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Topic: I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones (Read 5419 times) previous topic - next topic
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I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

first let me introduce myself, my name is Victor from brazil

im having a BIG problem.



i wanted to get into high quality sound stuff but i like bass, so i choose the XB700

i got a used one since a new one costs around 200U$ dollars here, but i found what looks like to be a very nice one, the ex-owner said he almost never used it... it looks mint and the ear coushings are perfect (in the xb700 the ear coushings are like super cheap quality in the coushings and worns off easly )
...came home to test it in my computer and wait...there is no bass, so i changed up my equalization and nothing... it has great mids and high(?) but no bass at all...so i went nervous and tried to equalize it with a ridiculous bass settings and...nothing... i mean nothing at all, it doesnt produce any diference in bass no matter how much you play with the settings of equalization

the strange thing is... in my phone(cellphone) it actually has a tiny bit more bass but not much...but more than the computer strangely

i tried everything with it on my computer...downloaded all the new drivers, tried all kinds of settings , tried to download 2 others music players etc... no luck



i do have also a Sony Pulse Elite headset and it works good on my phone and absurdly better on my pc... if i were to compare it with the XB700 there is no fight there the Pulse wins easly ...so i think there is something really wrong with my headphone  the sony pulse is a gaming headset, it wasnt made to bass, audiophile lovers to really enjoy it...and comparing to a XB700 the XB supposed to have much more quality and bass

after seeing alot of reviews of the XB700 people saying that it had an awesome bass and that the phone even heat up...not mine

after some time i send my XB700 to a technician to see if there is something wrong with them... after 3 days it came back, nothing is wrong at all he said...sure i explain it to him all this problem and that could be something wrong with the cable or the jack but he said it was like brand new...

im so deluded that im refusing to belive him.....there is something very wrong with my phone or with my computer and cellphone for not showing the bass at all

what can i do now?

i saw this thread : http://www.head-fi.org/t/606039/lost-all-m...sted-headphones
and also this one too : http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=98774

and i dont know if it is the same problem and solution but is the only thing i found on internet about headphones having no bass at all

any guidances????



should i change my connector jack?

my cables ?

does the XB700 have bass actually?

does the XB700 should normally have more bass than the Sony Pulse by comparison ? i mean does it suppose to be better than the Sony Pulse??because i dont know since my first experience with it was like this

does my phone impedance have something wrong?

does a phone like XB700 requires an amplifier ?




ive been looking for a answer for a long time...tried to post on other forums and groups but no sucess
sorry for my bad english
cheers!

I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

Reply #1 –
Check that the channels aren't shorted together and that the connector is in good condition.

I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

Reply #2 –
Quote from: saratoga on
Check that the channels aren't shorted together and that the connector is in good condition.


the connector is in great condition the overall looks like everything is pretty mint, i disassembled one ear cup to check and it seems fine, i guess if the channels were mixed(?) it would be somewere were i cant check it like inside the cables or inside the jack

hows the chances of my speakers being messed up? i mean... other than bass it does sound great, it has a bass but it is soo tiny and dull that i dont consider a bass

i really do hope it is something wrong with the cables or the jack...something i can fix...or simply a lack of amplifier ....but i got to admit that i fear spending 100-200 bucks in a amplifier and nothing change

I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

Reply #3 –
My call is you haven't clicked the headphone plug into the jack fully and still need to push them in another .5 mm or so.

I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

Reply #4 –
You might need an amplifier, but I'm not going to say that for sure...

If you want to get a headphone amplifier, the FiiO products get recommended often here at HydrogenAudio and they are not overly-expensive.  But, I don't have one myself.

Do you know if your soundcard is designed for headphones?  Most laptops are designed for headphones, but a soundcard in a desktop/tower may be a line-output that's not specifically for headphones.

Your headphones are fairly low-impedance (24 Ohms).  If the headphone amp in your computer doesn't have internal source impedance that's a fraction of the attached headphones, the interaction with the headphone impedance (which is never constant over the frequency range) results in frequency response variations.

