[d marc0]

For those who own the XBA-3/30 and XBA-4/40's, no need for the H1. The older series sounds better in my book.

Guess I'll just have to wait for other hybrids to come up, skip the Sony offerings for now. Glad I kept the xba3 all along...

 

[Hutnicks]

  Hmmm C_S_M_DJ_T gots a nice ring to it, me likey!!!

 
Thanks Twi-Hard i am sure you fried a few cat cracks to think that one up, not to mention those brain cells. Try not to sniff too hard might not have enough left to be excited over.

 
Cee_how i just Slayed_ this Man with_Dat Juxtaposed_Thematic

Oh great KittyPorn!

 

[sfwalcer]

 
Oh great Kitty_CRACK_Porn!

^ FTFY!!!
 
... oh someone cared alright. You know who be lurking behind that poor lil' blissfully innocent kitty.

OH THE HUMANITY!!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

 

 

[getclikinagas]

If you can find a used XBA3/30 for cheap, I'd say its a no brainer but at $150, the H1 is still worthy. I just compared it to the XBA-40 and the signature is close but the 40 beats it in overall refinement and space around instruments. Believe it or not, the 40's bass reaches a little deeper so I assume H1's bass might be quite similar to the 3/30's. When I owned the 30's and 40's together, I ended up keeping the 40's for that added bass and larger stage but the 30's sounded technically more accurate and was better with all genres of music. The older XBA phones are still very good to this day.

Aha... but thats where I get stuck.
I can get a brand new XBA H1 for 99$ and the XBA 3 for 130$. But I wouldn't mind buying the XBA3 if its definitely better than the H1.
 
Also 40ohms? WIll a sansa clip+ do justice?

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

  Aha... but thats where I get stuck.
I can get a brand new XBA H1 for 99$ and the XBA 3 for 130$. But I wouldn't mind buying the XBA3 if its definitely better than the H1.
 
Also 40ohms? WIll a sansa clip+ do justice?

 
I would get the H1

 

[doctorjazz]

Haven't heard the new hybrid Sony's yet, but my XBA-3 has remained in my iem lineup since I got them...If you wait and look around, I'd bet they'll be available again at some point for less than $100.
 
SF-which Beyers you got?

 

[doctorjazz]

(There's always the Monster GRatitudes for about $60 on Amazon...) 

 

[doctorjazz]

I own the XBA 3 and my roommate owns the XBA 4. While the XBA 4 is 'technically' better, Sony did a lot better job tuning the XBA 3 than the XBA 4.
 
Results vary from genre to genre, but XBA 3 generally sounds either as good, or better. XBA 4 has a few odd spikes in its frequency response, and can often induce headaches.
 
I will add that XBA 4 is undoubtedly better for movies/games, from my experience. Movies/games really benefit from the extra driver.
 
Cheers.
 
 
 
...From the Deals thread

 

[Vain III]

(There's always the Monster GRatitudes for about $60 on Amazon...) 

On that note mine will actually get here today. I cannot wait to have a proper triple flange in my ear.

 

[MrEleventy]

sf wandered into beyerland! Welcome. Next step is dt880s.... :veryevil:

 

[Dsnuts]

It is a damn shame about the new Sony Hybrids..

 

[goodvibes]

 

 

Features:

1. Discrete asynchronous USB audio receiver and D/A converter stages
2. Should read independent and not discrete as that gives another implied meaning in electronics
3. Direct-Stream Digital (DSD) decoding capability
4. They have a conversion program for Foobar so nothing on board. A bit limited and misleading and nothing beyond 24/96 which probably sufficient considering it's limited by commonly bneing used via a computer usb source.
5. Coaxial S/PDIF output
6. Double jitter-reduction mechanism at data level and at over-sampling filter stage
7. ASRC and oversampling like most everything. Remove the 'A' and use symmetrical upsampling and it would be a more unique.
8. High voltage 2V analog output
9. A linear TOCOS volume control for improved channel tracking at low listening levels
10. This has shown tracking problems in the past so not really a 'feature'
11. No capacitors in any of the audio signal paths
12. This feature and feature set in general other than DSD are identical to the udac-2 which had an output impedance of 6 ohms. This could be different.
13. USB-powered, no external power supply required 
14. Outboard supply is lesss convenient but generally better than whats on the PC bus.
15. Headphones impedances between 16 and 300-Ohms are suitable for use with Icon uDAC-3  
16. See 2 up

 
 

This in no way takes away from your listening impressions on the unit's performance but there is a fair bit of marketing in their descriptions. There's a Voldemort tech review of the -2 if anyone's interested. May not relate to this model.

 

[Dsnuts]

Ya the DSD feature don't even work as there is a driver issue with the review unit I got..Tried the uDAC-3 on 3 different computers and all three came out 16bit drivers..Oh well it ain't like I was gonna use DSD much anyhow but kinda lame as I do own 24bit high res recordings that seem to down sample while I was testing the tracks out. They certainly sound good enough but probably not playing at full 24bit resolution.
 
Overall I was very impressed with the sound quality of the uDAC-3. I think NuForce is looking into the driver issue and will probably issue a new driver for the dacs.

 

[ericp10]

Oh you hybrid lovers, another one will be dropped on your table for your consideration. Give me a few days.

 

[nihontoman]

Oh you hybrid lovers, another one will be dropped on your table for your consideration. Give me a few days.

I'm guessing it's the new TDK hybrid?