Came across this on eBay and managed to find the store URL. $97.90 delivered is an excellent price for a triple BA in my opinion.
This is an obsolete model, below is a comparison of this versus the successor:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/653564/review-xba-3-vs-xba-30-vs-xb…
Past deals around the $125 mark:
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/92022
http://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/87157
Good night!
excellent price indeed…
i bought a pair for $147 when Harvey had Sony BA earphones on sale
Oh so very tempting!
Is it worth paying the $50 for the 5 years insurance? It is alot, but 5 years is a long time and it seems that most earphones don't usually last very long. I've read countless reviews online that end with "These earphones broke after….."
i wont pay even $5 for 5 years insurance. i wont pay money for extra warranty at all. let alone this is just a pair of earphones under $100
My earphones always die within the year, no matter how expensive or cheap they are. I don't know why they are so fragile. If the warranty process isn't too time consuming and difficult, maybe get it…?
Get the shopper protection from 28 degrees card :)
Ordered a set, cheers op!
Does it have a mic?
that might be a different model?
http://www.sony.com.au/product/xba-3ip/sku/xba-3ip_q+++e
Or for $6 (and if you can deal with the longer cord)
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/UE-3-5mm-Audio-Jack-Headphones-Ex…
Thanks man, but they are $171. :D
I'm gathering you wouldn't wear these ones running/exercising?
(Reading reviews there seems to be issues with the long cord and propensity of them fall out of people's ears)
I want some good quality earphones (but all the sport ones I've bought from sennheiser to adidas are just awkward when it comes to fit - bulky/uncomfortable or light but feeling like they are about to fall out any second, only ones that have ever done the trick are the OEM apple ones but they aren't the best in terms of clarity and I've had three pairs with the sheath breaking to expose the wiring around the junction wear the L/R cords come together. I'm starting to believe it's a design flaw with them.)
probably not unless you are swimming in spare cash; sweat is not friendly to a lot of IEMs anyway.
I like how shure wraps around the ear. I use it for running but you need to not use the foam tips as it's a hazzard to yourself.
5 years on… the rubber bits of the headphones are starting to break apart… but still usable.
Ordered. Fantastic price for these. Thanks OP.
What's the reputation of the seller? I've become a little wary of fakes on eBay.
VideoPro is selling these, not ebay.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/221221772444?ssPageName=STRK:MEWA…
They're also on ebay, if you feel like purchasing through ebay
VideoPRO is genuine Australian seller. I bought a Sony NEX-5R with 35mm f1.8 lens from them, and they are Australian stock with official Sony warranty.
Highly recommended and their customer service is very good / responsive !!
If there are any headphone experts- I've after something with more kick (bass). I've got the RHA MA350's (from the UK) which were supposed to be pretty good, but I've found them to be lacking bass. Are these sony one's going to be hugely different due to the woofers?
Try the IE80 by Sennheiser. They have adjustable bass ports and are dynamic drivers.
Sound staging on these are incredible and I personally find dynamic drivers livelier than balanced armatures (slow and more laid-back).
Still, these are a great price on triple BA driver IEMs. The closest is probably the TF10s when they are on sale.
i have directly compared my ie80 and my friend's xba-3.
xba-3 are no slouch with bass, so they may have sufficient bass for you…but they can't match the bass of the ie80 with dynamic driver. xba-3 have better clarity though. pretty much exactly as you would expect for 3x balance armature vs 1x dynamic.
my advice:
-if you are REALLY a basshead (i.e. the phrase "too much bass" doesn't make sense to you!), go for the ie80's (or some other dynamic driver iem).
-if you like bass, but also appreciate nice clear sound across the board, the xba-3 <$100 is a great buy!(or xba-30/40 from japan).
i am happy with my ie80 (i am a basshead!), but i am also considering buying a pair of xba-40 from japan at some stage, when they're cheap.
you'll get better bang for your buck with dynamic drivers if you're a basshead
Is this better than anything else at the $100 price point?
it is not like 1+1=2 >1.
so, short answer to your question is NO, it is NOT BETTER than anything else at the $100 price point.
You're not really being very helpful… I don't need a lesson in the concept of equivalence.
If there are better earphones around $100 what are they?
FYI these have a J cable. Seems Sony has a thing for them, find them annoying personally..
sort of agree. i thought J cable was a fashion like 10 years ago, but sony is still using j cable design.
however, the build quality of these xba-x is very very good.
A J-cable is infinitely more functional than a Y-cable, but you don't get the 'cool' look all the kiddies want after seeing the Apple iPod silhouette ads.
