[Precogvision]

Sony XBA-N3 Impressions

This was previously requested by @redguardsoldier.

Price: Discontinued
Configuration: 1DD/1BA
Special thanks to "Grawlix" for lending me this unit.

On first listen, the XBA-N3 reminds me of the Sennheiser IE600/900 IEMs with more emphasis in the mid-bass. The XBA-N3's dynamic driver implementation is probably the best I've heard for its ~$300 street price. It's got 10dB of sub-bass boost - exactly where I like it - and a hair of bloat past ~300Hz. The drum machines on Apink's "My oh My" are beautifully saturated and decay with generous amounts of reverb and texture. Extension is also superb with zero roll-off down to 20Hz and the ear-pounding pressure I've come to associate with Hans Zimmer's "Why So Serious". There's just something about this bass response that's best described as larger-than-life, perhaps over-exaggerated, but I'm not complaining. It's not hard at all to hear where the inspiration for the Sony IER-Z1R's legendary bass came from.

Midrange tonality is fairly pleasing, or at least there's no major dealbreakers to me. It's slightly warmer with a more gentle rise to the pinna compensation and 3-5kHz slightly clipped, aptly avoiding harshness on my shouty listening discography. Due to its less distinct bass shelf, the XBA-N3 also plays nicely with male vocals unlike the IER-Z1R, and there's none of that slight harshness to timbre. Treble on the XBA-N3 is mid-treble oriented with good amounts of sparkle at 8-10kHz, hence the Sennheiser IEM comparisons above. Extension and upper-treble are actually really impressive and there's basically no question - to me - that this is a proprietary Sony tweeter. More mounting evidence? It neither has any egregious timbre issues nor does it sound compressed; I thought the XBA-N3 was a single-DD on first listen.

I'd caution that the technical performance of the XBA-N3 is more middling. Like the IER-Z1R and IER-M9, I get the impression that it is not the most detailed IEM despite its very pleasing timbre. Transients have a noticeable blunting which is at least partially a consequence of the minor bass bloat and more relaxed midrange. There's less of this issue in the treble. Imaging is average which is a shame given the IER-Z1R and EX1K IEMs are far more open-sounding from memory. I will say that the XBA-N3's pinna compensation works better for my HRTF and perception of center image. Dynamics are, again, mostly average - there's not a huge sense of immediacy to sudden jumps in volume - but there is a good sense of air being pushed by that dynamic driver.

The bottom line: to me, the XBA-N3's tonality is simply excellent. It sounds coherent and exciting, making very few mistakes when examining its bass, midrange, and treble, either in isolation or as a whole. It's the type of IEM that I can get lost listening to for hours and that, even when I swap to another IEM that might be significantly more technical, makes that other IEM sound dull initially. In this vein, if you enjoy Sony's distinctive flavor of sound, I believe there's a strong possibility you won't mind taking a small hit in technicalities with the XBA-N3. It's honestly hard to believe the XBA-N3 was released 5+ years ago, as I think it's still very relevant even in the context of today's cutthroat market. This is an IEM definitely worth giving a listen in the sea of increasingly uninspired Chi-Fi, especially if you're indexing for good timbre and bass.

Bias Score: 6.5/10

All critical listening was done with Azla tips, a XINHS cable, and my iBasso DX300 and Apple dongle.

 

[frix]

A good to read your N3 impressions. Compleltly agree on your take. It's the IEM I pick when I just want the simple bullet style form factor. Whats also intetesting it feels like a completly closed and unvented IEM, despite the DD. The isolation is very good.

 

[Gromu]

I genuinely love my XBA-N3 so much as just a fun and comfortable set. I'm glad to hear you also enjoyed them quite a bit.

 

[s to]

A good to read your N3 impressions. Compleltly agree on your take. It's the IEM I pick when I just want the simple bullet style form factor. Whats also intetesting it feels like a completly closed and unvented IEM, despite the DD. The isolation is very good.

I didn't feel any pressure problems that would be more relevant to the Moondrop S8 or Etymotic er2se with the n3; but it is surprisingly isolating for a bullet.

