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.
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.
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