When Meghan Trainor wrote “All About That Bass,” she could have been talking about Sony’s MDR-XB450BV headphone.
These things are certainly all about the bass. They’ll shake the fillings out of your teeth, man.
As a whole, these headphone are rather stylish, with shiny black metal exteriors and big, puffy earphones that do a decent job of reducing outside noise.
But the obvious selling point is the bass. Pop in two AAA batteries, hit a switch, and a bass “resonance chamber” will kick in. Kick is the appropriate word. These headphones come with vibration control switch, which at first seemed like a joke. However, they’re a necessary part of the kit. Even songs without a heavy bassline will suddenly achieve club-like levels of boom. But put on a little Public Enemy and the vibration control will be the only thing keeping the headphones on your head.
Unfortunately, for audio-lovers, there is not much more to them than that. After about 10 minutes, the novelty will start to wear thin and you will be left with little more than an average set of headphones. Granted, for Dh300, these will still be better than a pair of earbuds, but that is due mainly to the sound cancelling ear pads and larger speakers.
If you’re looking for high-quality audio, the kind that you can play your Apple Loseless or FLAC audio files, then keep looking. If you’re looking to replicate the feeling of standing next to stadium speakers, then these headphones are for you.
