wagninger t1_j0tgt9z wrote on December 19, 2022 at 7:44 AM

The first thing is, and I learn that every time with every new headphone: they are never impressive, just different.

Give it a week or two of heavy use, don’t switch back to the Grado, and your brain will adjust to how the XS sounds.

THEN switch back to the Grado, and either learn that it sounds worse than you remembered, or that you still like it and don’t really care for how the XS does things :)

AntOk463 t1_j0totip wrote on December 19, 2022 at 9:40 AM

This is the best advice, just using the new headphones will automatically make you pick up on details on songs you have heard many times. Use them for a while until they become your baseline and then going back to the Grados will allow you to see if there is a big difference between them.

To further answer your question, how do the XS sound not compared to anything. If they sound good with great clarity, it means there are no defective parts. I'm pretty sure you already tried both headphones with and without the FiiO to make sure that's not playing a part in this. There should be an obvious boost in bass compared to the grados. Try using a different omit source to make sure there wasn't an issue with that.

Accomplished-Edge426 OP t1_j0xmhks wrote on December 20, 2022 at 4:06 AM

>sing the new headphones will automatically make you pick up on details on songs you have heard many times

Honestly, the Grados and the XS's have the same amount of bass but the XS's bass is higher quality. It sounds tighter and more defined where the boundaries are, compared to the somewhat flabby vagueness of the Grados. Also, A/Bing them, the Gardo's midrange sounds definitely more nasally with respect to vocals.

But here's the weird thing, when I first got the XS. I plugged them into my pc without any amp and on one song I got a brief second of incredible imaging/soundstage where I heard the snare moving away from me every time it was hit.

I thought that was a sure sign of great things to come, but I have yet to hear that effect again. I thought getting a quality Amp would make it possible since I was under driving them. But alas, no dice. Now, the imaging on songs sound like everything is reversed because vocals sound like they're coming from the back of my head and all the instruments are to the 9 and 3 o'clock. I have yet to hear a true Front center channel or a smooth sweep from side to side.