[Axegrind]

 
@rpgwizard you mentioned sir that you EQ the xb500 to sound balanced and improve the mids and treble yet maintain the full meaty excellent sound overall, i just like to ask what headphones sounds like that without the need of EQ?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

First, calling me "sir" just doesn't feel right, rpg is just fine. 
 
It's not a night and day difference, unEQ'd vs EQ'd. EQ'd it'll sound a bit clearer as the upper bass masks the fine details in mids especially so therefore I keep upper bass range a bit lower and boost the treble range 4 - 16 kHz slightly altough at 8kHz it's fairly good as it is but especially 4kHz is vital for it to add more "crispy" highs and vocals that brings more details out and 16kHz as well as it's somewhat rolled off at the high frequencies. It's changed with time though and I barely need any boost in the treble range anymore, it's very listenable at unEQd settings too but EQ definitely helps though.
 
But having said that, I EQ all my headphones as I think I can always make them sound better or more according to my prefers at least why I always choose devices that contains a decent EQ and XB500 is among the headphones that I've adjusted the least in order to get the optimal result as it's the closest one to sound the way I want it to. Not all equalizers work as good as kX Audio driver's 10-band EQ though. I'm that kind of guy that just have to tweak settings and I could spend several months to find the optimal settings and doesn't matter if I'm calibrating a TV or EQing my headphones, suppose I'm a perfectionist when it comes to these things, very small changes can matter to me if the result becomes better.

 

[bcasey25raptor]

sony the sony xb500 is good. how does it compare to the shure srh750dj. i own the 750 from shure and i think they are spectacular. are the xb500 from sony better. i always found sony wasnt that great for headphones as they are either made cheap or sound below par. but it also depends on the pair you buy.

 

[wind016]

Anyways, I have been trying this. It kills the details through optical at least, so I don't so myself doing this anymore. It is an interesting thing to try out though. For optical, I think the volume should always be maximized.
 
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I read this and I was like "REALLY?" Time to try it out XD though I use optical. I never thought about that though. Windows preamp???
 

Yep, becomes quickly noticable when using analog out and you use at least 2 different volume sliders so you can either max win 7 slider or the other slider. I've only tested with kX Audio volume sliders versus Win 7 though, not with any MP3 player like Winamp for example. With kX Audio drivers I can like put its "master volume slider" to the max just fine without causing clipping but if win 7 vol slider is set too high it starts clipping immediatly especially at 100%, at Win 7 vol slider set to 50% it can take probably sth along +15 boost to the EQs, with +36 I needed to go down to 25% or so, no matter how kX Audio drivers volume sliders were set. Normally I keep the Windows 7 vol slider around 20 - 35% and adjust the sound card driver's volume sliders as needed for cleaner output. I use a software called "Sound Control" to use hotkeys for volume up and down for the volume slider in kX Audio driver as I'm using a very old keyboard that lacks volume keys.

 

[wind016]

I felt the XB series has the usual high distortion rate in common commercial Sony headphones. The Shure should be a more refined choice, but few things come close to XB series bass impact. For maximum bass impact, the top three that I have experienced is the Ultrasone HFI 580, XB500, XB700. The HFI 580 is my favorite. It clearly has more detail than the XB series and can have competitive bass impact when pushed.
 
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sony the sony xb500 is good. how does it compare to the shure srh750dj. i own the 750 from shure and i think they are spectacular. are the xb500 from sony better. i always found sony wasnt that great for headphones as they are either made cheap or sound below par. but it also depends on the pair you buy.

 

[Axegrind]

