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. On wired connection on flat EQ, the bass is still powerful and satisfying but I found it incredible that the mids and treble were not lost behind the potent low end. Looks certainly aren't everything for a headphone, but they are an area where the XB950AP/H does well. While quite a few of the XB series sport garish colour combinations, the XB950AP/H is a mixture of gunmetal and matte grey, and has a fairly refined sensibility. It's not eye-catching, which is, in my opinion, for the best. It's not a fashion statement, and it won't clash with anything one wants to pair it with, but the smooth lines, fairly low-profile fit, and well-matched colours leave it pretty easy on the eyes.

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. The bass on this headphone is extreme, this is in fact one of the most bass-heavy headphones I’ve come across in a while…and I love it. Via BT enabled, the Bass Booster button on the left ear cup becomes available. 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. The XB950BT is very comfortable and light at only 280g. Gotta’ admit it is so very refreshing to have a headphone that not only sounds this good but also one that is very comfortable and intelligently designed from an exterior point of view.

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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 Sony MDR-XB950AP extra bass headphones contain powerful lightweight 40mm neodymium drivers that produce adeep, balanced sound, even at high volume.Sony combined these drivers with a highly sensitive diaphragm that enables users to turn the headphone volume up louder without needing an amp. The wideband frequency range of 3 Hz to 28 kHz is designed for today’s bass-heavy music. Sony wins in this department. It has a wider and more multidimensional soundstage than the Audio-Technica and is more accurate in its placement of instruments SUMMARY I did experience the typical cut-out now and then which occurred every few minutes, just as I did with the recent Koss BT headphone that I’d reviewed. However, it isn’t at all a problem. 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. You don’t know anything of headphones, so I explain: when the audio is transmitted over Bluetooth, it much be encoded. The traditional SBC codec does not give a very good audio quality, although very good (and more expensive) bluetooth headphones use a better kind of SBC which sounds good.The XB950BT is one of the best gaming headphones I’ve ever used. While not amazing with pinpoint accuracy that is best suited for FPS gaming, the overall experience is so vivid and fun that I have discontinued usage of all other headphones for gaming needs in most cases. I really want the higher frequencies to deliver and I use a custom audio driver on my Xperia Z2 (Viper4Android) which allows some very complex and advanced tweaking to get that perfect audio setting tailored for me. I would imagine that messing with a capable equaliser on my device of choice should be able to squeeze out a few more drops in all the frequencies? It’s worked for my XB500’s so I would think it would work for this. The frustrating thing is I can’t (yet?) reproduce this while plugged in because the BT buttons deactivate in plugged-in mode. Anyway, I don’t know if it was a freak of nature on my headset but it works. Seems like I have to hit the BT volume button up again each song change (there’s a beep – then I adjust the iPhone volume), and voila. 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.