[Hawaiibadboy]

   
For basshead (loose bass), I strongly agree that A2 is the best choice among all.

 Um....what??
That's a vid of me and the XBA -"A" series. Picked because it didn't have bass bleed.  These are Japanese imports. where did you try them side by side?  The A3 are the worst at bass bleed and the aluminum coated Z5 are less bloated as the metallic coating is designed to accelerate decay for better mids. For all genre it goes A2 Z5 A1 A3 in that order. I was comparing with an X5 and Cayin C5 amp.
If you think the A2 have bloated bass I'd suggest you never heard them and are maybe confused?
 

 
 
Bass that bothers the mids......not this set.

 

[daydesiang]

   Um....what??
That's a vid of me and the XBA -"A" series. Picked because it didn't have bass bleed.  These are Japanese imports. where did you try them side by side?  The A3 are the worst at bass bleed and the aluminum coated Z5 are less bloated as the metallic coating is designed to accelerate decay for better mids. For all genre it goes A2 Z5 A1 A3 in that order. I was comparing with an X5 and Cayin C5 amp.
If you think the A2 have bloated bass I'd suggest you never heard them and are maybe confused?
 

 
 
Bass that bothers the mids......not this set.

Heard all in Singapore,
 
like A1AP most, A2 least as the bass is wayy too much for me.
 
Z5 maybe the best among all but again for that price A1AP is more reasonable for me.. among the A's
 
The problem is the dynamic driver cant really follow the BA driver speed, so the bass sound very loose 

 

[ianeith]

Just to clarify, the XBA-A1AP version has a single-button, microphone remote. The vanilla XBA-A1 version has no remote. These do not have removable cables, like their brethren above them do, so you are stuck with whichever model you choose.
 
Nice review; thanks for writing it and thereby rolling the conversation on these new XBA-A# models.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

  Heard all in Singapore,
 
like A1AP most, A2 least as the bass is wayy too much for me.
 
Z5 maybe the best among all but again for that price A1AP is more reasonable for me.. among the A's
 
The problem is the dynamic driver cant really follow the BA driver speed, so the bass sound very loose 

I'm sorry but we are not talking about the same IEM apparently?
I listened to a couple hundred pairs several times at places like in the video...my video...and the A2 were the best.
 
The Z5...

 
Bass is my thing:

 
I have enough gear with epic bass but wanted mids AND good bass.
 
The A2 were head and shoulders above the A1 A3 and Z5 in clarity and have bass.. The A2 are loose?  but your alright with the Z5 blowing bass over the mid and high producing BA's ?
 
I'm a basshead...i want bass... I use over ear to slap my skull.
For in ear..... clarity first with bass on call is the goal. Z5 has too much and it creeps to far along the freq curve.

 

[ianeith]

 
I'm sorry but we are not talking about the same IEM apparently?
I listened to a couple hundred pairs several times at places like in the video...my video...and the A2 were the best.
 
The Z5...

 
Bass is my thing:

 
I have enough gear with epic bass but wanted mids AND good bass.
 
The A2 were head and shoulders above the A1 A3 and Z5 in clarity and have bass.. The A2 are loose?  but your alright with the Z5 blowing bass over the mid and high producing BA's ?
 
I'm a basshead...i want bass... I use over ear to slap my skull.
For in ear..... clarity first with bass on call is the goal. Z5 has too much and it creeps to far along the freq curve.

 
I'm happy that you have found your ideal IEM. Not everyone is exclusively in love with the A2, however.
 
I like both A2 and A1. Can't necessarily call one better than the other. The A1 has a more laid-back sound by comparison - better for all-around listening, eg. daily driver status. The A2 has a thicker, richer sound, which some people might not be as fond of for general listening/usage.
 
Here's to hoping to try the Z5 someday.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

   
I'm happy that you have found your ideal IEM. Not everyone is exclusively in love with the A2, however.
 
I like both A2 and A1. Can't necessarily call one better than the other. The A1 has a more laid-back sound by comparison - better for all-around listening, eg. daily driver status. The A2 has a thicker, richer sound, which some people might not be as fond of for general listening/usage.
 
