Final Thoughts: Sony MDR-XB1000 vs. MDR-XB700 *** Pictures *** - Page 2

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Thanx for the reviews.

 

How does the bass compare to the D7000?
 

 

I thought you hated the sound of the XB1000s? Have they changed with burn in or something?

What do you mean with "Hi-Fi"?  You find D7000's bass artificial and XB1000's more true to life?

(Do you mean "Hi-Fi-ish"? or the old, original meaning of Hi-Fi, "High fidelity, which has a positive meaning...)

 

 

Interesting. Can you explain a little more what you mean? Does the D7000 have tighter bass that is truer to real instruments, and the XB1000 has that huge and fun bass you get in a club?

The bass on my XB700s was IMO overall more accurate to timbre (but not amplitude!) than the D5000s I used to own.

 

If you play a single short bass note on a stock D5000 its just about perfect.  If that note is long or part of a more complex bass line then reflections, vibrations, and all the stuff that the Markl mod is supposed to fix send it all to hell and make it boomy and ill defined.  It gets to the point where I can't tell the bass guitar from a drum.  That pretty much never happens with the XB700s.  Their better designed enclosures keep that from happening and just lets you hear the driver.  You can listen to jazz or something non-bass-driven on the XB700s and other than the fact that the upright bass sounds like its 3 stories tall, it still sounds like an upright bass.  The D5000 is clearer and more detailed throughout the rest of the spectrum though.  THe XB700 actually has a wider soundstage but with less depth than the D5000.

 

I've got no idea how much of this applies to the D7000 but I'd guess a lot of does since they measure quite similarly.

Sony does make their eXtra Bass IEMs with the flat cables. They are just ungodly huge and hard to keep in ear.

I agree with possibly getting the XB500 and comparing them to the XB1000. When I had the XB700, the bass seemed really recessed and REFINED compared to it's younger sibling.
Edited by RaZrReD - 3/6/11 at 3:11pm

I wonder if this flat cable contributes any to to the fat bass output seeing how much of a fuss the Blue Dragon gets for Pro 900.

I highly doubt it, however the major reason apart from the drivers and it's configuration itself is the type of pads used, i think they contribute to the bass effect a lot

 

recessed. the xb700 and the xb500 provide different kind of bass out of the box, I wouldn't call the xb700 having deeper ocean like bass, recessed. With a good amp the xb700 give as much punch as the xb500. I have them both now, and I am comparing them side by side. Still prefer the xb700, the younger one needs too much EQ to sound good IMO. I feel the xb1000 is going to be wonderful, but first the wallet needs to recover

 

I say refined and recessed because straight out of the box, the booming bass wasn't there. I had both of them running out of my MBP and even playing the same album (yes I listened to a whole album), the XB500's bass was still thunderous compared to what the 700 had. I even had to crank up the volume and adjust the EQ to get the same effect.

Remember though that I am running both of them UNAMPED so if AMPAGE is needed to get the "thunder" out of the 700, then that could be the reason why I never heard it and eventually sent them back.

If this be the case, what kind of amp would you guys recommend to drive them?

You got a great point there. The xb700 needs a headphone amp with power to deliver all the glory. That is why I don't understand the short cable, portable devices don't have the needed power to juice these cans to their full potential. The lower impedance (24ohms) is misleading. The xb500 is better for portable use and easier driven. The xb1000 will need a lot of power I'm sure.

Asked this yesterday but no one answered? When are the xb 1000's going to be available in the U.S. amd does anyone know what the price is going to be?

 

Nobody knows yet. Sony hasn't announced anything.