Merdril
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2009
- Posts
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- 10
I felt like writing a second impression, as I've used this headphone for around 2 years, and my Head-Fi experience has made me more mellow (I can't believe the things I wrote to other Head-Fi members in my impression of the SRH-440; it makes me want to curl up in a corner and die) and more knowledgeable. Thus, I write this impression wholly as an evaluation of the XB700 and my 2 years of dedicated listening experience. This impression will compare the Sony MDR-XB700 with the Sony MDR-XB700 in my mind, that is to say, what I hear, and what I wish I could hear. So then, let me begin.
Disclaimers and Standards: All songs referenced here are in FLAC or APE format with verification in the form of results of the original rip. Songs in a lossy format will be identified, although really, the difference in quality is insignificant (although I will explain where there is a significant difference, and why I went to lengths to find lossless versions of my songs) and it depends more on the quality of the original rip. My line-out at time of writing this review is the Creative X-Fi Surround 5.1 with the FiiO E5 (BassBoost toggled off) amp, although most of opinions are based on my experience with using the Sony CMT-FX300i as an amp. Although this goes without saying, what I write here is my opinion, and that of a basshead, so take from it what you will. As proof of my bias, take a look at what my foobar2000 DSPs do to a 0-20 kHz sweep:
The top wave form from Audacity is what the original looks like with DSPs applied, while the bottom is the original. My DSP chain is: Equalizer -> Channel Mixer (1.30 stereoimage width) -> 10% Noise Sharpen -> Resample to 96 kHz -> 5% Noise Sharpen -> 5 nodal, 4096 sample, -10 dB wave form convolution -> 4 nodal, 4096 sample, -10 dB wave form convolution -> Opti-minphase convolution -> DFX for foobar2000 (not included as it distorts when converting a file, but it's effect is audibly minimal and would not change the processed file greatly) -> 0.3 output (via Matrix Mixer). The resulting file is mostly linear with a significant dB boost around 1 Hz extending to 30 Hz with an interesting rolloff. All this means is that I like the natural frequency response of the XB700 and I feel that it could use more infrasonic sound.
What I Want from Headphones: This section seems like it should come with all impressions, as it pretty much represents the bias of an individual. What I want from headphones is to hear all frequencies of sound equally represented. Now, that may sound like an objective statement, but it is horribly biased. Considering that different frequencies of sound require different dB levels for humans to perceive that they have the same loudness. Considering that no two humans are the same, this means that what I consider to be natural will be wholly different than what another individual may believe. Then, there is also that little tidbit where I mentioned that I'm a basshead; I say that simply because my goal coincides with what is considered a basshead; I don't like bass to the extent that it overpowers music (especially the ambiance and the openness of music), but the headphones that I believe will allow me to achieve my goal are considered cans for bassheads; therefore, I am. There's also the fact that "Sekai Turbine 2" by Susumu Hirasawa is one of my most listened to songs, but that's a different justification
.
Comfort and Build Quality: Well, after 2 years, nothing is going to be like-factory new, but the XB700 does a good job of trying to hold on. The part of the headband that actually sits on my head, apart from the fine sheen of grease that seems to have become part of the fabric, is pretty much like factory. There aren't any scratches on it, nor has the paint on the back of driver worn off. In fact, other than the face that the cloth like material on the top and sides of the headband are a bit tattered and that the ear cushions have slightly, ever so slightly, conformed to the shape of my head, it looks pretty much like factory.
