hodgjy
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jan 20, 2010
- Posts
- 4,305
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- 1,225
I haven't posted much lately, but I recently picked up the Sony MDR-XB650BT and thought I'd share some of my impressions.
TL;DR = with a little EQ, these are pretty darn good headphones. They make for very nice active-style headphones or for your daily commute.
I was in the market for some bluetooth headphones without active noise cancellation. I already have some noise canceling bluetooth headphones, which I like, but they aren't too well suited for walking around my neighborhood in the evening. The noise cancellation wasn't exactly safe with cars passing by, etc., and they were a little heavy on my head. I also didn't want to spend a bundle since these would probably get a little sweaty and would be exposed to outside elements.
I settled on the Sonys because of their price point ($69 US). I tried them out in the store, and they were decent enough, so I took a chance. I knew I'd tweak the sound signature a little with some EQ.
Out of the box, they were extremely lightweight and very comfortable, which is a bonus because my noise cancelling headphones are sort of heavy and a little uncomfortable during long listening sessions. I wore them for several hours, and my ears only got a little physically stiff, but nothing like other on-ear headphones I've used. These are very comfortable. This alone made my purchase worthwhile.
Sound-wise, Sony wasn't lying when they said these had "extra bass." It's there, but not totally in your face for most music styles. The deep bass is punchy and articulate. It's not one note and has decent speed. It does resonate and linger for a bit, so you'll never confuse these with planar magnetics. Deep bass is nice, especially for the price point.
However, there is considerable mid-bass bloom that extends into the midrange, which can make rock, prog, alternative, and some metal sound congested and off. Dance, pop, 80s synth rock, electronica, etc. all sound phenomenal with the house coloration. These headphones are probably voiced to deal with the lower quality recordings and poor mastering we find these days with mass produced tracks from these genera.
Midrange tones are there, but they can get masked by the mid-bass bloom, and the highs are also present, but not overly clear and articulate. As a whole, these headphones lean to the warm side, can be a little congested, but still maintain pretty reasonable imaging.
I was able to quickly clear up the sound, reducing the mid-bass bloom and making the highs a little more clear. These are the settings that work great for me. YMMV:
31 hz +2 db
62 hz +2 db
125 hz -3 db
250 hz - 2 db
500 hz -1 db
4000 hz +2 db
8000 hz +2 db
These solved the sound issues and I can happily live with the result. The "extra bass" Sony is talking about is the mid and upper bass, so you'll need to tame those. A cheap trick headphone and speaker makers employ is to boost the mid and upper bass to give the appearance of deep, rumbling bass. It's just a trick, and you can clearly get a whiff of that if you've ever purchased a TV sound bar. If so, you'll know exactly what I mean. The low and sub bass have plenty of room to breath in these headphones, so I bumped that up a little to fill in some of the gaps created in the voice when I dropped the mid and upper bass. It's quite pleasing, actually.
Other thoughts:
These have no bluetooth dropouts and don't seem to drastically degrade the sound quality. In the past, bluetooth headphones I've used were prone to skips and drops, and would even degrade the sound very noticeably. This is an exaggeration, but I would describe it as taking a 24 bit lossless file being butchered into an old MIDI. Yeah, some headphones were that bad. They had terrible etching and hollowness. Not these Sonys. There's also no hiss or background noises of any kind. Pretty nice feat considering these probably use a class-T or class-D amplifier inside, which are prone to hissing.
Sound isolation is fantastic, so they'll serve you well in the gym, at work, or during your commute. This is expected because much of the bass is from forming a good seal on your ears.
All in all, I'm happy with these for the price, and they're worth a look if you are in the market for decent bluetooth headphones.
TL;DR = with a little EQ, these are pretty darn good headphones. They make for very nice active-style headphones or for your daily commute.
I was in the market for some bluetooth headphones without active noise cancellation. I already have some noise canceling bluetooth headphones, which I like, but they aren't too well suited for walking around my neighborhood in the evening. The noise cancellation wasn't exactly safe with cars passing by, etc., and they were a little heavy on my head. I also didn't want to spend a bundle since these would probably get a little sweaty and would be exposed to outside elements.
I settled on the Sonys because of their price point ($69 US). I tried them out in the store, and they were decent enough, so I took a chance. I knew I'd tweak the sound signature a little with some EQ.
Out of the box, they were extremely lightweight and very comfortable, which is a bonus because my noise cancelling headphones are sort of heavy and a little uncomfortable during long listening sessions. I wore them for several hours, and my ears only got a little physically stiff, but nothing like other on-ear headphones I've used. These are very comfortable. This alone made my purchase worthwhile.
Sound-wise, Sony wasn't lying when they said these had "extra bass." It's there, but not totally in your face for most music styles. The deep bass is punchy and articulate. It's not one note and has decent speed. It does resonate and linger for a bit, so you'll never confuse these with planar magnetics. Deep bass is nice, especially for the price point.
However, there is considerable mid-bass bloom that extends into the midrange, which can make rock, prog, alternative, and some metal sound congested and off. Dance, pop, 80s synth rock, electronica, etc. all sound phenomenal with the house coloration. These headphones are probably voiced to deal with the lower quality recordings and poor mastering we find these days with mass produced tracks from these genera.
Midrange tones are there, but they can get masked by the mid-bass bloom, and the highs are also present, but not overly clear and articulate. As a whole, these headphones lean to the warm side, can be a little congested, but still maintain pretty reasonable imaging.
I was able to quickly clear up the sound, reducing the mid-bass bloom and making the highs a little more clear. These are the settings that work great for me. YMMV:
31 hz +2 db
62 hz +2 db
125 hz -3 db
250 hz - 2 db
500 hz -1 db
4000 hz +2 db
8000 hz +2 db
These solved the sound issues and I can happily live with the result. The "extra bass" Sony is talking about is the mid and upper bass, so you'll need to tame those. A cheap trick headphone and speaker makers employ is to boost the mid and upper bass to give the appearance of deep, rumbling bass. It's just a trick, and you can clearly get a whiff of that if you've ever purchased a TV sound bar. If so, you'll know exactly what I mean. The low and sub bass have plenty of room to breath in these headphones, so I bumped that up a little to fill in some of the gaps created in the voice when I dropped the mid and upper bass. It's quite pleasing, actually.
Other thoughts:
These have no bluetooth dropouts and don't seem to drastically degrade the sound quality. In the past, bluetooth headphones I've used were prone to skips and drops, and would even degrade the sound very noticeably. This is an exaggeration, but I would describe it as taking a 24 bit lossless file being butchered into an old MIDI. Yeah, some headphones were that bad. They had terrible etching and hollowness. Not these Sonys. There's also no hiss or background noises of any kind. Pretty nice feat considering these probably use a class-T or class-D amplifier inside, which are prone to hissing.
Sound isolation is fantastic, so they'll serve you well in the gym, at work, or during your commute. This is expected because much of the bass is from forming a good seal on your ears.
All in all, I'm happy with these for the price, and they're worth a look if you are in the market for decent bluetooth headphones.
