[warrior1975]

Hbb did some brief comparisons, I believe in this thread, he chose asg but I don't remember exactly why.

 

[johnwamp55]

  Can I get some Sony XBA-Z5 vs ASG 2.5 comparisons please? Just found this...

I have the Z5, ASG 2.0 and the ASG3 has equal Bass quantity but not Bass depth compared to the Z5. The ASG 2 has a better fit due to its earpiece design.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

  Can I get some Sony XBA-Z5 vs ASG 2.5 comparisons please? Just found this...

 I chose the A2 by Sony over the Z5 because the Z5 was bass dominant and adjusting my eq only muted the dominance. The A2 was clearly clearer

and had bass that could be ratcheted up .
 
The ASG 2.5 is IMO clearly better than the Shure 846. Find a person that owns both and ask them. I have "A" "B" 'd them and it's the 2.5. The 846 are 999 on Amazon right now. Ask an owner of both. I can find a review by a guy who owns both and heard what I did. That price you just linked is 250 less than i paid in Japan and I am cool with what I paid.
 
I'd say the flexibility via tuning port Universal IEM fit and soundstage make the comparison unfair for the Z5.
 
 
Here's the comparison
 

  Not my quote
 

Here is some comparison with my Fitear 335SR and my Shure 846.
NB: I use the blue filter with shure olive on the 846, the bass port is colsed completely on the 2.5. The comparison was done with a Sony ZX1 as a source. I'm not an english native speaker so excuse my low level english

.
 
 
Resolution: those 3 are sensibly in the same league.
 
Detail retrieval: slightly better on 335SR and 846 because of the upper mids and trebles more emphasized.
 
bass: the 2.5 and 335SR share some similarities on the bass department. Thay have very full bass. The 2.5 has however more sub bass leading to more punch, and the 335SR have slightly more midbass. The 335SR bass might be a little bit more articulated with more speed. The 2.5 have a more natural sound in the bass department. I feel the bass quantity is time to time too much on the 2.5. The 846 will best those two in my opinion. The balance beetween sub bass and mid bass is perfect, the bass get never overhelmed, the punch and texture are wonderfull and the speed is better than 335SR or 2.5. The bass of the 846 feel so clean.
 
Mids: the mids presentation is very different on those 3. The 846 has a "in your face" mids presentation, with the upper mids emphasized. It has a very raw texture leading to a very exciting sound. The 2.5 has a very smooth mids, the warmest of the 3, with the best natural feeling of the 3 and the most relax presentation. The upper mids are slightly seted back. Great articulation too. The 335SR is in the warm side too, like the 2.5, they have a very lush presentation. The upper mids are slightly more than the 2.5 and less than the 846. They have the most neutral mids of the 3. The articulation is great too. The mids are top notch on those three IEM.
 
High: the 846 have the highs with the most energy of the 3. There is still this raw and grainy feeling in the sound with an amazing texture. But they are some kind of darkish highs. The 335SR high are very refined, very smooth with great texture too. The hamonics are very easy to catch and the extension is great for an IEM. Technically maybe the best highs I ever heard from an IEM with a perfect trnasition between the upper mid range and the highs. They are also no fatiguing. There is slightly less quantity in the 2.5. The extension is as great as the 335SR but they feel slightly thiner than the 335SR trebles. Everything is there but seted back a little bit in comparison to the 335SR. They tend to pop up a little bit as the upper mid is seted down. They are also very refined trebles with no fatigue at all.
 
Soundstage: The 846 has the smallest soundstage of the 3, but there is a great deepness in it, and the presentation is very coherent as a whole. I really love the soundstage of the 846 because of this. The 335SR has a more laidback presentation in the soundstage, it is wider than the 846. The deep is on part. The listener position is slightly higher (the sound comes slighltly from the bottom) when the sounds is right in front of you with the 846. The soundstage is great on the 335SR but between the two I prefer by a small margin the 846 soundstage. But the 2.5 soundstage will beat those two in every aspect. The 2.5 has this insanely huge soundstage for an IEM. It gets closer to an open headphone feeling than the 2 others. There is a lot of more volume and 3D feeling in the 2.5. As the 335SR it is more laidback than the 846.The coherency on the 2.5 soundstage is top notch. It's the best soundstage I've ever experiment in an IEM, period (and I tried a lot of top end IEM).
 
