[james444]

  Could you tell me the ohm's of your K? Thanks.

 
It's not only about the ohms, but also about sensitivity. The K3003 are 8 ohms and have high 125db sensitivity. The H3 on the other hand are 40 ohms with rather low 107db sensitivity. Which means they're unlikely to hiss from most sources, but require a decent amount of driving power.
 
Don't get me wrong, I can still drive them to plenty of volume straight from my DAPs. It's just that they sound a little bit better and more controlled from more powerful sources.

 

[Jackson 6]

I can get some sound body, thin though it might be, with my xba-1 on my e 474 with the volume up a few notches, and that's 24ohms,with I think 105db so with a bit of luck on max volume i  might get enough for a fair review. It might be the first totl iem that sony don't allow to be used on their motl daps, but it has a more powerful amp than an i pod so if i get middle volume un amped i feel that'l be a fair deal. i know your upper end, but would a budget amp be ok if needed?

 

[Simon T]

  Hi Simon, Not expecting the H3 'till Saturday sadly, plus with overnight burn in will post sunday. You won't be unhappy with the 90, I will still use it even if the H3 blows it away.

 
Understand, hope they will allow me to do a quick audition with the XB90, curious about the bass and how it stacks up against the H3. Nevertheless, enjoy your H3
 
Cheers

 

[Jackson 6]

i will, if and when it arrives, they couldn't deliver it despite clear instructions- i work in a giant place and there's no fudging post room on saturday.

 

[james444]

  i know your upper end, but would a budget amp be ok if needed?

 
I'd think so. They sound very good with my Fiio X3, so a Fiio E10/E11 (which use the same amp chip) should do the job nicely.

 

[HiFiGuy528]

I'm enjoying the XBA-H3 right now on my Lehmann Audio Linear USB dad/amp.  It's amazing.....  the H3 likes POWER.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

^ The H1 as well. I'm willing to bet these were designed with Sony's Dac/Amp as a platform. The mids and highs really shined when amped. Straight to a phone, the bass had a boosted effect over the mids and highs. In a way it plays well to marketing imo, I think the majority making the jump from marketing/hype-based phones will enjoy the sound via phone with added clarity but the same mid-bass boost and the listeners using dacs with amps get rewarded with a great overall sound with a more balanced souns. The H1 that is, I can only imagine the H3 scaling even better.

The H1 sounded great with the Yulong D100. The Sq had a slight benefit with the E7 plugged to my S3 vs straight from the phone.

 

[MorozOFF]

who can compare H1 with MDR-XB90EX in terms of sound and bass?

 

[shureThing]

I'm also wondering how these compare to the Monster MD Trumpets? They're also flagship basshead IEMs, and personally thought they were quite good at $140USD from Amazon, which is only slightly more than the EPH-100. I still have the EX1000s, but I found the joint between the memory wire and the soft cable very weak and soon enough the cable broke down. I'm currently using the spare short cable, and looking at the H3's as a possible replacement (seeing they have a MMCX connector).

 

[Eirwyn]

  who can compare H1 with MDR-XB90EX in terms of sound and bass?

 
+1

 

[Eirwyn]

Would you suggest buying H1 for someone who likes XB41EX but not XB90EX? (cannot buy H3 as it is too expensive for my budget

)

 

[AUDIOBREEDER]

Anyone know if an 'IP' (iphone) version in coming out for these? I dont want to make the same mistake when I purchased XBA-1.
 
Also i hope they integrate both walkman & iphone remote in one!

 

[BlinkST]

  who can compare H1 with MDR-XB90EX in terms of sound and bass?

From an earlier post:

  Not a frequent poster here. 35 years of critical headphone listening behind me, sennheisser/AKG/Beyerdynamic/STAXen/Koss ESP-950/HiFIMan HE-500/Etymotics/Sony IEMs like ex-90 and ex-700.
I have a preference for clarity and resolution, coupled with smooth, liquid midrange and bass heft.
My impression of the XHA-H1 is that it is quite modern in its presentation. It goes deep in the bass, no problem reaching below audible range, without roll off (I tested this with test tones). Really low bass pulses in trance or other genres are present, and contribute to the musical presentation. In terms of tonality, standing bass for instance does quite well. The lower registers feel somewhat emphasized, but not disturbingly so. This seems to be in vogue, and I personally think it is a reasonable trade-off since the physical experience of the bass is absent with headphones. 
 
The midrange is good. Really good. Voices, woodwind instruments, acoustic guitar et cetera sound well articulated.
 
The treble is smooth. Too rolled off in my opinion. Trumpets lack blare, cymbals lack crash, violins lack incisiveness in the attack. A bit. It should always be noted that the treble is where the individualities of the pinna (outer ear) is the largest, differences can easily be 10dB between individuals. For my ears, this makes the HBA-1 very easily listenable, never sharp, but then again a bit a bit lacking in air and attack. Tyll Hertsens would love it. Your ears WILL be different in this range.
 
Overall the presentation is smooth enough that the listener will likely be able to tune in to them and adjust to their peculiarities.
They do offer good transparency and insight into complex music, implying that there are no major issues with IM or other distortion.
So resolution is good, but not, compared to the highest end, outstanding. 
 
Overall - pretty damn good and great value for money in my experience. Not quite my cup of tea in the treble, where my ears would simply have preferred higher mid-treble levels in order to open the presentation up a bit more. 
 
 
Caveats - I haven't tried the phones with the different supplied tips since I got great isolation with the default ones. I'm curious about what benefits the foamy tips bring, if any. I'll experiment a bit to see what happens but do not expect the sound to change all that much given that I already have a good seal.
 

 

[AT1987]

  Anyone know if an 'IP' (iphone) version in coming out for these? I dont want to make the same mistake when I purchased XBA-1.
 
Also i hope they integrate both walkman & iphone remote in one!

 
XBA-H2 & H3 come with normal cable and remote control cable. The remote cable is compatible with iPhone and Android but it can't control the volume since it has only one button.
 
About WALKMAN remote, I remember that there is a bluetooth headset that designed specialty for WALKMAN. It has media control button and microphone for WALKMAN noise canceling system. 

 

[coyoteboy]

Not sure if it's just ear burn-in or some other issue but I feel a little like the H3 has, over the last 2 weeks listening, dropped the volume of the low end frequencies. Seems more smooth now and a little less "impacty". Could just bbe that I've got used to it, but I had a couple of days not listening, when I came back I thought I must have mistakenly adjusted the EQ. Not sure about the reality and physics of burn-in of drivers.