[Bilavideo]

 

personally, I'm against using bass boost.
 
I feel as if it changes the characteristics of its sound signature and  makes the headphone some-what less unique. I strongly believe that some-what of the bass quality is lost as well. If you want a bassy headphone, find one that meets your criteria or return it if you're not satisfied, don't just start making random bass changes out of the clear blue sky[ thinking you're gonna get the most out of it].  

I'm not trying to pick at you.  I just like your quote.
 
I'm a big fan of high-quality bass boost.  The challenge, with bass boost, is the same challenge in building a decent crossover.  In addition to the quality of the components, the frequency cutoff is important.  If it's set too high, as is the case with many cheaper bass boosts, you end up boosting the mids, which often don't need any boost.  The result is a presentation that's too warm and often too muddy.  The soundstage collapses.  It's like being in someone's house where they've got the heat up too high and all you want to do is open a window or get out.  The bass most in need of a boost is the lower bass, and the amount of boost needed is somewhat modest.  Most of us don't listen to music for the bass, per se.  We listen for the overall presentation, but we crave the bass for the added presence it provides.  As most of the cheap speakers we encounter in life are bass-challenged, people crave the bass coloration as a gap filler between live music, which isn't bassy but full in its bass compared to the table radios and elevator speakers we encounter on a daily basis.
 
As for distortion, the level of distortion in a subwoofer is unusually high but it's much less noticeable because our ears are much more sensitive to the midrange.  The closer one gets to the tonal center, the more critical we become, which is another reason to limit the range of the bass boost.
 
For really terrific bass, I love my HD800s, which have a very moderate bass hump but one that drives extremely low.  The HD800 is a relatively cold can.  It doesn't try to accentuate either the bass or the treble, with only one very minor treble spike above flat.  It's the best advocate I've ever found for the glories of a neutral and balanced response.  Certain types of music, or certain tracks, are recorded cold; the HD800 doesn't try to fix that.  These tracks come off overly cold on the HD800.  When I crank the bass boost on my M^3, I don't need much to enhance the presentation.  If I don't overdo it, neither the mids nor the treble are affected, at least not to an extent that's noticeable.  If I want to turn my HD800s into killer bass monsters, I can crank the bass boost to that level and get everything I could ever want.

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

I don't like the Sony XB700.  In side-by-side demos with the Dres, the Dres win hands down.  The Dres have better thump - and are cleaner, relative to the Sony XB700, which looks like it'll be the filet mignon of bassy headphones, but it's not.  It's pure junk.  And if the Dres can whip it's b@ss, it's not worth buying.  For high-quality bass-loving madness, it's beyerdynamic or Denon.  The DT770 is a legend - and it doesn't need batteries.  But don't rule out the Denons, either.

"thump" is higher up in the bass spectrum than "grumble" so it would really depend what amping, and what kind of music you were playing. If you got a high quality dubstep track with some palpable 20hz bassline going, you are in business to judge a phone only on its bass.
 
For pure bass alone they are quite good. Not the best overall headphone that is for sure. They can also be had for like 70 bucks, so they are much cheaper than all the other products mentioned, and like I said the extra cash is up to you. If you go for the denons be sure you get a decent amp though.