Ah OK. Well, they might be a bit heftier than the rest of the options but tbh not much worse than, say, 4-pin XLR when it comes to wiring up and handling. Once you connect them they stay there, right? ;-) I use HartAudio's cables and interconnects. Recently ordered the dual 3-pin XLR interconnect just out of curiosity and they seem to help open up the sound(stage), at least on my system. I haven't A/B'ed them but suddenly all my headphones sound more open and wide without losing detail. My HD660S now sounds better that they ever did before, and surprisingly open. I might be wrong and it all may be placebo effect, but what I can say with absolute confidence is that the volume knob on my Pro iCAN Sig. very rarely needs to go further than 9 o'clock these days. I did some research but couldn't find anything useful to understand what may be going on in terms of power delivery, etc. as compared to regular 4-pin XLR connections.

Interesting, why?

What about old school dual 3-pin XLRs? 😉

Would be damn difficult to design headphones for those ears though, both facing to the right and also probably immediately folding if any clamp force applied 🫣 IEMs may work though 😂

I haven't tried the Edition XS, but people seem to be like them and rank them as a good performer for the price range.

Coming from Focals and Sennheisers, I had the same feeling as yours about Arya Stealths. Keep in mind that they use a different driver technology and obviously have a different sound signature. Also, in your case, you're more used to the closed-back sound of m50x and wh-xm4. I don't think changing your amp will help much. Just give them some more time so that both your headphones and your ears/brain burn in and get used to the sound signature 😉.

Again, not suggesting to change your amp, but if you would like to try them on something else, give ifi DAC/Amps a try because they're less sharp as compared to the FiiOs and you may get a fuller sound from the XSs.

Happy listening anyways 🙂

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No offense meant, but I cannot be be sure making such a statement. How can we be for sure? Has there been a verifiable validateable scientific experiment on this? I personally switch between my headphones to make sure that I’m jot getting used to their sound signature which helps avoiding bias. What U can tell from experience is that mew headphones sound like crap regardless of brand if driver type. From materials science point tod view though it may make sense to me that the drivers calibrate over time and adjust 🤷🏻‍♂️ We seem to need some funds to run unbiased scientific experiments 😉

They’re going to sound better the more you keep using them. I know that the running-in process/period is a controversial topic amongst the audiophile community, but I have had the exact same experience with my Elegias, Clear MGs, Aryas, Poseidons and HS660Ss. Personally I think it’s not a myth and the drivers need their time to calibrate. Just be patient and do lot lose it. You’ll be having euphoric experiences listening to them soon, if you’re patient enough 😉

😂👏🏻😂