[Smuul]

Bought the XB500's today. Very nice quality, but I have Ubuntu on my PC, can't find any equalizer . Now I have 2 other problems - one is the bad source, which is my Z-5500. But the other problem is that I can hear how bad quality is my mp3 files -.- . Also wanted to ask, is there any burning in time too and if there is, then is there better quality after burning in?

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Well, I just got these today. In short, they are really quite amazing!
 
The build is much better than the XB500. They feel much more solid, and the headband adjustment is of better quality. These are just really impressive to hold in your hand, something I thought Sony would skimp out on especially for a headphone like this. But these feel very solid, and are very well constructed. The earpads are awesomely huge, and now can fully enclose my ear, resulting in much better comfort. I just cannot believe how soft these are... They are a joy to hold and wear.
 
Sound wise, they sound like a cleaned up and refined XB500. I can actually hear the midrange now, and the bass is now in perfect territory. It kinda reminds me of the Pro 900, because it doesn't ruin the rest of the sound with overbearance like the XB500 does, or other bass oriented headphones. In fact, these don't have THAT much bass, it actually works quite well with the rest of the spectrum. Bass goes a bit deeper as well, while not engulfing the mids like the XB500 did. Much better all arounders IMO. But obviously, there will be many fans of the XB500, that prefer it's more bassy presentation. But the XB700 to me is superior to the XB500, and it will definitely be a keeper.
 
But man, these are seriously one of the best headphones I've had. I'll take them head to head against my HD598 for kicks.

Pretty much mirrored everything I thought of the XB700. They to me are like a bassier, less refined D7000, for like 1/7th the price!

XB700 vs XB500

There is absolutely no doubt about it for me. The XB700 smokes it in every possible way except mid bass. All that mid bass did for me was vomit all over the detail. I couldn't wait to get rid of my XB500. Fun for a week or two, but seriously, you'd have to EQ to the extreme to make them sound halfway presentable, and after all the EQ, it all sounded so artficial anyways... the XB500 is one of the worst cans I ever owned, and I like my bass!

For bassheads that wanna get a taste of audiophile quality bassy headphones, the XB700 doesn't disappoint. They respond well to amping, and subtractive EQ makes them some serious headphones.

If the pads didn't irritate my ears as much as they did, I'd still have the XB700, no doubt. I put them right behind the D7000 and DT990 for my personal tastes. The XB700 is also easier to recommend over the DT990 which has the glaring flaw of being too damn sharp in treble for lots of people.

 

[Katun]

Quote:

Pretty much mirrored everything I thought of the XB700. They to me are like a bassier, less refined D7000, for like 1/7th the price!

XB700 vs XB500

There is absolutely no doubt about it for me. The XB700 smokes it in every possible way except mid bass. All that mid bass did for me was vomit all over the detail. I couldn't wait to get rid of my XB500. Fun for a week or two, but seriously, you'd have to EQ to the extreme to make them sound halfway presentable, and after all the EQ, it all sounded so artficial anyways... the XB500 is one of the worst cans I ever owned, and I like my bass!

For bassheads that wanna get a taste of audiophile quality bassy headphones, the XB700 doesn't disappoint. They respond well to amping, and subtractive EQ makes them some serious headphones.

If the pads didn't irritate my ears as much as they did, I'd still have the XB700, no doubt. I put them right behind the D7000 and DT990 for my personal tastes. The XB700 is also easier to recommend over the DT990 which has the glaring flaw of being too damn sharp in treble for lots of people.

 
Yeah, I'll agree. The XB500 was extremely veiled by the mid bass, which ruined the whole sound. After a severely twisted EQ'ing, it sounds presentable, yet artificial.
 
XB700 is just fantastic though. I've been playing with the EQ a bit, and have found I actually just prefer it flat. And yes, the DT990's treble is simply off the charts.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

If it sounds "artificial" you're not using a good enough quality EQ.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Sorry but using all forms of EQ on different DAPs and software don't help the XB500 from sounding anywhere near what I feel is even average. They just are awful to me. Not hating or anything. Just, the XB700 is on a whole other level for me. The XB500 is all midbass, no refinement. Mud, mud, and more mud.

