Sony MDR-XB910 headphones review

Yesterday after spending a couple of hours in the company of Aromulus and HaloHalo, I decided to treat myself to some long sought after headphones.

Cue a quick visit to HMV in the Trafford Centre to see what they had (moments before closing time), and I’d decided on a budget of £100 or thereabouts. Now, not being a real audiophile but a proven basshead, I was looking for something like the Beats By Dre range, but wary on paying the extra money to get “the brand name” on my head. Yes the Beats headphones look good, but for most blokes it’s not really an issue!

And as luck would have it I had my heart set on a pair of Sony MDR-XB910 headphones I’d tried in another HMV store a week or so earlier. I say luck, because the previous week they were down to £99 (from £199) but this HMV only had one left in stock which had been reduced to £69 (bargain) and on top of that, these were ex display units that were going with an extra 20% discount. So in total, I paid £55.20 for a pair of headphones that retail online for about £140-£150 through Amazon and other outlets.

And as these are ex-display, they’ve already been “burnt in”, so they sound better than they would straight out of the box. I’ve replaced the cord with the cord set for use with a smartphone (you get two in the box, so I’ve used the one not used in-store) as I’ll mainly use it with my iPhone for music on the go (as I did this morning on the way to work).

Being a Sony XB headphone, these are aimed at bassheads such as myself, the XB literally stands for Extra Bass. In March 2013 these headphones were the Sony XB flagship model, effectively being their competition to take on the Beats By Dre Executive headphones (which costs around £300). And so this morning I had an eclectic mix of music for my travels into the office, and only once did I decide to skip a track because of how the Bass-centric sound came out.

Knockin on Heavens Door – Guns N’ Roses
I loved the sound of this song with these headphones, the bass didn’t drown out the rest of the track and the piano clearly took over the song at times (as it needs to). The way the backing singers came into play was like candy for the ears, the soundstage really showed on these headphones. I don’t think I’ve heard this song sound so good before I did today.

Dirty Bit (The Time) – The Black Eyed Peas
This is a bass heavy song to begin with, fusing electronica, dubstep and hip-hop into one song. Bass-centric headphones such as the XB910 really shine with songs like this, so all good.

I’m Yours - Jason Mraz
This is one of those soft, acoustic guitar songs that arn’t supposed to sound that good on these kinds of headphones. Personally, I disagree (at least on this track). The guitar was clear and précis, the harmonies of the backing singers shone through when they needed to and the bass didn’t overpower the song.

Horizon Has Been Defeated (Live) – Jack Johnson
Whilst this is my favourite version of this song (live acoustic as opposed to the Reggae style studio version), when it came to listening on these headphones I had to skip the track as the bass was a little too heavy for this. However, I’ve also listened to this song using different Beats By Dre and I also find the bass overpowering on those headphones too, I also had this problem with some Sennheisers. This is just one of those tracks that needs a balanced pair of headphones, mainly because when played live they use a bass guitar which tends to come trough too much and Jack Johnsons bassy voice gets overdone due to his singing so close to the microphone.

White Walls – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (featuring Hollis & Schoolboy Q)
This song sounded huge listened to with these headphones. The raps come out clear and crisp, the singing from Hollis comes across at just the right level, but the bass driven sound from the rest of the music is like chocolate, melting in the mouth (yes, it was that good). I also got to hear some details I’ve not heard before, which is always a bonus with headphones like this.

Overall, I’m very pleased with these headphones. They do sound better than similar headphones that would have cost £200 easily. So the fact I got them for far less is just awesome.

Though, sadly I might now go deaf with all this musical enjoyment to be had...

I got a pair of these last month http://www.amazon.co.uk/112-Comfort-Noise-Cancelling-Headphones/dp/B005ORJ0PU for my next flight.

Sound quality is excellent from my ex-audiophile's viewpoint, they tend to be slightly bass heavy when noise cancelling is off, but the noise cancelling is wonderful almost as good as the Bose units I have tested for a fraction of the price.

I paid 59.99 for them with free delivery off ebay.