Sony XBA-H1 review: Big little headphones

In today's review, I would like to share the headphones that have been sounding my life for three months and that accompany me every day, whether it's while riding public transport, exercising, writing articles, or in short, whenever I feel like sounding out my day. They are also headphones that I liked so much that I haven't had EarPods with me for a very long time, and actually, when I think about it, I don't even know where I have them. I want to share with you my experience with the Sony XBA-H1 headphones, which are the entry model in a series that aims to offer the highest sound quality, while being in-ear headphones, so they don't take up too much space. At the same time, they are one of the best in-ear headphones available at an affordable price - you can get them for under €100.

Packaging like Rolls-Royce?
I'll start the way I used to start my reviews, unboxing. But in this case, I have to mention it, if only for the reason of praising the appearance of the packaging. Sony has really taken care of the packaging and wants to emphasize that you are not buying just any headphones. After all, for a higher price, you should expect higher quality than what you will encounter with 3€ headphones from the supermarket under your block of flats. When you take it out of the paper packaging, you get a really elegant black box that deserves a place on the shelf next to the boxes from your iPhone or Apple Watch (Edition). It is a rougher black box that is extremely simple - you only see a small, shiny SONY logo on it. And that's the only inscription you see on it. So the box is really elegant in my opinion considering you are buying headphones. The box opens to the side like a book and on the first page you can see the two "seeds" placed around the soft layer.

What makes it a little cold is that it is not so elegant inside, since the headphones are housed in a relatively thin and therefore more ecological plastic, which bends easily. Actually, the bending is necessary here because on its side there is an eye through which the cables pass from the headphones to the inside of the case, where other things are located - in this case, the rest of the cable, the manual, the carrying case for the headphones, the additional 6 attachments, of which 3 have foam for dampening ambient sound. There are a total of 7 attachments in the package, of which the ones for dampening the surroundings are offered in Small, Medium and Large sizes, while the classic attachments are also available in Super Small size. Another part of the package is a clip intended for athletes and people who want to have headphones pinned to their clothes. The contents of the package are therefore more than satisfactory from my point of view. This also applies to the exterior, when you want to show someone the headphones, you will be very happy to show them the box as well.

Design
The design of the headphones is quite similar. The outer structure is made of two main materials. Of course, the predominant one is plastic, as we are used to with headphones, but in addition to it, we also meet a metal plate on which you can find the name of the headphones in gold color - XBA-H1. On the back side you will then find the SONY logo, which is shiny again, just like on the box. The first thing you'll notice is that the headphones are slightly larger than traditional in-ear headphones from other manufacturers. This is due to the presence of the so-called hybrid driveru. It's the technology that characterizes the XBA series headphones, and it means that they contain a two-band (and in the case of the H3 model, up to three-band) driver for each ear. In addition to the 9mm dynamic transducer, there is also one Bal insideanced Armature driver, thanks to which one takes care of the bass and the other takes care of the highs and middle (note: one driver is usually used, which makes the bass or treble weaker). But it is also reflected in the dimensions, each of the headphones is about as big as a bumblebee.

However, the large dimensions will not bother you during normal use, as the engineers in Japan think of important details and even though they are more voluminous, they still have a shape that fits well in the ear and does not interfere with it. I personally appreciate it, for example, it is true that I had a long-term problem with the use of in-ear headphones, which used to fall out of my ears. On the contrary, they keep these in it as they have. But as I say, it's possible that this is just my feeling, since I had a general problem with wearing in-ear headphones. Before I end the design chapter, I have to mention that they have a red and black flat cable, which doesn't tangle as easily as the classic round cables of EarPods, but there is still the possibility that if you just keep them in your pockets, you will play with them for a while after taking them out. I will also add that there is a gold-plated 3.5-mm at the end of the cable audio jack and the end is L-shaped, which some people will appreciate. Such a disadvantage for users iOS is that the headphones don't have a microphone and don't even have their own control panel, so you have to control the music either on the iPhone display or on the display Apple Watch.

Sound
In terms of sound, these are headphones that, considering their size, offer a really top-notch music listening experience, and I dare say that the competition for the XBA-H1 is not in-ear headphones, but large headphones from BOSE or Marshall. Of course, it also depends on the quality in which you listen to music - you don't want to listen to just classic MP3s or songs from iTunes Store, you'd rather listen to lossless songs that have several tens or hundreds of MB. I tried the second case on the legendary album Dark Side of the Moon, which I have in the quality which iPhone refuses to sync due to unusually high sample rate (352 kHz) and it can't even play it after one moves the tracks there via VLC. This is also the reason why I mainly listen to the album through MacBook – iTunes has absolutely no problem with it, so I can have it to hear to enjoy in the highest possible quality that technology allows me. Speaking of sample rates, the Sony XBA-H1s have a frequency range of 5 to 25 Hz, while the more expensive H000 model has a range of 3 to 3 Hz.

Considering their price, the headphones themselves offer a top-notch experience in terms of sound quality, and the idea of ​​putting two-way speakers in people's ears can be responsible for that. As a result, practically everything here sounds as you imagine and sometimes it even exceeds your expectations. In the vast majority of cases, you can make out the details and the bass is also taken care of, so it doesn't matter if you're listening to Eminem, Rytmus, Metallica or Pink Floyd. A bonus to this is that the headphones are very loud and not only when connected to the iPhone, where I feel that they are twice as loud as the EarPods. When connected to a Mac, they can be even louder. Personally, I have those attachments on them that dampen the surroundings and you will realize that you can't hear anything that is happening around you, even at lower volumes. Of course, songs purchased in iTunes also sound good here, but personally, I have a better experience with songs that are in formats Apple Lossless or FLAC, as the difference in quality is noticeable here.

Summary
After three months, I can say that my experience with Sony's XBA-H1 headphones is very good. It can be seen that Sony wants to maintain the status of a company that knows this and likes to experiment. And in this case, it turned out that the experiments can turn out really well, since the effort to bring a two-band set to in-ear headphones was a success. As for the sound, it is clear, very loud and the quality of the presentation is very high, and you feel like you are wearing big headphones rather than "buds". Despite its small dimensions, it is a really high-end technology, which is reflected in the price. In koneas a result, I consider them to be the best choice for people who are looking for exactly the same thing that I found - high quality in small dimensions. Several other aspects of the headphones are also pleasing, which are a pleasant bonus to the sound quality, but also proof that you are not going to spend a fortune on a brand. Those accessories, in my opinion, are the nice design of the headphones, the elegant box and its contents. Mainly the 7 extensions. The disadvantage, however, is that you cannot buy new ones, so you have to be careful about them. And as Sony says in the instructions – for the best experience, you need to clean both the ears and the earplugs every day. I would also like to add that these are headphones designed exclusively for listening to music, so you won't find a microphone on them. It could also please the controller. You can buy the Sony XBA-H1 from €78.

• Exciters: Hybrid 2-band (9mm dynamic + Balanced Armature driver)
• Sensitivity: 105 dB / mW
• Impedanci: 40 ohms
• Frequency range: 5 – 25 Hz
• MaxMinimum power input: 100 mW
• Cable length: 1,2 m
• Suffix: 3.5-mm gold-plated jack, L-shape
• Weight: 7 g