[crazy eddie]

Now I'm gonna try the cowon with my macawgt100s I'm thinking the 12e since they require more juice to get it to what I want, let's see, then I'll try my triplefi.10, now so far the sony xb90 are awesome, thanks to hawaii, I love the cowon,.does not.mean I dont.love.my fiio x5, they are different, x5 has a black background and the music on male vocal is unsurpassed, but we all have different taste, but to me it's emotional on the x5, now cowon brings a different type of fun to the table all the settings, I will never get tired, the screen is beautiful, so they all have their strength

 

[gerelmx1986]

  Over the past few weeks, I've been experimenting with the A3 and have found that insertion do change the sound of the A3 "ALOT"(I can't stress it enough). This is actually the first time I'm experiencing this with IEMs. My theory is that when there's more airflow in between the ear canal, sound escapes through, which can/may change the sound signature completely. Difference differ from sounding dark/bright, Tight/Muddy-Bass, Open-sounding/closed-sounding, Higher freq vs lower freq.
 

---

 
Based on 2 Factors
 
• How sounds actually travel into the ears (Angle, Distance, Rebound)
- The Angle in which is positioned to close off the distance, which affects the speed and how fast it takes for the sound to travel into the ears.
- If we see the ear canals as a maze, I think it would be easier to understand that when there's wall, sound rebounds creating echos, which creates a deeper field of sound perception. Creating an illusion of deeper depths/field and imaging.
 
• Gaps between ear canals (Airflow, Isolation)
- When there's airflow, the first thing is that a more opening-sound is being created. We understand that from open-headphones or semi open headphone/IEM.
- The more/deeper Isolation, the more difficult it is for the sound to escape, which results in higher bass quantity. Cleaner sound as there's place for the sound to go except the ears which doesn't necessarily means it will be clear. In my experience, and opinion, when there's more sound escape, you're perceiving two channels, sound going in along with sound traveling out which may result in messier sound(sorry for the bad description).
 

---

 
For now, I usually listen to them at a "90° angle respect to the ear (perpendicular)" which I believe to produced the best amount of bass quantity, Vocals, and Depths.
Settings: Comfort 7.5/10, Tight isolation, no airflow in between ear canals
Result: Dark Sounding, Bassy, Full Bodied Sound, Clean highs, Deeper Depth(feels), Warm/Fun-Sounding.
 
Pointed at a higher angle 45° forward insertion.
Settings: Comfort 8.5/10, Tight isolation, believe to have a little airflow in the ear canals
Result: Bright sounding, Not-Bassy(may be perceived to have tigher bass), Open-sounding, Brighter highs, Cold/analytical sounding.
 

---

 
The reason why I did this is that I've read that people have very difference experience with these Sony IEMs when auditioning/reviewing and the reports really differs from each other. I believe the reason being for the change is due to the weight/ergonomic of these IEM. Making the fit experience very different from one another. I highly suggest people trying out difference ear-tips and insertion to get the best or desired sound from these IEM.
 
It would great to get some feedback/experience with the above settings.(I think it would be kinda interesting haha). Do feel free to voice out your opinion, if there's a huge change in sound etc or experienced/tested it out.

I experienced the same

 

[crazy eddie]

It's known that wide bore opens the sound, sweeten the bass and softens the highs, and close bore at least for me, too much bass while taking too much charge, I guess it's just fun switching, wide all the way , makes it more balanced, but my xba a3 sound smoother on my fiio x5 as opposed to my note phone or cowon plenue d, ,but I have noticed they are burning in, there not like when I first put them on, they hurt, not any more, I actually love them now, let's hope it continues to get better

 

[Hinomotocho]

I hopefully can make my purchase tomorrow - just curious of a couple of things: I didn't notice any vent(?) in them, is there any/much sound leakage listening at low-medium volumes? eg I listen to music in bed, would my partner be able to hear anything next to me? Also, my previous earphones have been 12-16 ohm, technically speaking what difference is there with a 32ohm iem? Mostly I will use with my Sony A15 dap.

 

[cuiter23]

I hopefully can make my purchase tomorrow - just curious of a couple of things: I didn't notice any vent(?) in them, is there any/much sound leakage listening at low-medium volumes? eg I listen to music in bed, would my partner be able to hear anything next to me? Also, my previous earphones have been 12-16 ohm, technically speaking what difference is there with a 32ohm iem? Mostly I will use with my Sony A15 dap.

 
There are vents and will leak sound. They are made for home use. Not a big difference between 12-16 ohm and 32ohm. Your a15 is fine.

 

[gerelmx1986]

They do sound great (The XBA-A3) with hi-resolution FLAC files, they revela more microdetails and the bass response is even better

 

[Bruin9999]

Is anyone else shocked at how thin the cable is, I've eaten thicker spaghetti.

 

[cuiter23]

  Is anyone else shocked at how thin the cable is, I've eaten thicker spaghetti.

 
Looks like someone needs the upgrade cable

 

[jmills8]

 

[jmills8]

 

[bedlamite]

Looks like someone needs the upgrade cable

Still no excuse for the stock cables though. Truly indefensible.

I'll be upgrading as well, but Sony can't assume that everybody's going to do that, and the build of the stock cable is quite frankly appalling, for how much these things cost.

 

[cuiter23]

Still no excuse for the stock cables though. Truly indefensible.

I'll be upgrading as well, but Sony can't assume that everybody's going to do that, and the build of the stock cable is quite frankly appalling, for how much these things cost.

Its a bit flimsy but my 2 years of owning the A3 the cables held up completely fine, so I can attest to their durability... granted you don't use them for any hardcore sports

Plus the grooves are a nice added touch to prevent the cables from tangling.

The bottleneck with the A3/Z5 seems to be more towards their implementation of the mmcx connector.

 

[tf10charged]

just got this a few days ago.
 
wow, i am impressed.
 
this sure is a hidden gem. this A3 works better on a better source. with my mojo the bass is tight and deep! treble goes slightly extended and airy, instrument separation goes noticeably better!
 
those that thought this is 32ohm hence no amp needed?  
 
i found that is A3 is scalable with better source, while A2 is as good as it sounds from phone/dap, but no noticeable difference with amp!
 
i sure is impressed. mid and instrument are separately nicely, vocal is near, good for all kinds of song, from pop to OST! too bad sony isnt marketing this the right way. 
 
and also this iem need good source file, unbearable with bad mastering/low bitrate!

 

[cuiter23]

  just got this a few days ago.
 
wow, i am impressed.
 
this sure is a hidden gem. this A3 works better on a better source. with my mojo the bass is tight and deep! treble goes slightly extended and airy, instrument separation goes noticeably better!
 
those that thought this is 32ohm hence no amp needed?  
 
i found that is A3 is scalable with better source, while A2 is as good as it sounds from phone/dap, but no noticeable difference with amp!
 
i sure is impressed. mid and instrument are separately nicely, vocal is near, good for all kinds of song, from pop to OST! too bad sony isnt marketing this the right way. 
 
and also this iem need good source file, unbearable with bad mastering/low bitrate!

 
The Chord Mojo is a very good unit. 

 

[crazy eddie]

Well I'm about done I think with most players was thinking of a cheap one or two touchscreens, just for the sake of different sound signature, so dx50are really cheap new and used,or dx90,unless I get a nice ak 120 2, or junior, or the audio fly cheap one , xuelin is also at great price, with matching buds