[alex110394]

Between 250 and 300 euros (I live in France).

 

[alex110394]

So, in this price range, are the XBA-4 good for me ? 

 

[mochill]

Jvc fxd80 very great for their price and sounds better then the xba-4

 

[ZARIM]

The XBA4 sounds great and they are very detailed with good punchy bass. If you want deep punchy dynamic bass with extended highs and detailed mids.then JVC FX700, Sennheiser IE8/IE80 are highly recommended. BTW others IEMs like  RE272, GR07, GR01, are also great buy if need balanced IEMs without mids forward.

 

[danduriya]

Poor Alex. You never seem to get the answer you're looking for. Why don't you try them out at the store? I have the xba-1 and they sound great, so great that I'm afraid to upgrade to the xba -2,3, and 4 for fear of not seeing any improvements or not getting my money's worth

 

[amanp]

I have the XBA 4 ip, I thought they were good but something was lacking. I missed the dynamic driver sound; I guess as Armature's have always missed the life in music personally.
 
THEN I used my dual flange tips with the XBA4's and these truely blew me away (They were MEElec dual flanges or Fischer Audio dual flanges). They're a bit like B&W tower speakers/Senn sound to me in terms of a heavy bass, dark and a slightly slow roll of which is quite relaxing.
 
XBA4's are unbelievable with anything acoustic. The only drawback is that they are a bit too revealing of your source and an amp does make them work better.
 
Cowon s9 on Maestro and Fiio E7 on Bass Boost 1 as I dont intend to use these for critical listening but on the move.
 
Drawbacks: The bass is not quite as refined as you'd like. lets say a little bit crude but big enough not to give a damn and enjoy it!
It is also VERY revealing of source/recording. I deleted half of my mp3's after listening carefully.

 

[BillsonChang007]

Okay. I owned one XBA 4. Use it for around 3 month. It sounds great! I don't drive it with any AMP but one will be recommended! I drive it directly out of my iPad 2. Even thought I got no experience with any other high end iems but truely belive these are great sounding! The lows; powerful enough for any genre of song(not overpowering). Mids; Good! Where as the highs; Slightly weak but still good! The soundstage: Wide! If I were to rank it out of 10 it will be 8/10 for sound. Comfort, it come with 7 ear tips. 4 of different size & the other 3 is for noise isolation. It fits well in my ear.

It's better if you can drive it with an AMP like E11 to make it sound even more alive! However this is just my 2cent.

 

[xszing]

I have the XBA-4 and love them; choosing among the included tips made a big difference, I went from medium to large size but without the foams and they sound spectacular. As others have said, they vary greatly with both the source (I play mine from a Sony Walkman A818) and the actual recording (I play 320kbps MP3s, have played from a discman and from an amplifier and it sounds just as good to me). I haven't tried millions of headphones but the sound signature is very special, perhaps an acquired taste.
 
I see they have the XBA-1 at the fnac, you may be able to listen to them at the Sony Store if you are near Paris, they were demoing them at big departmental stores in Mexico City so it might be possible to try them...
 
It's the first time I've ever listened to something and thought it might be too good for me... I have the audio technica full sized cans ATH-M50 and they sound even a tad better - the M50s have more direct bass I guess.
 
Tu nous racontes si tu finis par les acheter!

 

[Trishul]

Just bought the XBA-4ip for 144 euro's. A good deal, right? I hope they combine effortlessly with my Cowon D2 or my Fiio E7. I heard some horrible stories about the XBA-4 being very picky about its source.. Hope they won't dissapoint me after listening the past two and a half year to my Monster Turbines. 

 

[Trishul]

Quote:

Just bought the XBA-4ip for 144 euro's. A good deal, right? I hope they combine effortlessly with my Cowon D2 or my Fiio E7. I heard some horrible stories about the XBA-4 being very picky about its source.. Hope they won't dissapoint me after listening the past two and a half year to my Monster Turbines. 

