搬运：Head-Fi某大神谢兰图Xelento靠谱评测（有频响图；对比KSE1500、SE846、IE80...

vthud

最近一直在国外各种论坛闲逛，寻找谢兰图靠谱评测。因为自己想入一副，昨天也到货了，正在欢乐地煲鸡。
前天发现一篇相当靠谱的（“靠谱” = 有硬数据支撑），不仅有频响图，还有与各大高端塞的对比；所以拿来与各位分享。

【贴子太长，还有一部分在一楼。】

原贴地址：
https://www.head-fi.org/f/showcase/beyerdynamic-official-xelento-audiophile-tesla-in-ear-headset-for-mobile-devices.22337/
========================================

"Surprisingly Awesome Single Dynamic Driver IEM"

Pros - Comfort, sound quality, treble extension, replaceable MMCX cables, remote compatible with both Android and iOS.
Cons - Nozzles are a little short; vented housing sacrifices some isolation.

========================================

Preamble

I would like to be able to start by thanking Beyerdynamic for the free pair of Xelentos. Unfortunately, I can't, because Beyerdynamic didn't give me a free pair of Xelentos, so I had to buy my own. But the silver lining for anybody reading this review is that I truly wasn't influenced at all by payment or free review samples. I truly found them good enough to spend my own money on.

Beyerdynamic's Xelento took me by surprise. I'd heard of it, but had no particular interest in listening to yet another single dynamic driver headphone. I didn't expect to be impressed, but decided to pull up a chair at the Beyerdynamic booth at the 2017 SoCal CanJam, and this headphone stole the show for me. It was the best all-round headphone I listened to (including a few over-ear cans) and I ended up purchasing a pair shortly afterwards. I own the Xelento Remote, but all my listening tests and measurements were made using a custom T2 silver litz cable.



========================================

Fit, Comfort and Isolation

The Xelento's have fairly short nozzles. I would personally have preferred them to be fractionally longer, but once I got use to them, and with some heat treatment to my cable, I was able to get a fairly consistent fit with my favorite CP100-M SpinFit tips. Because of the short nozzles, deep insertion isn't really possible with the Xelento. The advantage to that is they're incredibly comfortable; the disadvantage is they don't isolate particularly well. In fact, you can tick that box twice, because they're also ported. So while they sound amazing, don't expect them to rival the sound isolation you'd get from an Etymotic.

========================================

Detachable MMCX Cable with Remote
========================================

Sound

You really have to hear them for yourself! The Xelentos have a pretty exciting, gently V-shaped sound which stood out above everything else I heard at the SoCal CanJam. I'll go over this in more detail with comparisons to other competing products below.

Spoiler: A Note About Measurements




========================================

Burn-In

I was advised by the Beyerdnamic rep to burn these in for about 80 hours prior to use. Burn-in with 80 hours of pink noise did make a measurable difference, however, it was pretty small - small enough that there'd be no way I could ever properly A/B those differences either side of an 80-hour gap. Burn-in seemed to increase the response at the frequency extremes for both left and right buds. But I don't want to make a big deal of this. The effects are small enough that I wouldn't worry about missing out on anything if you choose to use them straight out of the box.









========================================

Comparisons with Other IEMs

Spoiler: Shure KSE1500

Let's get this out the way first, because this was always going to be a steep mountain to climb for the Xelento. For my ears (I'm a fan of IEMs, detail, comfort and good isolation), the KSE1500 is currently my favorite headphones on the planet - and I would include full-sized cans in that comparison, such as the Sennheiser Orpheus 2 (HE-1), HIFIMAN Shangri-La, Focal Utopia, etc. (I did like the prototype MrSpeakers' Ether Electrostat, so the jury's still out on that one...) Of course, you sacrifice some soundstage with the KSE1500, but there are ways to get that back without having stupid amounts of sound leakage in both directions, e.g.,: https://fongaudio.com/out-of-your-head-software/

There are two criticisms I often see of the KSE1500. 1) It lacks bass. 2) It's a pain to carry around the separate electrostatic amp. I completely agree with point 2. That separate amp unit does limit where (and therefore how often) you'd use the KSE1500. I completely disagree with point 1. For me, using CP800-M SpinFit tips, the KSE1500 frequency response is just about perfect. The criticism I hear usually goes like this "well, headphone X isn't as clear as the KSE1500, but it has more bass". Well, sure. If pumping bass is what you want, that's not hard to achieve and there are quite a few headphones out there that are almost (but not quite) as resolving as the KSE1500, but have more of a bass punch. I guess that's a legitimate preference, and the Xelento would fall into this category. Here is the KSE1500 FR next to that of the Xelento:




There are two points I'd note from listening to these two headphones back-to-back. 1) The KSE1500 is cleaner-sounding and more resolving. 2) The Xelento has a more emphasized bass. Now, sub-bass rumble, I love; a boomy mid-bass... not so much. If I could tune the mid-bass down just slightly on the Xelento, I would. The fact that you cannot tune the Xelento is a point I'll discuss more later.