Sony themselves though market the n3 as having some sort of tube for airflow in that prominent acoustic chamber.

edit: Also this is Grawlix here, and I enjoyed reading your impressions. This is a photo of the back of the XBA-N3BP box, the 16ohm impedance being of mild interest as RikudouGoku mentioned some variations of the N3 were 32ohm.

Also, the BP edition came only with a 4.4mm balanced cable, hence the XINHs cable.

 

[redguardsoldier]

Sony XBA-N3 Impressions

This was previously requested by @redguardsoldier.

Price: Discontinued
Configuration: 1DD/1BA
Special thanks to "Grawlix" for lending me this unit.




On first listen, the XBA-N3 reminds me of the Sennheiser IE600/900 IEMs with more emphasis in the mid-bass. The XBA-N3's dynamic driver implementation is probably the best I've heard for its ~$300 street price. It's got 10dB of sub-bass boost - exactly where I like it - and a hair of bloat past ~300Hz. The drum machines on Apink's "My oh My" are beautifully saturated and decay with generous amounts of reverb and texture. Extension is also superb with zero roll-off down to 20Hz and the ear-pounding pressure I've come to associate with Hans Zimmer's "Why So Serious". There's just something about this bass response that's best described as larger-than-life, perhaps over-exaggerated, but I'm not complaining. It's not hard at all to hear where the inspiration for the Sony IER-Z1R's legendary bass came from.

Midrange tonality is fairly pleasing, or at least there's no major dealbreakers to me. It's slightly warmer with a more gentle rise to the pinna compensation and 3-5kHz slightly clipped, aptly avoiding harshness on my shouty listening discography. Due to its less distinct bass shelf, the XBA-N3 also plays nicely with male vocals unlike the IER-Z1R, and there's none of that slight harshness to timbre. Treble on the XBA-N3 is mid-treble oriented with good amounts of sparkle at 8-10kHz, hence the Sennheiser IEM comparisons above. Extension and upper-treble are actually really impressive and there's basically no question - to me - that this is a proprietary Sony tweeter. More mounting evidence? It neither has any egregious timbre issues nor does it sound compressed; I thought the XBA-N3 was a single-DD on first listen.

I'd caution that the technical performance of the XBA-N3 is more middling. Like the IER-Z1R and IER-M9, I get the impression that it is not the most detailed IEM despite its very pleasing timbre. Transients have a noticeable blunting which is at least partially a consequence of the minor bass bloat and more relaxed midrange. There's less of this issue in the treble. Imaging is average which is a shame given the IER-Z1R and EX1K IEMs are far more open-sounding from memory. I will say that the XBA-N3's pinna compensation works better for my HRTF and perception of center image. Dynamics are, again, mostly average - there's not a huge sense of immediacy to sudden jumps in volume - but there is a good sense of air being pushed by that dynamic driver.

The bottom line: to me, the XBA-N3's tonality is simply excellent. It sounds coherent and exciting, making very few mistakes when examining its bass, midrange, and treble, either in isolation or as a whole. It's the type of IEM that I can get lost listening to for hours and that, even when I swap to another IEM that might be significantly more technical, makes that other IEM sound dull initially. In this vein, if you enjoy Sony's distinctive flavor of sound, I believe there's a strong possibility you won't mind taking a small hit in technicalities with the XBA-N3. It's honestly hard to believe the XBA-N3 was released 5+ years ago, as I think it's still very relevant even in the context of today's cutthroat market. This is an IEM definitely worth giving a listen in the sea of increasingly uninspired Chi-Fi, especially if you're indexing for good timbre and bass.

Bias Score: 6.5/10

All critical listening was done with Azla tips, a XINHS cable, and my iBasso DX300 and Apple dongle.

wow, thanks a lot for actually trying it out! Appreciate your sharing on the legendary N3

 

[WAON303]

It's genuinely impressive that Sony made an IEM back in 2016, which basically wipes the floor with most sub $300 IEMs on tuning and has decent technicalities.

Most IEMs die in a month or so, but some of Sony's models remain viable for many years. It's a good fresh of air seeing some IEMs remain viable after years and not be rendered immediately obsolete next week by the next big planar IEM or something.

