I've met Ori and can vouch that he is an outstanding character. He brought over the X-1, X-2, and X-1B(balanced) which I auditioned. I concur that the X-1 is simply unmatched in its price range (and above) and really increased the musicality of my system (DAC1->Pathos Mark II->Triangle Antal ES). However, the X-2 does everything the X-1 does, only even better. Everything seems to shimmer. The X-1B may be the bargain of the bunch; in my system the balanced cable sounded very close to the single ended X-2, and is cheaper. This may be system dependent however.