Sonic Satisfaction and Evaluation:
Have you ever heard the sound of a 5-10 Hz bass line? Well, I don't know the answer to that. For those of you who haven't, know that it is a unique sound; however, most songs don't have a 5-10 Hz bass line because you would need mad SPL before you could hear it (and most of the time it's out of place, like in "Reunion," composed by Yoko Kanno and performed by Donna Cumberbatch). Then there's a technical issue; do you know how many things produce 5-10 Hz signals? Let's list them: EMI, air movement, wire interference during recording, artifacts of mixing, the moving of chairs, the plucking of strings; well, everything other than EMI, wire interference, and mixing artifacts boils down to the movement of air. "How so," you ask? Well, depending on the type of microphone, air that passes over the grooves of the microphone mesh will experience varying levels of turbulence, and turbulence being the chaotic movement of air seems to have the effect of inducing these low frequencies. Depending on the processing work during post-recording, these frequencies will either remain in the song, where they ruin the enjoyment of people like me, or they will be removed or significantly reduced if the audio engineers are competent
, much to my appreciation. Of course, there are cases where these frequencies are intentional, but it is important to remove those that are noise and keep those that are signal. But enough of my digression, how do I feel about the cans?
To be brutally honest, these cans aren't punchy, and depending on my mood, I would like them to be punchy (the inverse mood is when I don't really care, but I recall that the MDR-XD200 were too punchy for my taste). However, with proper equalization, they are reminiscent of the Shure SRH-440 (but not similar, by any means). They do have very good bass notes distinction, that is to say I can tell the difference between different bass guitar notes as well as drum triplets in "Through the Fire and the Flames," by DragonForce (it was a 192 kbps MP3). I can also distinguish between different notes of the bass in "Sekai Turbine 2," (ST2) which if you've never heard the song, is full of infrasonic sound. In fact, there is so much infrasonic sound in Susumu Hirasawa's song (who falls into the category of competent audio engineer) that the distinction between punchy bass, boomy bass, and strong bass becomes tantamount to describing the XB700's presentation. The bass in this song is strong, not boomy or punchy; my head does vibrate considerably when listening to this song, but once again I draw a distinction between these three descriptors of bass. Boomy bass, to me at least, is bass that is essentially monotone and loud, while punchy bass delivers a sharp and quick bass note. The bass in ST2 is none of those, but it is strong, which is what the XB700 excels at. I find it hard to believe that another headphone could excel in this manner as the XB700 (except for maybe Sony's new offering of audiophile headphones based on the engineering of the XB series). It's success here means a failing elsewhere, and that is in it's ability to maintain transparency (that is probably a matter of perception). Although forgivable in ST2, the overpowering bass is not that forgivable in "Inori," composed by Yoko Kanno (who falls under the category of competent audio engineer) and performed by Maaya Sakamoto. It's a losing battle with that song though, while I find the infrasonic bass quite livening in the song since it adds another layer of meaning, it has the drawback of drowning out the ambiance and upper bass, such that it makes Sakamoto's voice sound tiny. The same is true in ST2, but there's also quite a lot of sound in that song, so the overpowering is actually welcome and probably intended.
The problem also presents itself in songs that shouldn't have many infrasonic sounds, like "The Real Folk Blues," composed Yoko Kanno, lyrics by Yuho Iwasato, and performed by Mai Yamane and The Seatbelts. The bass drum is killer, but I'm pretty sure Yasuo Sano wasn't hammering away for the entire 6 minutes and 17 seconds. In general, older recordings and J-Pop suffer from this issue, except for those that have lots of bass, such as "Hikari," by Elisa (320 kbps MP3), and "Drive" by SEAMO. In these songs, there is a noise floor (by which I mean infrasonic sound, not static noise) which is not audible per se, but the ambiance and openness of a song is reduced depending on how significant this noise floor is. In some songs, like "Becoming a Geisha," from Memories of a Geisha, it's actually quite considerable and it feels like I'm listening to a concert inside a room that's about 2 meters in dimensions. I'm beginning to digress again, but back to how I feel about these headphones, not the recordings. The bass in ST2 is strong, but it doesn't entirely drown out the ambiance, and the mids and highs remain untouched. The XB700 do a good job of presenting this song, so much so for a few minutes afterwards, I don't really want to listen to anything. Kinda like how you don't want to do anything after you just had sex. I could say the same about "Kugutsuuta ura mite chiru," from Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, but this song has it's own special quality. The taiko (I'm pretty sure it's synthetic) is so smooth, so strong, that it's actually believable. You can hear how the drums resonate over their immense infrasonic frequencies, upon which are layered strong, punchy beats. It's quite an amazing song to listen to, but you'll need the right headphones to get the full effect.
