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Author Topic: Sony XBA3 Measurements (V2)  (Read 2814 times)

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Marvey

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Sony XBA3 Measurements (V2)
« on: May 20, 2013, 03:41:33 PM »
Pre-measurement subjective impressions: Warm sounding but too much upper mids for me. I would  do a cut at 3-5k with these. I think someone referred to this as the "Currawong" IEMs. I don't know why.

Some channel imbalance below. I took the rig apart and measured two more times. Exact same results (OK maybe off 0.5 db here or there)
« Last Edit: July 26, 2013, 07:06:09 AM by purrin »
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Marvey

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Re: Sony XBA3 Measurements
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2013, 03:48:32 PM »
Burst Decays

I do trust Curra's impressions of stuff, so I wonder if this unit (see the left channel severe upper mid-ringing @4k) is worse than his by luck of the draw.
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Marvey

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Re: Sony XBA3 Measurements
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2013, 04:02:03 PM »
I did these really quick. 90db SPL/A white noise.

Harmonic Distortion.

Sony makes their own BA drivers in the XBA3??? They do sound different from other types of BA drivers (Knowles and the other company - I forget the name.) Distortion is high, but interesting to note that distortion characteristics is very different from other BA types, which tend have odd order (D3+D5) distortion relatively higher. Summary: Overall a magnitude higher distortion, but distortion characteristics more similar to that of traditional dynamic drivers). Does the XBA3 really use BA drivers???


ER-4S for example (note the scales on the Y axis!):
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mkubota1

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Re: Sony XBA3 Measurements
« Reply #3 on: May 20, 2013, 09:18:25 PM »
Quote from: purrin on May 20, 2013, 03:41:33 PM
I think someone referred to this as the "Currawong" IEMs. I don't know why.

My guess is because he used them for a while.  From his sig, it looks like he moved on to the XBA-30, which I believe is pretty much the same except for different cable and cosmetics.
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Anaxilus.

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Re: Sony XBA3 Measurements
« Reply #4 on: May 20, 2013, 09:52:37 PM »
I think it was mentioned the tuning was 'fixed' on the 30.  Are these crossover-less?  I forget.
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Re: Sony XBA3 Measurements
« Reply #5 on: May 20, 2013, 10:45:08 PM »
A friend of mine who has pretty good ears tried the XBA-4 and XBA-40 and noted a slight difference in sonics. Said the 40 corrected the metallic timbre of the 4, but was mostly similar.
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planx

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Re: Sony XBA3 Measurements
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2013, 11:15:49 PM »
These aren't that bad all all considering how they go on sale at times for $100 new.
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mkubota1

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Re: Sony XBA3 Measurements
« Reply #7 on: May 20, 2013, 11:35:13 PM »
Quote from: MuppetFace on May 20, 2013, 10:45:08 PM
A friend of mine who has pretty good ears tried the XBA-4 and XBA-40 and noted a slight difference in sonics. Said the 40 corrected the metallic timbre of the 4...

Interesting!... because that's what kind of bugged me about the '3 and '4.  I'll have to give them another try.  The XBA (originals anyway) are supposed to be crossoverless AFAIK.
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AnakChan

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Re: Sony XBA3 Measurements
« Reply #8 on: May 21, 2013, 06:37:34 AM »
Quote from: purrin on May 20, 2013, 03:41:33 PM
Pre-measurement subjective impressions: Warm sounding but too much upper mids for me. I would  do a cut at 3-5k with these. I think someone referred to this as the "Currawong" IEMs. I don't know why.

Some channel imbalance below. I took the rig apart and measured two more times. Exact same results (OK maybe off 0.5 db here or there)
Hopefully I'm not speaking outta line by speaking on his behalf since I'm sure he won't be commenting on this forum anytime soon.

From past discussions with him, it's the way the XBA-3 presents percussions that he's impressed with. However I don't know if this was before or after he removed the filters. He seems to like the newer XBA-30 more though.
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anetode

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Re: Sony XBA3 Measurements
« Reply #9 on: May 21, 2013, 12:55:32 PM »
By the looks of those HD measurements Sony's BAs were a couple of generations immature from being released to prime time. Though it could be some simple mechanical failure in the construction of that particular set.
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