anurag
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2012
- Posts
- 8
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Disclaimer: I'm not an audiophile by any means. I can't hear anything above 17kHz.
I ordered one XB500 last December. Initially I didn't like it very much due too the bloated bass and nonexistent mids/highs. I fiddled with the EQ unsuccessfully thinking it was a bad purchase. However, as time passed, I settled on a custom EQ and became more and more pleased with it. So did my ears get used to it? Or did XB500 get better after burn-in?
A month ago, when I heard XB500 was discontinued, I couldn't resist purchasing another one from Amazon. Just out of curiosity, today I broke open the seal of the new one and compared the sound side by side with the old one, which has seen fairly heavy use over this year. For the tests, I used a custom IDT eq which I consider a sweet spot for my old XB500. (You can see I'm not a big fan of bright sound)
Here's what I found:
1. The new XB500 sounds boomier (bloated in 80-100Hz) and severely lacking in highs. The old XB500 sounds much more natural.
2. The overall perceived loudness (at the custom EQ level) is however the same.
3. The old one is much more comfy to wear, since it has expanded (this includes the ear-pads as well) as a result of long use.
I ordered one XB500 last December. Initially I didn't like it very much due too the bloated bass and nonexistent mids/highs. I fiddled with the EQ unsuccessfully thinking it was a bad purchase. However, as time passed, I settled on a custom EQ and became more and more pleased with it. So did my ears get used to it? Or did XB500 get better after burn-in?
A month ago, when I heard XB500 was discontinued, I couldn't resist purchasing another one from Amazon. Just out of curiosity, today I broke open the seal of the new one and compared the sound side by side with the old one, which has seen fairly heavy use over this year. For the tests, I used a custom IDT eq which I consider a sweet spot for my old XB500. (You can see I'm not a big fan of bright sound)
Here's what I found:
1. The new XB500 sounds boomier (bloated in 80-100Hz) and severely lacking in highs. The old XB500 sounds much more natural.
2. The overall perceived loudness (at the custom EQ level) is however the same.
3. The old one is much more comfy to wear, since it has expanded (this includes the ear-pads as well) as a result of long use.
