Sony XBA-3SL

The entire Sony XBA Line is stunning: very sensitive and well executed lines, comfortable despite size, flat cable, nice case, a 90'plug.
 
The first time I tried the Xba3 the sound wasn't appealing at all. Unnatural and spiky treble, (some people refers as metallic sound) and didn't cope well with my recordings. Nowadays I understand the praise and it has to do (IMO) with music genres: I find the xba-3 perfect for jazz recording, in fact I never hear anything closer in terms of overall satisfaction for Jazz, classical is also very enjoyable.
 
I decided to mod them, I used micropore tape to reduce a bit the treble, although they lost a bit of detail they sound better for me. 
 
My main source is an Iphone 4s. The sound is quite melodic in my opinion. 
The sound changes a lot using a laptop/ipod/mp3 player or amps.

could have been a perfect phone if it had better sound stage and a bit more prominent mids , bass lacks pace , but its okay , i will take that , the sound sig is dark warm , and notes are thick , clarity is not a problem can be driven from daps , but a bit more life to highs will do good , amping does help . i like these as much as i hate these , why in this world , why a J cable ? and no cable clip ?
 
nice carry pouch , cable is good too .

 
, i like the design , 3.5mm pin is the best part of it . added a cable clip , i had a few from sony .
 
overall , its a nice phone if you can live with J cable , one of the best i must say .

When I first listened to XBA 3 I was startled at the detail of the sound that these earphones produced. Even lower bit rate audio sounded bright and detailed with clearly separated instruments.
The package contains noise isolation silicone earbuds with stuffing inside that blocks lot of noise. When you are in the street wearing this be careful because you wont hear any outside noise.
The soundstage is good for IEM but the bass needs lot of amplifying to get the desired result.