[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

 
I find it strange that you buy a headphone for the bass and then EQ it to within an inch of its life, so that it sounds ..... more balanced.
 
Just sayin...

I don't do any drastic EQing for XB500 as it's close to the signature and the bass quantity is just appriopriate to me and I can make it even bassier if I want (boost the values) as long as I keep the similar shape of the EQ curve it still sounds reasonably balanced but got more forward/powerful sound to it. I'd EQ basshy and very bright sounding headphones a lot more probably. XB500 needed relatively small adjustment to sound perfect for my ears. You don't seem to grasp the idea every1 got their own preferred sound signature, what you think sounds optimal is probably not optimal for me. It's a question of how you want it to sound like rather than what sounds "good" because the definition of good is a bit different for different people. But yea I usually EQ all headphones a bit, I see it's a very small chance that everything sounded 100% best to my ears without any EQ, sometimes only small adjustments is required, sometimes more.

 

[powerlifter450]

For bass only I have so far not found anything better than the xb700s. I have some Beyer 770/80s and even amped, I don't feel that they beat the xb700 in pure bass, now mids and highs do suffer do to all that bass but, these phones are made for fun.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

For me it's different though, I like how XB500 sounds like even when bass is reduced to the bottom of the EQ'd, something I haven't so far being able to say about any other headphones I've tried. I think it's the very warm/forward/powerful/"thick"/"in-your-face" sound that is there even with bass reduced and yet having a rather big soundstage size. Other headphones sounds so dissengaging in comparision so if you really like laid-back sound then stay away from XB500. Ofc I still want the bass but it doesn't sound bad with bass put aside either. Maybe I got a special XB500 sample or something.  I can't believe how great it sounds compared to the other headphones really, sounds way too good for 43 EUR in my ears

 

[Omaatjehenk]

My XB500 still isn't in.. takes way too long. Good thing is, if I don't like the comfort of the XB500 I can always bring them back and pay a bit more to get the XB700's. But still I'm waiting for the XB500's now!

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I don't see how XB500 wouldn't be comfortable. I can't take mine off even when not listening to anything when sitting at the comp, it's so extremely comfortable. For most people here the weight doesn't seem to be too important but for me it's a very important factor for comfort, I thought even M50 felt quite heavy to wear for long periods (say 4hr+ sessions) and you could definitely feel something on your head, with XB500 you can't as it weighs only 185g compared to 295g for XB700. XB700 did feel lighter than say M50 though, probably due to the big pads.

 

[Omaatjehenk]

Quote:

I don't see how XB500 wouldn't be comfortable. I can't take mine off even when not listening to anything when sitting at the comp, it's so extremely comfortable. For most people here the weight doesn't seem to be too important but for me it's a very important factor for comfort, I thought even M50 felt quite heavy to wear for long periods (say 4hr+ sessions) and you could definitely feel something on your head, with XB500 you can't as it weighs only 185g compared to 295g for XB700. XB700 did feel lighter than say M50 though, probably due to the big pads.

I'll see it for myself I guess, I just hope they fit well. I heard that the XB700's are made of more rigid materials (aluminium and such), the XB500's don't form any cracks or stuff like that?
 
Thanks for answering all my questions btw, appreciate that!

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

They use same material on both, it's just colored black on XB500. Most of it is in fact aluminium (at least it feels like it), some plastic is present at the headband too but it's used as cover. I personally like the alu feel much more than the typical plastic made headphones around $50 mark. It's highly flexible why it also doesn't apply any forceful clamp at all, for me it's the perfect clamping since the pads are so soft the seal is still excellent and I can still headbang as hard as I'd like without it moving around. It's very hard to nitpick anything about comfort on XB500/700 really IMO. Cheapest XB500 in Finland goes for as low as 38 EUR (cheaper than all my other headphones) now which is weird that my country would sell something even cheaper than US cuz normally we pay about the same price figure in EUR as you pay in USD, I sometimes wonder how Sony can sell these so dirt cheap, can't be a lot of profit made per headphone sold.

 

[Ouspensky]

Both the xb500 and xb700 are excellent cans, and I have zero doubts that the xb1000 is going to be a hell of a lot of fun too

 

[Omaatjehenk]

And the XB500 is in! Love it, gonna try EQing it to my likes. I really don't know where to find a hardware EQ though.. Never needed it before, anyone that can help me?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

That's great to hear, what source/device are you using with it? Listening from the comp? For a 10-band EQ this kinda EQ shape works good (you might need slightly smaller or bigger adjustments and possibly bigger change for a non burnt in XB500 and for the EQ you use to notice the differences but the relevance of the different bands to each other should still be useful and it's important to lower the 125 - 250Hz slightly while boosting highs 4 - 16kHz. 
 

 
or going by the reducing technique which works better with most software EQs:
 

 

 

[Omaatjehenk]

I'm using my computer atm, going to check out my sony amp when my jack extension piece is in. I'm using the iTunes software EQ atm with these settings:
 

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

OK, looks good altough you can lower the preamp to the left in case you'd notice any kind of distortion or something but I doubt those settings would cause any such. Just adjust according to what sounds best in your ears, mine was just a suggestion.
 
XB500 might possibly only sound worse with an amp in my experience, needs balanced sounding amps, colored amps may just make it more muffled/smooth sounding which it already is without one but yea this headphone DOESN'T need an amp.

 

[Omaatjehenk]

Not noticing any distortion atm, I'm going to make an XB500 EQ for some different music genres I guess. Listening to Coldplay now and I love the way it sounds, just as nice as my sony stereo set, but now I don't upset my neighbours. Do you've got a more aggressive EQ setting suitable for Dance and such?

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

I think similar shape works best for everything but the more you boost the whole curve while keeping a similar shape to it the more aggressier/forward it'll get (at least on my EQ) which I personally enjoy without ruining the sound. So you could try that out and if you run into distortion try lowering the preamp slider to the left slightly. The 250Hz slider especially should remain slightly lower in comparision when starting to boost all values more though and won't need to follow the rest as strictly for clearer sound. I could show you my "basshead" setting in a little while for some laughs.

 

[Omaatjehenk]

I turned the preamp slider down a bit already, the 250Hz does make quite a big difference. Turning it up a lot makes the voices a lot warmer but more unreal, turning it down makes the voices a lot colder but more real. Especially when listening to Snow Patrol the difference is quite big.
 
Yeah, post your "basshead" setting! Haha, I'm in for a laugh =p