That's not to say the only thing the XB700 can present well is bass-filled songs; ever since I got Yoko Kanno's almost complete discography (entirely lossless with logs of the original rip! I got about 1400 songs, of which ~250 made the final cut, and some are marred with a considerable noise floor), I've been able to see what these headphones can do with varied genres of music (the following songs were composed by Yoko Kanno unless written otherwise). "Aura," an enka performed by Chris Mosdell, is ice cold but dynamic, my favorite combination. "Reunion," "The Real Folk Blues," "Voices," by Arai Akino, "Kissing the Christmas Killer," performed by Maaya Sakamoto, and many others that I could list are also ice cold, but dynamic. "Reunion" is blues, TRFB is jazz, Voices is old J-Pop (which is different from modern J-Pop, just referred to as J-Pop), and KtCK is pop. Going back a bit, ST2 is electropop, "Drive" is J-Hip Hop, and "Hikari" is J-pop. The distinction of the cellos, the violins, the guitar, the saxophones, the bass is clear in "Reunion," even as Mrs. Cumberbatch's voice achieves an intricate harmonic that could sound horrible where she just a half step above or below the note, or if the combination of DSPs and headphone is not right. I get a strong club vibe when I listen to TRFB and Mrs. Yamane's raspy and smooth voice. "Voices" is presented as solemn and peaceful with a peaceful, open ambiance. I could describe the other songs similarly, but you get the point. Unfortunately, while the XB700 does well here, it fails with most J-Rock and orchestral music.
"Chain" by Back-On (192 kbps MP3) is one of my most listened to J-Rock songs and it comes across as weak. I could equalize it to sound warmer, which would add some needed strength to the song, but that doesn't solve the issue. The issue is that the XB700 is laid back in mid-bass. No amount of equalizing, or DSP work, will get these cans punchy without muddying overall sound quality. The bass boost from my FiiO E5 comes closest, but at the expense of attenuating highs and muddying up sub-bass. The same issue presents itself in orchestral songs. "sairin: katatsubasa no tenshi" by the Black Mages and Tokyo Philharmonic, composed by Nobuo Uematsu (the greatest gift to man), sounds so weak, it's pathetic. The brass and strings are living it up but the bass guitars and the drums just have nothing to offer. "Summoned Beast Battle" by Nobuo Uematsu can also be described similarly. "Final Fantasy 7 Philharmonic Suite: Finale OC ReMix," remixed by Jeremy Robson and composed by Nobuo Uematsu, is one of my favorite songs (of which I have/had 6) because of the involving timpanis, but the XB700 can't do it justice. These cans just aren't punchy. They're strong, transparent, and smooth, which is why I like them and am eying the Denon D2000 (or maybe Sony's new audiophile cans) for their talked about goodness. That's not to say all J-Rock sounds bad. "O2," by Orange Range (they're a J-Pop band, but this song is definitely J-Rock), "World End," by Flow, and "Kimi wo Mamotte, Kimi wo Aishite," by Sambomaster definitely sound great. They all have that hard-edge that is lacking in "Chain," but they could still sound better where the headphones more punchy and made the guitars sound more meaty.
Conclusion:
While I liked the XB700 for its smooth, ice cold, and dynamic presentation of genres such as J-Pop, the Blues, Jazz, Electropop, Hip Hop J-Rap, Enka, and whatever genre "Kugutsuuta ura mite chiru" belongs to, its seemingly strong bass and powerful dynamics fell apart when faced with rock; it just couldn't muster enough punchiness and meatiness to give rock the hard-edge that was so duly missing. Overall, the headphone could use some punchiness; however my listening habits have changed, so I've been able to forgive it for such a deficiency.