You can only try so hard polishing a turd into something of value. Unfortunately, the reward doesn't justify the effort for me. I just prefer something that sounds good right out the box. Amping is as far as I go now to further improve a headphone.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Sounds like we're listening to two different headhpones. I'm sure on my setup you'd think otherwise. UnEQ'd it's a bit muddy sounding due to the mid/upper bass but after EQing it's great. I don't think you've ever had experienced with good quality EQs either cuz otherwise your opinion about EQing would be highly different, why pay $100 extra for something that in some cases is more of an EQ tweak, if you use a high quality EQ the frequencies aren't colored/distorted etc from the original ones which for example iTunes EQ does, if I use the 10-band EQ on kX Audio drivers it sounds a whole lot different and stays very true to the original signal just strenghtens or lowers it.
 
For me XB500 after EQing is worth $200 in sound quality, I haven't obviously haven't tried many expensier headphones yet but it stands up well against XB700, D1100 (still trying to get it sold), ATH-M50 and DT770 Pro which I've all sold. The XB500 isn't optimally balanced for sure but after EQing for $50 the sound quality itself isn't bad. I don't even feel any urge to try something else currently even if I've had it for maybe 9~10 months or so now but part of the reason is also that there's difficult to find expensier headphones with sound signatures to my liking (strong/even bass presence in whole bassrange, very forward and warm/slightly dark sounding and quite forward mids)

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Thing is, lots of us don't have 'quality' EQ to take with us everywhere, with every device we plug our headphones to. With every single device I have used with the XB500, all the varying EQs can only help the XB500 so much. Certainly not enough to put it anywhere near the range of $200 headphones from my experience.

The XB500 is inherently all bass, and nothing else. No detail anywhere in their range, unless you EQ the hell out of them, as I stated before. They are so muddy, it reminds me of budget headphones. Just boominess everywhere. There are surely better headphones in the price range that start off better and don't need such a huge signature change, for my preference.

 

[Holdmyown83]

so i have the xb500 and got the xb1000 today and there is a very big diffrence..as one person stated  about the hearing the bad quality of files wit the 500 that is very tru i thought the same thing the other day while using them..as i listen to the xb1000  everything is MUCH cleaner and kinda like laid back  while the xb500 were just hard hitting and just all up in ya face..lol.. i wish i could tried the xb700 but no where in atlanta had them.. and i dont like ordering stuff online.

 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Yea the biggest difference between XB500 and XB1000 should be that XB500 is xtremely forwarding sounding like Grados but without the treble while XB1000 is on the laid-back side, XB700 is somewhere in the middle, I'd say just gently forward sounding or roughly in-between. It's good that they provide very different signatures so that people can pick whatever they prefer, I'd hope to yet see another similar headphone such as XB1000 but forward sounding as that's my preferred sound signature, there's already too many highend headphones around with laid-back sound signature. I don't know but laid-back sound doesn't bring any feeling or make me engage with the music, it's just "nice" and often a bit more detailed or clearer sounding with bigger soundstage but that's about it (doesn't have to be like it but most of the time it's the case). Music is all about bringing feeling to me so can't fully enjoy laid-back sound no matter how clear/detailed it may be, I just don't like the "distance" to what I'm hearing like I'd be several meters away, I prefer the feeling of being "on stage" and music surrounding me.

 

[Holdmyown83]

I wanna get that xb1000 sound in a over ear head phone that i can deal wit in public

 

[legcramp]

Quote:

Thing is, lots of us don't have 'quality' EQ to take with us everywhere, with every device we plug our headphones to. With every single device I have used with the XB500, all the varying EQs can only help the XB500 so much. Certainly not enough to put it anywhere near the range of $200 headphones from my experience.

The XB500 is inherently all bass, and nothing else. No detail anywhere in their range, unless you EQ the hell out of them, as I stated before. They are so muddy, it reminds me of budget headphones. Just boominess everywhere. There are surely better headphones in the price range that start off better and don't need such a huge signature change, for my preference.

I definitely agree with this, the XB500 are bassy fun but I got tired of it after a while since everything else but the bass is underwhelming even after some serious EQing on several of my sources. My KSC75 perform better at everything but bass quantity and extension.
 
