Worth looking forward to Sony's four-unit moving iron XBA-40 headset experience

Perhaps because of the in-depth brand relationship of Walkman, Sony's audio products always bring us endless expectations. Sony's first generation of moving iron headphones had to be delisted early due to defects in tuning, but after only half a year, Sony took out the second generation XBA-40 of moving iron headphones. In the face of a strong competitor, the high-profile return of the XBA headphones is stubborn, or really have two brushes? Xiaobian recently started a pair of XBA-40 and experienced it.

The shape of the second-generation XBA moving iron earphones completely follows the previous generation's product design, with a slightly rounded cavity, polished plating surface, or the Sony style that has never been forgotten. This time, the small series got the four-unit moving iron XBA-40, and its specifications are the highest in the moving iron series. The four units consist of a full-range unit, a woofer, a tweeter, and a subwoofer.

On the cavity, SONY LOGO and XBA-40 models have silk screen printing, but the engraving process does not seem to be very reliable. The small series has been slightly lacquered. I really sorry SONY brand, it seems that it must be used very much. Be careful. It is worth mentioning that Sony has very artificially added blind spots on the left channel wire, so that the left and right channels can be distinguished even in the dark.

The accessories of the XBA-40 are also the same as the Sony style in the past. XBA-40 comes with seven sizes of Colombian sleeves, including SS, S, MS, M, ML, L, LL, and three pairs of special earmuffs filled with soundproofing materials.

In terms of wearing effect, since the shape has not changed, it feels that there will not be much change. The XBA-40 is quite comfortable to wear, and the seemingly huge cavity does not seem to impose a heavy burden. The texture of the wire is soft and lacks flexibility. Sony uses a jagged headphone cable design, which can reduce the occurrence of entanglement during use. This is commendable. However, the design of the left and right lengths is not acceptable for Xiaobian. Does Sony think that users will put their players on their chests? Both long and short lines have obvious advantages in both wearing and convenience. I believe most people will agree with this!

Put the headphones in your pocket and take it out and gently straighten it to restore smoothness.

Well, the nonsense is not much to say the following test, the front end of the experience is Sony's latest Android Walkman F805, Xiaobian did not choose higher-end products, so why, use Sony's own player will be a bit. Note that the tracks selected for this test are all 256Kbps AAC or above.

The tone of the XBA-40 is a warmer style. Many people have concerns because the XBA-40 is dominated by heavy bass. In contrast, the three-unit XBA-30 seems to be more balanced with tri-bands. Perhaps it is a small series of listening habits, personally think that XBA-40 is still very good in the interpretation of European and American fashion. Its lateral sound field is not wide, and the effect in the head is still very obvious. However, the vertical sound field is really good, and the vocals and instrumental music are scattered.

Xiao Bian listened to Rihanna's famous song "We Found Love", which can be said to dispel some people's "bass heavy taste" concerns. Although the XBA-40 is dominated by heavy bass, it is not as flexible or quantitative as most dynamic coils. This is a common problem of moving iron. The sound of squatting is dry and brittle, far from being dynamic. However, the XBA-40's bass dive is still remarkable, which should benefit from a good frequency response width. The low-frequency overtones created by the subwoofer, combined with the hot pop atmosphere, can even make you forget the flaws in the bass.

We can't always use XBA-40 to enjoy the "bass and heavy taste" music. So there is a question: Does the XBA-40's main bass will affect other frequency bands? The bass and tweeters are all available, and the mid-range support is only supported by the block full-range unit. Through the audition, I found that the energy distribution of the XBA-40 IF section is less than the low frequency and high frequency - but this does not mean that the XBA-40's intermediate frequency is worse.

In "I Was Here", Bee Sister (Beyonce) continues to show its high, wide-range voice, and Ryan Tedder's production is also full of grandeur. The opening piano Solo is very penetrating and the sound is crisp and lingering. After that, even with the deep sigh of Bee's sister, he convinced the Xiaobian.

In the part of the cappella, the vocal performance is quite pleasant. Entering the chorus stage, due to the narrow sound field, the various instrumental knots are slightly confused. The whole tone is a bit oppressive and dull. In terms of popular interpretation, it is Sony's usual tuning style - that is, vocals, bass, and the sound field is slightly crowded to highlight the enthusiasm of pop music. In the fresh male Ed Sheeran's The A Team, the notes on the piano, guitar and violin are clearly audible. Ed Sheeran's clean, rustic voice is intoxicating and resonating, with a focus on the mid- and high-frequency melody. Surprisingly, the performance of a small banjo in the middle is very eye-catching, and the sound is transparent. It can be seen that the XBA-40's grasp of low-frequency instrumental music is very in place.

In general, XBA-40 has a good performance in both low frequency and medium frequency, so Xiaobian can finally offer a big move "The End of the World...". This song doesn't need to be introduced much. Japanese rock is a test of the dynamics and transients of percussion. The high resolution of the XBA-40 can be said to be the most vivid, but it also shows that its limit is also the case. Moreover, the vocal and instrumental music are separated too far, which is also the characteristic of the moving iron - the tri-band transition is not as smooth as the moving circle. In the percussion and electric guitars that run through the whole song, the sense of speed in the performance is very fast, and it is still unsatisfactory to make a song. It is a pity that the vocals have been slightly sharpened, and the parts of the metal instrumental music are also somewhat backward and on both sides. At the same time, the energy at the high frequency is also a bit lacking, and seems to be interfered by the low frequency.

I believe that when we say this, everyone has a general understanding of the sound of XBA-40. It basically follows Sony's popular popular line of tuning. The bass is fierce, but it is slightly inelastic. For the understanding of European and American pop music, especially the R&B and Hip-hop styles are quite in place. Because the energy distribution of the frequency band is not uniform, the XBA-40 sound cannot be said to be balanced. Obviously, it is a little difficult for the rural folk songs, and the sound field is also slightly insufficient. Because of the explosive power of pop music, it seems that there is a slight lack of control. But in general, XBA-40's performance in low frequency and intermediate frequency is good.

After the first failure, Sony made a painstaking effort to come up with a work worthy of recognition. With XBA-40 high-end sitting, XBA-10 has outstanding price/performance ratio and is a strong competitor to the existing moving iron headset market. We also expect Sony to continue to introduce better products in the audio field. Or, at least giving the other two a little pressure is a good thing for consumers.