Pros:
Strong, smooth bass with a transparent and open presentation. Voices are clear, natural, and non-sibilant.
Cons:
Laid back mid-bass; no punchiness. Not suitable for rockers or orchestral music.
Disclaimers and Standards: All songs referenced here are in FLAC or APE format with verification in the form of results of the original rip. Songs in a lossy format will be identified, although really, the difference in quality is insignificant (although I will explain where there is a significant difference, and why I went to lengths to find lossless versions of my songs) and it depends more on the quality of the original rip. My line-out at time of writing this review is the Creative X-Fi Surround 5.1 with the FiiO E5 (BassBoost toggled off) amp, although most of opinions are based on my experience with using the Sony CMT-FX300i as an amp. Although this goes without saying, what I write here is my opinion, and that of a basshead, so take from it what you will. As proof of my bias, take a look at what my foobar2000 DSPs do to a 0-20 kHz sweep:
The top wave form from Audacity is what the original looks like with DSPs applied, while the bottom is the original. My DSP chain is: Equalizer -> Channel Mixer (1.30 stereoimage width) -> 10% Noise Sharpen -> Resample to 96 kHz -> 5% Noise Sharpen -> 5 nodal, 4096 sample, -10 dB wave form convolution -> 4 nodal, 4096 sample, -10 dB wave form convolution -> Opti-minphase convolution -> DFX for foobar2000 (not included as it distorts when converting a file, but it's effect is audibly minimal and would not change the processed file greatly) -> 0.3 output (via Matrix Mixer). The resulting file is mostly linear with a significant dB boost around 1 Hz extending to 30 Hz with an interesting rolloff. All this means is that I like the natural frequency response of the XB700 and I feel that it could use more infrasonic sound.
What I Want from Headphones: This section seems like it should come with all impressions, as it pretty much represents the bias of an individual. What I want from headphones is to hear all frequencies of sound equally represented. Now, that may sound like an objective statement, but it is horribly biased. Considering that different frequencies of sound require different dB levels for humans to perceive that they have the same loudness. Considering that no two humans are the same, this means that what I consider to be natural will be wholly different than what another individual may believe. Then, there is also that little tidbit where I mentioned that I'm a basshead; I say that simply because my goal coincides with what is considered a basshead; I don't like bass to the extent that it overpowers music (especially the ambiance and the openness of music), but the headphones that I believe will allow me to achieve my goal are considered cans for bassheads; therefore, I am. There's also the fact that "Sekai Turbine 2" by Susumu Hirasawa is one of my most listened to songs, but that's a different justification
Comfort and Build Quality: Well, after 2 years, nothing is going to be like-factory new, but the XB700 does a good job of trying to hold on. The part of the headband that actually sits on my head, apart from the fine sheen of grease that seems to have become part of the fabric, is pretty much like factory. There aren't any scratches on it, nor has the paint on the back of driver worn off. In fact, other than the face that the cloth like material on the top and sides of the headband are a bit tattered and that the ear cushions have slightly, ever so slightly, conformed to the shape of my head, it looks pretty much like factory.