Also, there is usually a DC blocking capacitor at the amplifier's output.  If the capacitor value is to small, the bass will also be blocked (or reduced).  If you have this problem, low-impedance headphones make these problems worse compared to higher-impedance headphones.

A well designed headphone amp won't have either problem.    Higher-impedance headphones minimize these problems.  But. that doesn't mean high impedance headphones are "better".  Higher impedance headphones generally need more voltage for the same loudness.  So higher impedance headphones may require a headphone amp with more voltage-output.   


A couple of experiments you can try -
If you have a computer speakers or stereo system and speakers that can put-out good bass, here's an experiment you can try...  Plug-in the headphones and the stereo system at the same time.  Check to see if plugging-in the headphones kills the bass in the stereo too. 

Ideally, plugging-in the headphones won't change the signal at all.  If the sound gets worse with the headphones plugged-in, you can benefit from a headphone amplifier.  You'll need a Y-Adapter (AKA a "splitter") and if you are connecting to a stereo system, an appropriate  adapter cable.

Or, if you have a desktop/tower computer, you can loop the headphone/line-output back into line-in and run an RMAA Test to check the frequency response.

It would be a good idea to check it without  headphones, and again with headphones (and the Y-Adapter).  You need a line-input, so the RMAA test isn't so easy on a normal laptop, which usually has only mic-in and headphone-out.

I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

Reply #5 –
> My call is you haven't clicked the headphone plug into the jack fully and still need to push them in another .5 mm or so.

This would be the first thing to try, even if just to eliminate it before moving on to more complex solutions.

I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

Reply #6 –
Quote from: lisanty on
first let me introduce myself, my name is Victor from brazil

im having a BIG problem.

I wanted to get into high quality sound stuff but i like bass, so i choose the XB700

I got a used one since a new one costs around 200U$ dollars here, but i found what looks like to be a very nice one, the ex-owner said he almost never used it... it looks mint and the ear cushions are perfect (in the xb700 the ear cushions are like super cheap quality in the cushions and worn off easly )

...came home to test it in my computer and wait...there is no bass, so i changed up my equalization and nothing... it has great mids and high(?) but no bass at all...so i went nervous and tried to equalize it with a ridiculous bass settings and...nothing... i mean nothing at all, it doesn't produce any diference in bass no matter how much you play with the settings of equalization


Try a different source. You didn't say which PC you are using to drive these headphones, but it could be one that has a built in bass roll-off for relatively low impedance headphones.  A cheap but effective reference source would be a Sansa Clip or Fuze.

Quote
the strange thing is... in my phone(cellphone) it actually has a tiny bit more bass but not much...but more than the computer strangely


Not so strange. You didn't say what phone either. Not all computers and phones sound the same.

Quote
I tried everything with it on my computer...downloaded all the new drivers, tried all kinds of settings , tried to download 2 others music players etc... no luck


Good things to try, but if the problem is the interface between the headphones and the computer, then they can't help.

Quote
i do have also a Sony Pulse Elite headset and it works good on my phone and absurdly better on my pc... if i were to compare it with the XB700 there is no fight there the Pulse wins easly ...so i think there is something really wrong with my headphone  the sony pulse is a gaming headset, it wasnt made to bass, audiophile lovers to really enjoy it...and comparing to a XB700 the XB supposed to have much more quality and bass


Sony Pulse Elite are wireless, and the wireless electronics isolate the source from the headphones.  It is unlikely that wireless headphones are going to be as critical of the quality of the electronics driving the headphone jack.

Quote
after seeing alot of reviews of the XB700 people saying that it had an awesome bass and that the phone even heat up...not mine


The heating effect should be observed with any low impedance headphones with moderate efficiency being played loud.  Its not a reliable sign of sound quality.

