Headphones for music with serious amounts of bass : Sony

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Headphones for music with serious amounts of bass R&B, hip hop, dub, drum ‘n' bass, reggae…Musical styles have evolved, so why not headphones?

The engineering story

Inspiration

Looking through his own CD collection, our sound engineer realised that musical tastes have changed dramatically over the years – running a lot deeper than chart indie and lone singer songwriters. But headphone design hasn’t changed.
After analysing a decade of popular music culture from 1999 to 2009, what we need, he thought, is some extra bass...

Creation

Most modern headphones are more suited to older styles of music and unable to accurately reproduce the bass lines of dance tracks.

To redesign them meant visiting lots of clubs and working closely with lots of DJs to delve even deeper into the latest audio experiences.

Back to the drawing board, our sound engineer came up with a mega-powerful new concept: A long-stroke diaphragm that accurately reproduces ultra-low frequency tones thanks to its corrugated surround.

And the inspiration for the ultra soft comfy ear cushions? A squashy leather sofa.

Demonstration

Our flagship MDR-XB700 headphones deliver an amazingly balanced, high quality audio adventure.

With a unique direct vibe structure to stop sound leaking out, the bass spectrum is expanded to help you better feel the music – just like standing in front of a huge pair of Club / Dancehall speakers.

Featured products with this technology

MDR-XB700

Weight: 295gr
Driver size: 50mm
50mm XB driver unit

MDR-XB500

Weight: 185gr
Driver size: 40mm
40mm XB driver unit

MDR-XB300

Weight: 120gr
Driver size: 14mm
30mm XB driver unit

MDR-XB40EX

Weight: 9gr
Driver size: 14mm
13.5mm XB driver unit

MDR-XB20EX

Weight: 6gr
Driver size: 9mm
9mm XB driver unit

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Headphones for music with serious amounts of bass