[skylux70]

Hello,
I have heard XB500 in 2012 and I remember they had great subbass extension, even the lowest notes were reproduced with with so much power that it cause '' Wow effect''. Frankly speaking, the midrange, details, and higs were unfortunaly much worse than Sony EX85 and Sony MH1C which I owned, so I didnt buy them.

Recently I bought Sony XB950. Without EQ they sound muffled like XB500, but with proper EQ they are quite pleasing. Vocals sounds great, even details are quite good. BUT... they dont have the power of the XB500 on the deepest notes - 20, 25 Hz. You hear that bass, but it doesnt have that earth thundering effect.

But I heard XB500 only two times, and maybe my memory are failing me.

Have anybody has XB500 and XB950 right now and can compare them?

I searched for XB500 and found on amazon for 400 $, with shipping and import fees 500$. Are they still subbas king in 2020?

Would you recommend something else in this price tag?

I love Sony EX800 Japan Version, MH1c, KEF M200, so detailed midrange, separation and clear highs would be nicely seen.

Or just grab XB500? Are they worth 500$ deal?

I dont have an amp. My source is my Dell XPS 15 and for portable use IPOD 5 touch.

Thank You.

 

[Kukuk]

I can't speak for the XB500, but I do currently own the XB700. While not the same headphone, they aren't far apart in their overall sound, from memory, and based on frequency response graphs.

No, I don't think they are at all worth $400-$500. For that price you can get a pair of DT1770 which absolutely stomp them into the ground not just in terms of bass response, but overall sound and build quality. IMO, the DT1770 is the absolute king of bass, at any price point. It goes every bit as low as the XB series, with the same amount of power, but it's extremely clean and articulate bass.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I tried the XB500 at one point and whilst they are bass monsters, I didn’t care for the rest of the frequencies.
Trust me you can do a whole lot better for around 500$.
The above mentioned Beyerdynamic for once (especially if you like an aggressive sound signature with your subbass)...but also the MDR-1A to keep it in the Sony family. The latter is warm headphone with great subbass extension..yet it doesn’t fall off a cliff in the mids and retain some form of clarity (unlike the XB500).
Other great closedbacks with great subbass qualities under 500$ are:
Shure SRH1540
KRK KNS8400
Audioquest Nightowl
Denon D5200
Fostex TR-X00

 

[skylux70]

I can't speak for the XB500, but I do currently own the XB700. While not the same headphone, they aren't far apart in their overall sound, from memory, and based on frequency response graphs.

No, I don't think they are at all worth $400-$500. For that price you can get a pair of DT1770 which absolutely stomp them into the ground not just in terms of bass response, but overall sound and build quality. IMO, the DT1770 is the absolute king of bass, at any price point. It goes every bit as low as the XB series, with the same amount of power, but it's extremely clean and articulate bass.

Some people say that DT1770 has shrill highs. Can you say something about?
Do they need an amp?

I have read many reviews on amazon.com and it seems that this model ia plagued with driver rattling issues while playing really low notes. Several reviewers claim that. I listen ti bass heavy music so I dont know to think about them.

 

[skylux70]

I tried the XB500 at one point and whilst they are bass monsters, I didn’t care for the rest of the frequencies.
Trust me you can do a whole lot better for around 500$.
The above mentioned Beyerdynamic for once (especially if you like an aggressive sound signature with your subbass)...but also the MDR-1A to keep it in the Sony family. The latter is warm headphone with great subbass extension..yet it doesn’t fall off a cliff in the mids and retain some form of clarity (unlike the XB500).
Other great closedbacks with great subbass qualities under 500$ are:
Shure SRH1540
KRK KNS8400
Audioquest Nightowl
Denon D5200
Fostex TR-X00

I hear Sony MDR 1A and the subbas response are nowhere near the XB500 or even XB950B1.

You probobly have right that they have better mids and higs, but I expect from this headphones subbas response not worse or even better than XB500.

I own Sony EX800 and KEF M200 and i love their midrange, naturalness and fidelity, but this time I would like to FEEL SUBBASS to feel like in cinema.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I just took a look at the frequency response. Looks like a modern Beats-styled tuning. Shouldn’t be too hard to find something with that level of bass.
Check out some JBL headphones and/or an Ultrasone Pro 900

 

[skylux70]

I just took a look at the frequency response. Looks like a modern Beats-styled tuning. Shouldn’t be too hard to find something with that level of bass.
Check out some JBL headphones and/or an Ultrasone Pro 900

Now i now that you didnt hear that headphones. None of JBL headphones doesnt have the power and energy in subbass freqencies.

Ultrasone Pro 900 have great hardhitting bass but they also lack power at the same bottom of Subbas extension.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I did listen to the XB500...but like I mentioned all I heard was a bassy mess.
...and looking at a frequency response of said headphone it very much mimics the kind of bass found in Beats and JBLs aka quantity over anything else. I am not saying you should get a pair of Beats..all I am saying is that the XB500 is tuned like a Beats.
Then again the XB does stand for xtra bass....and there are a hell of a lot of those type of headphones on the market. Even Sennheiser makes those

Edit: I would probably check out this thread for info or recs if I were you
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-hardest-hitting-headphones-are-the-extreme-bass-club.716711/

 

[skylux70]

I did listen to the XB500...but like I mentioned all I heard was a bassy mess.
...and looking at a frequency response of said headphone it very much mimics the kind of bass found in Beats and JBLs aka quantity over anything else. I am not saying you should get a pair of Beats..all I am saying is that the XB500 is tuned like a Beats.
Then again the XB does stand for xtra bass....and there are a hell of a lot of those type of headphones on the market. Even Sennheiser makes those

I cannot agree with you. Maybe you listened XB500 for very short period of time, but their agility in subbas extension were above everything I have heard, including your propositions.

Now I own XB950 so I dont have to buy another bass Headphone like JBL. I want better than XB500 in subbas response.

I guess you dont get the gist of this thread.

 

[nil opmas]

The EX-XB450B was the headphone that brought me into the Hifi world. I still remember plugging in the batteries and turning on the extra bass function. I would still go back to it years after and listen to the heavy bass pumping out of those drivers.