I missed a LOT!!!
To the question of an amp. I have a Sansa Fuse, I have a bunch of mid-fi headhone ports on some various production equipment, headphone pres... I have a $1200 Grace reference headphone amp.
Now, I have owned my xb700s for a little while now and have had them plugged into a bunch of stuff, from low to high end, lets put it that way. I can get 90% of the satisfaction I get from plugging them into the Grace (this can drive k1000s without a strain, so power is no NO concern
), which BTW, the positional issues DO get better when you allow them all the power thety could ever want, but more on that, than plugging them into my 0202 USB, or the cakewalk pro, really any interface or mixamp, because my Mackie has a fair amount of power, but it isn't meant for ultra fidelitity, as much as it is meant to be a reliable monitor port. The BASS is there, probably almost all of it, from lower power sources to the highest. The difference lies in the upper octaves. The Sansa will rock your ears off with a good bassline, but I don't quite get holographic imaging, but the sound I do get is probably the most VAST of any full sized headphone I have ever had the pleasure of placing around my ears. The average interface, and the E-MU 0202 is actually a fairly good DAC for the money, as well, a nice headphone port, it uses ALPS pots, and it drives most cans reasonably enough for me to make a great little compact headphone "system" for use at work, or since it is USB powered, you can use it anywhere really, but I will occasioanlly bring higher end stuff to the office, but always end up going back to the one box solution of the 0202. Many headphones begin to sound very nice on this headphone out, although used as a dac into a nice amp will take it to the next level, but straight out the 0202, many begin to show their pros, a phone with great headstaging will start to generate holographic instruments, cans that are more accurate when it comes to tone and timbre, they will offer up quite an accurate and detailed sound, and the XBs begin to become more than the loudest ful sized phone without an amp.
They bring to the table the lush midrange that you can just get lost in, and HF that is so well done, I seriosuly with more headphones would naturally roll off their HF as there is just no fatigue. Quite like an open sennheiser, the HF band is, indeed, very natural, it won't shread your ears, but it isn't a secret that if you own an sacd player (which, is a sony product that really is a disgrace... without opening the format to anyone, it is going to remain on the shelves next to laserdisc players, never embraced fully, but good tech held back by bonehead corporate decisions), or maybe a nice vinyl setup, that ultra expensive MC cart and tubed prono pre won't net you all those micro-details that other full sized headphones will give you. I *like* the sennheiser house sound because I like a headphone that is not fatguing. The xb700 has a high freq. band that is on the warm side, and not fatiging at all. I have said this before and I have seen someone else write it, that the XB700s will offer up midrange and HF similar to that of a good warm 60s/70's vintage reciever... Marantz, Yamaha, Sasui, Pioneer, and a set of fondly remembered full range speakers, Advents, Infinity, Boston, JBL, and so forth. I would go as far as saying if we are going to talk 60s/70's warmth, I would say they are more of a west coast sound, rather than east coast recordings. They are going to be fun, provide exactly what you buy them for, the deep, accurate, huge bass, that isn't flabby, muddy, or so overpowering that the rest of the audio spectrum is just lost... on most people's setups they are going to sound great. They are sensitive to the point of providing the volume that an IEM can give you at a similar setting, and unless you just have a terrible source, the midrange is going to sound better than double their price, easily. They hold their own against some far more expensive headphones, trust me. If you are happy with the HD650, and have the blood of a basshead flowing through your veins, these will put a smile on your face.
One thing that I have noticed, and I think is just not talked about because it's not being done very often, is that the XB700s DO benefit from a very serious audiophile amp. I am not going to say they are going to best the HD650, unless we are talking under the midbass range, but, on my Grace, the positioning is there. The one thing a bit lacking on the xb700s, that huge headstage that other headphones can give, begins to grow when you plug them into a *serious* amp. My guess is to make sure the bass does not get muddy, or flabby, the drivers are designed for excusion, air movement, then using skilled engineering, this design allows for the lush midrange, and to make sure to maintain a level of comfort that makes them unique among other "bassy" headphones, the HF roll off rather naturally. With enough power, the driver can increase the detail threshhold to a level where they actually do provide a suprisingly nice, positional sound, where instruments and sounds can be "beyond the head", and like much more expensive headphones, they can make you wonder if the sound you just heard was in the recording or in the room.
I just don't think audiophiles are buying these and plugging them into amps $1k or more and serious DACs (MHDT Tubed DAC w/ WE396A NOS tube, currently, into the Grace), GOOD transports, such as a quality interface into a monarchy audio DIP, so you are assured a *precise* clock, because as is occasionall said in Stereophile "it feels weird" to hook something inexpensive into something you have poured so much time and money into. My *cables* cost more than the XB700s! Not that much more because I am no audiophool, but still, it is a perfect example of what Sony has on their hands here and how unique it is. I know no other headphone that can go as low as the xb700 can, with such weight, accuracy, hell, even headphones that have a ton of bass that's flabby can't get this low. The midrange is a warm gift, and the HF band rolls with your system. I mean unlike many different headphones expensive and non, you get a consistant level of natural confort in the upper octaves, when going from lo-fi, to mid-fi, to hi0fi systems, what you get is just *more* of the good stuff as you raise the bar on the rest of the system. You don't suddenly have a horrible sounding can when you go from a multi-thousand dollar system to a nice portable player. *that* is what I love about them, and that is why they go everywhere my Sansa goes. I take my sansa to work, then I just use the e-mu 0202 and enjoy hardstyle, psy, and good russian minimal, indeed, dub, and dubstep as well, but russian minimal done up dub style like with "Rhythm&Sound", it's all good. "Yagya-the hythm of Snow", This album is just made for these phones.
