Introduction
The MDR XB950AP/H is one of Sony's modern Extra Bass series portables. I was initially interested in it because, with a $120 MSRP and a typical street price between $90 and $100, it seemed to be a logical competitor to one of my favourite portables, the Creative Aurvana Live! 2. Lo and behold, a refurbished model popped up on Newegg for $25, and I decided it was worth it to hear what the XB950AP/H had to offer.
Build quality
This is an area where I'd rate the XB950AP/H quite well. It's very solidly put together, with a fair amount of metal and solid, high-quality plastic. Compared to the other $100ish portables I've tried, it's definitely a cut above in terms of apparent durability, and even on my refurbished unit the fit and finish seems quite excellent. The headphone seems well prepared to be tossed into a gym bag or backpack and take a beating, which immediately puts it ahead of the rather flimsy CAL! 2. The padding is a bit mixed, with the earpads being deep and soft, but the headband barely padded at all, but it's certainly not below par in padding. The cable is another sticking point, being a flat ribbon design which seems quite prone to tangling in itself. The in-line one-button control and 90-degree jack are nice touches, however.
Comfort
This was the first major misstep. It's not easy to make a comfortable supra-aural, and unfortunately Sony didn't quite hit the mark on this one. While the earpads are quite deep and well-padded, they're also quite small, which leaves ones' ears squeezed in and claustrophobic. The thin padding on the headband isn't really sufficient for the weight of the unit, either, and it doesn't do much to distribute force, leading to a sore spot on the top of my head when I wear it for more than a few minutes. The clamp is the real comfort killer, however, as the XB950AP/H hugs extremely hard to the head. These actually gave me a mild headache after less than an hour on my head.
Aesthetics
Looks certainly aren't everything for a headphone, but they are an area where the XB950AP/H does well. While quite a few of the XB series sport garish colour combinations, the XB950AP/H is a mixture of gunmetal and matte grey, and has a fairly refined sensibility. It's not eye-catching, which is, in my opinion, for the best. It's not a fashion statement, and it won't clash with anything one wants to pair it with, but the smooth lines, fairly low-profile fit, and well-matched colours leave it pretty easy on the eyes.
Sound
This, unfortunately, is where the XB950AP/H really fell flat for me. I'd heard a lot of complaints about the modern XBs, and unfortunately they seem to be correct, judging by the XB950AP/H. The bass utterly dominates the sound of this headphone, leaking into the mids, covering up detail, and resulting in a veiled sound punctuated with thumping bass. I'm not opposed to a bass boost, and, indeed, the standard to which I'm comparing these is the CAL! 2, which has been lambasted for excessive bass itself. Side-by-side there's just no comparison, however: the CAL! 2 is a fun headphone with a lot of bass, but it can restrain itself when it needs to. Electronic music is given its throbbing basslines, but acoustic and rock still keep a fairly accurate timbre. Not so with the XB950AP/H, where the bass boost distorts any music one cares to play through it. In many songs the bass dominates the lead guitar, while male vocals are given an unnatural and veiled sound by the boosted low frequencies, and double bass booms comically. Even in the bass-centric EDM that would seem to be the forte of this sort of sound signature, I can't say that the XB950AP/H does well. The bass is so massively boosted that one must either leave the rest of the frequency spectrum hushed or deal with truly skull-rattling bass impact. Indeed, the combination of the thudding bass and strong clamp on this headphone actually rendered me dizzy and nauseous on my first protracted listening session.
Conclusion
I'd really like to like this headphone, because it does some things quite well: it's well-built, I like the styling, and if the pads were just a little wider and the clamp a goodly bit lighter, I'm sure it would be very comfortable. Sadly, I can't really recommend this to anyone looking for anything other than comically overdone bass. This headphone doesn't even stand up to the $50-70 CAL! 1/Denon D1001 in terms of fidelity, much less some of the competition at its current price.
The MDR XB950AP/H is one of Sony's modern Extra Bass series portables. I was initially interested in it because, with a $120 MSRP and a typical street price between $90 and $100, it seemed to be a logical competitor to one of my favourite portables, the Creative Aurvana Live! 2. Lo and behold, a refurbished model popped up on Newegg for $25, and I decided it was worth it to hear what the XB950AP/H had to offer.
Build quality
This is an area where I'd rate the XB950AP/H quite well. It's very solidly put together, with a fair amount of metal and solid, high-quality plastic. Compared to the other $100ish portables I've tried, it's definitely a cut above in terms of apparent durability, and even on my refurbished unit the fit and finish seems quite excellent. The headphone seems well prepared to be tossed into a gym bag or backpack and take a beating, which immediately puts it ahead of the rather flimsy CAL! 2. The padding is a bit mixed, with the earpads being deep and soft, but the headband barely padded at all, but it's certainly not below par in padding. The cable is another sticking point, being a flat ribbon design which seems quite prone to tangling in itself. The in-line one-button control and 90-degree jack are nice touches, however.
Comfort
This was the first major misstep. It's not easy to make a comfortable supra-aural, and unfortunately Sony didn't quite hit the mark on this one. While the earpads are quite deep and well-padded, they're also quite small, which leaves ones' ears squeezed in and claustrophobic. The thin padding on the headband isn't really sufficient for the weight of the unit, either, and it doesn't do much to distribute force, leading to a sore spot on the top of my head when I wear it for more than a few minutes. The clamp is the real comfort killer, however, as the XB950AP/H hugs extremely hard to the head. These actually gave me a mild headache after less than an hour on my head.
Aesthetics
Looks certainly aren't everything for a headphone, but they are an area where the XB950AP/H does well. While quite a few of the XB series sport garish colour combinations, the XB950AP/H is a mixture of gunmetal and matte grey, and has a fairly refined sensibility. It's not eye-catching, which is, in my opinion, for the best. It's not a fashion statement, and it won't clash with anything one wants to pair it with, but the smooth lines, fairly low-profile fit, and well-matched colours leave it pretty easy on the eyes.
Sound
This, unfortunately, is where the XB950AP/H really fell flat for me. I'd heard a lot of complaints about the modern XBs, and unfortunately they seem to be correct, judging by the XB950AP/H. The bass utterly dominates the sound of this headphone, leaking into the mids, covering up detail, and resulting in a veiled sound punctuated with thumping bass. I'm not opposed to a bass boost, and, indeed, the standard to which I'm comparing these is the CAL! 2, which has been lambasted for excessive bass itself. Side-by-side there's just no comparison, however: the CAL! 2 is a fun headphone with a lot of bass, but it can restrain itself when it needs to. Electronic music is given its throbbing basslines, but acoustic and rock still keep a fairly accurate timbre. Not so with the XB950AP/H, where the bass boost distorts any music one cares to play through it. In many songs the bass dominates the lead guitar, while male vocals are given an unnatural and veiled sound by the boosted low frequencies, and double bass booms comically. Even in the bass-centric EDM that would seem to be the forte of this sort of sound signature, I can't say that the XB950AP/H does well. The bass is so massively boosted that one must either leave the rest of the frequency spectrum hushed or deal with truly skull-rattling bass impact. Indeed, the combination of the thudding bass and strong clamp on this headphone actually rendered me dizzy and nauseous on my first protracted listening session.
Conclusion
I'd really like to like this headphone, because it does some things quite well: it's well-built, I like the styling, and if the pads were just a little wider and the clamp a goodly bit lighter, I'm sure it would be very comfortable. Sadly, I can't really recommend this to anyone looking for anything other than comically overdone bass. This headphone doesn't even stand up to the $50-70 CAL! 1/Denon D1001 in terms of fidelity, much less some of the competition at its current price.