Here's to hoping to try the Z5 someday.

 
 

 
My experience is directly inverse to this. I feel the H3 bass as overpowering while the A2 is now controlled and quick.

  I agree with the quote above you made. It is the opposite of loose.
 
I found my ideal IEM in the Aurisonic's 2.5 and don't listen to the A2 anymore. The "loose " term just struck me as a polar opposite of what i hear. And you too apparently.

 

[daydesiang]

   
 
  I agree with the quote above you made. It is the opposite of loose.
 
I found my ideal IEM in the Aurisonic's 2.5 and don't listen to the A2 anymore. The "loose " term just struck me as a polar opposite of what i hear. And you too apparently.

Among all A series, I think A2 is the loose one. H-series...worst than A-series(?).
 
IMO Z5 is nice, but will consider A1AP the best price/performance ratio and as like i said before if use with phones and walkaround IEM A1AP will be my only choice.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

  Among all A series, I think A2 is the loose one. H-series...worst than A-series(?).
 
IMO Z5 is nice, but will consider A1AP the best price/performance ratio and as like i said before if use with phones and walkaround IEM A1AP will be my only choice.

 
You think the Z5 is nice ...16m of bass blowing over the BA but the A2 is loose.
The A3 is bigger than A2  but not having a problem with speed?
 
I'm not even..
 
Just kinda wow...
Head fi blows my mind sometimes. Anybody can say anything about anything without any specifics or proof.
 
The internet

 

[daydesiang]

 
 
You think the Z5 is nice ...16m of bass blowing over the BA but the A2 is loose.
The A3 is bigger than A2  but not having a problem with speed?
 
I'm not even..
 
Just kinda wow...
Head fi blows my mind sometimes. Anybody can say anything about anything without any specifics or proof.
 
The internet

 
All have speed problem, among all A2 just.. oh well
 

 
some time i really have problem when some ppl just
 

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

   
All have speed problem, among all A2 just.. oh well
 

 
some time i really have problem when some ppl just
 

 I think you have a problem with me now and are not talking about the IEM.
I'm sure the mods can see that

 

[daydesiang]

 
 I think you have a problem with me now and are not talking about the IEM.
I'm sure the mods can see that

 
again IMO A2 is the not-my-choice of the bunch.
 
u have ur suggestion and attack mine for ur own opinion..

 

[cuiter23]

 
 
You think the Z5 is nice ...16m of bass blowing over the BA but the A2 is loose.
The A3 is bigger than A2  but not having a problem with speed?
 
I'm not even..
 
Just kinda wow...
Head fi blows my mind sometimes. Anybody can say anything about anything without any specifics or proof.
 
The internet

 
I've never heard the A2 or the Z5 but I can't imagine Sony selling a flagship product that has lower quality bass than a mid-range Sony IEM that just doesn't make sense to me. 
 
Also, I don't think it matters how big the dynamic drivers are, it's how they are tuned. If anything a larger driver can provide even tighter bass due to it being more efficient at producing those frequencies (i.e. a 300hp car can easily do 200kph but a 100hp car needs all its resources to hit that 200kph mark)
 
Everyone hears different on here, you are a basshead so you probably like a certain type of sound and dislike another. We can all agree to disagree

 

[LazerBear]

I tried A2 as well, but I thought that the sound signature was not significally better than the A1 and coupled with no mic, bigger size and twofold pricing, I just discarded from my list of options.
 
On a side note, I'm interested in understanding what you guys think is a similarly sounding IEM from a different brand with similar price point.. is there any?

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

   
I've never heard the A2 or the Z5 but I can't imagine Sony selling a flagship product that has lower quality bass than a mid-range Sony IEM that just doesn't make sense to me. 
 

Red part is important.
Not sure why folks get involved with critical discussions about things they have never heard. You did get a thumbs up though.
 
Sony was removed from The Japanese governments Pension fund investment program for lack of stability and record..historical losses and no clear way out. They are a mess.
The Z7 is not audiophile or basshead. It does no one thing great. That a company might try and fail at offering say an aluminum coated 16mm driver with too much bass and no way to tune it down besides eq is not a reach. SONY put all it's eggs in the Hi-Res basket. It is not a big winner here in Japan, hopefully the worldwide market is kinder buy My A2 was the first review and this guys thread is the 1st review for the budget offering. Considering when they were launched that's not an endorsement of wild success    i think.
 
