[glynnw]

My last few days have been spent listening to my X5s with  various rock recordings, from old mono to latest hyper effects dance music.  All of it sounded great to me.  Tons of ambience when appropriate. So I feel they are not over-revealing.  If that means they gloss over some distortions, so be it.  I love 'em.  I can get a real feeling for the acoustics of the recording room with some pieces.

[Digi-G]

So, I'm still hung up on Cat Stevens recordings sounding bad.  You didn't elaborate and say how, or why, they sound bad.  Cat Stevens recordings generally sound dang good.  Right?

If I upgrade my speakers (which I am in the process of doing with a kit from GR Research) and my good recordings sound worse...  I'll be doing some serious head scratching!!!

[James Edward]

I have the M3 Turbo S, and as far as I am concerned, yes, they are forgiving of poor recordings. As for later models, I don’t know...

[James Edward]

And Tea For the Tillerman, Teaser and the Firecat, and to a slightly lesser extent, Catch Bull At Four are my go-to albums for great sound. They also buck the ‘great sound, eh, music’ found so often.

[sockpit]

I own the M5s and Cat Stevens sounds very good on them.

[musicdre]

jumping in late here because i am just breaking in my Sapph 3s.  to me, they are more revealing of poor recordings, but nevertheless make poor recordings enjoyable.   

[Audiophile58]

The x3-X5 the amt mid-tweeter is smoother and I would say more airy bigger soundstage
And yes a bit more forgiving ,it won’t transform a bad recording but will remove a bit of the leading edge
Simbilance.

[jjss49]

clayton's newer products have updated tweeters from older models so the op's question is very speaker specific i would think

my m3 sapphires are very revealing... but i have read (not heard first hand) that older models have a smoother more rolled off high end