[EYEdROP]

I have a friend that has 4 15 inch subwoofers with a 2000 watt RMS amp in his van. He is into Max SPL competitions with bass that exceeds 125db. He wants a pair of headphones, amp, an equalizer to get max bass while sitting at home. He lives in a community with noise laws so a home stereo is not an option. 
 
I know there is the XB500 and DT770 Pro but I actually think these wont satisfy him. His van is just stupid. 
 
As far as EQ, he needs one that can take heavy boosting with little distortion.  
 
Is it even possible to hit over 130db of bass on a headphone without distortion?

 

[Borgbox]

Have you told him he's going to go deaf if he tries to get that spl out of headphones? I would say the xb700s or maybe even xb1000?

 

[EYEdROP]

He is practically already deaf. Sound quality has no meaning to him.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Well XB500 with bass boost puts out crazy amount of bass, ofc it won't be nowhere near 4x15" subs but it's as good as headphones can get when it comes to bass quantity. All headphones can be made bassy with no distortion with a great EQ but XB500 responds also very well to EQing (better than it's big brother XB700 from my experience). I'd say go for XB500 + Headstage Arrow 12HE that allows up to 9dB bass boost (then we're already talking about like in avg 25~30dB / 9-10 times stronger bass output compared to a more neutral headphone)  or skip the amp and simply try to find an old Audigy 2 ZS soundcard 2nd hand for $15~20 because the 10-band EQ found in kX Audio 3rd party drivers would allow at least +20 boost (and more but I only tested that) without distorting even. Excessive YES but for a guy that has listened to 4x15" subs... probably not. 
 
XB500 is quite a bit bassier than both XB700 and DT770 Pro 80 ohm but I'd think XB700 would also do work great out of a Headstage Arrow 12HE if you just want maximum deep bass especially but I still think it would have less impact compared to XB500 at same setting.

 

[cyberidd]

For this application the DT770 pro 80 would not be a very good choice.  While they are reasonably bassy, most of that bass comes in the mid-bass, not the sub-bass he would be looking for.  I kind of doubt you're going to be able to find anything that really fits what he would be looking for, but I wish you luck in your search!

 

[ericj]

Quote:

He is practically already deaf. Sound quality has no meaning to him.

yeah, my presumption is that these guys are deaf under 120hz and thus need all the bass they can get.

 

[winma]

I'd take into consideration what RPG wizard said. The headstage arrow is for bassheads. 

 

[ZeNmAc]

Unfortunately bass won't sound as good with headphones.  That's the problem, even if you can find headphones with a ton of bass, bass is felt as well as heard so it's not going to be as good as subs.
 
Your best bet would be to choose whatever headphones everyone here recommends and then duct tape one of these to his chest lol.  http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=299-028&source=googleps

 

[zeroibis]

Yea if it is sub woofer level bass he wants to hear you are not going to as you do not hear below the 25hz. What you instead get is the "feel" produced by sub 25hz sounds. To create this you need larger speakers that can move enough air to create this feeling. *Note that sounds above 25hz also produce the shock waves that are part of the feeling you get I am just stating that <25hz is only interpreted physically. As someone with dual 15" RF P3's at 0ohm on a ported custom box with internal tiling I know exactly what he is likely thinking about. It is only possible to do this by moving a lot of air it is a function of SPL and no headphone can or should reproduce that.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

XB500 can produce this feeling, ofc only for my head/ears instead of my whole body which subs can. With a bit bass boost XB500 can move so much air it can give an ear tickling effect when you can feel the air wants to escape between the ear and the pads. This is the only headphone that's been able to do it so far for me, maybe XB700 was able to as well but required a far bigger bass boost in that case. There's a certain bassdrop in a song that goes down from like 100Hz down to 0Hz and I can still feel the bass like 1½ secs after I stop hearing it at mediocre volume even (I don't like blasting the volume whit bassy headphones).
 
Oh and at least I can hear down to 18Hz or so, possibly 16~17Hz.

 

[imadome]

Tell your friend to save his $$$ because no headphone + amp will ever come close to his ICE set up. He might as well save the $$$$ he would spend getting half way there and spend it on remodeling his house so he can listen to his ICE in his house.
 

 

[soundaddicted]

I found the perfect headphone for your friend, i don't remember the model.