Self solved - xone dkms module was indeed the culprit. after unloading all parts of xone (or uninstalling and rebooting) the controller works just fine:
[ 5367.829602] usb 5-2.4: new full-speed USB device number 21 using xhci_hcd
[ 5368.488601] usb 5-2.4: device descriptor read/64, error -32
[ 5368.748279] usb 5-2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=045e, idProduct=028e, bcdDevice= 1.10
[ 5368.748285] usb 5-2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 5368.748286] usb 5-2.4: Product: Controller
[ 5368.748287] usb 5-2.4: Manufacturer: Manba One
[ 5368.748288] usb 5-2.4: SerialNumber: 1187A89
[ 5368.824675] input: Microsoft X-Box 360 pad as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.1/0000:28:00.3/usb5/5-2/5-2.4/5-2.4:1.0/input/input18
[ 5368.824741] usbcore: registered new interface driver xpad