remielsum
New Head-Fier
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| Earphone: Sony –XBA4 SL (ver Jap) Testing kit: PMP: Sony A84X AMP: RSA Shadow LOD: OCC Silver (Crafted by PRC Craftsman) Background: The first BalancedArmature(BA) IEM made by Sony, with featuring Sony’s latest IEM development asat 2011-2012 which would be their in-house developed:Sony made BalancedArmature. The XBA 4SL consist of a 4 BAs configuration together in each earphone . Its pretty similar to the Westone’s W4(/W4r). As both of them features the similar configuration of 1 high range frequency drive, 1 mid frequency drive; then here comes the difference of the 2: W4’s consist a twin bass drives yet XBA4 consistof a bass drive and also a sub bass drive. The above combination makes up the rather similar 4 drive configuration of the 2 flagship IEMs from these 2 companies. Initial unboxing: 
The box is pretty small and is nowhere as professional looking as the top end Sony EX-series monitors, which was a slight disappointing but when consider its only half of the price of the top EX-series monitor EX-1000. Then personally speaking I doubt there is nothing to complain for. 
It comes with 2packs of earphone sleeves: 1 pack being the Sony hybrid foam tips3 pairs small/mid/large, the other pack being the standard silicon sleeves4pairs SS(super small?)/small/mid/large. I guess this would be good news to some ppl that always complains about Sony’s earphones having such a huge sound tube to have a SS/super small size earphone sleeves (everything in the packaging -pls refer to below) 
The earphone's cable features a “r” split which isn’t quite at my liking, and also it’s cable is rather short, but it comes with an extension cable which are just like the split found on the old Shure series. Initial Sound impression: For the details of what set up(PMP/amp....) I used in listeing to this pair of earphones please refer to the start ofthe article. Will start with its Bass first; as that was what i was attracted at the start when i decided to made my purchase : 1 bassand 1 sub bass drives in the earphone, which doesn’t seem to be available on other universal fit IEMs before. The bass is relative control, when you are comparing to JH16Pro which annoys me abit with its mid bass bump or the 535mod (same config as LS8 just with shure's vocal also done by rooth)'s sub bass rumble. But whencomparing to the w4r it does have almost double the bass impact, depth/extension, power and quantity. Making it sound bottom heavy when comparing to w4 being somewhat flat(?) And might well even sound abit uncontrolled as although its bass doesnot integrate into its mids like IE8s, but it can sound abit lousy if the EQ isn’t set to fit this IEM. Otherwise when its got 0 EQ effect on my set up it sounded pretty neutrall that the bass is not as powerful nor plentiful as withEQ-ed. Unless the song itself has lots of bass. ( will try to stay offthe comparison against the CIEMs) And the bass its detail enough to sound rich and full, but guess it already is enough to be overwhelming for some people who dislike huge amount bass as there is slightly more emphases in these area. I meant such like these who favours the bass of w4/w4rs or even less bassy: shure's 420/425. But it still comes with bright and forward mids ultra-clarity at high frequencies. Also please do use the standard silicon sleeves/tips if you find it being too bassy, it might change the tone of the bass abit. Which will reduce the quantity and extension of the bass response. When compare to Ex1000’s bass which is well extended then this pair of earphone also sounding great and has more of sub bass emphasis than how EX1000 sounded, which seems to be way too over control and might even be bass light for some bass demanding bassheads The mid ranges(w/o EQ) of the earphone sounded pretty forward/upfront went comparing to the w4 which is neutral and abit lay back in comparison. Also comparing to Sony’s own MDR 7550 or EX1000 both have more of a mid-ranges that's neutrally integrated into rest of the spectrum which is also abit like w4's but slightly different , less lay back. Otherwise its pretty neutral & yet rather forward. Then somehow it sounded as if it slightly favours the female vocal to me but not as obvious as the Shure and of course not the CK100. However for it sounding detail, bright and forward. I guess its already quite rough for some who really prefers westone’s silk like smooth presentation(to me it means being blurry). when comparing to EX1000’s mids which are less forward yet more neutrally integrated to rest of the spectrum, the XBA4's will be brighter and more forward presentation The high ranges(w/o EQ), it's the rather sweet to me as its very very detail yet very transparent and might even sound raw and pretty much more rough than how the mids can be to some who love westone’s smooth mid/high's response for its way too detail and which are somewhat separated that it will never consider to be a smooth high range presentation like the westone’s. I can hear every single fine detail of the musical instruments in the music such like the string's from guitars and so on or the ride cymbal and hi-hat. It might also sound