Sony MDR-XB500 40mm XB Diaphragm Driver Extra Bass Headphones

They're good for bass and nothing else. They're not even comfortable, the clamping force resembles the M-Audio Q40's in my opinion (which would make them good for cycling, running and walking but not so good for stationary usage). The quality of bass is also not the best and you still need to give it a +6db or a higher boost for the subwoofer-on-your-head effect (which actually distorts the bass, +4db seems to be the upper limit). The mids are awful, making tracks like Simon Patterson - Always or Jon O'Bir feat. Fisher - Found A Way (Joint Operations Centre Remix) unlistenable - but that depends on the track. The highs are OK after equalization (a +4db boost, give or take).

Unless you can get them for free or almost for free, stay away from them. That's considering their current price, I got mine for 100 euro. The truth is that they're worth 5 to 10 euro at best. Buy some older Ultrasones instead (preferably the HFI-580's, or the DJ1's which are the same cans). They provide a bigger (you read that correctly) amount of much clearer bass (without the need of EQ) and they have much better mids, not to mention a longer cable if you need it.

EDIT: I'm lowering my rating after listening to them for ~10-15 more hours. They're really bad, possibly the worst headphones I've ever had. Aerofoil - Caress 2 Impress (Markus Schulz Big Room Reconstruction), Mike Shiver & Aruna - Everywhere You Are and probably a dozen more tracks join the list of unlistenable tracks on these.

Ok we'll these were my first over ear headphones I fell in love with and there's plenty of reasons for that, I'll talk about the durability, comfort level and mind blowing bass first

- Durability
These have a plastic design so you might be saying durability ¿? Their plastic but! I have hauled these around as my daily drivers for almost two years now keeping them in my pack pack taking them on road trips and long bus rides and they have held up fine. They have taken a beating and lots of drops as I bought them when I was a freshman and am now a senior and I have to say it was the best buy because needless to say I wasn't carefully at all with them in the beginning and I'm sure I've stepped on them once or twice over their lifetime.

- Comfort
I have yet to see a pair of headphones that match these in comfort, the headband isn't super tight so a lot of movement will cause them to slide on your head but to me that's not at all a downfall because their over ear cans so most generally you won't be crazy active in these cans. I have ran with these on at cross country meets and they will stay on when running in them as long as you aren't thrashing your head around. The soft pads these sport are amazing, I've had multiple people tell me they are the most comfortable headphones they've tried on and I totally agree I can listen to these indefinitely and have no issues of ear soreness or head fatigue.
- Bass
Now if your not a bass lover you might think why would I want to get a pair of cans that are designed with bass as a key point we'll you wouldn't so theirs no argument there but IMHO these bass cans have a nice tuning to them so the bass doesn't over power the music, unless you tune it up with EQ's, so you still hear great music just with a bit more bass. The highs could be more crisp and the bass does bleed into the kids but no worries there for me. I claim to anyone that these headphones will make Beats by Dr. Dre look like little kids headphones and beat lovers always disagree until they put them on and see for the selfs that you can have good bass headphones without sacrificing good quality music, not to mention only half the cost.

Overall I give these headphones a 9/10 because of some key cons to the design. They don't have a detachable cord so if you rip out your cord your out of luck and they do not come with a hard case only a soft pouch so they could be damaged inside your bag moving around, and lastly they do not fold so they can become a big hassle to pack along on a road trip because they aren't very compact. In the end I love these headphones and even if your not a bass head I think you would too as they are superb in comfort level and I after all If you can't wear your headphones then they just are an expensive necklace.

This is my review for the Sony MDR-XB500 Extra-Bass Headphone.
 
My initial reaction to this headphone was just 'WOW' and not in a good way. I was amazed at how much bass a headphone can have! I should emphasis at the point that this headphone is not used / was not intended to be used for mixing and mastering, so you first have to understand that this headphone is made for those that love the fun sound signature of having a really bassy headphone and nothing else! However, I found this problematic as the headphone just provided too much bass and there was not much else to be enjoyed.
 
I made a note in my video review that this is still a headphone and therefore, it must be judged to be such. In other words, you cannot only judge only the bass region, but all the other regions must also be taken into consideration, and this is where the XB500 fell short of being a good headphone. All the other frequencies aside from the bass region was frankly.... not very good.
 
Therefore, I suggest to recommend a headphone for those that enjoy bass, but also at the same time wanted really good sound quality for the price, get the Logitech Ultimate Ears UE6000 ! What a great headphone that is for bass lovers and it even comes with an extra, which is the noise cancellation circuit! I hope I was not too hard on this review, but I really hope to share my thoughts on how I thoughts about this headphone!
 
For a more detailed review, please see my video review located here: