Sony XBAN3AP.CE7 Premium High-Res Audio In-Ear Headphones with Dynamic Drivers - Black

I was looking for a good in ear headphones which does not cost too much to pair with my hi-res audio player.The sound quality is amazing if you buy a balanced cable for them. If you want a genuine one is hard to find and they are quite expensive. I had to order mine from Japan.While they are amazing with hi-res audio files and a hi-res audio player, they do not shine with the included cable and does not really worth the price if you are going to listen mp3 files.This is the reason I have given 4 stars only - the cable that makes them shine is not included.Overall these can compete with others in £800 price range.Also the foam tips are very comfortable, where the sylycone ones are not giving a good feeling if you intend to use them for long.My conclusion is that if you need the best headphones on a budget and you are willing to spend a bit more for a cable and have a player to use them - they worth every penny.If you are going to use them to listen mp3s on your phone, you can find a cheaper alternative as you will not be able to use them at their full potential and you might be dissapointed.

You need at least 250milliWatts and up of *headroom* to get the full potential out of these...they are current hungry and 32ohms.... 80mWatts is not going to cut it..or even 150mWatts. You're not going to use the full 250+mWatts - but you need that current power reserve, so they are not straining at max volume with lower output devices.After owning about 20 sets of IEMs over 3 years.....these were THE ONE. Stellar balance of musicality and technical ability. Such an addictive SQ...they are also very forgiving of lower bitrate MP3, though you want to feed them losses 16/44 FLAC and Hi-Res as much as possible.They won't sound at their full potential if you ...1) under-power them2) have poor synergy with your music gear upstream3) have a poor ear canal seal on the eartips4) have the 'wrong eartips' (= bad synergy holding back the full sound potential) ...please please buy other brand eartips and experiment...these are so so changeable SQ-wise based on which eartips you have on them...thus the variation in buyer impressions or less than 5-star reviews.How do you know all of the above is lined up correctly ?You'll get deep textured bass, no hollowness to the sound, lush mids...a nice sweetspot to the treble...not too hot and not too recessed....basically sweet musicality and technicalities not to be sniffed at.How can you take them up another 20% and be amazed...? Put a BALANCED amplifier or DAP and new balanced cable behind them...and KABOOM !!....you are now sitting at about an arguably 500-600 pounds level of sound.These IEMs also just float in the ear, they do not work their way out of the ear due to weight...it would only be due to a bad eartip SEAL.I think the brass chamber and bass vent really do separate these from the lower priced N1...for just a bit more of money your going to get double the grade of IEM...I've owned both 2x over.Such an addictive sound, the Sony sound engineers have tuned these for extremely sweet musicality. The Sony guys really have moved things up a notch on all the recent Sony audiophile headphone and IEM lines....these tunings are closer to high-end rich and technical speakers vs clinical studio monitors. Their pricing is starting to get out of whack though on their summit-fi gear....grab the Sonys as they are a bargain...(sometimes go for around 200 on Amazon).Bottom line, get past the 'mainstream brand prejudice' (Sony) vs 'cool' boutique brands......you will not find anything better at this price point. Take advantage of economies of scale and Sony's long history and technical expertise vs low volume run/high cost experimental boutique IEMs.Goes great with Hiby R3 music player and iBasso PB3 amp on balanced output.......all the 3s !R3/PB3/N3The N3 also share a similar sound signature to the (699 quid) Audeze LCD2 Closed-back ! I own both.(Bought my set on Amazon, no freebies for fake reviews, or affiliate hyping in my review.)

Earphone experience can be quite subjective. I enjoy all sorts of music, classical to pop, jazz, rock. I like bass, but I've never used extra bass, and the xtra bass range by sunny are airways over the top for me and detract from the music. I also like the treble to be clear, but not drowning out the rest of the musicComparison with previous models:If you haven't listened to a hybrid earphone, they should be able to offer better sound quality in theory, but sometimes they sound off.The previous flagship XBA-H3 had three drivers (one more than this earphone). One dedicated for bass and two balanced armature drivers for the mids and treble.Where I enjoyed the H3's, the bass was never that good, it's a bit flat. You couldn't get a great sense of the tone there. The treble was very detailed, but you could hear the the drivers individually, and the whole experience lacked a sense of fun.SoundThe N3 bass is just perfect. It enters your head and resonates like nothing I've heard, it's so full of detail.The headphones aren't as clinical as other high end earphones can sound. The treble is all there, they can produce the sounds you need, but it's not overkill.The fact that the impedance is lower means your phone will power them better that some other IEMsThis takes me on to my next point, some of the earphones you will hear in this sort of quality range site up every fault with a file or a recording. It might be useful if you're a producer, but if you just want to stream or listen to MP3, these earphones actually are very forgiving. They made everything sound better. On my previous earphones, I'd put something on that I'd ripped years ago before I used higher quality MP3/FLAC (I'm FLAC all the time now), and I'd be upset at how bad the thing sounded. These manage everything and make everything sound great.Not sure what it is, these are just pure fun and enjoyment. There is a rhythm and warmth and yet clarity and space to the sound, where you can still pick out every instrument, string, vocal.Ergonomics wise, they're pretty good. I didn't like the over the ear style, these are comfortable. They're not so huge you can't wear them in bed and bit be able to lie on one side.Absolutely no complaints, except despite the advertising blurb steering there is a cable upgrade, can't find it anywhere. You pay £200+ for a pair of waive, they shouldn't be telling you they didn't give you the best cable...Don't regret buying these at all