I've used Brembo pads before and they were fine, these days I tend to use EBC but for no particular reason. Generally get a known brand rather than some you see on Ebay etc. Sintered pads were thought to give better braking but wear the disc a bit faster. Big thing I've found with XBR's is to check that both brake pistons are coming on evenly, XBR's tend to suffer with sticky pistons and I often found that one is coming on more than the other which makes a big difference to the brake performance. Working properly I've never found the XBR front brake wanting for normal road riding.
Oh, if you don't already have one get a braided front brake hose, that helps too.