Phil's Superpower of Enthusiasm

  [ORIGINAL MSRP $499. Purchased for $269 + tax on Amazon in February 2025 (and $269 appears to be the new, semi-permanent MSRP).] [ Tl;dr: The Edition XS are baby Arya Stealths; they have a lot of similar characteristics, but with a lot more tradeoffs (which you’d expect for a headphone that sells for less than half the price). They’re great for loud, complex songs but struggle a little bit with quieter, more subtle tracks, where they give up some ground to the 6XX. They can be a tad bright, but my in my experience didn’t cross over into being harsh. Good, solid but impressive base, decent male vocals but maybe a bit of veiling for female vocals. At $269 they’re a great deal for a very objective tuned headphone, and I may buy a hard case and carry these as my “working outside the house” pair when I don’t want to haul the 6XX.] Scores: Cost-agnostic: 8 out of 10 Denalis Cost-sensitive: 8 out of 10 Denalis Intro.  As I noted in my review of the Hifiman Arya Stealth , I have...

  [MSRP $799. Purchased for $799 + tax on Amazon in January 2025.] [ Tl;dr: These are my new favorite headphones, period. They’re not objective-focused; their tune is warm (and buttery, and magic), but if that’s something you’re interested in, I cannot recommend these strongly enough. They’re so good out of the box, in fact, that I’m not even using EQ on them. This is my end-game open-back, at least until I can justify trying out the Meze Empyrean 2.] Scores: Cost-agnostic: 10 out of 10 Denalis Cost-sensitive: 9 out of 10 Denalis [I know. I know.] Intro.  I’ve owned and loved a pair of the Meze x Drop 99 Noir (the Drop rebrand and recolor of the Meze 99 Classic, a widely beloved entry-level audiophile-grade closed back headphone. Because I’d loved those headphones (still my favorite closed back ), but generally prefer open-backs, and because I love Meze’s steampunk-esque aesthetic, I decided to buy myself a pair of open-backed Mezes for Christmas. There are really two ch...