Quote
after some time i send my XB700 to a technician to see if there is something wrong with them... after 3 days it came back, nothing is wrong at all he said...sure i explain it to him all this problem and that could be something wrong with the cable or the jack but he said it was like brand new...


OK


I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

Reply #7 –
XB stands for exaggerated extra bass:

I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

Reply #8 –
Quote from: DVDdoug on
You might need an amplifier, but I'm not going to say that for sure...

If you want to get a headphone amplifier, the FiiO products get recommended often here at HydrogenAudio and they are not overly-expensive.  But, I don't have one myself.

Do you know if your soundcard is designed for headphones?  Most laptops are designed for headphones, but a soundcard in a desktop/tower may be a line-output that's not specifically for headphones.

Your headphones are fairly low-impedance (24 Ohms).  If the headphone amp in your computer doesn't have internal source impedance that's a fraction of the attached headphones, the interaction with the headphone impedance (which is never constant over the frequency range) results in frequency response variations.

Also, there is usually a DC blocking capacitor at the amplifier's output.  If the capacitor value is to small, the bass will also be blocked (or reduced).  If you have this problem, low-impedance headphones make these problems worse compared to higher-impedance headphones.

A well designed headphone amp won't have either problem.    Higher-impedance headphones minimize these problems.  But. that doesn't mean high impedance headphones are "better".  Higher impedance headphones generally need more voltage for the same loudness.  So higher impedance headphones may require a headphone amp with more voltage-output.   


A couple of experiments you can try -
If you have a computer speakers or stereo system and speakers that can put-out good bass, here's an experiment you can try...  Plug-in the headphones and the stereo system at the same time.  Check to see if plugging-in the headphones kills the bass in the stereo too. 

Ideally, plugging-in the headphones won't change the signal at all.  If the sound gets worse with the headphones plugged-in, you can benefit from a headphone amplifier.  You'll need a Y-Adapter (AKA a "splitter") and if you are connecting to a stereo system, an appropriate  adapter cable.

Or, if you have a desktop/tower computer, you can loop the headphone/line-output back into line-in and run an RMAA Test to check the frequency response.

It would be a good idea to check it without  headphones, and again with headphones (and the Y-Adapter).  You need a line-input, so the RMAA test isn't so easy on a normal laptop, which usually has only mic-in and headphone-out.

Thank you for the response , i end up doing some tests on different electronics and i discovered the phone is working! but not how i expected , it really doest have a "wow" bass... the computer i was talking about is a laptop, and it is the main cause i tought that the phone were broken because when i connect to the laptop i have no bass :/



Quote from: mzil on
My call is you haven't clicked the headphone plug into the jack fully and still need to push them in another .5 mm or so.

Quote from: dhromed on
> My call is you haven't clicked the headphone plug into the jack fully and still need to push them in another .5 mm or so.

This would be the first thing to try, even if just to eliminate it before moving on to more complex solutions.

haaha i know it would be a bit dumb of me to left the jack semi pluged without checking it, but i confess i didnt though about it so i re-checked and i was doing it right thankfuly 
but i see what you mean, half way pluged jacks can sound pretty weird


Quote from: mzil on
XB stands for exaggerated extra bass:

sorry for taking so long to come back and answer, yes i kinda find a solution but i found a problem too


the thing is, after testing it with other devices i discovered my phone is in fact working which is good but... my laptop was the cause of me thinking it was broken.. when i plug into it , it shows no bass no matter what settings, programs and stuff you do

i never had this problem with my laptop, earbuds and even my sony pulse works wonders with it, but the XB700.....i think it have a Realtek soundcard and i saw alot of people reporting problems with the Realtek sound...but there has been no solution i can find to make the phone  work with my laptop :/ .... any suggestions ? i really use alot my laptop and i wish i could somehow fix this problem

I lost all my bass on Sony MDR-XB700 headphones

Reply #9 –
Quote from: DVDdoug on
You might need an amplifier, but I'm not going to say that for sure...


