2013-10-14

Sony XBA-3 Balanced Armature (BA) earphones

它壞了!

*My Memorette card reader suddenly spoilt for some unknown reason! Spoilt at the moment I need it most :( Now got to get one ASAP, maybe Daiso?!

XBA-3耳機!

Almost forgot to blog about this. Haha, this is my so-called 3rd IEM hoot - Sony XBA-3 earphones which each channel contains 3 drivers (full range, woofer and tweeter). Bought on 1 Oct, collected on 2 Oct.

Actually I didn't intend to hoot another pair of earphones in near future, but the offer from Treoo shared by WX was just too tempting to resist. Sony produced 4 models of the same XBA series - XBA-1, XBA-2, XBA-3 and XBA-4. Each model has 2 variants, one for the normal (J-type cord) and the other for smartphone (Y-type cord with volume control and mic) and with IP naming.

The offer pricing went like this
XBA-1: $49
XBA-2: $119
XBA-3: $169
XBA-4: $209

The mic version is $10 more expensive. In addition, there's a $5 delivery charge per order. In fact, was considering for quite some time should I buy or not. The main thing that strikes me was not the Sony brand, but the shape of the earphones. Immediately, they looked a lot more comfortable when worn compared to my Ultimate Ears TF-10.

Until the point that I decided to go for the 4-driver XBA-4, I found out that the offer was quite popular until it was sold out. Chatted with the customer service crew only then I realised they were clearing stock for the old XBA series where Sony just introduced the 2nd generation of XBA series earphones. Most likely there won't be new stocks coming in. Ahhh, no wonder the predecessors going for so cheap la...

Then I settled down for XBA-3. WX was faster in deciding so he got the XBA-4IP for himself, so that we could share the delivery cost. I must say something about Treoo: they were fast in processing the orders! The next day morning they actually informed WX that we could collect the earphones! Cash-on-delivery though.

And I was on bus 19 going to Airline Road for interview. That means I have to go out again after I reach home from the interview and lunch with Bay! Anyway, we decided to meet the seller at JE MRT control at 5pm. WX spent the whole afternoon after his class at JE library sleeping - to pass the time, before meeting the seller. LOL~

The wallet of the seller, OMG, so damn thick with all the currency notes. How I wish I could have that also! LOL!

After collected the stuff, we each headed home lor. The packaging was still nicely wrapped, but there was quite a dent on the paper box! Ahhh, but oh well, I'm not going to look at the package box, so it doesn't really matter. Most importantly, the contents inside must be new~

Sony isn't stingy on the contents, there are 2 sets of earbuds , one normal (3 sizes) and one hybrid(4 sizes). The earphones came installed with the 2nd largest sized hybrid earbuds. Also, there is a short manual, a very nice leather carrying case and a cable management tool (for wrapping up the extra cable).

Upon wearing it for the first time, I felt rather uncomfortable, especially the right side. OMG, whose ear holes would be that big?! It was simply too big for my liking, immediately I changed the right side to a small one. Then, it felt much more comfortable, much much more than TF-10.

Sound quality wise, I would say I like TF-10 a bit more, same as JX's comment, after he wore it to try out during the meet up on 3 Oct- due to the soundstage it presents. There is a reason why everybody loves the awkward designed XBA-3. But that's not to say the XBA-3 is lousy, afterall I paid $170+ for it. There is still a difference between it and the single-driver MDR-EX10, for example. Probably, Sony fixed most of the problems in the 2nd generation earphones ba.

Another interesting thing I found from the Internet is that people commented the XBA-3 sounds better than XBA-4 as the 4-drivers are too analytical in sounding until it sounds not as all-rounded as XBA-3. Hohoho, anyway going to enjoy this pair of earphones!

Damage: $171.50

Went Daiso yesterday to look for the card reader. And volia! I found it. $2 only. And the funny thing is that it looked 99% the same as the Memorette one!!! Even the LEDs used are the same, they are red and super bright. Maybe they came out from the same factory. I felt that the build/finish quality of the Memorette a lot better than the Daiso one - the QC almost non-existent and the Japanese can accept such quality meh, I wonder? For some funny reason, the Memorette card reader failed, which I can't figure out also.

外形幾乎一模一樣,品質就差一點的說

Swapped the internal hardware as I liked the Memorette translucent plastic. Then I realised the holes drilled into the electronic board was a bit large until the whole reader + USB port wobbles within the plastic housing. Hence, I used some folded paper strips to hold everything in place. Tsk tsk, as the saying still goes, 一分錢一分貨咯……

1 comment:

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