[Malfunkt]

Do you have any extra MDR-XB950BT's for $99 lying around?

Can't seem to get that price anywhere :/ 

I think that was just a smart ploy from Sony, to get as many of these into the hands of consumers who would then leave ecstatic reviews. I managed to get one at $150cdn but the price seems to be back up in most places within the $150-200 range.

 

[Giogio]

  Differences between the 3 wireless modes:

 Are you using Aptx?
 
I would also like to know how did you chose those materials for the mods. Could people use other materials too?
 
And, as you have two pairs, modded and not, available for comparison, could you say the difference between a modded one and a not modded but with EQ to tamper the Bass (a bit like Malfunkt does)?

 

[Giogio]

I updated the EQ on CanOpener to get a bit more precision.

 
Following your thread I have purchased this CanOpener but I cannot find where is the EQ.
Anyway it resulted useful for other purposes...
 
My problem with EQ is that on my Android Smartphone I use Neutron as player. It gives a very good sound quality but the only way to normalize music (which is useful to avoid distorsion) is by linking an EQ setting to music. You can only link ONE Eq Setting to your music. And then to unlink it you have to lose the normalization and do all again, so, it is not a one click process.
For this reason I could not use this Headphone as walking headphone.
I can try them and see if the sound worth so much to have them as second headphone, for home.

 

[Malfunkt]

Following your thread I have purchased this CanOpener but I cannot find where is the EQ.
Anyway it resulted useful for other purposes...

My problem with EQ is that on my Android Smartphone I use Neutron as player. It gives a very good sound quality but the only way to normalize music (which is useful to avoid distorsion) is by linking an EQ setting to music. You can only link ONE Eq Setting to your music. And then to unlink it you have to lose the normalization and do all again, so, it is not a one click process.
For this reason I could not use this Headphone as walking headphone.
I can try them and see if the sound worth so much to have them as second headphone, for home.

Ah. Yes CanOpener has a beautiful if unconventional user interface. You need to swipe in the second section from the bottom. It comes with a very basic but good sounding equalizer and you can upgrade to a Pencil EQ to draw your own detailed curves. It cost about $4 but I'd worth it. Now I'm using the iOS version so there may be differences. There are other upgrades for dithering but these aren't really necessary.

CanOpener can save your EQ profiles and will recognize Bluetooth as s completely different input with its own set of EQ profiles. So it makes one touch possible

 

[Malfunkt]

New EQ setting which leaves the mid range from 300hz up essentially flat.

Had fresher ears this morning and feel this EQ setting works best. Also lowered the bass a tad more. Listened to a jazz mix from Bird Peterson - sounds like I'm listening to warm vinyl.

I think I had issue with the lower part of the mid range from bass bleed, and was too aggressive with my other EQ curve. So essentially taming the bass on these and you are good to go. Not sure if the mod would do a better job of this or not.

 

[Giogio]

Malfunkt, I was joking about the CanOpener. Did you follow the link?
I just found that the name was cool. Not being a native english speaker I didn't immediately realize what a real can opener is. SO I googled for the appa and I have found, more...
 
So you can even listen to Arvo Part with these?
Not bad.
From Arvo Part to Dubstep... We may have a similar eclecticity.

 

[Bill-P]

  Bill-P Could you tell me if these Mods are easy to do? And would you suggest these headphones also without mods?

 
Well, the mods are relatively easy to do if you are comfortable unscrewing things. There's no soldering or anything like that required, though you do have to be careful not to yank the thin wires inside out.
 
Without mods, the genre bandwidth of this headphone is severely limited, and it may not play well with a lot of music.
 

   Are you using Aptx?
 
I would also like to know how did you chose those materials for the mods. Could people use other materials too?
 
And, as you have two pairs, modded and not, available for comparison, could you say the difference between a modded one and a not modded but with EQ to tamper the Bass (a bit like Malfunkt does)?

 
Yep. My Macbook has APTX.
 
In practice, though, I find it makes very little difference, if any. I honestly can't quite tell much of a difference using APTX with my MacBook or no APTX with my phone.
 
And I'm fairly sure I can hear a difference with the different modes after modding the headphone.
 
And sure, you can use other equivalent materials. Just that I tried those stuffs and found them to sound best.
 
And as for the difference between a modded one and a non-modded one, it's still there even with EQ. The modded headphone is still cleaner sounding despite the non-modded headphone having EQ to push bass down. In fact, the modded pair can keep the same impact, have almost as much sub bass, and still keep the midrange and treble clean, while the modded pair will simply sound a bit anemic if you push bass down so that it's about the same as the modded pair.
 
