Sound quality leap forward to listen to Sony XBA-H3 in-ear headphones

At the product presentation held by Sony, I heard the sound of XBA-H3 for the first time and listened directly to my iPhone. The effect is very good. Even if the reporters will have a lively voice and the environment is very noisy, XBA-H3 still makes me feel Stunning, I will borrow headphones from Sony to listen to it after the meeting. I have to say that the H-series Hybrid design marks the biggest "sound quality leap forward" of Sony ear canal headphones in recent years. The best effect is this. XBA-H3.

The "H" in the XBA-H3 model means Hybrid, not Toyota's Hybrid engine, which means that Sony "mixes" the moving monolithic but balanced armature units together.

In 2013, Sony ear canal headphones introduced a new series. The XBA models are still the same, but the latter models have added "H". The high to low are H3, H2 and H1 respectively. This "H" means Hybrid, not Toyota. The Hybrid engine å–”, that means that Sony "mixed" the moving-ring type but balanced armature units together, so the model number is more H.

At the product presentation held by Sony, I heard the sound of XBA-H3 for the first time and listened directly to my iPhone. The effect is very good. Even if the reporters will have a lively voice and the environment is very noisy, XBA-H3 still makes me feel Stunning, I will borrow headphones from Sony to listen to it after the meeting. I have to say that the H-series Hybrid design marks the biggest "sound quality leap forward" of Sony ear canal headphones in recent years. The best effect is this. XBA-H3.

Both the moving coil type and the balanced armature unit have their own advantages and disadvantages. Sony "mixed" the two monomers together, and complemented each other's advantages, which made Hybrid's "sound quality leap forward".

How do you say "the sound quality is a big leap forward"? The ear canal earphones are small in size, so each part is the key to the design. We use a single type to easily distinguish the earphones, which are basically moving coil type and balanced armature. The two kinds of monomers have their own advantages, and each has its own shortcomings. Now Sony "mixes" the two monomers together, and complements each other's advantages, which makes Hybrid's "sound quality leap forward".

Let's take a look at the advantages of each of the moving coil type and the balanced armature unit. What are the disadvantages? First, the moving coil type monomer, the moving coil type monomer is like a general speaker shrinking, so there is a diaphragm, hanging Edge, voice coil and other components, its advantage is that the low frequency is almost completely unrestricted, want a strong low-frequency performance, use a larger diaphragm.

The XBA-H3 wire can be replaced, but it should not be for the user to replace the higher-grade wire. Instead, the original factory directly comes with 2 sets of wires, one with microphone and remote control, and the other with pure wire.

However, the design problem is also here. If you want to reproduce the moving coil type of 20Hz~20kHz in the range of the full range, it is hard to climb the sky, so the low frequency of the moving coil is usually not a problem. The problem is in the high frequency band. If you want to make the high frequency extension beautiful, the size of the monomer can not be too large, so that you can move quickly and reproduce the wide high frequency extension, but the low frequency will appear insufficient. Also, if we put The size of the moving ring is large, I am afraid it is difficult to use in the ear canal earphones, because this will make the size of the earphones become larger, but the ear canal earphones are also exquisite in size.

The high frequency problem of moving coil type monomer is not a problem when it is replaced with balanced armature unit. Balanced armature unit can reproduce very good high frequency extension, and the size can be kept very small, which is very suitable for ear canal type. The mini size of the earphone. However, the balance armature has a disadvantage. Although it is necessary to reproduce sufficient low frequency extension, it is not a problem for balancing the armature unit, and it will not cause the size of the unit to be large. However, if the balance armature unit is The low frequency makes sense, it sounds a bit tight, it is the limitation of balancing the armature itself. So we can easily buy balanced armature ear canal headphones with high frequency extension, but the low frequency is usually conservative. Avoid the disadvantage of balancing the low frequency of the armature type monomer.

It is quite rare to mark the Thai word with such a large font directly on the earphone. Generally, the ear canal earphones like this are only marked on the packaging, and Sony really is a big factory style!

You should see that the technical complementarity is right! We divide the earphone into two paths, the low frequency is given to the large-sized moving coil type monomer, and the high frequency is given to the balanced armature unit. So Hybrid is mixed, that is not Is the most ideal ear canal earphone? Yes, but the problem is still there, that is, how to mix the moving coil type monomer and the balanced armature single "tone", it sounds good connection and has excellent balance. This thing is simple to say, but it is very difficult to do.

Looking back at how to design XBA-H3? If we want to pay attention to low frequency, choose a large diaphragm, XBA-H3 uses 16mm diameter, compare other XBA-H3 twin brothers, XBA-H2 dynamic single It's 13.5mm, and the XBA-H1 is 9mm, so you see the key? If you need more low frequency, the size is absolutely the key. But how to put the large size bass in the delicate ear canal Sony has played a creative design. The general moving ring is the diaphragm "face" the ear, and the XBA-H3 puts the woofer horizontally. It seems that many speakers put the large woofer in the cabinet. The side is the same, so you can reproduce enough low frequency, but keep the panel narrow enough. Some people may ask: Will this cause phase distortion of the low frequency? If the distance is far, it is possible to produce a time phase difference, but the ear canal earphone Tightly attached to the ear, there is almost no such problem.

Generally, the moving coils are all "face" ears, and the XBA-H3 puts the woofer horizontally. It seems that many speakers put large woofers on the side of the cabinet, so that they can be reproduced. Sufficient low frequency, but keep the panel narrow enough.

The horizontally placed moving coil type is the circular part of the XBA-H3, and the rectangular part of the earphone cover is balanced with the armature unit. The XBA-H3 uses two balanced armature units. One is to make a full-range sound, and the other is HD super-high. We add a 16mm-diameter moving coil type. This XBA-H3 is a three-tone design, but Sony does not indicate the crossover point. Designing a mysterious machine, it is difficult to see through the specifications, but this is also the key to the design. The moving coil has the sound quality of the moving coil, and the balanced armature also has its own personality. How to mix it without revealing traces, that is, Know-How!

At the Sony product press conference, I left a good impression on the XBA-H3. After I sent it to the office, I heard it more and more. I used to think that Sony’s headphones were clean and transparent, but the texture was slightly stiff, just like I used it often. The MDR-Z1000 is a Sony flagship, but I use it as a "tool" and take it "accurately", but it is not necessarily sweet. XBA-H3 is not, it has a lot of flattering sound texture. And it is more comfortable to wear.