Price to performance ratio and diminished returns are part and parcel to this site and hobby so the fact that a Z5 is the most expensive of a line is no clear indication that it is superior objectively or subjectively. I don't lean of freq graphs much but the Z5 has a long late bass hit that some call bloat. That's what I heard too. I'm a basshead. I have enough stuff like that. I wanna hear some electric guitar like "You Can't kill Rock and Roll" By Ozzy. On that Rock track the A2 was the best. I am not a SONY fan. I don't trust them after putting malware on CD's/DVD's to prevent copyright violations but the A2 really did impress.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

  I tried A2 as well, but I thought that the sound signature was not significally better than the A1 and coupled with no mic, bigger size and twofold pricing, I just discarded from my list of options.
 
On a side note, I'm interested in understanding what you guys think is a similarly sounding IEM from a different brand with similar price point.. is there any?

 I tried maybe 200 pair that day in the vid and the Beoplay .......never thought I'd rec those but they had decent unintrusive low end and were really clear with no harshness up top. Can't recall price.
The combo for non scooped mid and good low and highs is hard to find and seem to need a Dynamic and BA/BA's to my ear but the Beoplay are 1 driver that were impressive
 
 
The A1 and A2
 
XBA-A2

​

1. High-Resolution Audio HD Hybrid 3-way driver system
2. Linear drive Balanced Armature driver
3. HD super tweeter
4. 12mm Liquid Crystal Polymer diaphragm dynamic driver
5. Enjoy radiant highs and deep bass

 

​

General​

Type	Closed
Driver Unit	Hybrid 3-way System: 12mm Dynamic + 2 X Balanced Armature
Diaphragm	Liquid Crystal Polymer
Frequency Response	4 - 40,000Hz
Sensitivity	108 dB/mW
Impedance (at 1 kHz)	32 Ω
Cable	1.2m detachable Silver-coated OFC Litz Wire Y-Type cable; 1.2m detachable Silver-coated OFC Litz cable with in-line remote and mic
Plug	Gold-plated L-shaped Stereo Mini; Four-Conductor Gold-plated L-shaped Stereo Mini
Approx. Weight(excl. cable）	9g
Supplied Accessories	Carrying Case, Foamed Silicone Earbuds (S / M / L each 2), Hybrid Silicone Rubber Earbuds (SS/S/M/L each 2), Clip Cable Adjuster

 ​

Microphone​

Unit/Type	Electret condenser
Directivity	Omni directional
Open circuit voltage level	-40dB(0db=1V/Pa)
Effective Frequency of Microphone	20Hz-20,000Hz

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
XBA-A1AP

​

1. Hybrid 2-way driver system
2. Linear drive Balanced Armature driver
3. 9mm dynamic driver
4. Hands-free calls with in-line remote and microphone
5. Enjoy clear, smooth vocals and dynamic bass

​

 

General​

Type	Closed
Driver Unit	Hybrid 2-way System: (9mm dynamic + Balanced Armature)
Diaphragm	Liquid Crystal Polymer
Frequency Response	5 - 25,000Hz
Sensitivity	107 dB/mW
Impedance (at 1 kHz)	24 Ω
Cable	1.2m Silver-coated OFC Litz Wire Y-Type cable with In-line Remote and Mic
Plug	Four-Conductor Gold-plated L-shaped Stereo Mini
Approx. Weight(excl. cable）	7g
Supplied Accessories	Carrying Pouch, Foamed Silicone Earbuds (S / M / L each 2), Hybrid Silicone Rubber Earbuds (SS/S/M/L each 2), Clip, Cable Adjuster

 ​

Microphone​

Unit/Type	Electret condenser
Directivity	Omni directional
Open circuit voltage level	-40dB(0db=1V/Pa)
Effective Frequency of Microphone	20Hz-20,000Hz

Source: Sony Singapore, Sony China, Sopp