The question at hand is what to do about a digital music player whose headphone driver is inadequate. The most common kinds of inadequacy are:

(1) Sufficient loudness

(2) Sufficiently low source impedance.

There are two potentially practical approaches:

(a) A headphone amplifier, such as those by FIIO and Topping

(b) a whole new USB audio interface that includes an appropriate headphone amplifier.

Quote
If you want to get a headphone amplifier, the FiiO products get recommended often here at HydrogenAudio and they are not overly-expensive.  But, I don't have one myself.


I have over the years invested in a number of these products and find the Topping NX1 headphone amplifier to be the most practical solution of them all.

Quote
Do you know if your soundcard is designed for headphones?  Most laptops are designed for headphones, but a soundcard in a desktop/tower may be a line-output that's not specifically for headphones.


I actually don't know that this is true. I'd like to see measurements to back that up.

Quote
Your headphones are fairly low-impedance (24 Ohms).  If the headphone amp in your computer doesn't have internal source impedance that's a fraction of the attached headphones, the interaction with the headphone impedance (which is
never constant over the frequency range) results in frequency response variations.


Agreed.

Quote
Also, there is usually a DC blocking capacitor at the amplifier's output.  If the capacitor value is to small, the bass will also be blocked (or reduced).  If you have this problem, low-impedance headphones make these problems worse compared to higher-impedance headphones.


Agreed with the addendum that the most practical solution to this problem appears a headphone amplifier that uses active means to avoid the need for the capacitors. The active circuit takes a little power and minuscule real estate on the headphone amplifier chip. While the size/performance of capacitors has been improving dramatically, a sufficiently large pair of capacitors appear to be simply too large for modern highly portable gear.

Quote
A well designed headphone amp won't have either problem.    Higher-impedance headphones minimize these problems.  But. that doesn't mean high impedance headphones are "better".  Higher impedance headphones generally need more voltage for the same loudness.  So higher impedance headphones may require a headphone amp with more voltage-output.


Both good points. An effective headphone amp needs enough voltage to adequately drive both less sensitive headphones and high impedance headphones, as well as a low enough source impedance to serve the needs of both.  Many contemporary audio interfaces particularly those that are internal tend to have source impedances that are way too low for low impedance phones. Many have source impedances that are so high that they are even marginal or problematical with high impedance headphones.


Quote
A couple of experiments you can try -
If you have a computer speakers or stereo system and speakers that can put-out good bass, here's an experiment you can try...  Plug-in the headphones and the stereo system at the same time.  Check to see if plugging-in the headphones kills the bass in the stereo too.


Good suggestion!

Quote
Ideally, plugging-in the headphones won't change the signal at all.  If the sound gets worse with the headphones plugged-in, you can benefit from a headphone amplifier.  You'll need a Y-Adapter (AKA a "splitter") and if you are connecting to a stereo system, an appropriate  adapter cable.


if you are dealing with Monoprice their shipping charges will make  up the majority of the invoice. Similar products can be obtained on eBay with *free* shipping for less, but the delivery time may be weeks. Well, you've waited weeks to do this and didn't even know it, so you pays your money and you makes your choice.

Quote
Or, if you have a desktop/tower computer, you can loop the headphone/line-output back into line-in and run an RMAA Test to check the frequency response.

It would be a good idea to check it without  headphones, and again with headphones (and the Y-Adapter).  You need a line-input, so the RMAA test isn't so easy on a normal laptop, which usually has only mic-in and headphone-out.


These days a lot of laptops have mic-in jacks that will dynamically change themselves over to be line-in jacks.

Recording interfaces cost more, but the Behringer UCA-202 has a good line input for a nominal price, its short comings as a headphone driver notwithstanding. Of course a UCA 202 + a Topping NX-1 are still less costly than many other USB audio interfaces.

A good review of the UCA 202 detailing its problem with directly driving many  headphones