 
These headphones still hasnt stop to amaze me! It sounded great when i first used it brandnew it really wow'd me, then now after only a week of using it i noticed today that im hearing more of the vocals, not that its too recessed out of the box its sounded just fine, its just that now the vocals are more detailed and also the bass somewhat tamed but its still definitely full sounding, low and tight, thats why im not sure if it tamed or the other aspects like vocals, mid, high just opened up more. I loved it when i got it new and now it even gives me more reasons to cherish it hehehe. The sound even became more balanced now, again im not saying that its insanely unbalanced brandnew, i thought it was perfect then it just got even better after using them more! My beyers still hasnt arrive, im thinking of just refusing the package when it arrives to spare me from return shipping costs.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Yea I also felt they changed from burn-in. Mids come out more detailed and a bit more highs are let through, can't speak for the bass. I bought mine during the summer, I would estimate I've got probably 1000hrs or so on them now as I keep probably using them both for music and gaming daily at the computer for probably 5 hrs or so in average. I often keep wondering if there's ANY headphone that would satisfy me more no matter price, that's how great they sound to me. Mids are really suprisingly good and forward in my ears with my EQ settings when upper bass is brought under control and the highs are so smooth and gentle/soft, exactly the highs I want, not the edgy/sharp/ear-piercing and thin sounding highs that the most of the headphones I've tried got. It feels like I would just buy another set in case these would break or I might buy one just for backup. xD
 
Actually I could just buy another set and use those at parents place that I visit very often during weekends. The cheapest online store sells them for 37 EUR here now, wow. Compared to US pricing for headphones compared to prices here that would correspond to around $40!

 

[Axegrind]

 
Enjoying Blues-Rock Channel right now on last.fm xb series aint only about bass! Oh yesterday my mood was easy listening-love songs and oldies on last.fm

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

 
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Enjoying Blues-Rock Channel right now on last.fm 

 xb series aint only about bass! Oh yesterday my mood was easy listening-love songs and oldies on last.fm 

 

Yep, often I think that other people think I'm like only in love with the headphone because of its big bass quantity and I'm a basshead, but that's so far from the truth, no matter what I listen to on them and whatever I'd EQ the bass down to the bottom of the EQ (-12) I still enjoy what I'm hearing!

 

[Axegrind]

 
Exactly what im also thinking! Im planning to get another set, even though i cant use two same phones at the same time. afraid that when they break and i cant find exact same phones to replace them at this price! Boxing week is ending soon it will prolly go back to its orig price.

 

[Axegrind]

 
Yep, often I think that other people think I'm like only in love with the headphone because of its big bass quantity and I'm a basshead, but that's so far from the truth, no matter what I listen to on them and whatever I'd EQ the bass down to the bottom of the EQ (-12) I still enjoy what I'm hearing!

 

I really can relate rpg! They perform really well whatever music i listen to, from pantera to lil jon to michael bublé, kraull, vandross, u2, fra lippo lippi, blue man group, classical channels, electronica and a lot more... The xb500, iphone3gs and last.fm are really giving me a lot of fun relaxing listening time...

 

[Xymordos]

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I really can relate rpg! They perform really well whatever music i listen to, from pantera to lil jon to michael bublé, kraull, vandross, u2, fra lippo lippi, blue man group, classical channels, electronica and a lot more... The xb500, iphone3gs and last.fm are really giving me a lot of fun relaxing listening time...

When I'm listening to metal or voice I like my Ety ER4p better

 

[matryx]

Have any of you guys tried using these headphones for blu-ray movies? I have a 5.1 home theater system and I like to feel my bass. Would these headphones give me that? I would also use them for gaming on my PS3.

 

[yliu]

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Have any of you guys tried using these headphones for blu-ray movies? I have a 5.1 home theater system and I like to feel my bass. Would these headphones give me that? I would also use them for gaming on my PS3.

You should get a bigger subwoofer if you want to "feel the bass", I think headphones will never deliver the bass of a home theater with a sub.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

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You should get a bigger subwoofer if you want to "feel the bass", I think headphones will never deliver the bass of a home theater with a sub.

As for your body won't be able to feel it, true but XB500 can provide "an earthquake inside your head" kind of experience with help of EQing. It's not difficult to get "ear tickling" bass and you won't even need any exaggerated volumes by XB500 (you feel the air trying to escape between the pads and your outer ear and no other headphones have been able to do that) but I'm careful and only listen to rather low volumes personally as I'm worried by the amount air it pushes but I do abuse EQ quite a bit sometimes. I used to use a Logitech X-530 5.1 set at one point and the bass I can achieve is very similar to that 5.25" sub. I often wish I was able to demo my kX Audio driver config + XB500, I feel it's the ultimate basshead experience, thunderous bass yet very detailed sound with great soundstage and depth.