IDSD micro signature and qudelix 5k. It’s surprising how well the qudelix is powering the XC.
Both from iPhone running either Amazon Music HD or Apple Music. I run the qudelix wired sometimes and sometimes Bluetooth.
I have another problem: WAF. My wife went to me, and I quote, “You can’t keep those, I can hear everything you are listening to.”
Sooooo… this adventure may have been cut short. 
I’m curious to hear your thoughts because I know you also have the Dunu Zen. I have the Zen in house right now and I’ve been going back and forth between settling on a higher end closed back headphone or an IEM for my office listening. I’m liking what I’m hearing from the Zen right now so I’m leaning in that direction but the XC has been on my radar for a while also.
Well that probably answers my question. Haha!
My opinion of the Zen rises with everything I try. For me, it just may be endgame. I haven’t had the XC long enough
There is history in my blessing 2 dusk post if you are interested.
Yep. And they are probably going back. I just raised the volume to a fun level and my wife gave me the evil eye.
I may just drop them back in the box. I don’t want to fall in love with a headphone that creates that problem.
I’m in a similar situation. I’m almost always listening in an environment with other people around and I can never enjoy the music as much when I feel like I’m broadcasting it to the room.
It should be noted, the Zen leak more sound than many IEMs. My wife has a new appreciation for my Zen. She can’t hear the Dusk at all though. My solution? I gave her the dusk. Now I can’t use them! 
Yeah I’ve found the Zen isn’t a problem. It does leak some, but it’s still at a very low level at my normal listening volume.
I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to do my usual full impression of the lcd-xc. They are already back in the box.
I will just say this:
If I wanted an open back headphone, this is the one I would choose.
Yes, that’s written correctly. That is all.
IFI make some really cool portable amp/DACS. They have come such a long way as a company. Also their price point variety is every bit as charming and diverse as FIIO.
Anyhow. A full size desktop amp/DAC/LPS/ AC Regenerators really grab every ounce of talent any headphone has in general.
Lastly. Yeah. They leak. It isn’t terrible, but they do have some leakage and it is for the greater good of overall SQ.
Honestly man, it is really hard to find a headphone that doesn’t leak a little bit.
Let me know how you solve the GF problem.
It’s pretty terrible compared to the ANC headsets I’ve had. I wasn’t really expecting the difference to be that big.
This one was easy. I took the following steps:
I have the iDSD micro signature currently. I wouldn’t call it portable. It’s great, but not really needed on the headphones I have currently. It’s another thing I can only use in the evening.
I have a general question about the XC in an effort to understand and put to words what I am hearing. (This was so intriguing to me, I took the XC out of the box to try it again)
I happen to use Beastie Boys - Sabotage as a common busy rock song to test headphones.
On the XC it sounded harsh (this is one of the things that generated the harsh comment above) and a bit anemic. On the Zen it’s intense and full with just the slightest hint of harshness. This is noticeable during the first 30 seconds and the harshness is largely around the “singing”.
What I want to understand is why? What about the frequency response would indicate that effect?
(Also generated the burn in question)
Try dropping 5850hz by about 3-4dB with a narrow Q value of 5 - on the XC
I don’t think that’s it. So I played with EQ a bit and I ended up with a Q of 0.93 and hz of 1763 hz with a minus 5-6db. (These settings are probably hitting it with a sledgehammer instead of a scalpel. I just wanted to understand where in the FR the harshness was)
Is this vocals that are too forward? Shouty? Is this shouty? This adjusts the harshness to about the Zen maybe even a bit softer.
The point of this exercise is to learn what I am hearing in relationship to the FR graph. Outside of bass, I haven’t really identified what the graph really means to me.
Could just be the distance between upper mids and bass in general.
Then, fixing that may have worked as well by boosting the bass? Interesting.
Unfortunately, they are back in the mail and I will not be able to test them further.
Thanks for the help!
I’d look at music sources. The XC’s aren’t exactly friendly towards bloated or quite compressed recordings. Another would be power supply chain. From personal experience AC regenerators work and my XC has never sounded better. It just sucks that a quality AC regenerator has a bit of a price tag on it.
Anyway that harshness I never got, however the XC with some recordings have a bit of spice in the treble region but again it is not offensive to me. Every headphone on planet earth has flaws.
My advice would be to ignore the girlfriend cause she isn’t your wife and keep the headphones while building an absolute juggernaut of a sound chain towards quality. The XC’s deserve the Royal treatment. I still can’t believe they’re 1300$ USD. 
The harshness wasn’t even offensive most of the time. I just noticed it. I was trying to learn why it would happen where the Zen had minimal issues (minimal but not zero). I was also trying to figure out what production changes went in at the end of last year. No luck so far.
To be honest, I think I have reached the point where diminishing returns aren’t worth the price. In the brief period I had them, they shot to the top of the list for over ears. While I would take them over the arya, largely for the bass response and slightly more engaging sound, they have the problem that my Dunu Zen beats them on both those fronts.
If not for the isolation issue, I likely would have kept them as a wonderful leaner and more open/airy sound compared to Zen. This use case required isolation. I may re-buy them if I am ever looking for a headphone that doesn’t need isolation. (Assuming I haven’t found something I like more)
One more thing: the he6se + appropriate amp may be a better buy for the same money. However, the he6se bass response is not as impactful. The sound signature is otherwise more to my liking. The XC beats it more on function by being usable on many amps (including portable). With the diablo out now, the he6se is tempting again.
hey @Resolve, did I see you using a ZMF pilot pad on your XC’s during one of the recent live streams? do you find that helps with the weight?
Yes but it only partially fits.
did you use the regular pilot pad, or the co-pilot pad?