[Dsnuts]

I agree. Them spiral dot tips are amazing for all my phones actually. Just got 2 boxes from Amazon Japan. Excellent tips even better than the UE tips I was using before them.

 

[bigfullz]

Actually, for me, the Sony tips probably isolate a bit better due to the tapered shape. I am able to slide the Sony tips into my ear canal, whereas the jvc tips kinda nestle right at the canal. I do not recall it being much of a difference though, ill check again next time I get a session in.

 

[a_recording]

I posted my review of the Sony XBA-H1.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/sony-hybrid-black-in-ear-headphones-xba-h1/reviews/10979
 
Reposted here for convenience:
 

 

Design & Comfort
 
The XBA-H1's earpieces are quite large, and may not suit every user's ears. Thankfully they are quite lightweight. The cable is good quality and doesn't tangle easily, and microphonics / cable noise is reasonable even when worn down. Isolation is good, but with the large earpieces wind noise can be a problem. Given the large size of the earphone, Sony should perhaps had gone for a negative profile design.
 
Sound

The H1 does really sound as if someone took a XBA-1/10/C10 driver and added a bass driver to it. You get the same feathery, brittle kind of sound of the XBA full range driver now combined with a dramatically more thumpy bass line. As a result the earphone is very thick and smooth in sound, and has a similar character to the Shure SE215. However, the addition of the dynamic driver means that treble, which already lacked extension in the XBA-1 series, now really ends up taking a backseat. The lack of treble extension means that strings and vocals sound blunted, feathery and brittle, and there is a real lack of air in the sound. The Shure SE215 in comparison has a much more natural high frequency roll-off and overall I think sounds better.
 
Given that the SE215 has a negative profile fit, detachable cables, a more natural sound and a lower price, I would not really look at the H1 unless I was absolutely allergic to high frequencies.

 
Unfortunately I was really disappointed, but am still looking to listen to the H2 and H3...

 

[Inks]

H2 may be even worse lol, it surely doesn't have any more treble extension. H3 does go very high though. 

 

[svyr]

+

+
^
Why sure.....

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

....

Spoiler: ok, now that I have trolling out of the way

I found the noble exotic wood connectors complemented the advanced Liquid Crystal Polymer Film Diaphragm giving the sound an extra depth and that natural glow.
The japanese 'denko high class OEFC headphone cord ' (E??) cord had the most amazing synergy with it further driving me into nirvana of not being hurt by the sony stock connector ergonomics. I could almost feel the japanese heritage resonating between the two :O in awesome harmony. despite H3 being designed and not made in jp

sfwalcer

H3 are without exaggeration - the least comfortable and the most ridiculous looking, the biggest and least isolating earphones I've ever tried.
Normally they sound too mid/upper bassy and a bit disgusting.
People say the tape mod tones it down for the mid and upper bass, but I must've made the tape hole too large using a pin not a needle.
So I instead eqed it.

Spoiler

H3 (tone bass 0)
clip+/rockbox parametric eq settings
Ls0
band| dB, f, q
1|1.5-3.0,40hz,2.0
2|-2.5,180hz,2.0
3|-3.0,280hz,0.8
4|-1.5,500hz,0.7

this takes off the excessive (disgusting) mid and upper bass, and brings out the nice sub bass/bass.
Makes H3 sound like a better sub-bass mellower and slightly less visceral version thinksound on1 (I like those a lot)
These have a wholesome (forward lower and upper) mids tuning ala Ex700 to me (very nostalgic and loveable for sweet mids) and a bit of extra bite on the 8-10k range making them sound sweet and fun but fairly detailed and generally forgiving for sibilance and excess 10k mastering. You may find using something other than the horrible ergonomics stock cable (that to be fair works with the the chin guard) is a better fit.



if these were 1.5x smaller I'd buy them.

 

[hockey_magnet]

"Disgusting" ?  These "reviews" of the H3 kill me, same as some others where most of the comments tear it apart, then they end with something like " but I really like them" or I'd buy them if they were smaller". Had these for 6 weeks and the stock cable is not "horrible ergonomics" . What's horrible about it ? It's a fairly flexible flat cable with ear wire support - not stupendously fantastic but also not horrible by any standard. Also these are not the least bit uncomfortable as many others have pointed out. Are they large? Absolutely. Uncomfortable - Definitely not - I've had no problems wearing them for 4-5 hours at a stretch. As far as being ridiculous looking - no iem's are ridiculous looking - a little more self confidence maybe? Do you actually think any body else REALLY cares what your iem's look like? They're not Mickey Mouse ears wrapped in tinfoil!

 

[svyr]

"Disgusting" ?  These "reviews" of the H3 kill me, same as some others where most of the comments tear it apart, then they end with something like " but I really like them" or I'd buy them if they were smaller". Had these for 6 weeks and the stock cable is not "horrible ergonomics" . What's horrible about it ? It's a fairly flexible flat cable with ear wire support - not stupendously fantastic but also not horrible by any standard. Also these are not the least bit uncomfortable as many others have pointed out. Are they large? Absolutely. Uncomfortable - Definitely not - I've had no problems wearing them for 4-5 hours at a stretch. As far as being ridiculous looking - no iem's are ridiculous looking - a little more self confidence maybe? Do you actually think any body else REALLY cares what your iem's look like? They're not Mickey Mouse ears wrapped in tinfoil!

ymmv

>Disgusting
an appropriate word for too much mid and upper bass (150hz-400hz)


>What's horrible about it ?

the over the ear memory wire isn't useable to me unless i use the chin guard.
the plastic plug is angled in a way that's not user controllable (if it rotated) and hurts my ear and keeps breaking seal on one ear from not quite sitting right

> no iem's are ridiculous looking...They're not Mickey Mouse ears wrapped in tinfoil!

lol....ok. pretty close i think.

