[jmills8]

These are all awesome amps if you're thinking of getting something new

• Alo RX MK III-B (an oldie but a goodie)
• Leckerton Audio UHA 6S MK II  (been out of stock for awhile now a successor is due anyway); UHA 760
• Headstage Arrow 5TX (its so tiny but very revered)
• Geek Out V2+ (this is the one I am getting, I am going to send my Geek Out V2 back and just pay the price difference to get the V2+)
• Vorzüge Pure II+

etc

Best to check in the sales cause theres always an ALO amp on sale.

 

[gerelmx1986]

Driving A3 directly from A17 walkman, no channel imbalance... damn Pots on the Oppo HA-2

 

[gerelmx1986]

How do they copare? XBA-H3 vs XBA-A3
 
long story short A3 wins in clarity and details than H3
 
Now details
 
Trebble:
 
XBA-H3: has a harsh treble  a trebel so revealing so evidnet when playing harpsichord music be it bach or couperin or this one pictured from Froberger edition a taskin a french with robust sound, the trebel on the H3 makes all the mechanism sound too umm well mechanical, with ochestral pieces it tends to distort, also happens with organ pieces.
 
A3 treble is a bit subdued, more organic feeling to the poor harpsichord and nice detail to the orchestral pieces so evident in sinfonia to the cantata BWV 29 (sony classical CD Greatest Hits Bach), Bach's magnificat also resounds and never spikes hard,
 
Mids: H3 mids are so shy that makes things so V-shaped, it loses so much details on this area, especially on big works like chorals and orchestrals.
 
A3 have more forward mids and sound (at least for me) close to reference /neutral sound all amounts of details nicely heard, instruments that go MIA on the H3 are clearly present in the A3's
 
BASS: h3... dreaded bass, yep, same quantyt like A3 buuuuuuut... H3 bass lacks the effort it doesn't rumble. periodit can't go deep, back to froberger taskin cembalo and bach Partita No. 1 BWV 825 (ithink): allemande, bas sin H3 doesn't hit hard i cannot hear the rumbles of those harpsichord used, the froberger boast a massive 16' register and was meeehhhh..... same for JL krebs organ works (weinberger brothers or so, play for label mottete) fetaures an organ with bass reeds also again I booed the H3, they cant go deep as those reeds demand and create a boomy mess
 
A3 in contrast big deep bass (not that bass like) and rumbles!, reaches effortless to the deep lows of that 16 foot register i was instantly amazed on the krebs organ prelude screw* loud & deep bass reeds nicely represented, the partita by bach also rumbled nice when hitting the lowest of the strings of the cembalo, yet not over powering the other frequencies.
 
Iamgin: H3 presents a weird skewed to the left imaging, the boomy bass  and acoustic chamber design (too thik profile) creates a echoey music that for the N00b classical listener saya wow, reverb in every music!... just my 2 cents, sounds at times like bathroom recorded music uughhhh, Bachs sinfonia to BWV 29 coudln't be worse on those boomy kette drums crappy reverb
 
A3 have a nice imagin to the center out of the head, represented as is, reverb is present when the recording has it, the partita BWV 825 has little reverb, represent as such on the A3 (infact with A3 i can hear (call me crazy) instrument's internal reverb (resonance)) wheres H3 add artifical reverb giving the impression it was recorded on a bigger hall (with tiles like bathrooms ARRGHHH)
 
H3
Boomy bass makes things like kettle drums so overpowered and lacks rumble
mids shy contributing to V-Shape and not neutral
Highs: harsh
imaging: bathroom like reverbs, skewed to the left
 
A3
deep & rumblig bass not overpowering, kettles sound like kettle drums and deccay perfectly
Mids mre forward contributing to detail
Highs a bit subdued but not harsh neither lose details
Iamging: centered or as recording mics were placed
More close to neutral / reference sound
 
A3--> perfect for classical music, H3--> nope
Veredict H3 FOR SALE, XBA-A3 KEEPERS

 

[jmills8]

How do they copare? XBA-H3 vs XBA-A3

long story short A3 wins in clarity and details than H3

Now details

Trebble:

XBA-H3: has a harsh treble  a trebel so revealing so evidnet when playing harpsichord music be it bach or couperin or this one pictured from Froberger edition a taskin a french with robust sound, the trebel on the H3 makes all the mechanism sound too umm well mechanical, with ochestral pieces it tends to distort, also happens with organ pieces.

A3 treble is a bit subdued, more organic feeling to the poor harpsichord and nice detail to the orchestral pieces so evident in sinfonia to the cantata BWV 29 (sony classical CD Greatest Hits Bach), Bach's magnificat also resounds and never spikes hard,

Mids: H3 mids are so shy that makes things so V-shaped, it loses so much details on this area, especially on big works like chorals and orchestrals.

A3 have more forward mids and sound (at least for me) close to reference /neutral sound all amounts of details nicely heard, instruments that go MIA on the H3 are clearly present in the A3's

BASS: h3... dreaded bass, yep, same quantyt like A3 buuuuuuut... H3 bass lacks the effort it doesn't rumble. periodit can't go deep, back to froberger taskin cembalo and bach Partita No. 1 BWV 825 (ithink): allemande, bas sin H3 doesn't hit hard i cannot hear the rumbles of those harpsichord used, the froberger boast a massive 16' register and was meeehhhh..... same for JL krebs organ works (weinberger brothers or so, play for label mottete) fetaures an organ with bass reeds also again I booed the H3, they cant go deep as those reeds demand and create a boomy mess

A3 in contrast big deep bass (not that bass like) and rumbles!, reaches effortless to the deep lows of that 16 foot register i was instantly amazed on the krebs organ prelude screw* loud & deep bass reeds nicely represented, the partita by bach also rumbled nice when hitting the lowest of the strings of the cembalo, yet not over powering the other frequencies.