Sonic Satisfaction and Evaluation:
Have you ever heard the sound of a 5-10 Hz bass line? Well, I don't know the answer to that. For those of you who haven't, know that it is a unique sound; however, most songs don't have a 5-10 Hz bass line because you would need mad SPL before you could hear it (and most of the time it's out of place, like in "Reunion," composed by Yoko Kanno and performed by Donna Cumberbatch). Then there's a technical issue; do you know how many things produce 5-10 Hz signals? Let's list them: EMI, air movement, wire interference during recording, artifacts of mixing, the moving of chairs, the plucking of strings; well, everything other than EMI, wire interference, and mixing artifacts boils down to the movement of air. "How so," you ask? Well, depending on the type of microphone, air that passes over the grooves of the microphone mesh will experience varying levels of turbulence, and turbulence being the chaotic movement of air seems to have the effect of inducing these low frequencies. Depending on the processing work during post-recording, these frequencies will either remain in the song, where they ruin the enjoyment of people like me, or they will be removed or significantly reduced if the audio engineers are competent
To be brutally honest, these cans aren't punchy, and depending on my mood, I would like them to be punchy (the inverse mood is when I don't really care, but I recall that the MDR-XD200 were too punchy for my taste). However, with proper equalization, they are reminiscent of the Shure SRH-440 (but not similar, by any means). They do have very good bass notes distinction, that is to say I can tell the difference between different bass guitar notes as well as drum triplets in "Through the Fire and the Flames," by DragonForce (it was a 192 kbps MP3). I can also distinguish between different notes of the bass in "Sekai Turbine 2," (ST2) which if you've never heard the song, is full of infrasonic sound. In fact, there is so much infrasonic sound in Susumu Hirasawa's song (who falls into the category of competent audio engineer) that the distinction between punchy bass, boomy bass, and strong bass becomes tantamount to describing the XB700's presentation. The bass in this song is strong, not boomy or punchy; my head does vibrate considerably when listening to this song, but once again I draw a distinction between these three descriptors of bass. Boomy bass, to me at least, is bass that is essentially monotone and loud, while punchy bass delivers a sharp and quick bass note. The bass in ST2 is none of those, but it is strong, which is what the XB700 excels at. I find it hard to believe that another headphone could excel in this manner as the XB700 (except for maybe Sony's new offering of audiophile headphones based on the engineering of the XB series). It's success here means a failing elsewhere, and that is in it's ability to maintain transparency (that is probably a matter of perception). Although forgivable in ST2, the overpowering bass is not that forgivable in "Inori," composed by Yoko Kanno (who falls under the category of competent audio engineer) and performed by Maaya Sakamoto. It's a losing battle with that song though, while I find the infrasonic bass quite livening in the song since it adds another layer of meaning, it has the drawback of drowning out the ambiance and upper bass, such that it makes Sakamoto's voice sound tiny. The same is true in ST2, but there's also quite a lot of sound in that song, so the overpowering is actually welcome and probably intended.
The problem also presents itself in songs that shouldn't have many infrasonic sounds, like "The Real Folk Blues," composed Yoko Kanno, lyrics by Yuho Iwasato, and performed by Mai Yamane and The Seatbelts. The bass drum is killer, but I'm pretty sure Yasuo Sano wasn't hammering away for the entire 6 minutes and 17 seconds. In general, older recordings and J-Pop suffer from this issue, except for those that have lots of bass, such as "Hikari," by Elisa (320 kbps MP3), and "Drive" by SEAMO. In these songs, there is a noise floor (by which I mean infrasonic sound, not static noise) which is not audible per se, but the ambiance and openness of a song is reduced depending on how significant this noise floor is. In some songs, like "Becoming a Geisha," from Memories of a Geisha, it's actually quite considerable and it feels like I'm listening to a concert inside a room that's about 2 meters in dimensions. I'm beginning to digress again, but back to how I feel about these headphones, not the recordings. The bass in ST2 is strong, but it doesn't entirely drown out the ambiance, and the mids and highs remain untouched. The XB700 do a good job of presenting this song, so much so for a few minutes afterwards, I don't really want to listen to anything. Kinda like how you don't want to do anything after you just had sex. I could say the same about "Kugutsuuta ura mite chiru," from Ghost in the Shell: Innocence, but this song has it's own special quality. The taiko (I'm pretty sure it's synthetic) is so smooth, so strong, that it's actually believable. You can hear how the drums resonate over their immense infrasonic frequencies, upon which are layered strong, punchy beats. It's quite an amazing song to listen to, but you'll need the right headphones to get the full effect.
