Sony XB-500... Wow! :) - Page 4

Just jumped the gun on the XB500's. Amazon prime 1-day, so I should have them tomorrow! RPGWizard, every single thing you've said about these headphones resonates with me as exactly the kind of sound I want, so thank you :P

Just checkin in again: Its been a week since I got these headphones, and I'm extremely satisfied with the sound. I'm not really an audiophile, I just wanted something that sounds very upfront, not laid back at all, and very fun, and these are perfect. They're really comfortable, and Ive worn them for like 4 hours at time, no discomfort at all, a little sweaty but really not enough to be a problem at all. The sound - not analytical at all, just fun. Without EQ, these headphones definitely sounded pretty muddy to me, but after increasing 2 KHz and decreasing some of the bass, they sound awesome on rock, hip-hop and electronic, very involving.

The XB500 is better sounding than the XB700 according to RPGWizard. 
 

The rest of us might have different thoughts. Remember, the rest of us aren't biased because the XB500 isn't our girlfriend. 

I kid, I kid. Seriously though if the more impactful XB500 is your taste, then more power. XB700 has a different kind of sound. But for $50 you really can't beat the XB500 for bang for buck, if you're anything close to a basshead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Axegrind 

Ordered Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro 80 on ebay and Fiio E5+LOD L3, guess my package got caught up with the holiday season, been waiting for around 2weeks already. I cant wait no longer! Hehehe. So I went to Best Buy to get a pair of Sony MDR-XB500... Its Boxing Day Sale anyways theyre only 49.99$! Went home to try them out hoping to get at least a decent sound from them while waiting for my beyers, hooked it up directly with my iPhone 3Gs and wow! these headphones can really deliver! no amps or lod... Very happy with my purchase. I'll compare it with the beyers fiio e5 lod l3 combo when they arrive, if the difference isnt that much will probably just sell the beyers, daym these xb500s cost only close to the shipping of the beyers combo. Thanks for all the reviews of the XB500, these cans are really bang for the buck! Btw fwiw i returned the shure 440s same day i got them few weeks ago, i find them very tame and didnt get the richness, fullness, oomph i want, maybe its just my type of music. I was also considering the xb700 but fwir the 500 are better sounding.

^ Correction, I've only said XB500 is better sounding for me, not for every1. :p

Like Ankit1010 said if you like very forward/upfront and warm/colored/fun/unbalanced sound with LOTS of bass in the entire bassrange then XB500 won't dissappoint, for neutral listeners look elsewhere! 

Got them yesterday. When I just put them on the first thing i noticed was how different the sound signature is from my beloved Triple.Fis. Mid bass was too powerful , so I had to EQ them a bit in that area. After about 2~3 hours of burn in, I decided to test them with my Motorola Atrix CM7.1 Interestingly, Atrix has no problems with loudness, it runs XB500 just fine. At about 75% volume levels get uncomfortably loud, which is surprising ,considering the fact that XB500s have pretty large speakers inside them. The music I played was the following: RHCP (last two albums), Muse, Sepultura(latest two albums), Dream Theater (2011 album) and some good old Gravity Kills!  To my genuine surprise, XB500 played really well Sepultura's complex and fast music. I can say that in terms of speed and detail XB500 are comparable to triple.fis ! Of course sound signature and the body of the low end is spectacular on triple.fis but the rest is pretty comparable. To be honest , I expected XB500 to have slow and muddy bass, but  my expectations turned out to be false. As for the other music, XB500 played them reasonably well ,especially Gravity Kills with it's heavy bass! With Muse, I noticed that the headphones have pretty clear and vivid midrange (after EQing of course) , which is something that does not exist in sub XXX$ bass headphones. Comfort wise, these headphones are just ridiculously comfortable, in that area they are on par with Bose headphones. Which raises a question: why on earth would anyone pay 3x~4x price for Bose headphones which have miserable sound quality when compared to XB500 ? 

On the negative side I found highs a bit harsh and not as transparent as on triple fis. Instrument separation is also not as good. The overall impression is lack of transparency and lightness. Bass on triple.fis carries much more control and momentum. XB500s bass is not as good. But is it fair to compare to triple.fis? 

The reason I got Xb500 is because cable on my triple.fis broke after one month of use of that cable. I called Logitech and they said they will send new one after 7-10 working days (I really doubt they will)... So I decided to get temporary headphones.

For 44$ that I paid I would reccomend these to anyone in a heartbeat. From my experience XB500 are far more interesting than ES7 or AKG Closed and Portable K series. Something is telling me that they might even be better than HD 25 I. Can anyone comment on that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAndre 

Something is telling me that they might even be better than HD 25 I. Can anyone comment on that?

As far as comfort.  YES!

The HD25s were by far some of the most uncomfortable cans I've put on these ears of mine.

Sounds quality ...

Lemme put it this way, the HD25s is the "wow I've never heard that in a song before" kind of cans, while the XB500s are the "All my rap/electronic songs sound freakin' awesome" cans.

The only problem comfort wise with the XB500s is your ears get a bit warm and I find the headband to have so so  comfort (not the best, not the worst), but still nowhere near as uncomfortable as the HD25s.

Sound is subjective, but I'd be hard pressed to say that the sound quality on the XB500s is "refined or audiophile grade"

It's just one of those headphones you put on when you want Bass.  it's a basshead's phone, but my classic rock/motown/rock/etc. require a better podium to display their worth. 

My bottom line opinion:

Buy the HD25s if you want something good across the board.  Buy the XB500s if you want something for pop/electronic/rap

Stay away from the HD25s if you care about comfort, stay away from the XB500s if you want isolation (they don't isolate well due the vents).
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPGWiZaRD 

Great you like them, maybe you can see now why I often recommend them. :p In fact I prefered these even over the Beyer DT770 Pro/80, will be interesting to see your opinion, so please post your comparisions later, it would be very interesting to hear.

 

There's a possibility you prefer warm sound which XB500 have, "full" description is actually pretty good for the XB500, they are very warm which gets this "meaty"/forward/aggressive sound which is quite opposite to what DT770 Pro are, these are more laid-back, "thin" sounding, I will make a bet at this point and guess you will actually prefer XB500 cuz usually you like either of these but not both because they are quite the opposite sounding IMO except for both got strong bass (XB500 a bit stronger).

I guess it's about preference! Although you would consider the xb500s much "muddier" less clear, better quality, while having a less "meatier" bass right? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quest4theBest 

 

I guess it's about preference! Although you would consider the xb500s much "muddier" less clear, better quality, while having a less "meatier" bass right? 

I would consider the XB700 muddier due to there more laid back sound, the XB500 is more forward, snappy and hits harder in my opinion.

the xb500s hit really hard

love it

it's like a subwoofer on my head

what I don't like is the sound leak, i'm not sure what I'm going to do with them now that I have the Denon 1100s

Yeah I feel like I won't want to listen to anything else after getting my XB500's today.  I totally underestimated them.  I was expecting some bass, but these things are stunning for what I paid, only $35 shipped!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/280863503231?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

They are refurbished, but come with a 90 day warranty and they looked just like new.  I got an amazing deal.  Can't believe how nice these sound for $35.

It was $36.99, sorry.