For your ears only

Sony’s new XBA-H3 hybrid premium in-ear headphones are the perfect match for the Sony PHA-2 portable DAC and headphone amplifier.

Despite their size, the phones reproduce good bass sounds and clear vocals thanks to Sony’s HD hybrid 3-way driver unit, which comprises a 16mm dynamic driver unit and two balanced armature driver units.

The 16mm-diameter dynamic driver unit functions as a woofer to provide deep bass while the clarity comes courtesy of the two Balanced Armature drivers that function as full range and HD tweeter drivers.

The driver units use a liquid crystal polymer film diaphragm to balance rigidity and high levels of internal loss, resulting in minimal vibrations.

These designs allow XBA-H3 to deliver music enjoyment over the entire audio frequency range with radiant highs and deep, bellowing bass.

The bass sound is further enhanced by enlarged air vents with the acoustic load tubes improving diaphragm movement and delivering a tight and deep bass response.

XBA-H3 comes with two detachable cables. One of them has an in-line remote that gives you volume control, and a built-in microphone that makes it easy to take hands-free calls. 

Each cable is 1.2-metres long and is designed to be tangle free.

The headphones have superb sensitivity of 107 dB/mW, impedance of 40 ohms at 1KHz and a wide frequency response of 3-40,000 Hz. The microphone of one of the cables is the non-directional type with 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz frequency range.

The package comes with a carrying pouch.

I tested XBA-3 with PHA-2, using Sony Hi-Res Audio Player and Foobar2000 music player. XBA-3 supports high-resolution audio technology, which Sony has implemented in its new audio gadgets. The high-resolution audio uses the high sampling rate of 192kHz/24bit to ensure more detail and that the sounds will be much closer to the original recording.

I found that XBA-3 reproduced impressive sound quality with great music detail and good bass.

Since they are in-ear headphones and weigh just 10 grams, I was able to wear the phones comfortably for hours during the test. It’s important to properly seat the XBA-3’s air vents in your ears so that the vents will send the sound signals into your ears rather than get blocked by your ear walls. 

If that happens, the ear walls could block the bass sounds and you will hear scanted bass.

To enjoy the highest quality of the earphones, you will need samples of music encoded in the 192kHz/24bit sampling rate.

I tried listening to a sample of violin music encoded in 192kHz/24bit sampling rate and was impressed at the reality of the sound. Listening to Shostakovich Cello Sonata, encoded in DSD 2.8 MHz format, I could hear how the cello’s bass contrasted with the highs of the piano.

Listening to non-high-resolution audio music files encoded in lossless FLAC or high-bit-rate MP3 formats, also reproduced impressive music quality.

For example, I listened to the “Sax for Sex – Beautiful Night” album in MP3 format and found that the saxophone was very clear and sweet and the percussion sounded very clear with plenty of bass from the drum and bass guitar.

Listening to “You’ve Got a Friend” on the “Best Audiophile Voices V” album, the female’s singer voice was clear and sweet and the double bass deep and pulsating.

I also enjoyed my “Best of Sting” album, especially the rhythm of the bass guitar on “Every Breath You Take”.

I also tested the phones for clarity with Roger Waters’ “The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking” and observed that the XBA-H3 reproduced the tiny sound effects used to enhance the songs’ meanings very well – among them such details as the birds chirping in the background of “4:30 Am (Apparently They Were Travelling Abroad)”.

Sony XBA-H3 has a suggested retail price of Bt9,990.

 

Key specs

_ Type: Closed Hybrid

_ Driver Unit: Hybrid 3-way Driver 

_ System: (16mm Dynamic (Woofer), (1 Balanced Armature (Full Range), (1 BA (HD Super Tweeter)

_ Sensitivity: 107dB/mW

_ Power Handling Capacity: 100mW

_ Impedance: 40ohm (at 1kHz)

_ Frequency Response: 3-40,000Hz

_ Cord: OFC, Y-type 1.2m

_ Weight (Without Cord): Approx. 10g

 

    Microphone

_ Unit/Type: Electret condenser

_ Directivity: non-directional

_ Frequency Range: 20Hz-20,000Hz

_ Open circuit voltage level: -40 dB(0 dB = 1 V/Pa)