Conclusion: those are 3 outstanding IEMs. The 846 has this very exciting and engaging sound, with this raw texture pretty unique in an IEM and this "in your face" presentation, and a lot of punch. The 846 has I believe the best bass in an IEM. The 335SR is the most neutral of the 3 (but still in the warm side), it has a very lush and reffined sound. The most articulate sound, with a little emphasis in the mid bass. The trebles are outstanding. The 2.5 (the darkest of the 3) shine with this unmatched natural feeling of the sound and unmatched soundstage. They are a very relax sounding IEM while having a lot of energy in the bass section, the hybrid design do a wonderfull job.
Technically those 3 are to my ears in the same league with different flavors. The 2.5 being far cheaper than the 2 others, it is one of the greatest value high end IEMs around her.

 

[Charlie Norwood]

Hbb did some brief comparisons, I believe in this thread, he chose asg but I don't remember exactly why.

Essentially I think he doesn't like the crossover on the z5. Which, fair enough. But I guess I just want to know, as a basshead, which one of these (when amped) slams the most? Or is it about the same, just with a different hump? 

 

[warrior1975]

I never heard the Sony, but I have had a number of bass head IEMS and the bass in the asg is on a different level, with an adjustable port too...

For me the bass is not even close between the Shure SE846 and g2. Only iem that compares is the Ref 1, which is almost double the price, and comes in one flavor. I did prefer the Ref 1 bass but quality wise, g2 with the port about 75% open starts edging out the tralucent Ref 1, but at that level it's really insane. They are both amazing but Ref 1 fit and wiring can really take away from the experience.

Sorry, complete tangent...

 

[Charlie Norwood]

@Hawaiibadboy Roger that. Seems like I should pull the trigger on the 2.5s... I paid undermarket for the z5's as well and with the hypetrain in full effect on head-fi for both of these right now, unloading either shouldn't be a problem. I tend to agree with you on the tuning ports being necessary for a basshead iem; I had some Hippo VB's a long time ago that could shake my eyeballs, too bad the rest sounded like ass.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

  Essentially I think he doesn't like the crossover on the z5. Which, fair enough. But I guess I just want to know, as a basshead, which one of these (when amped) slams the most? Or is it about the same, just with a different hump? 

 The Z5 has an aluminum coated driver. It is the same error made with the Z7 over ear. That set is not basshead or Audiophile (Z7).
If your a basshead like me you should be wary of metallic coated drivers as they create a faster decay by design and that does not bode well for the sub bass hang time or the trans from bass to mids which i heard with my own ear on the Z7 and Z5. The bass is indeed peaking later close to 100Hz according to graphs and 80Hz to my ears. That's too late and the sub bass is all wrong like on the Z7.
 
I love the 2.5 and that price is awesome for an item with basshead traits and audiophile traits as well.
 Forget that though..
 
The facination with the Z5 by some baffles me? Is it the 16mm driver? The 70mm XB should be the clear over ear impact monster and it's not. Size matters to a point and then design and tuning take over.
 
IMO
 
This is all subjective and it's your money so take everybody's opinion with a grain of salt.

 

[johnwamp55]

 
Use thiis when you demo the Z5 and ASG and compare bass, Mids and Treble.

 

[warrior1975]

Infinity Knives- there is another version, g2, which has a larger driver and has more bass. The 2.5 are tuned a little different.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

  @Hawaiibadboy Roger that. Seems like I should pull the trigger on the 2.5s... I paid undermarket for the z5's as well and with the hypetrain in full effect on head-fi for both of these right now, unloading either shouldn't be a problem. I tend to agree with you on the tuning ports being necessary for a basshead iem; I had some Hippo VB's a long time ago that could shake my eyeballs, too bad the rest sounded like ass.

 
Getting stuck and ****ed via strangers fawning over their favorite new binky has happened to me. It ******* sucks.
 
These will slam deeeeep, like amp, can open up at the top end and sparkle with a bump at 8Khz. Go from a Hip hop track to rock without adjust. The company responds to stuff to so there is that.
If you estimate the chances of offing them in case  it doesn't match you then it's a relatively safe investment of time and money. 
 
That is a good price.

 

[warrior1975]

I've had mine for a year and a half approximately, simply amazing IEMS. I almost bought them custom...one of my best purchases audio wise ever.

 

[Raketen]

  Can I get some Sony XBA-Z5 vs ASG 2.5 comparisons please? Just found this...

Good lookin' out... tempted.

 

[zniper2984]

Want the best bass then try tralucent ref1 too with uber too its the best bass i heard from iem i have roxanne/1plus2 with uber v2 and sd3.

 

[johnwamp55]

Want the best bass then try tralucent ref1 too with uber too its the best bass i heard from iem i have roxanne/1plus2 with uber v2 and sd3.

So best bass will cost $3,000 US Dollars for IEM and a cable? Then which Dap a AK 240 SS or Lotto Paw Gold?

 

[gikigill]

Get a Roxanne or JHAudio JH16 and it's pretty much endgame for bass. The quality and quantity is unmatched.