Sony MDRXB700 Extra Bass Headphones (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

I was looking into a VERY comfortable pair of headphones, thatI could wear for hours on end. That's it. It sounds like a shallow reason to buy a pair of headphones, especially after already having bought 4 other pairs in the past few months. I just could not find the 'right fit' when it comes to comfort. The Sony XB700's definitely filled that gap at first. The pads are incredibly soft, and they are big enough to go over my ears without any initial discomfort. There is a big BUT in here, which I will explain soon enough.As far as sound quality goes, I'm extremely surprised and pleased. They do indeed live up to the title of 'Extra Bass' headphones, but what comes to as a surprise is that they also output a deceptively clear and crisp sound. They aren't as clear as my Audio Technica AD-700 headphones (which their one main fault is the lack of bass), or my Head-Direct RE0 in ear monitors, but they are indeed crisp and detailed enough to stay away from the 'muddy' range that bassy headphones tend to go into when it comes to mids and highs.They are also surprisingly well balanced for the most part, but the low end is definitely emphasized, so expect the bass to overpower other sounds every once in a while. Without equalization the XB700s are pretty good, but the bass is not being utilized to it's fullest. The XB700s can handle some pretty harsh bass without distorting after boosting the low end, which is AWESOME. Also while the XB700s don't need an amp, something as small and cheap as the Fiio E5 will make them even better. I usually don't like turning on the Bass Boost on my Fiio E5 when using most headphones, but the XB700s handle the bass in boost without distortion, so they live up to the 'Extra Bass' hype even more.The cord is pretty short at 3.9ft, but they are flat, so they won't tangle up like a normal cord. An extension cable is all you need, if you need it.I usually stay away from most Sony products, but they made a quality sounding pair of headphones in the XB700s. The XB700s look and sound well made. They're not audiophile headphones, but they are definitely a guilty pleasure that perform admirably in the price range. Bassheads will love them. Everyone else will enjoy them.To sum it up:Pros:+Looks and sounds well made+Really soft pads make them comfortable to wear...INITIALLY.+Deep, punchy bass, especially when you accentuate the low end even more. Doesn't distort like a lot of other headphones. Bass isn't unpleasant either.+Surprisingly clear mids and highs. Doesn't sound muddy like typical bass heavy headphones.+Surprising soundstage reaching far left and right+Flat cable, makes it virtually tangle free.Cons:-Closed ear design can get hot on the ears. Usual closed ear design faults.-Pads look like monster truck tires, so they may be embarrassing to use in public.-Powerful bass can drown out the other subtle sounds at times.-Soundstage isn't great with Dolby Headphone processing. This is the first pair of headphones that I found to behave WORSE in DH mode. (More details in the bottom section)-cable is very short.-Now for the BIGGEST con. The pads have a major flaw in them. There is a 'ring' stitched on the inner lining of the pads on the inside where your ears go that directly touch your skin. When you first use the XB700s, you won't notice anything wrong with the pads or feel any discomfort. It's when you use them for a period of time that you may start noticing the skin around your ears start hurting where the ring rests on your head, mainly behind the ears. It feels as if you rubbed this area of your skin excessively for a period of time. Meaning it feels hot and raw. It's OBVIOUSLY the stitched ring inside the pads that is causing this discomfort, which borders on painful to wear.This makes the XB700s useless for me as I purchased them due to their initial comfort and incredibly soft pads. Unless I have a very sensitive area behind my ears, I believe this issue will present itself to all who wear these headphones for good while, and have exposed skin behind the ears that touch the lining of the pads. It's enough to not make me wanna put them on again, so I can't justify my purchase and will promptly ask Amazon for a refund. If you can somehow deal with this issue, disregard this paragraph and focus on everything else I have written. Outside of this issue, the XB700s are a great pair of headphones.Note to Gamers:This section is for the gamers out there: I use all my headphones with the Astro Gaming Mixamp while playing on my Xbox 360 or PS3. The Mixamp utilizes Dolby Headphone surround processing to turn Stereo headphones into 5.1 virtual surround sound headphones. Google it if you haven't heard of it, though I'm sure most gamers have. The virtual surround effect in Dolby Headphone is considered better than true 5.1 surround headphones. I have to agree.While I use my Audio Technica AD-700 for gaming (the clarity, soundstage and positioning on the AD700s are arguably considered the best in the sub-$200 price range), I like to test out other headphones to see how they perform under gaming conditions.The XB700s paired up with the Mixamp don't particularly work well together. The XB700's bass overpowers most sound effects which is a big drawback, as in competitive gaming you'd want to hear even the slightest pin drop. The soundstage on the XB700s is better in Stereo than in Dolby Headphone mode, which is a first, so they don't work well with the Mixamp in DH mode. They just don't work well as gaming headphones. I'd advise against it.