They just arrived. I have to say, they combine very nicely with my Cowon D2! Just like the monster turbines, my D2 has no problem at all driving the xba-4. The sound quality is so much better, hearing details now I did not hear before with the turbines. Sound is also very clear, and the bass is incredibly tight, even tighter than the turbines delivered. What I also like about them is how effortlessly they handle all frequencies; with some techno tracks I can hear really low bass hitting hard and deep while at the same time mid tones and high frequency effects blend in perfectly. And all this at non-stop speed. So no slow, lazy bass response. Seems like 144 euro's well spent. Although I still have to listen to them hooked up to my Fiio E7 & computer. 

 

[harishmirror]

This is the worst earphone that I have wasted my hard earned money on. So I request no one to even consider them for buying. They sound too dark and its been over 3 yrs and still am expecting the earphones to open up and sound refined, but the same muddy bass and dark background prevails.
 
Finally the cable to the left ear has given up. Not possible or even worth fixing them so thrown them out. This is a true lemon.

 

[Mr Makarov]

  This is the worst earphone that I have wasted my hard earned money on. So I request no one to even consider them for buying. They sound too dark and its been over 3 yrs and still am expecting the earphones to open up and sound refined, but the same muddy bass and dark background prevails.
 
Finally the cable to the left ear has given up. Not possible or even worth fixing them so thrown them out. This is a true lemon.

Ok now I am worried. Just finally found and purchased XBA-4 for a very good price (should arrive tomorrow). Previously had XBA-3 and loved them (slightly modded to get rid of metallic highs), they served me well for 2 years and then I sold them. Missing the sound of XBA-3 for some reason...actually I liked them much more than Shure SE425 (for trance music). I was always curious about how the XBA-4 perform. Hopefully they will be good enough as an "all-rounder outdoor IEM" (or as good or better as XBA-3 was). They sound dark???!?? This is alarming news. I´m expecting well extended highs and relatively big soundstage (like some decent closed back headphones). If Dunu Titan 1 are better (SQ-wise) than XBA-4 it will be a big surprise (or probably not that big because some consider Titan 1 far superior to Westone W40). Will post my impressions/comparisons soon.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

XBA-4 is a unique IEM. Very sensitive to amplifier output and a difficult load on the amp (8 Ohms). It's like asking your hp amp to drive loudspeakers. Most solid state HP amplifiers does not respond to 8 Ohms well. IMHO, XBA-4 is a gem if you have good quality gear.

 

[harishmirror]

 
Ok now I am worried. Just finally found and purchased XBA-4 for a very good price (should arrive tomorrow). Previously had XBA-3 and loved them (slightly modded to get rid of metallic highs), they served me well for 2 years and then I sold them. Missing the sound of XBA-3 for some reason...actually I liked them much more than Shure SE425 (for trance music). I was always curious about how the XBA-4 perform. Hopefully they will be good enough as an "all-rounder outdoor IEM" (or as good or better as XBA-3 was). They sound dark???!?? This is alarming news. I´m expecting well extended highs and relatively big soundstage (like some decent closed back headphones). If Dunu Titan 1 are better (SQ-wise) than XBA-4 it will be a big surprise (or probably not that big because some consider Titan 1 far superior to Westone W40). Will post my impressions/comparisons soon.

 
Yes give it a try and update your feedback. As pointed out the XBA 4 must be powered by an amp. But no matter what amp you use the soundstage will not be as wide as the dynamic IEMs from Sony. Also keep in mind the power handling capacity is very low, lower than XBA3. On paper it is 100mw but practically I will not be able push the volume beyond a (listenable) point as the BAs starts to give a screeching sound.
 
When I raised the concern with Sony on the power-handling capacity/screeching sound on XBA4, the answer was that it is a limitation with BAs. Which is wrong, as you will know when you compare the XBA4 with your XBA3 side by side. After using the XBA4 I switched to Shure SE215 (<$100) and I was amazed on how wide the sound stage could be with a less expensive IEM.
 
Its just my personal thought, I am myself a Sony fanboy, started with a Walkman cassette player and now using the XBA Z5 with PHA3. Planning to go for the ZX2 or WM1a..