Headphones have become fashion accessories.
i know the merit of a j cable. it was "cool" back in the end of last century.
I just find that all the weight of the cable is now solely supported by the left earpiece. And having a bunch of excess cable dangling around the back of my neck is rather uncomfortable.
They may be useful when you take them out, but being in-ears, I wear them under clothing, so whatever benefit they may have had, a collar does the same thing.
Dude, these aren't Beats, nobody buys triple balanced armatures as a fashion accessory..
*edit: That said, the cabling is good quality. I just find myself grabbing my Yamahas on occasion simply because of the cable.
Dude, these aren't Beats, nobody buys triple balanced armatures as a fashion accessory.
Damn right.
I much prefer the j-cable. Just works better for me shrug
I don't have them, but the Shure SE-215 are supposed to be good for $100 landed on Ebay.
The Shure 215's are great value, but they're dynamic drivers vs these triple armature IEMs - you can't really compare the two.
These definitely look like a great price for triple armature IEMs. TF10s go for $150-$200, Shure SE535s go for about $350-$400, Westones go for even more.
Can someone who has demo'ed these please give me a review on how these sound compared to other triple-armature IEMs?
I can't believe this. I just bought the XBA2 from DSE on sale. But really wanted the XBA3. Bummed
Soon you will also want XBA-30 / XBA-40 when they appears in OzBargain !
Also to anybody who already owns these, do you wear them over the ear or just let them hang down?
Hey guys so what's so good about this earpones? I've been wanting to find good earphones but can't decide what to buy. So im curious what so special abou this xba3?? thanks.
Triple balanced armature. If you don't know what it is, you'd probably be better off going with a dynamic driver IEM, eg Shure SE215, Ultimate Ears 400 / 500s, or Sennheiser CX-300 II or 400 II.
Link from this site: http://www.salmanashrafny.com/2011/03/balanced-armature-vs-d…
The benefit of this design on the Balanced Armature is that it can be tuned very precisely since external air does not factor into the equation. This means that midrange and treble can be much more accurate and detailed than that of Dynamic Drivers. However, the Balanced Armature design also has a large drawback: since it does not require external air to work its best, it lacks a convincing low-end response (bass response). This is often alleviated by combining several Balanced Armatures together, and putting them on a single crossover.
What the crossover does is it splits the audio input into two or three (rarely more) frequency bands. This alleviates the problem significantly, as each Balanced Armature is now only responsible for handling a certain portion of the audio. A triple Balanced Armature in-ear monitor such as the EarSonics SM3 uses a single Bass Balanced Armature, single Midrange Balanced Armature, and single Treble Balanced Armature. This changes the response of the in-ear monitor significantly, and the bass response becomes much more realistic and natural.
I just bought, thanks for the deal.
Thanks for the heads up OP! I bought a set to replace my broken TripleFi's (which I originally got thanks to a previous OzBargain post…)
Thanks mate! I am in exactly the same boat lol. My TF10 from the Amazon Black Friday sale broke a few months back and this is my first try at replacing it!
Mine arrived today and they're bloody fantastic! The only bad thing is it's made me regret encoding my music at 192kbps back in the day :(
Got mine today! They sound pretty good! Lacking a bit of subbass compared to apple earphones, but are much clearer in the higher freq's, so not a big deal!
They are definitely more delicate than I thought they would be though! Not sure how long the cord will last, probably should have invested in the 5yr warranty….
They come with a little plastic thing which shortens the cable which is great!
Less subbass than apple earphones? Uh…. what?
Yep, and probably due to the fact that the apple headphones are dynamic drivers and these are not…
Haven't compared them to the apple ear phones but I never liked the ones that came with my IPOD classics. Are these the same ones you mean?
My M50 is much better if I am listening to bass rich electronica. But tonight, listening through some 80s POP, the XBA3 really shined with fantastic clarity and soundstaging. I wasn't sure if I should have bought the XBA3 initially but now I am sold [via Creative Zen Vision:M or IPOD classic with FILO E11 - though I have to turn down the treble a touch with the XBA3]
Thanks Stuntman for the post :-)
I think there's been a few versions, but probably not as mine came with my 4s iphone! Can't say i'm a big fan of the apple earphones, I just noticed they had more subbass (especially noticeble on bass heavy tracks. Push them to your ear while listening and the bass/subbass is crazy! Not very clean though)
So the XBA3's are definately a much better sounding headphone, just not as much subbass imo.
Got mine yesterday, they are freekin awesome. Thanks for posting Stuntman.
it seems my xba2 for $54 was a good deal.