Sony MDR-XB700 50mm XB Diaphragm Driver Extra Bass Headphones

Intro
 
First of all, I want to start my review by declaring that I'm no audiophile and never cared for such signature in my cans. Critical listening, with everything flat isn't my forte nor what I wanted. I'm all about the bass, to be specifically, unbloated, deep bass. And this set, oh man do they deliver! 
 
I once bought the CAL! as a recommendation from HeadFi buddies, and despite their strong bass response, they are nowhere near basshead territory. The mids where something else, as they were excellent, but nevertheless, it wasn't what my ears craved. Around that time I started checking other choices, and found the Beats brand to underperform. Bass was there but they bled into the mid frequencies, it was unacceptable. That's when I heard about Sony's XB line. To be sincere, I thought they were a scam, with more mid bass than real bass with bass leaking into the mids. In the beggining, all I could find were reviews and recommendations for the XB920, which really didn't catch my eye due to being over the ear rather than around the ear, and that's when my search took a 360° turn. A post here mentioned the XB700 as a discontinued but highly sought set of cans, and as impossible and crazy as it might have been (specially as the used price was sky rocket high, around 300ish), I found them in a web site, mildly scratched but at an incredible affordable tag (95 dlls), so without thinking twice, I grabbed them and went home ASAP.
 
Sound signature
 
V shape, mids are recessed, but due to the extreme bass boost. Highs are boosted too, but not as high as the bass.
 
Bass.
 
Well, what can I say? they do live up to the hype! They have a 10~12dB bass boost around 70hz that decays evenly until the mids start to kick in, making this headphones powerful on the bass department without mid leaks. Just clean heavenly bass. DO NOT EXPECT MID BASS, as they will disappoint, this is all about the deep bass that you can hear in a kick drum, for example. If you are looking for a pair of warm sounding headphones, these aren't quite what you are looking for, don't misunderstand, they aren't sterile sounding, with ice cold bass, but they aren't fuzzy warm either, they sit right in between.
 
Mids.
 
I didn't really expected a lot, but they do the job. Mediocre at best, mids are recessed but nothing too bad. Thinking about it, they might sound recessed because the bass is boosted to insane levels... anyway, the plus is, they are CLEAN. Let's be honest here, you don't buy this set with creamy mids in mind, it needed to have a trade off.
 
High.

Highs are ok, they do sound a bit harsh in the beinning, but they start to sound more musical after being burned in. By the way, these must be burn for about 200hrs, the sound improves in this area the most.
 
Comfort
 
They have these oversized cushions that make love to your ears, but they do get hot, nothing to worry about though. My only gripe is that the head padding isn't as generous as I'd like it to be, and because of the substantial weight, they may get long in the tooth after a few hours. The inside of the cushion will fit ALL ears, unless you are a hagrid sized guy, you should be fine.
 
Conclusion.
I wouldn't trade them for anything, they are perfect for me. In the end, it all depends on what you are looking for. But if you ever want the blistering experience of ultra textured deep bass, without mid bass humps and acceptable highs, give them a try, they are worth the hassle.

So yeah I've used these headphones for about 5 years now and I have permanent tinnitus. I would recommend getting them if you can control the urge to blast them for hours on end. They are the most comfortable over the ear headphones you will experience.  

Well... the reason you've been stumbled across these badboys is probably because you are a basshead, and these do delivery, they really do. Now, I wont go over the spectrum since these aren´t a pair of audiophile headphones and they were never meant to be. These cans job is to go down and dirty and deliver massive bass. It does not matter how much EQ bass you throw at these naughty cans, they´ll just keep pumping until you get a headache! They do delivery a pretty punchy bass going flat but the general sound quality isn't that great. The most noticeable is the recessed treble which strangely hurts my ears abit. I might just be sensitive, but that could be something you should keep in mind. But I still feel that the bass has enough grip to separate itself from the mids. 
 
The build quality is really great and the earpads, oh my god, the earpads, I've actually fallen to sleep wearing these things, that should say alot! It takes use of my favourite type of cable, Its one those flat tangle-free cables or whatever you like to call em. The cable is on the short side.
 
Easy to drive but they could generally get a boost in performance with a good amp. But I feel like these were designed for portable use due to the short cable, but it still doesn't really make sense since they are pretty huge and not really something you would wear in public. :/
 
Package comes with a very nice carrying bag and a 6.3mm adapter.
 
Conclusion: Now, these are discontinued, so if you find these around and you are a basshead, grab them! As I've said, these do a great job at what its suppose to do, genres like electronic and dubstep works very good with these cans, but you should also keep in mind that genres like classical music will sound absolutely dreadful.