Q40s vs. XB500s. Need BASS.

RPGWiZaRD talked some about the Q40s and the XB500s in the $200 and under basshead buyer's guide.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/567149/my-200-and-under-bassheads-buyers-guide/180#post_8066961

My impression is that if quantity is all you care about, the competition is between the XB500 and the LP2.  The XB500 is certainly the bassiest can I own, beating the Pro 900, DT-770, D5000, HFI-780, and RP-HTF600 with ease. 

Well I wouldn't call Q40 very portable headphones, sure they fold but they are still big in size and also they have these wires sticking out above the cups going into the headband that I'd be very worried about with portable use getting stuck in something and when you pull the wires breaks, maybe if you tape them down against the headband/cup it would probably not be an issue but might not look so great then.

Soundwise I think Q40 has a rather even balance between subbass and midbass, these Q40 have lots of both, XB500 is perhaps tiny bit more skewed towards midbass, on Q40 it's fairly 50/50 and the bass response unlike on XB500 doesn't affect the mids/highs at all, the most impressive quantity vs no bass bleed ratio I've come across in a headphone so far, it's so wonderfully separated despite being so strong. 

Also I feel the Q40 benefits quite a lot from amping, sure they can be played at 40~45% volume or so ampless out of my Realtek HD onboard sound (compare 28% or so with XB500) but they improve quite a lot regarding dynamicness and bass response with some amping. The soundstage is fairly average, at least instrument separation is a bit better on Q40 but XB500 I thought sounded reasonably airy due to the huge bass vents which helps a lot regarding soundstage as well. The venting is far less on Q40 with only tiny holes at back so it sounds a little less airy but the soundstage size is still good for a closed headphone.

Soundwise I think XB700 would be a good match for you, these are very subbass focused headphone, probably the most subbass focused headphone out there as it doesn't have nearly as much midbass as XB500, even in graphs the XB1000 seems to have slightly more midbass than XB700. The soundstage is fairly the same though, the size is just a little bigger but for gaming use I thought XB500 had slightly better positioning tho but that's not too important for music listening. But then again it's too big for portable use. Another subbass focused headphone which would fit you perfect due to subbass focus + great soundstage would be BeyerDynamic DT770 Pro/80 ohm but this one would need at least a little amping to sound to its full potential and it's also a bit on the bigger side but it's VERY sturdy though.

I've been wondering more and more lately about these "soundstage is large for a closed headphone" type comments.  It seems like it's said more often than not, actually.  To me the XB-500 is more on the small soundstage side of things, though admittedly my other closed cans are some of the ones more well-known for their soundstage.  What would you compare them to that have a smaller soundstage?  I'm guessing the M50 will be one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LithoJazoSphere 

I've been wondering more and more lately about these "soundstage is large for a closed headphone" type comments.  It seems like it's said more often than not, actually.  To me the XB-500 is more on the small soundstage side of things, though admittedly my other closed cans are some of the ones more well-known for their soundstage.  What would you compare them to that have a smaller soundstage?  I'm guessing the M50 will be one.

AKG K518 DJ is even worse than M50, HD212 pro was also pretty bad. Soundstage is not very big on XB500 (depth is better than width tho) but it sounds quite "airy" which isn't necessarily the same as large and the positioning is quite good, instrument separation which is kinda related is worse though. I use a custom Dolby Headphone config when listening to music though which greatly expands the soundstage and it sounds very big already on XB500 (bigger than almost any closed headphones if not using it).