JM Audio XTC2

Pros:

     Comfortable

     Beautiful Earcups

     Excellent Bass

     Excellent Mids

     Price

Mediocre:

     Sibilance

     The Headband is a Touch Too Big

Bull:

     Perforated Pads Sound Terrible – at least with my tuning

BLUF: JM Audio XTC2 is another amazingly good value from JMA. It competes with headphones that are significantly more expensive. If you hate bass though, these are not the headphones for you – also the sibilance is pretty sharp, and the headband needs to be a touch smaller.

Up for review today are the JM Audio XTC2. Since I reviewed the original XTC, it only seemed logical to check out the new ones and see how they compare to some of the other headphones in my collection. The ones I have in my possession are a 1 of 2 coloration from JMA and due to their limited nature, I am not even allowed to sell them despite having purchased them at full price. Since they’re sort of on permanent loan, I will be keeping them at least long enough to compare them to my Modhouse Tungsten when they come in. The drivers I have in these are the 32 Ohm Beryllium drivers with the custom Bytes & Bull tuning, though admittedly I’d prefer a decrease in the sibilance as it’s too much for my tastes. I would also prefer the mids to be a bit more forward with a touch less bass, but again, that’s my personal preference here. If you’re buying a JM Audio headphone, you had better like bass, or you’ll want to look elsewhere. JMA can, however, change the tuning for you if you don’t like it – and they will do so for free, but every headphone I’ve ever owned from them has had large quantities of good-quality bass.

Comfort/Build (Can you wear it for long periods, or will it fall apart after one use?): The XTC2 is extremely comfortable, especially with the fuzzy pads and the newer headband style (not a lot different from the old one). The clamp tightness is good and my only real complaint here is that the headband needs a smaller adjustment setting because the tops of the earpads are sitting on top of my ears on the smallest setting. I’d prefer them to be a half-inch or so up higher. I guess JMA could add padding to the leather pad to fix that, but maybe it’s just me. The earcups are absolutely gorgeous of course, and even the stock woods they have are very cool looking. I also like the honeycomb grill on the outside, it’s not fancy like SJY and ZMF make, or even the original XTC, but it’s cool and highly functional. My ears never got hot, but that’s understandable considering the size of the ear cups on these. The XTC2 also comes with a gigantic carrying case that I will never use due to the bulk, but it’s a nice touch when the $1,600 Denon AH-D9200 doesn’t even come with a case at all. Oh, and don’t use the perforated pads, they completely murder the sound on the XTC2 – not sure why they’re included at all unless you like flat, hollow tuning, then go for it or just buy the Denon AH-D9200 instead.

The stock cable the XTC2 comes with is decent, if not amazing – I don’t love paracord cables as a general rule due to their uncanny ability to pick up the sound of my sweatshirt every time I move my head. I recommend upgrading to the Copperhead cable as it’s an extremely nice balanced cable for a pretty reasonable price. You can also go for the Goldhead or Silverhead if you feel like it to slightly change the tuning. I think the Copperhead is the best value among the three, though the Goldhead is a really nice 8-wire cable if you’re using it for desktop use. Overall, between my minor fit complaints and the mediocre stock cable, the XTC2 earns a 4 (Above Average) for the Comfort/Build Quality category.

I am powering these headphones off of my home theater desktop setup which consists of an EverSolo DMP-A8 Streamer/DAC that feeds into an iFi iCAN Phantom AMP through 3-pin XLR connections. This combo eliminates the need to be hooked up to my computer as a source and the Phantom can power anything from sensitive IEMs to E-stats to power-thirsty planars – allowing me to use the same setup for every review going forward. The XTC2 is an insanely easy-to-drive headphone at 32Ohms and I’m driving them around 10/100 on Low Gain. You could easily use these as a portable set if you wanted.

Below are the test tracks used to test each headphone we review – there are a couple changes to refine this. The songs are in order to test sub-bass (bass you can feel) first, followed by mid-bass (bass drums and bass guitars – bass you can hear), then a spectrum of mids evaluating different instruments and vocals (where most of the music is presented), then highs (higher pitched instruments and cymbals) and lastly sibilance (sharp S sounds).

Lows (Sub-bass/bass quality and quantity): As always, JM Audio manages to bring some sick bass to the equation. The sub-bass has all the rumble you could possibly need – and JMA will add more than this if you want! Impressively, you can still clearly hear the cymbals in the background with the bass thumping away. Vocals are not covered up either – “…Ready for it” sounds really good here and it made me want to listen to more of the song than just the intro to test bass. I can already tell the soundstage is excellent just from this song as well. Moving over to The White Stripes, there’s some excellent sub and mid-bass bass presented here – it is a touch overbearing, but I also think that is kind of the point of the bass guitar in this song. Regardless, it sounds sick and the highs and mids still come through nicely (especially the electric guitars), though the highs are a touch sharp. For bass though, the XTC2 easily earns a 5 (Among the Best.)

