HIFIMAN Edition XS Review: A Brilliant $269 Planar, Held Back by the Headband

Named Best Value in our Best Headphones Under $500 guide.

Edition XS is one of the latest HIFIMAN headphones, and I absolutely can't believe they decided to do a few things with them, which I'll discuss below.

Edition XS is an open-back, planar magnetic headphone, and you can get it for around $269. Many say it's one of the best in this price category - but is it, actually?

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Roomy cups, a build held back by the headband

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Let's start with the most obvious and controversial part: the build.

They share the typical higher-end HIFIMAN egg-shape earcups. I'm a huge fan of the way they look - they're unique and just pretty to my eyes. The earcups are pretty large to accommodate any size or shape of ears without touching them or being squished by the pads, which for me always leads to an uncomfortable and unenjoyable experience. They're also pretty deep, so it's unlikely they're going to touch the drivers.

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The headband is my main concern, and I'm clueless why HIFIMAN decided to go with that style. Fine, it makes the earcups swivel a bit for increased comfort, but the top piece is solid - it doesn't use the suspension strap that was present on older or even cheaper, lower-end HIFIMAN headphones, including the previous version of the Edition XS: 2015's Edition X. I think it's a huge downgrade in terms of comfort. The solid headband creates a hotspot on the top of my head, and after a few hours it gets uncomfortable. Although the Edition XS weighs just over 400 grams - which is pretty light, especially for its size - it doesn't have sufficient clamp force at all, which makes the entire weight of the headphones rest on the top of your head, not properly distributed around the ears.

The adjustment provided by the headband is also likely to be insufficient. It doesn't get small enough for many heads, which leads to the weird feeling of the earcups sitting too low on the jaw, or perhaps not even fitting entirely on the jaw. Each and every one of these issues could have been solved easily by implementing their suspension strap instead of the solid headband.

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A V-shaped sound that runs from a dongle

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Either way, let's get to the most important part: their sound quality.

First of all - do you need a beefy dedicated amp to drive them? No. They're going to be just fine plugged into a dongle or some cheap, lower-end amp. Not to say they won't scale up and sound better with a better source - I'm just saying they're fine with something cheaper without a lot of juice.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about the actual sound characteristics, looking at the frequency graph made by headphones.com. Starting from the low frequencies, there's a really low extension to the bass, which goes all the way down to 20Hz, perhaps even lower, below the audible range. There's a slight slope down from around 100Hz, but while actually listening to the headphones, it has little to no effect on the sound. The bass generally doesn't hit the hardest, but it's clean and free of distortion or any other unwanted mess.

The lower mids are boosted to an extent, which makes them sound a little bit warmer, which is compensated by the quite large boost in the high frequencies. The frequency graph hasn't been smoothed to the same degree as the dotted Harman target curve, which is why you can see some weird-looking dips.

The highs are really clean and energetic, but sometimes I feel like they need some work. Even though this is the Stealth Magnets edition - which is supposed to improve the harshness and sibilance of the highs - it's still not perfect. In some songs, they sound plasticky and sibilant.

Generally, the sound is pretty much V-shaped, with an emphasis on the high frequencies, which leads to a feeling of a lot of detail.

A wide soundstage, vocals behind your head

The soundstage is fantastic, especially for the price. It's really wide, and the positioning is pretty unique - let me explain. Everything seems a bit further from you than I feel it should be. There's no direct proximity while listening - you may like that, you may not. Vocals usually sound like they're coming from the back of your head. It probably sounds stupid, but it's literally the way I perceive them. The high frequencies seem to come slightly from the top of my head; it's not a bad thing per se - just a characteristic of this headphone.

The image separation is amazing. You can clearly hear the different layers of music, and it doesn't get overwhelmed by a lot of sounds at the same time, which is common in lower-end headphones. The Edition XS isn't the most natural-sounding headphone in the world, but it doesn't bother me at all - they sound natural enough, and most importantly, really fun!

Worth $269 for a sound rarely found elsewhere

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The sound signature it offers at a price point of $269 is truly exceptional and rarely found elsewhere. HIFIMAN has done an outstanding job overall, with only a few minor shortcomings that I personally don't mind, considering the excellent value it provides.