Sony MDR-XB950AP Premium Xtra Bass Overhead Headphones - Black

Product Information

Staging properties, in general, are not lost between wired and Bluetooth enabled listening, however, the treble seems more solid and clean via the wired connection with a good source quality.

MDR-XB950BT Specifications | Sony IN MDR-XB950BT Specifications | Sony IN

There’s a nice feature that’s not mentioned anywhere in the manual or elsewhere that I could find. If your headphones disconnect from your device for a period of time they will auto shut-off to save on battery. This is a pretty nice feature should you take your device with you and forget to turn the headphones off. If you’re still reading this I might as well also tell you I love these cans without the bass boost. The boost isn’t bad, it just creates an earthquake. Drowns higher ranges too. However, with the above mentioned tweak, I actually found it better. Still an earthquake, but I may use the boost sometimes now.The problem is that with SBC there is lot of delay between audio and video. They are not in sync. So if you watch a movie the lips move before you hear the sound.

Sony MDR-XB950N1 Extra Bass Headphones review - TechRadar

Even with those muddled highs, I prefer the Sony MDR-XB950BT to the Sennheiser Urbanite XL. The Sony headphones have a way of replicating the timbre of a string instrument in a manner that the Sennheiser's cannot. Listening to Santiago Rodriguez's take on Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, I could actually feel the piano being played, as if I were in the room with the performer. The piano's strings seemed to thrum in my head, much like they would vibrate in my chest were I listening to the piece live. Call Quality Detailed: I gave up after months of trying to figure out how to do it. Went as far as calling Sony and seeking someone who actually knows what they are doing in product sales. The dude said it can’t be done because of the type of Bluetooth Sony designed into the headphone. The 950BT cannot output to anything but Cellular phones and tablets apparently and the codec of the PS4 is not compatible with the 950BT output for the microphone. They said shortly after this review went up that they would seek to fix this, but they never made good on any promises for it. They’ve become much intermingled with genre types that swap in an instant from Rap to Classical, Jazz to Soundscape. This headphone is one of the best and most well-rounded headphones in this price tier, period.In particular, is any the the two headphone potentionally more prone to piercing/harshness/metallic shrill/edgyness (e.g. with badly mixed songs)? I prefer smooth/warm/non-fatiguing sound, even if it results in some detail loss. Juicy, lush music where the listener is just immersed :) Better mic isolation would have improved things immeasurably. As it stands I won't be using the Sony MDR-XB950BT to walk and talk any time soon. Bottom Line The deviants over at Sony have been up to no good lately. After a string of new headphones released in 2014, Sony has shelled out another for us in the form of a Bluetooth portable called the XB950BT. I listen to all kind of musics, classical to electronic, so far this headphone is my goto headphone.

Sony MDR-XB950AP Extra Bass Headphone - Head-Fi.org Sony MDR-XB950AP Extra Bass Headphone - Head-Fi.org

The 950BT will never function with the PS4 for both audio output from the game, as well as the BT microphone. Sony explicitly told me that would never be a thing, despite them saying 2 years ago it would soon be supported. They’ve abandoned that completely some time ago. The reason is that the 950BT is not a gaming headset, it is to Sony just a headphone with a bonus BT functionality that is specifically coded to work with portable devices that accept it’s type of codecs. The PS4 has a totally different codec that will never support it. Sony wants you to buy a Sony gaming headset for it to work without issue.My first issue is that when i walk, i can hear a slight rattle in the right speaker with each step. I have no idea what the issue is, but it sure is annoying. There aren’t any Flagships like that except Sony’s older R-10 Bass heavy. So many portable sets lately in this price tier offer a dry, monitor tone that is boring, boosted treble to the point of it being fatiguing or overly bright. BATTERY LIFE: excellent battery life. I use it a few hours a day, and it'll last a few days with 50% volume up (around 60-70% in the gym) with all features enabled (noise cancelling and bass boost). Charge it over night and you have a few days worth of music!

MDR-XB950BT Specifications | Sony USA - Sony Group Portal MDR-XB950BT Specifications | Sony USA - Sony Group Portal

Thankfully, the XB950BT’s treble and midrange are fairly linear; it is only the bass that is significantly more powerful, more forward, and lively. I am not sure I can consider the midrange and treble truly recessed, due solely to the fact that the bass is just so vividly upfront and omnipresent. The bluetooth range on the 950N1 is superb. After a solid week of use I haven’t experienced one dropout, even at 30 feet away through walls and floors. The noise cancelling on this pair of headphones is not the best I've ever experienced but is still quite good in every day use. For example, when taking the bus with the noise cancelling on and my music at ~3 (iPhone) it's able to tune out (better word is drown out) the sound of the engine and people talking. Beware! I've often not heard the stop notification. The only conceivable issue I can see people having with the nc is when no music is on and you're in a very quiet environment there is a quiet static like sound. Personally I think it's not bad at all, and is incredibly easy to tune out naturally if you're working on something, but it does exist. You could also play some music, and these headphones sound fantastic so why not? That being said, I think the quiet from the nc does outweigh the static and I routinely find myself pausing the music and just using the nc function when I'm frustrated at a piece of code and need to think. It scared the crap out of me when I’d accidentally pressed it one day and had my WMP program pop up without me ever touching the keyboard or mouse. I am so tired of this sound and I don’t want it on the go, so I am incredibly happy that Sony remembered that music is supposed to be fun, that you don’t have to be critical all the time, and that epic bass can still be amazing and not grossly booming, grainy or muddy.

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If you’ve had the chance to try out the XB950AP (the wired, cheaper pair), would you consider buying that instead of the XB950BT? It doesn’t feature the bass boost feature and obviously one of the pros is not needing to charge the headphones. I don’t mind the wires personally as they are flat like my XB500’s which have never gotten tangled through my time with them. However they do become worn out over time and it’s not easy to replace when they do. As well as the general convenience of wireless BT headphones, I don’t get the luxury of connecting the XB950AP’s to my PS4/PS3 via Bluetooth which I never thought of doing until you mentioned the BT’s as being amazing gaming headphones. As a big gamer this is a brilliant thought to entertain and something I could find myself doing. Especially since they include a build-in mic.