Iamgin: H3 presents a weird skewed to the left imaging, the boomy bass  and acoustic chamber design (too thik profile) creates a echoey music that for the N00b classical listener saya wow, reverb in every music!... just my 2 cents, sounds at times like bathroom recorded music uughhhh, Bachs sinfonia to BWV 29 coudln't be worse on those boomy kette drums crappy reverb

A3 have a nice imagin to the center out of the head, represented as is, reverb is present when the recording has it, the partita BWV 825 has little reverb, represent as such on the A3 (infact with A3 i can hear (call me crazy) instrument's internal reverb (resonance)) wheres H3 add artifical reverb giving the impression it was recorded on a bigger hall (with tiles like bathrooms ARRGHHH)

H3
Boomy bass makes things like kettle drums so overpowered and lacks rumble
mids shy contributing to V-Shape and not neutral
Highs: harsh
imaging: bathroom like reverbs, skewed to the left

A3
deep & rumblig bass not overpowering, kettles sound like kettle drums and deccay perfectly
Mids mre forward contributing to detail
Highs a bit subdued but not harsh neither lose details
Iamging: centered or as recording mics were placed
More close to neutral / reference sound

A3--> perfect for classical music, H3--> nope
Veredict H3 FOR SALE, XBA-A3 KEEPERS

Z5 better than A3 and A3 a lot better than H3. I have 5 Sony iems.

 

[JTLovesMusic]

Z5 better than A3 and A3 a lot better than H3. I have 5 Sony iems.

Until u get the upgrade cable for A3, Z5=A3 but still if amped Z5>A3. The Sony upgrade cable is the first upgrade cable which i heard that really made an improvement in SQ compared to other third party cables i tried, Z5,A3 or even H3 users should get them. Tighter bass, clearer vocals, airier highs, better instrument separation, layering and wider soundstage just with a cable upgrade, what more could you ask for?

 

[jmills8]

Until u get the upgrade cable for A3, Z5=A3 but still if amped Z5>A3. The Sony upgrade cable is the first upgrade cable which i heard that really made an improvement in SQ compared to other third party cables i tried, Z5,A3 or even H3 users should get them. Tighter bass, clearer vocals, airier highs, better instrument separation, layering and wider soundstage just with a cable upgrade, what more could you ask for?

Sounds great. I added a 700 Dollar Silver and Gold cable and a Copper, Silver, Gold cable balanced. Z5 did it better. Yes I AMP it with two Headstage Arrow amps.

 

[cuiter23]

  Until u get the upgrade cable for A3, Z5=A3 but still if amped Z5>A3. The Sony upgrade cable is the first upgrade cable which i heard that really made an improvement in SQ compared to other third party cables i tried, Z5,A3 or even H3 users should get them. Tighter bass, clearer vocals, airier highs, better instrument separation, layering and wider soundstage just with a cable upgrade, what more could you ask for?

 
Where can I find this said cable?

 

[gerelmx1986]

 

  Until u get the upgrade cable for A3, Z5=A3 but still if amped Z5>A3. The Sony upgrade cable is the first upgrade cable which i heard that really made an improvement in SQ compared to other third party cables i tried, Z5,A3 or even H3 users should get them. Tighter bass, clearer vocals, airier highs, better instrument separation, layering and wider soundstage just with a cable upgrade, what more could you ask for?

 
Where can I find this said cable?

amazon the cable starts with "MUC"

 

[cuiter23]

amazon the cable starts with "MUC"

all sony cables start with muc lol

 

[Kerouac]

 

amazon the cable starts with "MUC"

all sony cables start with muc lol

Oh, in that case you should probably look for the one called ''MUCh better sounding XBA-A3 cable''

 

 

[cuiter23]

 
Oh, in that case you should probably look for the one called ''MUCh better sounding XBA-A3 cable''

 

 
LOL I'm probably gonna go for a Kimber Kable with custom terminations

 

[JTLovesMusic]

   
Where can I find this said cable?

Well, its the single ended sony upgrade cable MUC-M12SM1 , only got to audition the balanced cable with A3+PHA-3 and it sounds better but i don't own a balanced amp so i ended up with the single ended cable.

 

[gerelmx1986]

I will get the MUC-M12SM1 later maybe beginning of 2016...   mainly as a replacement for if the original cable dies (eventually will do)
 
I will be selling my H3's to my boss

, he told me he has beats fo 5k pesos What???? beats costs as much as my XBA-A3 and i've read they cost to make only 18 usd
 
My boss told me he didn't like them.. he felt them unconfortable... damn i have bad luck with the selling of the H3

 

[gerelmx1986]

My A3 have reached final burn in and they have settled, for the standard cable they are awesome, big soundstage, so 3D and envolving, big bass but deep and efortless with doing deep subbass. Non-fatiguing highs and nice lush mids. Thy're so detailed with nuances of the music be it 44.1 or hi-res
 
One thing i don't like however is the cheapish feeling cable, so obbligato having the MUC series, I feel the included cable is so thin and light that it will break faster. It even feels lighter than the one included in the XBA-H3
 
pdate: MY ZX100 walkman has been sipped with Fedex, let's see how my A3 respond to OSCON + POSCAP  and other refinements made on this walkman VS my A17 POSCAP only

 

[fansc]

anyone with experience using both the MDR-1A and XBA-Z5, is it a big upgrade?would be using a FiiO E10K.