[sabjn]

Hello everyone, today I've bought my second pair of IEM's, these beautiful Sony XBA-A3 from a local seller for $200, and I'm going to share my first impressions with you all!

Release date: September 2014; MSRP - $500, anywhere from $150-$220 today.

The Sony XBA-A3 is XBA-H3's successor, which has been improved in almost every way possible and is closer to the XBA-Z5 which is the XBA lineup "Flagship" (MSRP $700), generally speaking, A3 and Z5 are very close to each other, although Z5 of course wins in overall performance. You can think of it as the Sennheiser's IE 200 and IE 600.

Packaging, materials, design: Sony went for a metallic - professional look with these. The packaging is made out of high quality materials, it contains 2 cables (1) - no microphone (2) - with microphone. The original A3 cables are sort of a 50/50 since it's known that overtime they tend to wear off, I'm using the XBA-Z5 cable with these, it's comfortable, lightweight and very easy to wear to the point where you don't feel you have anything shoved into your ears The carrying pouch (which looks more like a wallet) is very well made and also has lots of space inside, to sort your cable-(s), ear-tips, and the IEM's themselves, it is more than enough.

Fit and comfortability: Sony XBA-A3's are big IEM's thanks to the 16mm dynamic driver responsible for the bass response, along 2 BA drivers that take care of the mids and treble. I've seen countless reviews and impressions about them with people saying they're too big / uncomfortable for them, and I'm pleased to say I can't relate. Sure, they're big, but they don't go that deep inside your ear-canal, the cable is 100% holding all they weight they have (which by the way is surprisingly small), and the best thing is I don't even look that stupid with them unlike others I've seen on the internet To me they're very stylish and beautiful, their size doesn't bother me at all. And my ears and head are pretty small, but hey, human anatomy is different for everyone.

The sound: The XBA-A3's tonality is natural, warm and smooth, it has overall smoothed edges here and there, which makes them sound very calm and peaceful, voices sound "real" as well as the instruments. I never thought I'm into that type of sound, but it is absolutely mind blowing how the A3's sound for orchestral / classic music. It is pure magic, it has almost 70% of my Sennheiser HD 560S soundstage and imaging, they do not distort in any way in busy parts of the songs and you can clearly tell musical instruments apart from each other, I have never experienced anything like this before when it comes to IEM's. I cannot think of any other in ear-monitor to give you this kind of experience where you feel like you're at a real concert.

The bass: The sweet-spot, not too much and not too little, it knows when to be smooth and silky, it knows when to be energetic, driving, fast. Lots of people say the bass bleeds heavily into the mids, I don't know about that, to me - they sound totally satisfactory.

Mids: Once again, very natural and warm, balanced. Female as well as male voices sound great, instruments sound real, separated and defined. They sound "full", with a body. I really can't explain the feeling these iem's provoke, but they just sound like it's happening right in front of you, ever thought someone in real life spoke to you while you we're just in your headphones? That's what they sound like.

Treble: The HD Super Tweeter is tasked with extension, and boy do they do it very very well. Due to this tweeter, the high frequencies have that really nice extension, which carries the body and texture for the extended ride, which is amazing.

Songs with which the XBA-A3 have been tested with the most:

Sins of the father - Donna Burke

L no Theme B - Hideki Taniuchi

Snake Eater - Cynthia Harrell

Spectre - Radiohead

Loose Ends - Imogen Heap

Cupid De Locke - The smashing pumpkins

All I need - Radiohead

In the House In a Heartbeat - John Murphy

Hunter's Dream - SIE Sound Team

Sony Headphones MDR-Z7 XBA-Z5 Official Video (YouTube) - I know it sounds stupid but that song they use in the ad is so good!

 

[wolfsring]

Had these for 8 years, still functioning perfectly and sounding nice. The sound is indeed smooth. Pairing them with 4.4 mm cable can be stunning in certain scenario. Never ran into a moment of harshness or issue of distorted musicality.

 

[sabjn]

Had these for 8 years, still functioning perfectly and sounding nice. The sound is indeed smooth. Pairing them with 4.4 mm cable can be stunning in certain scenario. Never ran into a moment of harshness or issue of distorted musicality.

That's fantastic! I am very new to the audiophile hobby but I think I'm learning quickly

Coming from my Sennheiser IE 200 to these (not because I don't like them, just to try out some new horizons) I feel like my Sennies had that very sort of "lifeless" sound, but maybe I would prefer them over the XBA-A3's for something like j-pop where the only thing you need is that neutral, fast and energetic sound.

I have actually also observed lots of similarities between the XBA-A3 and my HD 560S, there's something in them that reminds me of my 560s.

Absolutely love them so far. To be honest I was in some stress the past days because I was overthinking if getting them is a good idea, but I regret nothing, they're my favorite IEM's so far (Not that I've tried many, only iem i've tried that I don't own is the IMR R1 Acoustic, but still )

 

[Somafunk]

If you like xba-a3 then get your hands on the xba-n3, 5db extra of rising bass from 80hz. One of my lifelong keepers as it’s a very small fit in the ears and sounds amazing for bass heavy electronic music

 

[sabjn]

If you like xba-a3 then get your hands on the xba-n3, 5db extra of rising bass from 80hz. One of my lifelong keepers as it’s a very small fit in the ears and sounds amazing for bass heavy electronic music

Great! I have searched a lot about the N3's but I still don't really get what the difference between N3 / N3AP / N3BP is. I see that Ap and Bp series are sold in sony centres in European countries and more, but we don't have them here, actually, our sony centre's most expensive earphones (can't really even call them iem's) are $60

 

[tranduyquockhanh]

Great! I have searched a lot about the N3's but I still don't really get what the difference between N3 / N3AP / N3BP is. I see that Ap and Bp series are sold in sony centres in European countries and more, but we don't have them here, actually, our sony centre's most expensive earphones (can't really even call them iem's) are $60

Mine is N3BP and it came with a balanced 4.4 cable. Cmiiw I think BP stands for balanced cable, AP is 3.5mm cable.

I still hold the N3 at very high regard in terms of tonality. One of the more correct sounding IEMs I have tried.

 

[Somafunk]

Mine is N3BP and it came with a balanced 4.4 cable. Cmiiw I think BP stands for balanced cable, AP is 3.5mm cable.

I still hold the N3 at very high regard in terms of tonality. One of the more correct sounding IEMs I have tried.

Wot he said ^, AP/BP is cable type.

Some folk don’t really care for the sound of the xba-n3 as they can find it lacking in tonal/treble detail from 3khz to 8khz but for my listening preference of electronic music I consider it excellent, I’d be bereft if something happened to it as they’re becoming hard to find in good condition.