[mohsin]

Decided to return the Sennheiser HD515 as the sound leakage made them unsuitable for me. Almost bought the Goldring NS1000 but I tried a friends and found them to just about fit so not very comfortable for my big head.

I tried a pair of Sony xb-300 in Currys the other day and must admit the bass was as good as the dre beats solo and they were really comfortable. I am stuck between the xb-500 and the creative Aurvana live headphones. I was going to order both from amazon and then return the pair I didn't like but I'm not sure what amazons returns policy is like with headphones. Also I'm not sure if the xb-500 will benefit from the Fiio E5 and I don't want that to go to waste. Any ideas on which sound better?

 

[henrylee]

TBH i dont think the fiio is really going to benifit either of the phones , i would recommend the creatjve aurvana live . Xb500 have a hole on either side for the bass response or something which make them leak sound also the pad gets really hot after like 30 mins .the creatives on the other hand I've seen from reviews as a good budget phone .Look at superlux and ath-m50 ,they are good value headphones.

 

[mohsin]

I did consider the shure srh750 dj as they were down to £60 but not sure if they will fit my head

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Well if you liked the sound of XB300 you'd like XB500 cuz it's quite a bit better but it's pretty large and leaks some sound due to the semi-closed design and the isolation isn't very good (worse than XB300) so if you'd use it for portable use I would probably look elsewhere. I don't have any problems with sweat though, ATH-M50 for example got much more sweaty for me, after an hour of use it was already bad, the XB500 I can use for several hrs in a row and the comfort is topnotch, could sleep with these headphones on.
 
Also you wouldn't need to buy any amp for XB500, it's not worth it because it's very easy driven, the amps that could possibly improve it a bit needs to be more neutral sounding than FiiO E5 and would cost maybe at least 2 to 3 times as much as the headphones themselves.
 
Exactly how much bass are you looking for then, XB500 is for bassheads, it could very well be too much for you if you're not looking for big bass, also the the clarity isn't optimal due to unbalanced frequency response but it's not worse than XB300 but it can sound so much better if you apply some EQing to it.

 

[bocur]

I think aurvana live is better.

 

[mohsin]

Thanks for all your replies, RPGWizard you also have the denon ah-d1100, how do you think these compare to the xb-500 overall? I do like my bass but I also like an open soundstage so the headphones can sparkle when the music call for it (if that makes any sense).

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Quote:

Thanks for all your replies, RPGWizard you also have the denon ah-d1100, how do you think these compare to the xb-500 overall? I do like my bass but I also like an open soundstage so the headphones can sparkle when the music call for it (if that makes any sense).

Read my review in the signature XB500 vs D1100, I personally prefer XB500 as it sounds more the way I want it to (forward/warm/balanced deep vs upper bass ratio and smooth highs) but for you D1100 would possibly be better though as the soundstage is suprisingly good and instrument separation especially is like very clear and it also has better isolation (still not very great but at least a bit better) and is also very lightweight and would also work for portable use but it's twice the cost too.

 

[mohsin]

Tried to order both pairs from amazon but there both out of stock so I can get them from play.com but they can't be returned according to there customer services. I think I'm going to go for the xb-500 and call it a day. RGPWizard how have you set your eq? And where did you eq the music? iTunes? Sorry for all the questions but still a little new to all this.

 

[RPGWiZaRD]

Well I use my soundcard driver's 10-band EQ which works/sounds better than any of those player included EQs out there and then the setting looks like this
 

 
But I've also tried out iTunes and tried the iTunes EQ and came to this result:
 

 
And here's finally for foobar2000 which is my preferred player due to dolby headphone:
 

 

[Extreme1Bass]

Hello, I would buy the headphone. I like to have powerful bass, deep, extensive and not with mid frequence annoying.

I think the Creative Aurvana Live (Denon d100) headphones are that do it for me, what do you think? Or you prefere the Sony XB500?
(I have a Creative Zen mp3 player)

 

[depleted]

I write in this thread just for another point of view, because after 2 years of xb500 I decided to buy the CAL!
 
Actually I thought aurvanas would be brighter and much less bassy, but I found the sound signature pretty similar. Yes, xb500 has more powerful and quite deeper bass, and yes cal! are a little more defined in mids and treble, but not by much, the bass is still very present and it's still a pretty dark sounding headphone. I like 'em because I wanted a fun, everyday pair of cans, so I can ditch or sell xb500 (but god those sub bass is fun sometimes). They are smaller, and ear cups are small, I have normal ears and consider them supra aural more than circum aural. Overall a very good pair of cans, but no way balanced, and still fun. I now crave something more "hi-fi" sounding as companion cans.
 
Sorry my english sucks