[amiWul]

Hi there been trying to find reviews for the new sony h3 iem. Is it worth it? Lost my westone 4 and i have 18% off discount for sony products. That works out to be $400( singapore dollars). Thanks

 

[BlinkST]

These three are positive.
 
www.head-fi.org/t/680119/sony-xba-h1-and-xba-h3-hybrid-dynamic-and-ba-iem/615#post_9902871
http://www.head-fi.org/t/680119/sony-xba-h1-and-xba-h3-hybrid-dynamic-and-ba-iem/705#post_9913478
http://www.head-fi.org/t/680119/sony-xba-h1-and-xba-h3-hybrid-dynamic-and-ba-iem/795#post_9920100
 

 

[james444]

Hi there been trying to find reviews for the new sony h3 iem. Is it worth it? Lost my westone 4 and i have 18% off discount for sony products. That works out to be $400( singapore dollars). Thanks

 
Depends on your usage and preferred sound signature. The H3 offer less isolation and are less convenient for on the go. And they're significantly bassier than the W4. But apart from that, they're technically at least at eye level with the Westones and have a very impressive out-of-head soundstage with great layering and depth, more like full-sized phones.

 

[Jackson 6]

There fantastic!   James,,could you do a comparison with your JH's?  When my review comes out it will  probably  be hopelessly biased....

 

[james444]

  There fantastic!   James,,could you do a comparison with your JH's?  When my review comes out it will  probably  be hopelessly biased....

 
I don't own any JHs. Or are you talking about the Roxanne demo that should be heading my way soon?
 
The latter is an easy calculation. The H3s have 3 drivers, but the JHs have 12 drivers. Meaning they'll be 4 times better.

 

 

[Jackson 6]

That'll do nicely! Sorry, I just remembered you had the top AKG.

 

[Inks]

GE graphs of the H1, looks great, similar response to the EQ-5/GR10, but more extended and refined. All they had to do was increase the treble extension with the H3, too bad they decided to tinker....

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

  GE graphs of the H1, looks great, similar response to the EQ-5/GR10, but more extended and refined. All they had to do was increase the treble extension with the H3, too bad they decided to tinker....

For the lazy:

 

 

[doitdb]

I've had the pleasure of listening to - in the order of latest to earliest.Sony xba H3, senn ie80, senn ie8, w3, ue super5 eb. If I had to decide on the order of best to the least good the order would be ie80, ie8, w3, Xba H3, 5eb. I am quite sure many including James and Jackson06 would disagree to this looking at their replies to my earlier post. Like many others here I am a fan of Sony's products. I have an xperia z ultra and a sbh52 paired with it. Superb devices both. But I do think that the xba H3 is a bit over rated. My experience with it wasn't that great and ultimately had to send these back. Thanks to the huge soundstage of ie80 I was used to, I found nothing exciting abt the H3. In fact after listening to the H3, I paired the cheapy Sony earphones they send with the sbh52 to my xperia and even those sounded better than the H3, unless amazonUK sent me some fake H3's for 230 quid.

 

[Jackson 6]

Hate to think it, but that might be the case. They were sublime off the bat for me.

 

[heatofamatch]

I've had the pleasure of listening to - in the order of latest to earliest.Sony xba H3, senn ie80, senn ie8, w3, ue super5 eb. If I had to decide on the order of best to the least good the order would be ie80, ie8, w3, Xba H3, 5eb. I am quite sure many including James and Jackson06 would disagree to this looking at their replies to my earlier post. Like many others here I am a fan of Sony's products. I have an xperia z ultra and a sbh52 paired with it. Superb devices both. But I do think that the xba H3 is a bit over rated. My experience with it wasn't that great and ultimately had to send these back. Thanks to the huge soundstage of ie80 I was used to, I found nothing exciting abt the H3. In fact after listening to the H3, I paired the cheapy Sony earphones they send with the sbh52 to my xperia and even those sounded better than the H3, unless amazonUK sent me some fake H3's for 230 quid.