Mids (Vocals/Instrument clarity and presence): Moving over to “Liar” completely transforms the XTC2. Without the thumping bass, the acoustic guitars and cymbals come through beautifully – you can even hear the challenging-to-identify-violin in the back. Seriously the violin gives me chills on the XTC2. That’s awesome. A little over halfway through a deep bassy piano comes in and it just sounds amazing – full of breadth and depth. Top-tier stuff here. Moving over to 3 Doors Down, the acoustic guitar and vocals mix beautifully. It’s extremely easy to identify the different instruments in the background – no details are missing here. The only downside I have here is some pretty intense sibilance throughout the song. That will come into play under the highs section. “Narrow Mouth” sounds excellent, though it says more about a set of headphones if this sounds bad than if it sounds good. The piano and soundstage on “Wide Awake” also sound excellent, though the bass is a little too forward here with the mids pushed back a little bit. Still, I have no reason to give the XTC2 anything other than a 5 (Among the Best) for mids because they are truly among the best and they give my 6x more expensive Susvara a run for their money.

Highs (Cymbals/High pitched vocals or instrument quality and presence/Sibilance): You probably guessed it already, but the highs are where the XTC2 lose a bit of their excellence. Not because they don’t portray high very well, they do – each cymbal strike can be heard clearly with good extension, there’s just a bit too much highs energy and it’s a touch too sharp. The sibilance on multiple songs is quite painful, though I have to say that there are a LOT of headphones with the same issues including the Susvara, the Denon 9200, the Meze Liric, the Kennerton Rognir, etc. It’s an extremely rare headphone that can portray this much high energy while also cutting sibilance – it’s asking for perfection, which obviously we’re all looking for, but never find. Even the Susvara has sibilance here. Take “Otherside” for instance, there are a LOT of “S” sounds in this song and each one will hit you with a sharp stab to the ear. Again, the $6k Susvara does the same thing on this song. The “Sound of Silence” isn’t much better – so while the highs presentation is excellent, the sibilance drops the highs score from a 5 (Among the Best) down to a 4 (Above Average) because the sibilance itself is a 3 (Average.)

Soundstage/Imaging (How big and accurate the song sounds): Looking at the imaging, the instruments sound correctly placed throughout the soundstage, though the guitar on the right side is a touch too quiet compared to the thumpy drums on the left. The soundstage itself is expansive without feeling too far away. Vocals can sound too far away on some songs though, so if you prefer a forward mids presence, like I do, this may not fit your preference exactly. A song like “Titanium” though brings the mids back forward with a strong bass presence, so it’s song dependent – though the sibilance is back on this song. It’s a solid 4 (Above Average) for this category.

Value (Cost vs Performance): The XTC2 is going to end up my #3 on my open-back headphone rankings below the Diana MR and the Susvara – I haven’t had enough time yet to review or rank the Solitaire P. That’s $1,000 for a set of headphones that compares very closely to a $3k and $6k headphone. The XTC2 is more comfortable than the MR and significantly less $ than the Susvara while being MUCH easier to drive. Now, the XTC2 are not as good as the Susvara, but they shouldn’t be at this price either. I don’t think there is a better value out there for an Open-back at this time and I imagine that JMA will continue to upgrade these over time until they can beat the Susvara. I will likely update this when the Modhouse Tungsten comes in, or you can read how these compare in that review – one of the above. Regardless, you can’t do better than these for $1k unless you just REALLY hate bass. Now, I have to mention the excellent Harmonicdyne Zeus Elite since it’s around $400 and it does a very good job of getting close to the sound quality of the XTC2 while being more comfortable with a better stock cable at half the price, but it’s made mostly out of plastic and has a closer soundstage. It’s not a piece of art like the XTC series and it is the definition of Chi-Fi. Additionally, it’s even more sibilant than the XTC without the bass. The mids though are very good in this price range. I’d take the OG XTC over the Zeus, but it is still somewhat close if that is a consideration for you. Also, Harmonicdyne only comes with one tuning, and if you don’t like it, they won’t change it for you. The value here is a 5 (Among The Best)

Conclusion: I really like everything JMA has done. Yes, there are some personal preferences that I would do differently, mostly with how they balance their headphones. That said, I can’t fault JMA for how good they can make their headphones sound, for much cheaper than the competition. I also appreciate the customer service they provide despite how busy they likely are. The XTC2 is the current JMA flagship open-back and it performs like one, getting closer to the Susvara than any other headphone under $1k that I’ve ever heard. That’s saying a LOT when you consider that I see the Susvara as almost a perfect 5/5 – the XTC2 managed to get a 4.5/5, rounded up to 5. Now, if JMA can just figure out the sibilance, balance out the bass and mids a little more, and fix the headband issues while finding a way to provide the Copperhead as the stock cable, I can see the XTC3 as being a $1,500 Susvara killer.

Bytes & Bull Overall Score: 5 (Average)