Well then, the time has come for someone to do all these negative comments on celebrity endorsed cans some justice. I have a pair of silver X10s on my head right now as I type!
First Impressions
My god these things are comfortable, much more comfortable than any crappy Dr. Dre, Ludacris, 50 Cent or celebrity endorsed cans I've ever tried. They're essentially the XB800 in terms of comfort, so that's definitely a huge plus. Build quality is superb, very strong headband and everything just feels top tier.
Initial Sound Impressions
I listened to these while connected onto an unknown audio source from Best Buy's demo headphone shelf area, with a variety of music choices, so my impressions are totally subjective and I'm guessing these would sound totally different when connected to my iPhone or another source. One can presume what kind of music these cans are intended for, so I shuffled through a variety of mainstream hip hop and pop/rock music. The signature Sony timbre is present, with slightly recessed mids (with a focus on the higher end of the mid spectrum), smooth highs and slightly boomy bass with a lack of sub-bass. One thing that really surprised me was the depth of sound I was presented with while listening to Adele's "Rolling in the Deep". The background piano was astoundingly clear and it seemed like I was standing in a room flooded with rich piano. With that being said, there seemed to be more of a focus on the actual instrumental separation than the quality of the mids and the bass, but once again, it could be that Best Buy is simply using a ****ty audio source. I compared it side-by-side to Luda's Soul cans and these things absolutely blasted those things out of the water, no comparison at all. I then compared it to Klipsch's Image ONE cans just for kicks, and I felt they offered a much flatter frequency response than the Image ONE, which had somewhat harsh, almost screechy mids. Best Buy is probably using a weak audio source, so I'm sure these X10s would sound really great with the proper audio source.
Final Verdict
Do these sound good? Yes, quite good.
Are they worth $300? From what I deduced from my listening experience, probably not, but for the build quality alone, I'd be willing to pay $200. With the proper audio source they could potentially sound absolutely amazing, tightening up the bass a little and adding a little more sparkle to the highs.