 
IMO Sony is still building their know-how on these BA drivers and high-end IEMs. You can see a clear learning path from the EX90-->EX700-->EX1000-->XBA-4-->XBA-40-->XBA-H3. Not saying they're not good - there are plenty of happy head-fiers. But I always find them to be a little less well-rounded, less of a complete package than say an ER-4, or even products Sony itself is more seasoned with, like the MDR-Z1000.
 
And yes, the cheap Sony Mobile earphones (MH750) can be surprisingly satisfying. I believe that's Sony's proper prowess of sonic seasoning at work -- the old Sony magical sauce that's been missing from most, if not all of their recent high-end products. I'm not a basshead but I like the XB90EX because it's probably the most Sony-esque of Sony IEMs.

 

[fnkcow]

Darn it cooperating with musicians to create the perfect IEMs are such a bad idea for the XBA series. Different needs, different outcome. 

 

[jones23]

Hi,
I've read the last 40 or so pages of this thread and there seems to be consensus that the XBA H1 and the XBA-3 are similar in quality with slightly different sound characteristics. Some people even like the XBA-1 which seems to have the same BA as the XBA-H1. But no one compared it to the XBA-2.
 
Which has the better value for money XBA-2 (75$) or XBA H1 (110$) ?

 

[james444]

I've had the pleasure of listening to - in the order of latest to earliest.Sony xba H3, senn ie80, senn ie8, w3, ue super5 eb. If I had to decide on the order of best to the least good the order would be ie80, ie8, w3, Xba H3, 5eb. I am quite sure many including James and Jackson06 would disagree to this looking at their replies to my earlier post. Like many others here I am a fan of Sony's products. I have an xperia z ultra and a sbh52 paired with it. Superb devices both. But I do think that the xba H3 is a bit over rated. My experience with it wasn't that great and ultimately had to send these back. Thanks to the huge soundstage of ie80 I was used to, I found nothing exciting abt the H3. In fact after listening to the H3, I paired the cheapy Sony earphones they send with the sbh52 to my xperia and even those sounded better than the H3, unless amazonUK sent me some fake H3's for 230 quid.

 
Hmm, but in your earlier post you reported that you had trouble getting the H3 to fit. I just pointed out that this might have influenced your listening impressions.
 
That said, out of the box I found their bass excess hardly less obnoxious than that of an IE8/IE80. I'd even agree that the Senn's bass comes across as somewhat better integrated with the rest of the sound signature than that of the stock H3. However, upon comparing both the H3 and IE8 with tuned down bass, I think the Sonys are technically superior and I perceive their soundstage as no less impressive than that of the Senns.
 
One more thing, as I've already mentioned, the H3 seem to benefit from more driving power. This isn't something I've noticed on many IEMs, since my Samsung Galaxy S3 sounds excellent with most phones and adding an amp yields no further improvement. But the H3 really seem to scale with power and (oddly enough) sound subjectively best from my GS Voyager amp, which has the highest output impedance of all my sources.
 

  IMO Sony is still building their know-how on these BA drivers and high-end IEMs. You can see a clear learning path from the EX90-->EX700-->EX1000-->XBA-4-->XBA-40-->XBA-H3. Not saying they're not good - there are plenty of happy head-fiers. But I always find them to be a little less well-rounded, less of a complete package than say an ER-4, or even products Sony itself is more seasoned with, like the MDR-Z1000.

 
Tbh, I don't see that clear learning path, their dynamic and armature IEMs strike me as very different kind of beasts.

 

[Jackson 6]

It's unfair to compare the 90 with the H3. IMHO they are both class leaders, but that's £80 verses £300, with appropriate innards diff's as well, and this is confirmed across the parameters of sound. If i didn't know the H3, i'd be very happy for a long time with the 90, it could be said it's the 128kbps king, albeit it the H3 images better. The 90 did a great job with the AK 120, albeit there was ceiling strain, and it will do daily beater duties, never to see the darkness of a drawer.