 

[Mr Makarov]

XBA-4 arrived yesterday in the morning. They´re pretty big! But very lightweight and comfortable (for me). They are considerably bigger than XBA-3 and a little bit bigger than Shure Se846. What I liked a lot about XBA-3´s is the isolation and XBA-4 are very good for that. As I expected from my experience with XBA-3, the 4´s are picky with sources. From crappy desktop PC sound card output they sound with somewhat reduced bass and offensive, shrill highs. In some test tracks I was forced to unplug them. Similar to XBA-3, the 4´s benefit a lot form cheap amps like Fiio E11 that tame the highs and add more sub-bass and the sound now has a lot of weight to it which is a welcome change. They pair very well with Dragonfly 1.2 and Black (more clarity, control and soundstage is wider). From Sony Walkman F806 they sound very very good (better than I remember XBA-3 sounded, no hiss). They are noticeably "harder" to drive than Shure SE846. Xba-4 has 8 ohms impedance and 108 dB sensitivity; SE846 has 9 ohms and 114 dB which may suggest that difference is not that big...but in general it is about 20-25% volume; Shures are MUCH louder and tend to hiss with Walkmans, smartphones etc., whereas XBA-4 has black background.
For trance music they are very good and (for that genre) I actually like them much more than Shure SE425. XBA-4 has noticeably better treble extension, wider soundstage (Shure´s are maligned for their treble roll off which results in very narrow soundstage), and much better overall bass presentation. However, compared to SE425, XBA-4 sounds very artificial, mids are not bad but unnatural and not as forward and detailed.
Compared to the famous Dunu Titan 1, I personally would take XBA-4 every time. Bass extension is much better on the XBA-4´s so there is more depth to the sound, more sub-bass, treble is less aggressive and somewhat more "tiny" on the Sonys and it seem that it extends more. Overall impression is that XBA-4 is more smooth and refined whereas Titan 1 is somewhat "dry" (yes, with proper seal achieved), bass-shy and more "raw" sounding and lacking refinement in treble. However, Titan 1 have much wider and very airy soundstage which is probably what I like about them the most.
Compared to SE535...the XBA-4 have more bass, it is deeper and extends better than SE535 (XBA-4 sounds more full-bodied), also treble is a little bit more extended but again, sounds tiny and unnatural. Se535 sound natural, very clear, better mids, better everything except treble extension (and bass). For strictly EDM and vocal trance they both are very good but I like SE535 just a little bit more because of clarity, forward mids and natural timbre.
Compared to SE846 (modded blue filters)..well..XBA-4 losses in everything. SE846 sound very clear, there is very deep bass and sub-bass, highs are thicker and well extended compared to SE535 and everything just sound right, nothing is missing. Soundstage is very deep but not very wide, with exceptionally accurate and well done imaging. Quickly changing to XBA-4 and - wall of veiled sound with tiny treble but pretty decent bass. First impression is that XBA-4 sound very tiny. Fun sounding but there´s always that feeling of "something is missing".
Compared to IE800...this is unfair...it´s like switching from stereo (IE800) to mono (XBA-4). Big difference. IE800´s clarity is just superb (XBA-4 sound very veiled and a lot of details is lost in mids), bass has noticeably better extension, textured but less "punchy" compared to XBA-4. Treble - now this is interesting - it´s nowhere as thick as that of SE846 but its like well made version of what was (probably) intended for XBA-4s: refined and extremely well extended (there is just more treble). As a consequence IE800´s sound very refined and open, the soundstage is surprisingly wide, much wider than that of XBA-4 and SE846, wider than full sized open-back Sennheiser HD558, 598, Philips Fidelio X1 and even HD700 (in my opinion, after comparing them directly).
 
Conclusion: for 100$, the Sony XBA-4 are very very good! ...And they need an amp and/or good DAP!
 
- now I´m curious how the XBA-4 compare to XBA-3 (I sold mine almost a year ago, and yesterday was feeling nostalgic and bought ones)..so I will compare them when XBA-3 arrives (2-3 days)-
Sorry for the long post