I'm sure people will still be talking about the Z1R in 10 years from now.

 

[firesign]

Sony XBA-N3 Impressions

This was previously requested by @redguardsoldier.

Price: Discontinued
Configuration: 1DD/1BA
Special thanks to "Grawlix" for lending me this unit.




On first listen, the XBA-N3 reminds me of the Sennheiser IE600/900 IEMs with more emphasis in the mid-bass. The XBA-N3's dynamic driver implementation is probably the best I've heard for its ~$300 street price. It's got 10dB of sub-bass boost - exactly where I like it - and a hair of bloat past ~300Hz. The drum machines on Apink's "My oh My" are beautifully saturated and decay with generous amounts of reverb and texture. Extension is also superb with zero roll-off down to 20Hz and the ear-pounding pressure I've come to associate with Hans Zimmer's "Why So Serious". There's just something about this bass response that's best described as larger-than-life, perhaps over-exaggerated, but I'm not complaining. It's not hard at all to hear where the inspiration for the Sony IER-Z1R's legendary bass came from.

Midrange tonality is fairly pleasing, or at least there's no major dealbreakers to me. It's slightly warmer with a more gentle rise to the pinna compensation and 3-5kHz slightly clipped, aptly avoiding harshness on my shouty listening discography. Due to its less distinct bass shelf, the XBA-N3 also plays nicely with male vocals unlike the IER-Z1R, and there's none of that slight harshness to timbre. Treble on the XBA-N3 is mid-treble oriented with good amounts of sparkle at 8-10kHz, hence the Sennheiser IEM comparisons above. Extension and upper-treble are actually really impressive and there's basically no question - to me - that this is a proprietary Sony tweeter. More mounting evidence? It neither has any egregious timbre issues nor does it sound compressed; I thought the XBA-N3 was a single-DD on first listen.

I'd caution that the technical performance of the XBA-N3 is more middling. Like the IER-Z1R and IER-M9, I get the impression that it is not the most detailed IEM despite its very pleasing timbre. Transients have a noticeable blunting which is at least partially a consequence of the minor bass bloat and more relaxed midrange. There's less of this issue in the treble. Imaging is average which is a shame given the IER-Z1R and EX1K IEMs are far more open-sounding from memory. I will say that the XBA-N3's pinna compensation works better for my HRTF and perception of center image. Dynamics are, again, mostly average - there's not a huge sense of immediacy to sudden jumps in volume - but there is a good sense of air being pushed by that dynamic driver.

The bottom line: to me, the XBA-N3's tonality is simply excellent. It sounds coherent and exciting, making very few mistakes when examining its bass, midrange, and treble, either in isolation or as a whole. It's the type of IEM that I can get lost listening to for hours and that, even when I swap to another IEM that might be significantly more technical, makes that other IEM sound dull initially. In this vein, if you enjoy Sony's distinctive flavor of sound, I believe there's a strong possibility you won't mind taking a small hit in technicalities with the XBA-N3. It's honestly hard to believe the XBA-N3 was released 5+ years ago, as I think it's still very relevant even in the context of today's cutthroat market. This is an IEM definitely worth giving a listen in the sea of increasingly uninspired Chi-Fi, especially if you're indexing for good timbre and bass.

Bias Score: 6.5/10

All critical listening was done with Azla tips, a XINHS cable, and my iBasso DX300 and Apple dongle.

Have you tried the Sony WF-1000XM3?

The tests I did with the XBA-N3, seemed to me to be almost the twin brother of the WF-1000XM3.

 

[baskingshark]

It's genuinely impressive that Sony made an IEM back in 2016, which basically wipes the floor with most sub $300 IEMs on tuning and has decent technicalities.

Most IEMs die in a month or so, but some of Sony's models remain viable for many years. It's a good fresh of air seeing some IEMs remain viable after years and not be rendered immediately obsolete next week by the next big planar IEM or something.

I'm sure people will still be talking about the Z1R in 10 years from now.

Agreed!

