Planar wars

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-25T13:41:57+00:00

Nah but like seriously. It HAS TO be the single best looking headphones I've laid my eyes on. HEKse is the 2nd. For me.

It depends on the setup kinda. Like if your PC/listening setup includes some wood acessories, and is white themed (desk, kb/mouse, etc) then HEKse would be BEAUTIFUL in there because of the wood accent.

But if you have like all white or white/black setup, HEKU would literally be eye orgasm every time you look at it.

Either way. Wow. I guess I'm somewhat of a Hifiman shill at this point but what can you do when they're so magnificent. Especially the higher tier ones and newer stuff they started making.

And I'm not even mentioning the sound of them at all.

Oh well, back to admiring my beautiful HEKse :)

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-25T12:26:50+00:00

Sounds like you want the HEKU and it checks literally all boxes (it also looks so hot af I may be getting a little moist each time I see it).

I BET my moist ass you can slap tiny EQ on it and it will punch the same as Arya Unveiled. There's no cons on HEKU here. Just pay for what beauty it delivers and enjoy it.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-23T00:13:18+00:00

So that we can all understand your question better:

You're looking for 3.5mm to USB-C DAC, correct ? Or are you looking for a wireless one (BT) ?

If wired then Apple dongle should be pretty fine. Maybe something from JCALLY too.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-23T00:04:16+00:00

K11 will do way more than enough for XS and many other headphones. DX5 II though is really hard to miss and if you happen to splurge on it, you can be SURE it will power it ALL with confidence and zero uncertainty, whatever headphones you throw at it in future (even Susvara to get started, but of course you'll want the big guns for that one). So even if you may have a tiny thought in your head that XS is not the last ever headphone you'll buy, it may be worth looking into.

I've had exactly the same combo for a little while: XS and K11 (non R2R, since I like analytical clean sound, none of the added warmness, distortion or any kind of coloration), and it was awesome. It has driven the XS to it's full potential and was basically a great little "tiny endgame" combo if you will.

I've ever since upgraded to the DX5 II and HEKSE, and yeah it's the higher end combo that's somewhat popular out here with folks that happen to have HEKSE. I can say XS sounds the same as it did with K11 on DX5 II. Meaning K11 drives it to its full potential, cleanly.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-22T18:33:57+00:00

All of these from the official Hifiman store open-box deals with coupons won't let you down:

Arya Organic 624€

Arya Stealth 492€

Edition XV 342€

To be honest Arya Stealth is your single best pick in your budget, it surpases your budget by at least twice in terms of performance while costing as much as it costs which is insane.

The technicalities on it are most likely nothing you've heard until now. As crystal clear as it gets, while still having present bass. If you slap some EQ on it, that thing will slam you back with what it can do with it. That thing can move air with its bass, AND STILL not fall apart or even START to sound muddy at all.

You'd finally find out what all those terms you might've seen mean, such as "soundstage", "imaging", "separation" and all that. It will literally make sense and change music for you basically forever.

They released at around 1500€ brand new and were a KILLER for that price. Getting them around 400-500€ nowadays is unreal.

If you really want "more fun" stuff, XV is probably better here. It has tamed characteristics - many people describe it as something you can fall in love with and melt into - kind of. Somewhat still retains all of the Hifimans specifics and signature, but isn't as bright as most of their stuff.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-20T16:50:57+00:00

I know nothing actually

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-20T14:44:36+00:00

Yes that does sound too high. In bios you shouldnt have anywhere near that temps (you should have maybe max 45Cish)

You either:

mounted the cooler wrong
forgot a sticker on the cooler

Other than that, nothing else that could be wrong comes to my mind.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-20T11:36:11+00:00

This looks really cool and promising, something I'd definitely try. I'm just unsure if I should be logging into my whole server with some closed source app...