Sony MDR XB700At first glance, Sony MDR XB700s headphones are hard to figure out. They seem to have multiple faces, working surprisingly differently on different equipment and with different musics.I bought them with the primary idea of using them to watch television through a desktop computer and they are very good for that. I like them and I'm keeping mine. What you think of yours will be strongly influenced by how you listen to music, the kinds of music you listen to and the device you use to play it.The Good:Base Boost that is very good for kinds of music where volume and punch outweigh nuance.They love working with portable players and other low-power devices.Stellar for spoken word (audiobooks)The (only slightly) Bad:Visually loud design.Portable-player friendly design in a home-stereo headphone.High-impedence that requires high volume for best performance for a portable device without an amplifier.The UglyNothing yet.Before you can talk about the MDR XB700, a few ideas and definitions are in order.The term, "driver" is a fancy way of saying "speaker." "Driving" a speaker means "giving it enough power for it to function properly at all frequencies." "Soundstage" means the ability of a pair of headphones to create the illusion of a sound's placement in an open, three-dimensional space. "Cans" is an audiophile speak for high-end headphones.Sony regularly spends a lot of money to create headphones as research platforms and testbeds for new technologies and then using what they learn to produce some of the most consumer-friendly headphones on the market and units like the MDR XB700 are the result. Sony's mass-market, consumer approach means that Sony's R&D tends to create sound that is never quite the equal of the sound that you get from seven-hundred dollar, high-end cans by Sennheiser or Grado's woodier headphone models, but their sound is always what their customers like warm, never fussy and, unlike practically all other high-end headphones, Sony cans are designed to work with the kind of low-power devices that Sony makes and that its customers are most likely to have and use.The "XB" in the Sony MDR XB700 stands for "Extra Base" and that is the main characteristic of the sound of the XB700s when they are used in their intended application, which is base-heavy music, and if that is all you want from a pair of cans, the XB700s will never disappoint you, but there is more to them than that.With their 50 millimeter drivers (a full two-inches!) and the right sound-source, they do a good job on a number of different test-musics played from an iPod Touch like "A Little Bit of Gold" by the cool kids--a number that is base-maniac heaven--but they also do surprisingly well with Yo-Yo Ma's rendition of the warm and smokey sound of Bach's Suite for Cello, no. 1-and that is genuinely surprising.For audiobooks, they are stellar at bringing out the kinds of nuances that can easily fall by the wayside even with in-ear-monitors. How good? I not only heard one performer breathe between lines, I heard him swallow. Also, their performance with portable sources like an iPod or an iPod Touch is surprisingly good at providing a soundstage with a very realistic sense of space.In terms of their physical design, the XB700s are like a strange fusion of art by committee, art by science and art by focus group, producing a very clean-looking high-tech design. The foams surrounding and enclosing the drivers are huge and soft things that visually dominate the headphones and make you look like a giant dork if you wear them in public, but the pillow-like earpads and high-end design of the headphones are as much a fashion statement as they are a functional part of the cans and wearing the XBR700s outdoors is a simple, coded message: "These are good. I have them and you don't."As if to announce their intended use with portable devices, the XBR700 comes with a short (1.2 meter) cord with the brilliant innovation of being made with a rectangular cross-section that prevents the ultra-short cord from tangling (why doesn't everyone do this?!) And, as if that wasn't enough, it turns out the XBR700s (which are rated for 3 full Watts of power) can be convincingly driven by a source as small as Sony Ericson's stereo bluetooth Adapter, the  Sony Ericsson Hi-Fi Bluetooth Stereo Headset with FM Radio, the MW600 , for use with a bluetooth-equipped smartphone, or bluetooth-equipped music player.The bottom line:Although their in-your-face engineering and design may be strange in places, the MDR XB700s have a lot of good things going for them both in terms of sound and in terms of features (music *and* earmuffs!). If you're a lover of base-based music and have no use for knife-edged accuracy in the mids and treble and you're listening to a portable device, you might like them as much as I do.

