CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

Lobby => Headphone, IEM, and Other Audio Related Discussion => Topic started by: Judeus on August 21, 2015, 02:11:31 PM

Title: sony xba-z5... dear lord, worst high end iem ever?
Post by: Judeus on August 21, 2015, 02:11:31 PM

I heard these last night at a local store... As some may know I've been in search of a good iem that I like.

I have to say these are the worst sounding high end iem I am think I have ever heard in my life, would rather listen to my apple earbuds that came with my iphone.

The bass is bloated and disgusting, bleeds into the low mids (thinks original beats by dr.dre but worse probably) The treble is ear raping, (think t90) the only redeeming part was the upper mids I guess, they were okay.


and the worst part? $700 msrp poo :vomit:

Title: Re: sony xba-z5... dear lord, worst high end iem ever?
Post by: tomscy2000 on August 21, 2015, 02:40:34 PM

What have you listened to other than the Apple Earbuds? I can imagine that there are people who won't like the Z5, but for the most part it's not as terrible as you describe it.

Maybe the LH Verb are more your style  :&

Anyway, joking aside, here are FR and CSD from SEEKO:

(http://i.imgur.com/t1Liym8l.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/Qqeoqpnl.png)

There is some midrange bleed, but not that much. Ringing in the treble is minimal compared to many other BA models.

It's possible you got a poor fit with them. Dunno.

Perhaps you merely feel the bass is too boosted, and it does have a lot of bass. Then again, so do many "high-end" flagship IEMs these days.

Title: Re: sony xba-z5... dear lord, worst high end iem ever?
Post by: Judeus on August 21, 2015, 03:42:52 PM

i mean if they were like $200 bux fine

but for $700? absolutley atrocious value

the verbs are definitely worse but they are like $100 so it's kinda  moot point

Title: Re: sony xba-z5... dear lord, worst high end iem ever?
Post by: tomscy2000 on August 23, 2015, 03:49:11 AM

I wouldn't recommend you try most mainstream (e.g. Shure, Westone) flagships then... You'd be surprised how many $500-1500 USD IEMs have a similarly "poor" bass response...

For example, I was stunned how HiFiMAN's new custom IEM flagship, the RE-1000, has pretty huge bass. The treble is relatively smooth, but the bass is very un-HiFiMAN-like. Think an RE-600 with a subwoofer. It's a better earphone than the Z5, but I was shocked by the direction they went in.

Title: Re: sony xba-z5... dear lord, worst high end iem ever?
Post by: shotgunshane on August 23, 2015, 01:50:02 PM

Quote from: tomscy2000 on August 23, 2015, 03:49:11 AM

I wouldn't recommend you try most mainstream (e.g. Shure, Westone) flagships then... You'd be surprised how many $500-1500 USD IEMs have a similarly "poor" bass response...

For example, I was stunned how HiFiMAN's new custom IEM flagship, the RE-1000, has pretty huge bass. The treble is relatively smooth, but the bass is very un-HiFiMAN-like. Think an RE-600 with a subwoofer. It's a better earphone than the Z5, but I was shocked by the direction they went in.

The RE1000 is a bass monster? That stinks.