as if its hurting your ear as the high range response is of the brightest part of the earphone other than the depth of bass that it can reach. I would say when comparing to the EX series: 1000’s highs extents pretty much the same as this earphone, yet both EX1000's are much more smooth and remain very detail or compare to ES5(tried its demo) very detail but slightly annoying to me that it does not have the clarity to present it clearly. Sounded like evreything was abit blended together. The XBA4 can be seen as not only being rough & raw but lousy at some stage The soundstage of this earphone is the funniest part of all, that said without EQ its got a much more neutral yet small sound stage that isn’t the bright side of this earphone. But when you apply EQ-ing to the earphone it turns funny that as I attempted EQ the Clear-Bass on my A846 the soundstage go for a noticeable immediate drop which was rather unpleasant. As originally I found without EQ-ing its about the same or just smaller than shure’s new 535's that are fine for me. Yet last of all its 3D enough to not sound awkward. Just a note but if you really want to have Sony’s IEMs together with a neutral soundstage then EX1000 would sound sensible, but take in mind its almost double the price of this XBA4 But I think this demonstrates potential aftermarket treatment to customise its soundsig neutralto your liking with amps that provides large sound stage that would make EQ-ing abit more viable (below are donelistening to my Sony A84X PMP without EQs or any effects on) Listened to Tatu’s 200 По Встречной original release @2002 reissue (w/o EQ) [size=12pt]The sound of piano in 30 минут at the start of the sing sounded great to me, although its electrically enhanced to my ears. [size=12pt]The drum sets sounded neutral and recessed as they should in Ятвоя не первая(?) |
[size=12pt]The electronic techno alike background music(w/ drums) of the Робот[/size] actually sounded pretty nice, that with these earphones it felt just as good as other techno songs. [size=12pt]Comes to track 11 30 Minutes - Moscow GroovesInstitute Remix[/size], with this sound you can immediately tell this earphoneis lacking in sound stage, as the echo sounded nowhere like being in a disco or any kinds of club. Or what other CIEM/IEMs can reproduce [size=12pt]Then some other collection of Tatu that I’ve got Ничья from “The Best”, yet I’ve only got a 128Kbps copy that given me some fun in listening to the son[/size]g but beside the good of enjoying the music in a rich bass yet with bright forward vocal and transparent and high resolution instruments, Sadly I can also hear all the negative part of the poor quality of the record. [size=12pt]Then moving on, listening to Linkin Park’s Enth E Nd, it turnout to sound just if I’m listening to it at a rather small stage/room aka a band room and for rest of the CD the bass is bring out better that it reaches more of a depth than the fun boom boom from Tatu's music alike feeling[/size] [size=12pt]which is great.But sometimes the bass can somehow be overwhelming that it covers up the restof the music in about split of a second or something, its there but it goesquick enough to not be very annoying for a semi-basshead like myself.[/size] [size=12pt]Of course I did listened to more music and songs thatdiscussed before, but these 2 CDs are just what I listened to when I was typingup my thoughts. Others such as other Japanese female singer: Rurutia([/size][size=12pt]ルルティア[/size][size=12pt]), [/size][size=12pt]宇多田ヒカル[/size][size=12pt],[/size] [size=12pt]鬼束千尋[/size][size=12pt], [/size][size=12pt]倖田來未[/size][size=12pt](Koda Kumi).[/size] [size=12pt]Then Avril and techno's DJ Tiësto. [/size] [size=12pt]However its getting late soI will not discuss them 1 by 1 in how I felt this pair of earphone performed[/size] [size=12pt]Conclusion:[/size] [size=12pt]These are set of pretty nice earphone with its own specialproperty in its own being interesting enough to be kept at my personal option such like neutrally bright forward mids yet bassy and very detail and transparent in thehigh frequency(sounded like its got a V-shape EQ? might not but i doubt its exciting as TF10).[/size] [size=12pt]Yet its main limitations would be its difficult to be EQ as EQ-ing will greatly affect its performance and for my personal experience [/size]its mainly on the unpleasant side. Although saying that it sounds great already.But at my own option EQ-ing is fun and its bad to be limited from doing so at aStandard Sony PMP [size=12pt](just tried it on my PC with Foobar, the result aint muchdifferent although the effect of sound stage is not such a significant impact)[/size] [size=12pt]Pretty much I think the price tag has a reason to be there tobe almost half of the price of the true Sony Flagship EX1000, for all the limiting factors of [/size]this earphone [size=12pt]Last of all:[/size] [size=12pt]Yet please try it out at sony's local store or any stores that have demos around [/size] [size=12pt]before you buy it as you might not like it or have time to figure out workarounds to get it to sound rite to yourself.[/size] [/size] |
(corrected some minor errors that i noted...hope its looking less incompreshensible)