The KSE1500 wins on SQ, isolation and FR customization (its amp/DAC unit has a built-in parametric EQ). The Xelento wins on portability and price.

========================================

Spoiler: Shure SE846

The SE846 is a tough headphone to compare against, because you can do lots of things to it to change its sound. In its stock form (factory issued black, blue or white filters), the SE846 lacks treble extension, with a significant roll-off around 8 kHz. However, there's an amazingly cheap mod for the SE846 that turns them into a whole new headphone (https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/se846-filter-mod.802350/):




This now becomes a tougher choice. In a quiet environment, I'd still favor the Xelento - their upper register is clearer than the SE846, even with its brown Knowles' damper mod. On the other hand, the SE846 fit in the ear very easily on account of their longer, thinner nozzles and isolate very well.
The Xelento wins on SQ and comfort. The 色846 wins on isolation and customizability. They tie on price.

========================================

Spoiler: FLC 8S

Spoiler: LZ-A4

Spoiler: JH Lola

Spoiler: 64 Audio TIA Fourte

Spoiler: Noble Kaiser Encore

Spoiler: Etymotic ER4XR


========================================

Spoiler: Sennheiser IE800
Sennheiser's IE800 invites the most obvious comparison with the Xelentos, being a similarly-priced single dynamic driver earphone. The IE800 sounds awesome for such a surprisingly tiny IEM, but it also has a lot of issues. The IE800 has the shortest nozzles you've ever seen, which require proprietary Sennheiser clip-on eartips. Other than trying to sell more of their own eartips, I can see no reason for this poor design choice. The IE800 also has non-replaceable cables with very little length from the earbuds to the y-split, so you're forced to wear the cables down and all this results in a pretty shallow seal. That, together with the fact they're ported, results in very poor isolation. That poor isolation tends to help accentuate the treble, which can sometimes be seen as exciting and detailed, and sometimes as a little bright and splashy.




Xelento wins on SQ, isolation, ergonomics, replaceable cable, and its ability to accept standard eartips. They're roughly a tie on price.
========================================

Spoiler: HiFiMAN RE2000

Spoiler: Campfire Audio Andromeda

Spoiler: Mystery IEM X

vthud

========================================
Spoiler: An Aside - A Rant on Value for Money

Here's my opportunity to vent cathartic about all the world's problems. Or at least, those that relate to headphones. While I absolutely love to see genuine progress and innovation, I've always had an irrational antipathy toward those that try to bull****, rail against known scientific facts and exploit others for their own financial gain.

A few years ago, Ultimate Ears (Logitech) released an "upgraded" UE900 - the UE900s. It cost an additional $100, but many loved it and wrote rave about how much better it sounded than the older UE900. It turned out there was only one difference - the cardboard packaging. Fast forward to Focal's Utopia - a pretty standard dynamic driver headphone that sold for more than many electrostatic systems. Plenty of people seem to have gone nuts over it. To my ears, it wasn't in any way revolutionary. Then came the 64 Audio TIA Fourte. Another pretty standard attempt at a hybrid multi-driver IEM, but with a giant leap forward in price. The Fourte also came with some dubious science (Apex) and some obviously false claims (acoustic tubing creates distortion and acoustic resonances, whereas machined aluminum housings don't). Again, there are people going crazy over it, calling it the best headphone ever made.

There are worthwhile innovations out there that result in expensive headphones, for example, those that are genuinely unique and required years of expensive R&D, dedicated driver manufacturing and accompanying hardware (e.g., electrostatic amps). But it seems there's always an opportunity to exploit the gullible and ignorant, simply by taking established technology and slapping an ever-higher price tag on it.

The Xelento aren't cheap, but they're comparable in price to earlier single dynamic driver IEMs like the IE800, which were generally well respected. The added bonuses with the Xelento are the improved sound quality, replaceable cables with mmcx connections and the option of a well-designed remote for those that want to use it with their smartphones. I'm not entirely convinced there are major new technological breakthroughs with the Tesla driver (given how similar its sound is to that of the Skull Candy Smokin' Buds 2), but it has been very well tuned and overall I would consider it medium/fair value for money, considering it is one of the very best-sounding IEMs I've ever heard.

========================================

Summary

I found the Xelento to be easily one of the best-sounding IEMs you can currently buy - at any price. I do prefer Shure's KSE1500 for detail retrieval, but the Xelento isn't all that far behind. The only other non-electrostatic IEM I've heard that had this level of fit and sound quality is the outstanding FLC-8S. However, the FLC-8S comes with a caveat - you need to be prepared to spend quite a bit of time tuning it, and it has tiny filter components that can be easily lost. The FLC-8S isn't for the casual listener or for the faint of heart. The Xelento sounds fantastic right out of the box, and even though it can't be tuned, its frequency response is already very close to that of my ideal sound signature.
If you've never heard the Xelento, I highly recommend you try to get a demo with these outstanding headphones. I doubt you'd be disappointed.

juan1104

好荤的翻译

383735706

这翻译，我选择看英文

sukaicheng

满篇跑火车