There is just so much detail missing at the top-end that is annoying me when A/Bing them.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Well this hardware DSP EQ setting (this EQ in particular is very sensitive to adjustments so it doesn't require big changes, on iTunes I'd need to raise the sliders maybe around mid-level between 0 and +12 to get similar sense of change but won't sound nearly as good though, maybe somewhat "artificial" as you explained) makes it very balanced and nicely sounding for me at least and I don't feel like missing anything, the whole range plays nicely with nice synergy and treble-wise it's "near" sibilance level which is whereabouts I usually EQ my headphones so I usually never hear any or at least 90% of cases, if anything the vocals usually takes the most space but that's ok with me cuz I'm a midforward guy and XB500 is the very bassy headphone with the best forward sounding vocals for me so far. Maybe the 1000hrs+ I've used it by now also helps but seems like there's perfect synergy between the Audigy 2 ZS sound card using the 3rd party drivers kX Audio drivers too after comparing with different sources. I know what's good quality when I hear it but I think it may be my uncommon soundcard/driver/EQ setup along with burn-in that makes the XB500 shine the way I think it does. I can lower the bass sliders to the bottom of the EQ and I still enjoy the sound of it, it's nice to have the bass there when you're asking for it though. Wish I was able to demo it, you'd be suprised how great sound you could get out of a tweaked 15~$20 worth soundcard (there's ofc more to it than simply the great EQ such as larger soundstage feel from added 3D positional sound processing and high quality reverb etc) and a $50 headphone without any amp.
 

 
 

 

[Smuul]

Which sound cards can you recommend for XB500's if there is a limit of about 250$? Can't find any Audigy 2 ZS card which RPGWiZaRD suggested .

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

 
Quote:

Which sound cards can you recommend for XB500's if there is a limit of about 250$? Can't find any Audigy 2 ZS card which RPGWiZaRD suggested .

I might concider sending you the surplus Audigy 1 card if you want for 15 EUR incl shipping if you can't find any, shipping abroad from Finland costs around that much probably so wouldn't go much lower. For such price it's worth it IMO even if Audigy 1 hardly is using any great components on the card by today's standards, the configurability of kX Audio drivers would still be awesome for those headphones. There was a time I actually even thought I preferred Audigy 1 over Audigy 2 ZS with the kX Audio drivers which was when I was an even bigger basshead than I'm today, I still like bass but I don't want it to affect mids and highs too much, the Audigy 1 cards seems to have even slightly bigger/fullier bassresponse at the expense of mids quality a bit (I think mids sounds more forward on Audigy 2 ZS) and when I was a very spoilt basshead in the past I actually liked that bass of Audigy 1 very much.
 
Doesn't have to be Audigy 2 ZS cards in particular IMO and there's many other Audigy or even Audigy 4 cards around too if you can find other cards as it's the drivers that mostly work like magic with these headphones and makes a bigger change over the standard Creative drivers than comparing Audigy 1 vs Audigy 2 ZS differences.
 

 

[Smuul]

But if I'd buy Xonar Essence STX or something like that, would it make a big difference from Audigy 1 or some other oldies? I'm also looking sound card which has S/PDIF for Z-5500 .
 
Found a bit weird things with XB500 too ;D, such as I realized that my phone, SE W960i is so much better source than my int. sound card or Z-5500. The bass amount with the phone is about 3 times more than with my other sources. Also is with the overall sound quality, I was surprised how loud they play with the phone too o.O, Listening to them for half hour and my ears are silent already . Can't get bass out of XB500's with my computer, starts very soon to distort. I don't know is it because of the source, or is it the max it can do... So I thought maybe a good sound card would help me out.
 
I was a little bit dissappointed when I had listened to them for a while. I asked my old Panasonics (Some limited edition headphones which I got for €30) for one day back from my friend and I found the Panasonic had more bass still :/. Panasonic didn't play as loud as XB500's can, but the bass is the main thing for me. I don't remember the series or the other name of Panasonics, gave them back already, but they were the best money and quality ratio headphones I owned. Maybe some other time will find the name of it.