The difference here is mostly that the modded pair relies on acoustical modifications to help it sound that way, while the regular pair practically has no acoustical dampening whatsoever, hence the bass.

 

[jywang]

Does anyone else notice some static when using Bluetooth? For example between songs or immediately after a song stops. Also, when I mute the sound on the device while a song is still playing I hear a constant buzzing/static.

 

[Malfunkt]

Does anyone else notice some static when using Bluetooth? For example between songs or immediately after a song stops. Also, when I mute the sound on the device while a song is still playing I hear a constant buzzing/static.

There is definitely an audible hiss that behaves exactly how you have described. It does raise the noise floor but it hasn't distrscted me too much. I'm fine with it. Would be interested to find out why this is the case.

 

[jonjonk]

does anyone have a mdr-1rbt or have ever tried one? how do they compare to this? I see that a used one can be had for $200 on amazon.
 
also, I have used the 950bt for around 2 weeks now, and they definitely sound better than when I first got them.  Pretty much the only thing that I don't like about these is that they are bulky and stick out the side of my head way too much.

 

[Giogio]

There is definitely an audible hiss that behaves exactly how you have described. It does raise the noise floor but it hasn't distrscted me too much. I'm fine with it. Would be interested to find out why this is the case.

It is the internal AMP and/or DSP processor.
The Beats Studio Wireless have it too, very annoying. The Fidelio M2BT also, (much less), and many other BT Headphones have it too.
i think it is actually, in different measures, present in all BT headphones.
 
 
 
@ Jonjonk: I have tried the MDR-1RBT, but not these XB950BT.
 
I do not see why you would ever possibly be interested in the MDR-1RBT if you want something with extra bass.
The MDR have a mediocre bass.
But if you talk of the MK2, I did not try them. Other people have compared them. It seems that the MK2 have clearly less bass, but perform much better in the rest of the spectrum, being overall more balanced and flexible.
More, I cannot say.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

  Does anyone else notice some static when using Bluetooth? For example between songs or immediately after a song stops. Also, when I mute the sound on the device while a song is still playing I hear a constant buzzing/static.

 

There is definitely an audible hiss that behaves exactly how you have described. It does raise the noise floor but it hasn't distrscted me too much. I'm fine with it. Would be interested to find out why this is the case.

I noticed it as well, seems to be louder and more bassy under high quality mode (3 blinks). Less on normal and stable mode. It's only audible at the two lowest volume setting with music playing. I didn't notice this in the beginning but I'm going to try draining the battery fully then recharging then check. Will also try it with the BT transmitter plugged to the tv to rule out the source.

 

[Bill-P]

There is definitely an audible hiss that behaves exactly how you have described. It does raise the noise floor but it hasn't distrscted me too much. I'm fine with it. Would be interested to find out why this is the case.

 
The noise floor is due to there not being enough negative feedback in the amp in order to suppress it.
 
More negative feedback = more current to the circuit (this is independent of current to headphone) = less battery life.
 
So it's more of a "battery life saving" feature.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

Any reasons why it'd be louder and more meaty with hq?

The noise floor is due to there not being enough negative feedback in the amp in order to suppress it.

More negative feedback = more current to the circuit (this is independent of current to headphone) = less battery life.

So it's more of a "battery life saving" feature.

 

[Giogio]

   
Well, the mods are relatively easy to do if you are comfortable unscrewing things.
 
Yep. My Macbook has APTX.

Yes, I think I have a talent for screwing things up, no problem there
No seriously, I apologize, I had not read your modding post well (it should be sticked to the first post) so I thought it was more a soldering mod, and I am too lazy for those things.
 
For the materials, I meant, can you say why did you choose those? Which else did you try, and what difference did you see? I live in EU so I am not sure I want to order those things from US. More info could help me find a nice alternative.
 
About Aptx on Mac, where did you read that Mac support Aptx?
My informations are that no Apple product supports Aptx because Apple does not want to pay the license to CSR.
I think that Aptx is not just something software. I may be wrong but I think it needs also a special hardware, I am not sure if a BT chip produced by CSR or what. Maybe you know more.
But the fact is, I think that Apple wanted to support Aptx and there is this possibility, and on some OS people can even read Aptx, but there is not yet real support behing.
It is like a door with a name on it, but the room behind the door is empty.
This is what I have understood.
If you have different info I would be happy to hear them. Better would be if with some proof or link. So I can give better suggestions to owners of Macs when I suggest them BT Headphones.
 
 
About what you wrote for the negative feedback: I think I like you.
EDIT: oh, sorry, this was a positive feedback.
But I meant it so