Once you’ve clasped these big-bass cans over your ears, you’ll feel every bit of the £59 you paid for them. They’re certainly very comfortable and provide quite a bit of isolation due to the reassuringly tight grip they take on your head. One small gripe is that the cable comes out of both ears rather than one, which can be annoying when getting them on and off.

With a 40mm driver, the XB500s deliver an extremely powerful bottom end - so powerful, in fact, that it kind of fights off all the other frequency bands. The mid is present but not very prominent, and the treble is much too shy. Using an EQ with a hefty treble boost brings these headphones to life, making them sound fantastic for the price, but that’s hardly ideal.

So, the XB500s definitely aren’t suitable for mixing, but if you love big-bass genres like hip-hop, dubstep and reggae and don’t mind EQing or a dealing with a rolled-off high end, you’ll like them a lot.

35 Stars