Sony MDR XB400 Review : After Burn-In

I have always been a "in-ear" earphones person. So last week i decided to try out the "on-ear" pairs. After a day of references and researches, i bought the Sony MDR XB400 Xtra Bass headphones. Ordered off Snapdeal for Rs.1700/-, got it two days later.

To the point first. Does it pack pumpy bass?! Well, not so much as advertised and expected but the bass is there. But not the Gut kicking drop feel bass.

If you play some songs of 320kbps, they will sound good with the bass more profound. It'll drown a bit of mid-lows though. After the burn-in process, i played "Summit - Skrillex" on full blast and guess what??? My ears were vibrating! and the headphones too, literally. Yet, i never found my soul drop as it does on my 5.1 speaker system. You'll end up with a good playback of high quality songs.

If you play songs of 192kbps etc, the bass will overpower the other frequencies and all you can hear is the boom, fuzzy boom so this is a no go for low quality songs. That's it in the audio dept.

Coming to build, the cans are made of good quality plastic. You get a chrome ring around a glossy back enclosure with SONY logo's on it. If you are planning to hit the streets with these on, You'll definitely make an impression. The earpads are soft and very comfy but feel delicate. A rotating hinge lets you fold the cups flat for travel. The headband rests easy on your head and won't squish you. Wires are made flat and textured so as to avoid tanglement. A gold plated L-shaped 3.5mm at the end makes it compatible with any music player.

If you are looking for ass kicking bass, i doubt you'll find them in On-ear headphones. Better invest in In-ears or shell a lot more to get one of the BOSE.

These headphones don't quite justify their price tag in performance but they will in the fashion sector. These pairs could have been priced lower.

Make your own capacitive stylus

This is an original idea and this is it's first publication

- Dairy milk chocolate or any other which comes with an aluminium foil

- A pen

Step 1: Take the foil and roll it smoothly around the pen.

Step 2: Smush the tip of the foil in and flatten out the edges

Step 3: Cellotape the outer edge of the foil to the pen so it stays in place

To use it, your hands must always be in contact with aluminium foil

Make the surface of the tip flat so that it comes in contact with the screen

Nokia X2-02 Overview

Nokia X2-02

Overview

Hardware / Looks

The build of the Nokia x2-02 is very good. Even though it's made completely from plastic, it feels very durable in the hand. It has a 2.2inch QVGA screen which has excellent outdoor visiblity and greater contrast. A 5-way Dpad is included as it runs Symbian S40. Numpad keys are separated and provides satisfactory clicks, you get good typing speeds. There are dedicated music controls on the sides which are set at an odd angle, you have to push them really hard to make a point. The back consists of a 2Mp fixed focus camera and a 106phon loudspeaker. Back panel is given a matte texture and clings to the body with no squeaks. A small slot is provided at the bottom for a strap. You also get a 3.5mm earphone jack, standard miniUSB port and a 2mm charging slot at the top. A Hot swap Secondary SIM slot along with Hot swap Memory card slot are located at the sides. Powered by a BL-5C 1020mAH battery, it can survive for 4 days with regular use. The primary SIM slot which resides beneath the battery is very difficult to open. You can get your finger nails torn apart prying the slot open.

User Interface / Software

x2-02 runs on Dual SIM version of the S40 6th edition OS. The UI is a bit more refined compared to the older s40 devices. You don't have to navigate a maze of menus to get to the target. Active standby function is included. Little widgets (Clock, shortcuts, music control, SIM swap etc) can be arranged in a fixed 4 row grid. 

Depressing '*' key brings up the SIM selection panel. Here you can choose which sim does what. Example : i can have Sim1 do the texting and calls, and Sim2 do the Internet and multimedia messages.

A search bar is provided in the Contact book

Nokia's Ovi Appstore is preinstalled which lets you download optimized applications to your phone. Nokia MusicStore and Lifetools are included too.

Clicking the hardware Play button will start playing the music wherever you are in the menus

Music Player supports Album art , Playlists and Equalizers. Can be controlled from the Active Standby screen. Output volume through earphones is acceptable. Output volume through loudspeaker is deafening!!

Party Piece/ Other features

The important party piece in the Nokia x2-02 is the 'Play via Radio' function. You can broadcast your songs !! It streams music in your phone to the radios in your house or car thus eliminating the need of docks and wires. 

Lets say i'll set a frequency of 95Mhz in my Nokia and stream music on that frequency. Now i'll set my home/car radio to the same 95Mhz spectrum and lo!....You became an RJ. Broadcast range is upto 10meters.

Since it has it's own FM transreciever , it doesn't need an earphone plugged in to start the radio. Press the button and your grooving instantly.

Being a dual sim cellphone, the Nokia x2-02 can handle 2 SIMs at a time. Active Standby for both the SIMs. A Hot swappable slot for secondary SIM means you can let your friends put their own SIM to make their own call on excuses for their phones being run out off power ;)

2Mp camera in a low end feature phone is high as it can get now. Standard performance. Enough for pics of the funny signs you come across on the road. Video recording is horrible.

Phone memory is 12mb which can expanded upto 32GB! 

2.2' 320x240 res TFT LCD screen is the best in the price category.

106phon speaker is very loud and quite annoying on the streets. But the clarity is maintained even at high volume.

Price / Alternatives

It cost me Rs.3400/- when i purchased the phone in January, but it has come down to Rs.3200/- now. A very good value for money. You get more features than any other phones in the price range.

Although if you need a Dual SIM phone and can do without the bells and whistles like on the x2-02, You can look into the SAMSUNG HERO 2232 or the Latest SAMSUNG Guru Music. The hero is available for 2,500 and the guru for 1,700. 

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