I have the privilege of owning 3 Sony IEMs from budget to midFI to TOTL (in the MH755, XBA-N3 and the IER-M9) and can say Sony really knows how to tune. A lot of the Sony IEMs that contain BA drivers don't really show typical BA timbre, they sound rather organic in tuning IMHO. I also quite like the M7 and IER Z1R, the latter has excellent bass but unfortunately the fit was quite bad for me (if not that might have been end-game if the fit were better). Even their DAPs have some special sauce, I love the A55 and W1MA.

Anyways, speaking of the 3 Sony IEMs, the MH755 is harmanish, the XBA-N3 is L shaped and the M9 is warm neutral, and all bring different things to the table. So they ain't just a one trick pony in following a standard curve eg VSDF or Harman tuned curve for all their models (cough cough Moondrop).
- MH755 has good tonality and timbre, but is let down by a non-detachable microphonic short cable (there are mods though), but otherwise for the 5 bucks I bought it, I do think it holds its own against the recent hypetrain Moondrop CHU. For the price of a MacDonald's meal, I'd gladly skip a big mac for this!
- The XBA-N3 has a super unique L-shaped tuning, nice textured big bass and smooth and non fatiguing. Layering and soundstage is good, though it doesn't have the best micro-detailing. But it sounds very organic for timbre, something that can be used for hours on end. Even though it is a few years old, I still use it almost every week, even in the face of weekly CHIFI releases!
- The IER-M9 has excellent resolution and the bass doesn't sound like BA bass. Very well balanced, and superb imaging. Timbre is quite good too. I use it for stage monitoring weekly and it holds its own against some TOTL models. A little bit hard to drive though.

In the weekly CHIFI onslaught of pokemon releases, every week brings a new hypetrain. If something can still be relevant in 3 months, that's no mean feat. But some of these Sonys are like 3 - 4 years' since release, so that is quite amazing.

 

[s to]

I felt the N3 was unusually slow or thick feeling in the mids and bass, and in conjunction with its mid bass boost and telatively tame pinna, that pushed it's sound into congested territory.

The treble is stellar.

Still a good IEM, but definitely not easy to call an all rounder.

 

[logiatype]

I felt the N3 was unusually slow or thick feeling in the mids and bass, and in conjunction with its mid bass boost and telatively tame pinna, that pushed it's sound into congested territory.

The treble is stellar.

Still a good IEM, but definitely not easy to call an all rounder.

This was my take too. Just too bassy.

 

[RikudouGoku]

Have you tried the Sony WF-1000XM3?

The tests I did with the XBA-N3, seemed to me to be almost the twin brother of the WF-1000XM3.

I agree, the WF-XM3 is a budget N3 with less bass quantity (but worse in quality) to me.

 

[Y260]

This was my take too. Just too bassy.

I agree, very thick in the low end. It emphasized mid-bass, or was maybe just not well defined between bass and mids.

 

[vietzerg]

I agree, very thick in the low end. It emphasized mid-bass, or was maybe just not well defined between bass and mids.

I found that the listening experience may vary on different ear tips. For example, the stock tips show too much mid bass for me, while the Spiral Dots tips really tame down that mid bass region.

 

[podnosimyszafe]

@Precogvision, not sure if you have already mentioned about it in this thread or somewhere else, but what are the usual "noise environment" conditions in which you listen to the IEMs you review? I mean, do you listen to them at home or e.g. in a situation like walking along a street when significant external noises are present. In my opinion this aspect can greatly influence our perception of an IEM, in particular in case of bass frequencies being kind of "muted" by the sounds like rumble of traffic.

And by the way thank you for great job you are doing with your reviews and ranking list.

 

[Precogvision]

@Precogvision, not sure if you have already mentioned about it in this thread or somewhere else, but what are the usual "noise environment" conditions in which you listen to the IEMs you review? I mean, do you listen to them at home or e.g. in a situation like walking along a street when significant external noises are present. In my opinion this aspect can greatly influence our perception of an IEM, in particular in case of bass frequencies being kind of "muted" by the sounds like rumble of traffic.

And by the way thank you for great job you are doing with your reviews and ranking list.

Hey, I just listen at home for critical listening and the reviews. It's pretty much dead quiet once the IEMs are in. Show conditions and meet-ups are another matter, but I normally only post impressions for those IEMs