The boys at the Sony UK HQ decided to send us some of their professional cans for a change instead of getting our views on their dslr equipment. Chris was chosen by Sony to deliver his views...
Review Sony MDR-XB700
The ‘estimated street price’ is £35 for the entry model up to £100 for the top of the range
Over recent years Sony have struggled to compete with the likes of BOSE, Sennheiser, Audio Technica for a quality sounding pair of headphones for a reasonable price. Sony is a brand that's always been associated with great design, quality build and overall great sound and this couldn't be more so with their new range of Xtra-Bass headphones.
The closed back Neodymium driver units that deliver bass like I've never heard from a pair headphones - I think Sony have realised that the younger generation have a thirst for a good sound with satisfying bass response, crisp mids and highs. With a gold plated jack plug, flat black cable (that is a little on the short side) is attached to a sleek silver headphone back finished with stainless steel headphone arms - it's definitely a fantastically finished product, even though they are on the large side.
For those of you that went to Glastonbury you can't have missed the giant crop circle of Mike Skinner wearing a pair of XB, quoted from Twitter saying:
"I can't believe how many people have come up to us about this, this is a very special weekend http://twitpic.com/8enet"
10:06 PM Jun 25th from Tweetie
These headphones are made for the lover of bass heavy music the likes of D&B, Dub-step, hiphop, reggae etc being no exception. On the other hand they didn't disappoint on playback of other less bass driven music. I wouldn't recommend them for studio monitoring but for playback only.
The bass reproduced by these headphones is smooth and textured working right down into the surprising subsonic depths, not only this but you can really crank these headphones up!
The massive earpad cushions are so comfortable you can go about wearing these for hours - a problem you find on other headphones. Another advantage of having well-insulated cushions over your ears is the sound isolation from the outside world, stopping sound getting in or out disrupting your music.
Pros
· Fantastic frequency response 3-28,00Hz
· Unbelievable bass response and nice crisp highs
· Very comfortable
· A lot of bang for your buck.
Cons
· They are on the large side
Summary
Real impressive range of headphones by Sony, a great sound for the price, but very big almost so that they would make great ear muffs in the winter, yet very comfortable for wearing over long periods of time.
Alternatives
· Shure SRH440
· Audio Technica ATH-910
· Denon AH-D1001
· Sennheiser HD280
Links
Sony - http://www.sony.co.uk/product/hed-dj/mdr-xb700
Youtube Video links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvsMILFAEA0&feature=channel_page -Part One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EPedTwb_O4 - Part Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czc4wkWCsKY - Part Three
Mike Skinner Twitter - http://twitter.com/skinnermike
Playlist
· N-Type/Loefah - Way of the Dub
· Rusko - Mr Chips
· Lomax - Artisan VIP
· Chase and Status - Streetlife
· La Roux (skream remix) - In for a Kill
Review by Chris Fuller of Underground Music
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Comment by GUEST on 2009-07-16 07:05:26
Mike Skinner ftw! |
Comment by GUEST on 2009-07-23 05:40:20
£70 from play.com |
Comment by GUEST on 2009-07-14 18:00:52
How much are they? |
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