That's the real frustrating thing. for sure good pair of XS exist out there, it just wasn't worth it to me to try a 3rd time.. Not trying to rain on your parade, I guess my bias just tends to make itself known at this point haha

After trying the XS I wound up with a pair of Moondrop Venus. Love em. They sound a lot like the XS but, cleaner somehow? When I went from the XS to these it almost made me feel like the XS have just a slight amount of bass bloat in comparison. Like vocals and things that live in the mids would be muddied down a bit by the XS, compared to sounding absolutely clear and "even" with the instruments through the Venus. The XS seemed to sort of apply their own sound to everything where to me the Venus let the song sound more how it was intended. Where the XS seemed to make everything sound equally 'big', some tracks can be a little more closed in or a little more open on the Venus, seemingly depending on how they were recorded. Playing Squad with the Venus I swear I can hear things happening farther away than ever before. But then if I put on Tom's Diner it sounds like Suzanne Vega is singing directly into my ears while the little ambient sounds in the track happen all around. Placement of sounds is better to me overall as is detail. I can hear things with these that I could not so much with the XS.

There was a little issue with mine when they showed up, one of the earcups had popped loose from the yoke thing on one side during shipping. But they're built so damn tough in comparison to anything else I've tried that I was able to just pop it back in and nothing was damaged or bent really at all. Absolutely zero problems with the sound, no weird buzzing or anything ever (unless it was something in the recording). Feel free to check my post history too, I posted somewhat of a review recently where I have a lot more to say.

Another vaguely similar headphone I can think of is the Monoprice M1570