mids ? really ? yes i admit xba-3 is over all , clearer , has better instrument separation and cymbals are better pronounced , h1 is kind of veiled and less dynamic all over the spectrum compared to xba-3 , 3 has better extension at highs , but man , its more V-shaped , and sound stage is a disappointment , what goes for h1 is bass and bass extension , less V-shaped means a bit more forward mids , sound stage and is more lively , more enjoyable , if you are looking from a audiophile's prospective , h1 cant beat xba-3 , but to me , its a winner , miles better cable and a practical and more useable cable clip . mine is more then 60hrs burned with frequency sweeps , did you burned it in ? bass decay is improved and driver crossover is less evident to me , its personal . if xba-3 is 8.7/10 to me , then h1 is not below 8.3 and that is not bad for $90 and i paid $140 for my first xba-3 .
i like h1 , its nice and fun and less dry .
XBA-3 is V shaped? I found their mids and highs more prominent than their bass though.. maybe more of a slight upward slope shape.
H1 has bass, recessed mids and even more recessed highs... to me it feels like a downward slope.. i didn't feel their soundstage particularly that wide though, maybe due to the congested feeling from poorer separation. But i did find XBA-3 more engaging as it has a better PRaT than H1 which i find is a bit slow in fast paced songs.
The H1 i've tried is a demo set on display for past weeks, so i think it's been burned in quite a bit. I found H3 as the best all rounder, and would prefer that over the XBA-3.
If you paid $90 for the H1 then that wasn't so bad... over here it's selling at $150 which i consider that overpriced.