Sony - MDR-XB500

I think the MDR XB500 deserves an honorable mention for maybe some of the best bass ever.

The entire first-gen "pillow" XB semi-open headphone line is legendary except maybe the XB300. That's the XB500, XB700, and XB1000. The XB1000 had a short production run and is difficult to obtain, and is now worth >$1000 on the secondary market. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfPEm80kwCc) is a comparison of all three. Sony's open headphone swan song was the MA900 which was a lighter HD600 alternative. It, too, has appreciated in value because no one realized at the time that it would be Sony's last open headphone. That was **10 years ago.** Then Sony decided that open headphones were too niche of a market and stopped making them. Every full-sized headphone they've made since the MA900 is closed, and the current XB line of headphones are just low-end closed wireless versions of the 1000X line.

Owning an XB500 I can tell you there are headphones with much higher quality bass (Fostex TH series, Focal Utopia, HiFiMAN HE-6, Audeze LCD-4, etc).

i read your edit and I totally get where youre coming from! I could write a 10 page story time monologue about how rage inducing that is and my own experience with the sony wf-xm4's (known battery drain issue in the right ear bud) that i really liked and the Brainwavz HM5 that also sold under NVX XPT100 I would actually go into threads and just rage when users would would recommend them with known qc issues and flat out ignore it even in the face of evidence. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/brainwavz-hm5-cracking-headband.669600/ Why people recommend bad products that are known to break when theres better alternatives around I have no idea. I see it as a form of marketing /schilling I hold a personal grudge against the youtuber zreviews for them And all the muppets who would advocate for them https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/1x9pfm/biweekly_headphone_purchase_advice_thread_20140207/cf9m3gh/?context=3 And to me this post kind of falls under that category too. So even though op seems like a cool dude, I view him as a naive ignorant untrustworthy reviewer. But he has been engaging and honest enough in this post https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/1kq3jvl/sony_finally_got_it_right_almost/mt7ih14/ Thats my take on why these should be avoided And i think youre justified in your annoyance and anger. That said pretty much all the brands seem to have qc issues these days specially in the wireless department so its tough. Sorry for your loss! i know that pain! So not fun! I still kind of love sony though just because the xb500 and Z1R were two of my all time favourite headphones.