the AKG K7XX. I did a quick comparison between the two and the K7XX had so much more detail that my first thought was "I wonder how much of my money I can get back selling them".
I let them play for a couple of hours and gave them another listen. Now they sounded much better. Still much warmer than the K7XX, but a very smooth lush sound with more detail. I did some more comparisons, to the K7XX again and also to my EMU Teaks and (perhaps unfairly) to my Audeze LCD-2 and LCD-XC.
The T-XO sound signature is much closer to the Audeze cans (which I guess shouldn't be a surprise) than to the EMU or K7XX. The top end has started to open up and the mids are very lush and the bass is surprising tight and powerful. On a couple of EDM tracks it felt like the headphones were pulsating with the bass, something I haven't experienced with any of my other headphones.
While the K7XX and EMU Teaks are more "airy" and "sparkly", they also start to distort when pushed hard and tend to have some sibilance. The T-X0 stayed clean and tight at very high volumes. While not in the same league as the Audeze cans, the T-X0 compared very favorably. I would say that in terms of sound quality they were 90% of what I hear with Audeze headphones. They don't have quite the level of detail and soundstage is noticeably larger with the Audeze headphones, but these headphones really punch above their weight.
I didn't compare them to my Sennheiser HD800's, but I think the differences would be very similar to those between the LCD-2 and LCD-XC and HD800s.
I've let them play overnight and the highs are much more pronounced than they were last night, very detailed but no harshness or glare. I'm looking forward to see how they'll sound after they get 40-50 hours on them.
Fit is comfortable, they are much lighter than most of my other headphones and have a nice snug fit. The build quality appears to be very good and I think they look much better than in the photos in the description here on Massdrop. The lighting used in the photographs draws attention to the brown inner headband and makes them look more "plasticky". They're not as pretty as the EMU Teaks for example, but the sound of these is much better.
Listening so far has been with my Oppo HA-1. As mentioned by others, these are really inefficient and hard to drive. With the HA-1 on its high gain setting and the volume at its highest setting, I still wanted a little more volume. Having said that, they played extremely clean at high volume with no distortion and unlike other comments, I would say this would be very easy to listen to for extended periods of time. I haven't done that yet, so perhaps my impressions will change when I do for some reason that isn't readily apparent now.
I'm not a professional reviewer and don't really consider myself an "audiophile" or having "golden ears", but in comparison to the other headphones I have, these sound excellent, and not just "for the price". They compare well to headphones costing many times their price and are much better than the EMU Teaks, which were more than three times their price. These may not be the most attractive headphones, but where it counts, they deliver. If you like a warmer sounding headphone and have a good headphone amp, these cans should be very pleasing.
NJboneless
377
Oct 10, 2017
BigGregThanks for the write up. I too was an unbeliever of the break in, but over the years I have learned its very real. Some cans benefit more than others, and I think thats what throws people off. So far the largest difference I have heard would be with my 6 year old Grado SR80s. I have put thousands of hours on them and they sound so different from when they were new its unbelievable. Im excited to see how these T-X0s change over time!
givemeyourshoes
426
Oct 10, 2017
NJbonelessHonest question, because I am very curious...how much of the burn in do you think might be mental (getting used to how it sounds and your brain compensating) vs. mechanical (the drive loosening up etc...)?
NJboneless
377
Oct 10, 2017
givemeyourshoesI wouldnt rule out the placebo affect for some, but I believe some headphones benefit from break in much more than others which causes the confusion. One user might see little to no difference after buying a specific headphone and breaking it in, so are they going to believe it works on their next? Another thing I have found both from reading about other peoples experiences, as well as my own, is there is no set amount of hours to break something in. Most of the time, its quiet apparent once a headphone starts opening up (this T-X0 discussion is a great example). But what do I know, this is just my opinion haha.
givemeyourshoes
426
Oct 10, 2017
NJbonelessThanks for the honest words, it's appreciated. And, know I plan on listening to my T-X0 for a day or so, then putting it on the desktop rig to run with full spectrum pink noise for a couple days. I am very curious to see how the T-X0 changes.
NJboneless
377
Oct 10, 2017
givemeyourshoesAwesome, let us know how it goes! Still waiting for mine to be delivered later this week so I am looking forward to trying them as well!
givemeyourshoes
426
Oct 10, 2017
NJbonelessI will do for sure. Mine will be here tomorrow!
BigGreg
67
Oct 10, 2017
givemeyourshoesIn this case I think it's a real thing. They sounded like crap on first listen. I was very disappointed and certainly wasn't expecting them to sound any better, but they did after being played for a couple of hours. I'm very pleased with how they're sounding now. Of course there's no way to go back in time to compare what I first heard with now, but I know the characteristics they had on first listen and those have changed in a very noticeable way.
William_Shiu
176
Oct 11, 2017
givemeyourshoesPutting all the rocket sciences aside (which I am not good at in any sense), IMHO, 'Burn-in' is just a very realistic phenomina in terms of physics and machanical changes of materials. For instance, we all know that if one keep stretching a rubber band, it will become longer. Likewise, I believe the same could apply to the gasket and diaphragm of the driver. Just my two cents :)
liteon163
Oct 11, 2017
NJbonelessPersonally, I'm not listening to headphones when I'm breaking them in. I crank white noise through them as loud as I can bear to listen, then I take them off and set them down. They sit there cranking out loud white noise for at least 48 hours. Then I come back and use them as normal. I have no baseline for comparison because I don't use them immediately.
I've been reading articles that come down on all sides of this issue, so I may change up my usual procedure. I think I'll listen to them for a few hours, run white noise through them when I'm not using them, and decide to stop when I feel they sound good enough. That may or may not include much break in time. We'll see (or listen, in this case).
givemeyourshoes
426
Oct 13, 2017
NJbonelessOK, so I tried the straight out of the box, using my desktop amp (Fiio K5) and honestly was pretty happy with first impressions, but did notice some muddled lows and lack of top end extension. I gave them 20 hours of full spectrum pink noise and put them back on (and didn't take them off unless I had two) at work the following day. OMG these things are great. I have a Fiio E12A , and to my surprise, on high gain the T-X0 is happy at about 1 o'clock on the volume dial. I normally use a FiiO E17k at work as my DAC/Amp, so I think I will get another K5 and doc it so I for sure have the power on hand for these. I love the supreme low end texture and detail, the added quantity never hurts for me, and the fact that the mids are still clean and clear is soooo sweet. The treble is still a bit subdued, but I prefer that rolled off sound signature being pretty treble sensitive. I couldn't be happier with these headphones.
And know I know, burn in is a thing, and after about 30 hours of use these sound oh so sweet.
liteon163
Oct 13, 2017
givemeyourshoesI have brown + white noise running through mine. It'll be 40+ hours by the time I start using mine regularly. I'm thinking I might need to get a dedicated headphone amp, though. Running these headphones at maximum volume out of my A/V receiver isn't quite loud enough. I mean, it IS loud enough... but shouldn't it be TOO loud at that point? ;-)
liteon163
Oct 14, 2017
I'm using an Android app called White Noise Generator by Relaxio. I have a crappy old Moto e running the app at full volume, attached to my Sony receiver through the device's headphone jack, which is also running at full volume. A different Android app, White Noise Free, offers white, brown, pink, blue, and violet noise, all of which are fully mixable with an app upgrade. I've not used that one, but I might try it when I get home from work tonight.
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