[bakhtiar]

If you can read Japanese, this site has some XBA-C10 customer's reviews.
Summary:
1) Sony XBA-C10 has  bright, high resolution, clarity and suitable for strings (guitar) and female's vocal/singer.
2) Bass is there, enough for some people, but not for basshead..
3) The main attraction is the COST.
4) Fitting is good and very lightweight.
 
From the evaluation table at top left:
Generally, C10 got better than average evaluation in, design, treble, noise isolation, sound leakage, portability and cost performance categories.
Design and bass quality, are a little bit lower than average.
 
http://review.kakaku.com/review/J0000005865/
 
Thank you.

 

[a_recording]

I just got a pair of C10's. The do sound subtly different (a bit clearer and cleaner) from my XBA-1 but I will have to do more careful A/Bing. The little earloop delta is quite nice and it's a stable fit that doesn't stick out as much as the XBA-1, which is probably good for wind noise.
 
One thing to note is that the XBA-C10's do not come with the foam hybrid tips which I think sound best on the XBA-1. 
 
There is actually good reason to believe that the C10 will sound different from the XBA-1 / XBA-10. The side firing armature will mean that the driver diagphragm is directly parallel to the ears, assuming Sony BAs have the typical construction of a BA:
 

 
http://wiki.faust3d.com/wiki/index.php?title=Balanced_Armature_Driver_Principle
 
If you can imagine the hole being right over where the driver diaphragm is, you can imagine that the sound waves will not have to curve around to escape the armature through a tube, which means that more high frequency sound will be produced as high frequencies do not bend as well. This is the same principle as low pass filter in the SE846, which is essentially a maze for high frequencies to get lost in. Of course this is only only one small bend as opposed to the many on the SE846 but it could account for differences.
 
I wonder if this also has an effect on the phase coherency of the various frequencies. If only the previous link http://sclibrary.net/earphone_review/18870 overlayed the XBA-C10 phase measurements over the XBA-10 phase graph....
 
*EDIT: Hang on, do phase measurement graphs show electrical phase? Is this different from phase in a time domain sense?

 

[a_recording]

So I had a conversation with Rin over Twitter which are interesting:
 

@lachlikesathing THNX! Prhps ths answrs ur Q. C10 has ~+3dB abv 5kHz ovr XBA1, but I cnsidr them of equal quality. i.imgur.com/CezRhTS.gif
— 嶙 : udauda : Rin (@arthurinchoi)

 

@lachlikesathing You can say C10 is slightly more damped, but I don't think it is a discernible difference. twitter.com/arthurinchoi/s…
— 嶙 : udauda : Rin (@arthurinchoi)

 

{C}

@lachlikesathing Yes, it sems there's a damping material, deep inside of the nozzle. twitter.com/arthurinchoi/s…
— 嶙 : udauda : Rin (@arthurinchoi)

 

I definitely think the C10 sounds cleaner than the XBA-1. I really quite like it actually because the fit is even more stable than the already comfortable XBA-1. Both of them start to sound messy at higher volumes thanks to the relatively high distortion of the XBA driver. It's great value if you could get a group buy from Amazon JP, at about $25 a pop!

 

[zerolancelot]

Thanks a_recording for the information, I appreciate your time and effort

 

[tomscy2000]

Quote:

So I had a conversation with Rin over Twitter which are interesting:
 

@lachlikesathing THNX! Prhps ths answrs ur Q. C10 has ~+3dB abv 5kHz ovr XBA1, but I cnsidr them of equal quality. i.imgur.com/CezRhTS.gif
— 嶙 : udauda : Rin (@arthurinchoi)

 

@lachlikesathing You can say C10 is slightly more damped, but I don't think it is a discernible difference. twitter.com/arthurinchoi/s…
— 嶙 : udauda : Rin (@arthurinchoi)

 

{C}

@lachlikesathing Yes, it sems there's a damping material, deep inside of the nozzle. twitter.com/arthurinchoi/s…
— 嶙 : udauda : Rin (@arthurinchoi)

 

I definitely think the C10 sounds cleaner than the XBA-1. I really quite like it actually because the fit is even more stable than the already comfortable XBA-1. Both of them start to sound messy at higher volumes thanks to the relatively high distortion of the XBA driver. It's great value if you could get a group buy from Amazon JP, at about $25 a pop!

 
Doesn't the XBA-1/10 have the same damping material though? It's that porous foam material... there might be a effect of the "horn" outlet on the highs, but really, figuring the differences completely requires complete disassembly of both products to see how the outlet is designed for the two of them.

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

 
Doesn't the XBA-1/10 have the same damping material though? It's that porous foam material... there might be a effect of the "horn" outlet on the highs, but really, figuring the differences completely requires complete disassembly of both products to see how the outlet is designed for the two of them.

 
From what I understand the new series has a different density of foam....

 

[smittysan89]

Quote:

So I had a conversation with Rin over Twitter which are interesting:
 

 

I definitely think the C10 sounds cleaner than the XBA-1. I really quite like it actually because the fit is even more stable than the already comfortable XBA-1. Both of them start to sound messy at higher volumes thanks to the relatively high distortion of the XBA driver. It's great value if you could get a group buy from Amazon JP, at about $25 a pop!

How can we make this group buy happen?!?!
 
From your reviews, I'm very interested in picking up a pair for exercise purposes. Buying a single pair costs around $50-60 shipped from Japan on Amazon.

 

[dweaver]

These are available in stores here in Canada. I believe I have seen them at Target Stores and possibly Walmart.

 

[smittysan89]

Quote:

These are available in stores here in Canada. I believe I have seen them at Target Stores and possibly Walmart.

good to know thanks! according to amazon only available from japanese vendors.

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

How can we make this group buy happen?!?!
 
From your reviews, I'm very interested in picking up a pair for exercise purposes. Buying a single pair costs around $50-60 shipped from Japan on Amazon.

 
They're really neat. I think Amazon JP could fit 3/4 in the same box and so Tenso would charge $25 shipping or so. They make good stocking stuffers because of the nice colours. I'll have a review up soon!
 
Quote:

These are available in stores here in Canada. I believe I have seen them at Target Stores and possibly Walmart.

 
Ooh really? How much do they cost? I've always wondered what the international pricing is going to be for these...

 

[dweaver]

I can't say for certain but I believe they were around the $50 mark. I will check the next time I go to the store

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

I can't say for certain but I believe they were around the $50 mark. I will check the next time I go to the store

 
Btw dweaver, off topic - but did you try shallower insertion for the ADV's like I was talking about in the other thread? I'm curious to hear your thoughts! :3

 

[dweaver]

see post in the ADV thread...

 

[dweaver]

Ok they have them at Target but they $80 not $50...

 

[a_recording]

Quote:

Ok they have them at Target but they $80 not $50...

 
Booo. That's like the original XBA-1 pricing. (Which dropped pretty quickly).