turokrocks
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2011
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Just get both, and then write a big comparison!
And I wonder why head-fi is such a great place....... .
Maybe yes, but I think I will get the......
Just get both, and then write a big comparison!
Hi a_recording, I just got the XBA-4 today and i'm very impressed.
I think it sounds better than the Sony MDR-EX1000.
Sounds great with trance/electronica btw...
yeah because the ex1000 doesnt sound good with trance/electronica
yeah because the ex1000 doesnt sound good with trance/electronica
Hi a_recording, I just got the XBA-4 today and i'm very impressed.
I think it sounds better than the Sony MDR-EX1000.
Sounds great with trance/electronica btw...
yeah because the ex1000 doesnt sound good with trance/electronica
Awesome piece of work, a_recording, truly i enjoyed the reading! A fine review even by old standards...
So which fo you find has a more effortless presentation? Meaning transient speed and detail retrieval naturally.
Also, would you say the EX1000's timbre is dryer than the Z1000's? Closer to SA5000 perhaps (though more natural)?
EX1000 sounded good with trance but got boring at times, and annoying due to the wierd treble spike. I felt it was too smooth, laid back, or "romantic" for trance.
Out of all the trance tracks I have, there was actually only one or two trance tracks that sounded exceptional on the EX1000.
It was fun for the time being.
I'm currently burning-in the XBA-4, the treble is rather sharp and sibilant at this point.
DOES THE SIBILANCE GO AWAY?
And does anyone have any experience with XBA-4 and Fiio E5 amp?
I'm currently using XBA-4 with iPhone HO, I was wondering if E5 would help....
We have promotion for a 20% off trade-in for the XBA series, so i demo'd the XBA 3 and 4's. Ran them out the Walkman z, with and without the e17. 320kbps mp3 and FLAC.
Slightly harder to drive than the TF10's, i normally listen to the TF10's at around 20, ramped up to 25-30 for the xba's.
Mainly demo'd the 4's.
The bass was well tamed, i don't listen to much bassy music, but it was sightly too bassy for my liking. It wasn't bloated or muffled, there was just more than you'd expect from a BA, more than the TF10's.
Contrary to what some people say, i thought the female vocals were actually very well done and clear. The mids were well defined.
High's of my electronic music were very clear and crisp, maybe slightly harsh for some, fine for me, although there was slight sibilance.
In my personal opinion, the XBA3 lost to the 4's in sound individually, but it was somewhat less crowded than the 4's.
I asked the demo counter person how much usage they had from customer usage, approximately 6 hours on and off from people demoing.
For the XBA4's, I could not get over this sound, kind of like this residue from the sound being inside the shell. It was as though, the sound had bounced around the shell, exited the nozzle but didn't have enough room. This was also prevalent in the XBA3 but slightly less than the XBA4's. This was the deal breaker for me. For quiet songs, you can hear this hollowness, but on more lively songs, the sound disappears.
Compared to the TF10's the entire sound spectrum is much closer than XBA's.
The XBA4's were definitely more detailed than the XBA3, and were slightly harder to drive (XBA3's were quieter).
Perhaps, they needed a bit more burn-in. But generally i did not feel they were worth my money (NZD$320 for the XBA4, NZD$240 for the XBA3).
@a_recording nice review! Interesting graph with the frequency response tracking different output impedance - I wonder if there is a sweetspot in terms of frequency reponse, also it would be interesting to consider which portable players/amplifiers match well with the sound signature. I certainly hope more people try out this earphone and at least burn them in for 200 hours or so.