I can rock out to Russian Circles on my Sansa and never hear an ear slicing note, making them a lot of fun on the streets, and then at home, if I am in the mood, out pops the Grados, or the Audio Technicas, the Beyers, nd in come the XB700s, and I know I am not going to be let down when I throw on a heavily layered and textured psytrance record, or something like Zoe Keating's solo cello work, all sound with the xb700s, way more than the phones cost on my reference system. The positioning that is missing on my DAP is there along side the bass that is has always been there, and it is just a punchy, with maybe a slight difference simply because a good kick or snare hit on a jass record is not all tail, you need a supporting midrange and HF band to get that attack just right. Hardstyle and EBM gives me far closer to the "square wave" on my Grace, but I don't feel like I am losing all that much when I am just sitting at work. The throbbing cavety of air is merely changed a bit in a non-destrucive way. So yes, on a reference system, they hold up and give sound worth far more than their price. They aren't Senn HD650s no, but they aren't supposed to be, were never meant to be, and when I want to get on the streets, why would i grab HD650s! They were designed for serious listening in a controlled environment, almost the diametric opposite of the xb700s. I would not sell my XB700s, and I have no plans to change my desire to continue to use Beyer, Senn, and Grados on my hifi system. What I want is A company known for offerig up holographic presentation to put work into taking the bottom end out as flat as they try get the HF band. To me, on most systems, these ultra expensive headphones end up being fatiguing, but not so with the xb700s, you may get a set of sweaty ears, but the warm and lush upper end is just as emportant as that endless bottom end.
Beyer DT880s are phones that give me a similar level of enjoyment, but you need some good equipment to get there, even the e-mu 0202 doesn't have what it takes to bring out their best. I think the only high end headphone that can claim to give the xb700s a run for bottom end thrust would be the better Denon sets, even then, with the d2000, you certainly, have to dampen things to tighten it up, but on a tubed system, when I run the XBs straight off the tubed output of a tubed preamp, using an adapter, low listenening levels sound huge, deep, full, and fun. There is very little on the XB700s to mod because they have been well engineered to cut resonant surfaces down to a minimum, using the ear pads as part of the structure, this is why I try to solve the issue with the pads to keep them sticking out like fresh new pads, they are screwed down and held by a retention ring, they are meant to stay on, period. You don't just slide them off like with almost every other can. The aluminum brushed headband is minimal and since the phones are dual entry, the band is light, but it isn't like bose and ready to snap if you breathe too hard. The comparison I made to the v700DJ phones is apt, but with one instance, this band is going to last a long time, and it won't crack up and break. The v700 is a DJ favorite because it isn't that much and can be had at best buy, so it is available everywhere, but it falls apart after not much use. The AT m50s are a better DJ headphone, but if you need something in a punch, you can't just hit up a super wallmart and walk out with phones that will work well when you are ready for a set. The v500s are similar, just a smaller v700, not as much impact, but they offer a similar auditory response, enough to make them a more "mobile v700", and hense it is no suprise that the XB500 is being tested with sufficient results here in the thread, and whle I feel the xb700s are the mobile masters, I would be curious to hear them side by side with the xb500s when running straight off my DAP and e-mu 0202. Perhaps, it takes a bit less effort to rid that "in the head" feeling. Again, these are very minor things, because a lossless track can still produce a holographic set of sound on a portable with the 700s, and the warm nice midrange isn't going to suddenly breakup when on a smaller portable, it's just that in the order of things that back off as you ratched down the power reserve, the bass the 700s are known for is the very last thing to go, generally, and with most phones, thinning is from both top and bottom towards the middle, where here it is top down, but without replacing lost extension with fatiguing crap.
I don't think the pads are a "problem" i just prefer them when they are holding the drivers off my ears as they did when I bought them, and perhaps the 500's pads, being slightly smaller, is more resistant to this. The 700's pads have the circumferance of a CD. They are wide enough so that they naturally will have to conform to the radious of your skull to keep a seal. My ears are not huge, so they may still fit within the inner space of the 500s, which may not need to undergo such a change of shape to maintain their seal. If the v500DJ analogy is, indeed, as true as it seems, then the 500s aren't ging to be bad, just a bit more portable and the loss of what would be lost going from a 50m driver to a 40mm driver, but still keeping a very imilar sound signature. Sennheisers are like this, the sound signature of a stock hd555 is not all that different than that of the hd650, but the 650 is just "better" all around, but not apples and oranges. If this was not true, you could not mod the hell out of the 555s and get something very close to an HD600, and, in fact, the 595 probably could have easily engineered to sound 99% to that of the HD600, but then why pay extra for an HD600, or to use an older example, the HD580 wasn't going to be outdone by the 555! New flagship meant the 595 could hit the market. I am not one to consider single entry something that makes a significant difference as long as it is well engineered. Sennheiser, they have had a history of keeping single entry phones on the 2nd tier.
Smaller is not always worse, or better. Just looking at the graph, the XB500s are obviously designed around the smaller driver, not just a proportional change in size with the 50mm to 40mm driver change.
for my Drum and Bass tastes and newly emerging Dubstep interest