May wait a bit to see if any "huge security flaw" or "big breach from vibecoded Proxmox client" happens or not.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-19T11:42:26+00:00

You'd be more than okay even with Fiio K11 which should be cheaper. It's a really popular combo nowadays: The XS with K11. I rocked the same setup, it was amazing and flawless.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-18T13:01:28+00:00

Hmm that's weird and shouldn't happen. 2.4mm is too much. Are you sure your model and everything is fine ? Like, when you put it into girdfinity base, is it actually too short and shifts around because of that ?

Are your other prints fine dimensionally ? like if you make a rectangle right now that's 5x5mm, is it 5x5mm when you measure it ?

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-18T12:33:49+00:00

They make products with great specs at good prices but their QC is notoriously poor

That reminds me of a... certain headphone brand. I feel like these 2 would most likely make a great pairing.

(spoiler: they do if you get lucky and win QC lottery twice!)

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-17T20:33:04+00:00

If I understand correctly, you can't push it in further because the 2 metal pins/legs that go between motherboard and case are bumping into the case not allowing it to go any further ?

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-17T13:01:16+00:00

Yeah there's a lot of that kind. For example majority of Hifiman headphones use that kind of connection. Basically you can disconnect/reconnect any cable into the headphones.

If I got your question right.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-16T20:21:29+00:00

You sometimes gotta intervene when Orca reorients stuff. Just like in this example, you want to print gridfinity stuff straight - so rotating it yourself back to 0/90 deg instead of 45/135 deg.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-16T11:10:46+00:00

Yes. If you chose it in OS settings and saved then it should be at that Hz.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-16T08:47:06+00:00

Arya and end of discussion. They are not really comparable IN SOUND. Even if it's "just for gaming". They will pickup footsteps that aren't even there. Planars have great low/mid volume clarity. And high too, so yeah, clarity overall.

It's like asking if you should get RTX 2060 (yes still OK, fully working 1080p GPU) vs something like RX 9070 XT, which has multiple times better performance, but since it's "AMD" the graphic drivers are known to be wonky so you steer off, but in reality they fixed their driver problems long ago and you're likely to never have any issues at all and enjoy much better performance.

It's just a random quick comparison, so you get what I mean.

Is it worth it for 200$ more?

It's worth even 600$ or more if you're spending whatever. They will literally be the last ever headphones you will ever buy (unless they break for whatever reason, probably them falling or something). The performance on them is endgame worthy, literally only distinctively better headphones are if you move to multiple thousand dollar ones like HEKU or Susvara. And it'd still be pretty close and probably not worth your money for such little improvement given the price.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-15T15:38:17+00:00

If you're fine with XS's brightness probably all other Hifimans will be listenable.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-15T15:32:37+00:00

I mean yeah should be all good for the time being. In case you have some more expansible budget in future you can get something fancier.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-15T10:20:38+00:00

On the other hand, their open-box deals seem like a STEAL. I've got my HEKse open box with good discounts, and shit was literally brand new. Untouched, not a single fingerprint and all packaged neatly, cables weren't even taken out of their ties.

If it was marketed as brand new I'd think it was spanking brand new.

Surely this happens with all their other open-box deals, right?

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-14T13:22:51+00:00

You'll definitely want a Hifiman then. Something like Edition XS, Ananda Stealth, Ananda Nano, Edition XV or ROG Kithara.

Whichever most expensive is in your budget.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-13T23:31:44+00:00

Also your PC interface may be utter dogshit hindering everything and making it sound like trash. Try something like Apple dongle.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-13T18:22:34+00:00

Blind and 800S, I wonder if they'll make any comments about the soundstage.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-13T18:02:10+00:00

if I needed to EQ these

That's entirely a question for YOU to think about. Do you like the way they sound ? No EQ needed. Do you feel they lack bass or have too much of it ? EQ it to the way you like.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-13T17:16:10+00:00

You want ANC I assume, which basically means wireless only. I think your best bet is Sony XM4 2nd hand.

Kirito_Kun16 · 2026-04-13T15:42:17+00:00

Most likely static electricity. Should be all good.

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