That's not to say the only thing the XB700 can present well is bass-filled songs; ever since I got Yoko Kanno's almost complete discography (entirely lossless with logs of the original rip! I got about 1400 songs, of which ~250 made the final cut, and some are marred with a considerable noise floor), I've been able to see what these headphones can do with varied genres of music (the following songs were composed by Yoko Kanno unless written otherwise). "Aura," an enka performed by Chris Mosdell, is ice cold but dynamic, my favorite combination. "Reunion," "The Real Folk Blues," "Voices," by Arai Akino, "Kissing the Christmas Killer," performed by Maaya Sakamoto, and many others that I could list are also ice cold, but dynamic. "Reunion" is blues, TRFB is jazz, Voices is old J-Pop (which is different from modern J-Pop, just referred to as J-Pop), and KtCK is pop. Going back a bit, ST2 is electropop, "Drive" is J-Hip Hop, and "Hikari" is J-pop. The distinction of the cellos, the violins, the guitar, the saxophones, the bass is clear in "Reunion," even as Mrs. Cumberbatch's voice achieves an intricate harmonic that could sound horrible where she just a half step above or below the note, or if the combination of DSPs and headphone is not right. I get a strong club vibe when I listen to TRFB and Mrs. Yamane's raspy and smooth voice. "Voices" is presented as solemn and peaceful with a peaceful, open ambiance. I could describe the other songs similarly, but you get the point. Unfortunately, while the XB700 does well here, it fails with most J-Rock and orchestral music.
"Chain" by Back-On (192 kbps MP3) is one of my most listened to J-Rock songs and it comes across as weak. I could equalize it to sound warmer, which would add some needed strength to the song, but that doesn't solve the issue. The issue is that the XB700 is laid back in mid-bass. No amount of equalizing, or DSP work, will get these cans punchy without muddying overall sound quality. The bass boost from my FiiO E5 comes closest, but at the expense of attenuating highs and muddying up sub-bass. The same issue presents itself in orchestral songs. "sairin: katatsubasa no tenshi" by the Black Mages and Tokyo Philharmonic, composed by Nobuo Uematsu (the greatest gift to man), sounds so weak, it's pathetic. The brass and strings are living it up but the bass guitars and the drums just have nothing to offer. "Summoned Beast Battle" by Nobuo Uematsu can also be described similarly. "Final Fantasy 7 Philharmonic Suite: Finale OC ReMix," remixed by Jeremy Robson and composed by Nobuo Uematsu, is one of my favorite songs (of which I have/had 6) because of the involving timpanis, but the XB700 can't do it justice. These cans just aren't punchy. They're strong, transparent, and smooth, which is why I like them and am eying the Denon D2000 (or maybe Sony's new audiophile cans) for their talked about goodness. That's not to say all J-Rock sounds bad. "O2," by Orange Range (they're a J-Pop band, but this song is definitely J-Rock), "World End," by Flow, and "Kimi wo Mamotte, Kimi wo Aishite," by Sambomaster definitely sound great. They all have that hard-edge that is lacking in "Chain," but they could still sound better where the headphones more punchy and made the guitars sound more meaty.
Conclusion:
While I liked the XB700 for its smooth, ice cold, and dynamic presentation of genres such as J-Pop, the Blues, Jazz, Electropop, Hip Hop J-Rap, Enka, and whatever genre "Kugutsuuta ura mite chiru" belongs to, its seemingly strong bass and powerful dynamics fell apart when faced with rock; it just couldn't muster enough punchiness and meatiness to give rock the hard-edge that was so duly missing. Overall, the headphone could use some punchiness; however my listening habits have changed, so I've been able to forgive it for such a deficiency.
Pros:
Strong, smooth bass with a transparent and open presentation. Voices are clear, natural, and non-sibilant.
Cons:
Laid back mid-bass; no punchiness. Not suitable for rockers or orchestral music.