 

[DannyBai]

You can always expect people to chime in and give their negative opinions. I find these to fit fine, cable is fine and sound great. Fit is better than the EX1000 and shape of the housing. Sound is definitely more pleasing without that ear piercing treble. Good have have some others give their opinions even if it's not so good. I think these will suit to more people than not.

 

[d marc0]

People experience things differently and we just have to keep an open mind and accept that's how the world works.

 

[a_recording]

I wouldn't try to defend Sony too much on this. They could have made this a negative profile design like Shure, Westone, etc. Instead they've gone with the same vertically mounted driver design, and with earpieces this large it's a bit silly.

 

[svyr]

I wouldn't try to defend Sony too much on this. They could have made this a negative profile design like Shure, Westone, etc. Instead they've gone with the same vertically mounted driver design, and with earpieces this large it's a bit silly.

I think 16mm LC driver is a bit excessive in a hybrid (especially tuning it with excess mid bass and upper bass). (if anything it was probably motivated by 'oh look we have so many of these from EX-1000 let's use them')
I doubt you need anything bigger than 10mm (although some people say 13.5/16mm are better for bass per se) and I'm struggling to think of a way to put a 16mm driver in along with BAs that won't make them XXXL?
That said - ala SE425 would have probably been better.

also IEM side plugs not fixed in place to the 'authoritative sony imposed position'

 

[BlinkST]

  "Disgusting" ?  These "reviews" of the H3 kill me, same as some others where most of the comments tear it apart, then they end with something like " but I really like them" or I'd buy them if they were smaller". Had these for 6 weeks and the stock cable is not "horrible ergonomics" . What's horrible about it ? It's a fairly flexible flat cable with ear wire support - not stupendously fantastic but also not horrible by any standard. Also these are not the least bit uncomfortable as many others have pointed out. Are they large? Absolutely. Uncomfortable - Definitely not - I've had no problems wearing them for 4-5 hours at a stretch. As far as being ridiculous looking - no iem's are ridiculous looking - a little more self confidence maybe? Do you actually think any body else REALLY cares what your iem's look like? They're not Mickey Mouse ears wrapped in tinfoil!

I love my pair, so not much I have to say about negative reviews or the tape mod and such. People will be people. 
 
Absolutely agree about wearing them for hours at a time, especially. They just seem to "disappear" into the atmosphere. 

 

[Gandasaputra]

if these were 1.5x smaller I'd buy them.

Waits for black friday and I assume XBA-H10,20,30 will be released with more compact size -> huge price drop for H1,2,3. I'll take the H3 if the price fall to $150 (like that XBA-30)

 

 

[nudd]

ymmv

>Disgusting
an appropriate word for too much mid and upper bass (150hz-400hz)


>What's horrible about it ?

the over the ear memory wire isn't useable to me unless i use the chin guard.
the plastic plug is angled in a way that's not user controllable (if it rotated) and hurts my ear and keeps breaking seal on one ear from not quite sitting right

> no iem's are ridiculous looking...They're not Mickey Mouse ears wrapped in tinfoil!

lol....ok. pretty close i think.

 
I agree that the mid bass is a tad bloated for my taste and I do EQ it down by 2 - 3 dB around the 100-150 Hz mark, but I don't agree the 400 Hz is upper bass. 400 is well in the mids already (for example, a violin starts at 200 Ghz and is clearly in the mids, and in my opinion 400 hz definitely doesn't need to be cut. I doesn't think it is what you would call disgusting though. It is just the way Sony has tuned it and the drivers themselves work very well (in my opinion).

 

[svyr]

I agree that the mid bass is a tad bloated for my taste and I do EQ it down by 2 - 3 dB around the 100-150 Hz mark, but I don't agree the 400 Hz is upper bass. 400 is well in the mids already (for example, a violin starts at 200 Ghz and is clearly in the mids, and in my opinion 400 hz definitely doesn't need to be cut. I doesn't think it is what you would call disgusting though. It is just the way Sony has tuned it and the drivers themselves work very well (in my opinion).

hmmm actually you are right - thank you for pointing it out

the reference I usually use is this one
good point, 400 is definitely lower mids. (250+hz is from there )

I did get a bit caught up eqing an IEM with a 400-600hz problem, that sony doesn't have and 'went extra safe' trying to compensate for the previous experience
so from the original eq suggestion

I think the -1.5@500q=0.7 is unnecessarily. (especially given it goes both ways around 500hz)


what are your thoughts on leaving these from the above?

1|+1.5-2.0,40hz,2.0 <-- not really sure if it needs any more there. (3.0 is definitely too much )
2|-2.5,180hz,2.0 - definitely needed
3|-2.0,280hz,0.8 - not sure

^for (3) despite it being quite wide. (I still think leaning that out makes it sound clearer,
but maybe it just leans out a bit more towards 150hz)
pretty sure Cowon BBE+ purposely dip it a bit there as well.)
that said - maybe placebo.

I'm still not sure if that's too much and would prefer to get a proper parametric eq graph app to see the total cumulative effect. (vs playing with numbers in clip+ menu)
Would you be able to suggest a test track where it's possible to track eqing 80-500hz easily (in one track)?
(40-180 is usually easier, but 250-350 is either masked out by the 40-200 or I just don't know what to listen for, well, for 2 2dB anyway) (at least in some metal or dnb)