They look the nuts"! they are the best looking headphone ever.They fit very well and are very, very comfortable. So comfortable that i was able to fall asleep listening to them. They didn't press too hard nor too loose.You HAVE TO set the graphic equalizers to off or flat, as the sound quality is excellent and only the pure sound will do. With pure bass and clear sounding mid and treble they sound awesome.On my iTouch, when put on to MAX volume, they do sound like mini desktop speakers, and with the 50mm drivers, quite good one at that. Which brings me to the only one bug, no problem with these headphones. Even with the iTouch at half volume and headphones securely fitted to my head, the guy next to me can and will hear every beat, and pick out every word. Weird for a close back to LEAK SO MUCH SOUND. But i think either the 50mm driver is just to big for the construction, or the soft leather pads aren't tough enough to keep the sound in.So not the best for walking and traveling, so strange why it come with a short cable. But for home use or PC gaming it the best sound i've heard ever.Buy them if you want the best for less then a ton, but be warned the sound leaks like an open tap.

It's been 16 months since I bought these, £70 at the time and worth the money. They've held up really well to frequent use, although they don't get moved about much, I use them anything from 30min to 6 hours a day, the average around 2 hours. They look as good as when bought, because they're circum-aural they don't rest/crush the ears, the benefits being increased isolation, comfort and the cups remain sweat and hair free. I've got a pair of Sennheiser HD120 for roaming around the house, they're nowhere near as good in any respect.My taste in music is varied, so they have to perform for a range of styles, which they do without issue, though I tend to favour electronica and bass heavy music I've found the highs to be crisp and the mid to feel well rounded. You get a feel of space and separation between instruments that's often flattened out by cheaper headphones.The table above doesn't mention, but the cable is the flat tangle-free sort, though it's fairly short so. If you're using it to connect to a computer and don't have a desktop port, it's not going to stretch around the back of a computer or across the living room to the hifi. The headband is easy to adjust, but I think more importantly, it's not sliding about of it's own accord.Connected to a Sansa Clip (mp3) they sound fine without extra amplification, but will drain the power quicker.I bought these after getting the MDR XB300 for work, which are very good but in a different league to the 700s. If I had some freak accident and destroyed these, I'd buy the same again from Amazon.

I cannot praise Sony enough for producing such a wonderful pair of cans at such a price level. Indeed very articulate sound right away from the start. Real deep bass unmatched by my expensive double priced Sen's HD595 and the superior triple priced Pioneer HDJ-2000. Looks wise, is not that appealing if planning to leave the sanctuary of your home. Also not that good in warm/hot summer months, as even in winter they will act effectively as ear muffs. The irony about them, is that they are made for iPod, ITouch, iPone etc. specially with that short wire lead, but they will damn expose any over compressed songs, like those downloaded from iTunes and the like, which you mainly use on those units, but on the other will shine on anything else with lighter compression, which lets say you converted by a lossless compression type or anything over 320kbps. If you are planning to listen to songs/music with 128 or 256kbps you might find the sound very harsh indeed, but otherwise it will produce a heavenly detailed sound across the spectrum with CDs and through a dedicated sound systems, but the short lead will then be a problem.Construction wise, it looks very nice, although huge, but somehow not up there with the construction of my Sen's HD515 and HD595 and nothing remotely close to the Pioneer HDJ-1000 or 2000. Highly recommended for fans of Rock / Instrumental, but for classic and pop you might prefer other options.

I'll try not to repeat what others have said. I just received these headphones to replace a set of Bose on-ear headphones that have always distorted at higher levels. These Sony headphones are comfortable, feel fairly light and sound good straight out of the box. I intend to use them for monitoring while editing video and for general music listening. The bass is pronounced but not to the point where it drowns the mids and highs, which are crystal clear.I use them with a Macbook and the sound level directly out of the headphone jack is as high as you need, but even on full volume (if you can stand it), there is no distortion at all. Out of interest, I tried them with a Fujiyama headphone amplifier. To be honest, it takes away rather than adds to the sound quality. The Macbook provides more than enough juice to power these big 'cans'.Overall, excellent sound quality for a not bad price. They seem well built, not at all flimsy and for sound quality, superior to the Bose. I'm very happy with this purchase.

I currently have AKG k450, which in terms of sound quality and cost is one of the best. I bought the XB700 and immediately felt a more resonant and deeper bass when listening to music. Ever since buying these, my AKGs have been made redundant and I only use them for travelling now. I ONLY use my sony XB700 in the house, and use them for music and watching movies (it really makes the movies much more enjoyable). They are comfortable to wear for short periods and don't give me headache like my K450s used to.In terms of sound quality, Bass is better, but the mids are missing and aren't as good as the K450s for treble. For me, this isn't a big issue as the music is still extremely enjoyable to listen to on the Sony headphones.Cons:quite heavy, so when they're on your head for a relatively long time (1 hour +) you can feel a slight strain on your neck at times, but only very slight and isn't really that bad at all. But when wearing for a long time it does get sweaty at times and uncomfortable, and I have to take them off for a couple minutes or so.Worth buying for <£100? absolutely.