What Does Music Sound Like To You?
Most music is now listened to via electronic devices and by necessity on headphones. Thus your choice of headphones will certainly be a critical factor in maximizing your aural pleasures. Which is the cue for the official product description of the new SONY XBA line of headphones –
Everyone has different taste when it comes to music enjoyment, and Sony has created a line of headphones that not only cater to your preference, but are designed to suit your character as well. For those who hate any interruption, we created headphones that reduces outside noise for high-intensity listening. If you’re into funky styles, we also have uniquely designed headphones that will turn heads when you put them on. Regardless of appearance, our headphones deliver high quality sounds.
The XBA series basically comes in 4 different models numbered 1 to 4 accordingly. The difference between the models is simply the additional tweeters and woofers provided and comparisons may be made here. I selected the XBA-4 model to road test and the conclusion I have reached is that XBA-4 is perfect if you are a music obsessive (like me) and listens out for all the nuances of classic recording and production techniques. Of course, it is important that the quality of the music file has to be high resolution for one to exploit the capabilities of the XBA headphones.
I settled ultimately on the latest remaster of Pink Floyd’s The Wall at 320 kbps mp3s. The album sounds revelatory on XBA-4 especially the guitars (both electric and acoustic) which is great news considering that Floyd’s David Gilmour is my favourite guitarist. There were times where overdriven guitars sounded harsh like on Nirvana’s Nevermind but AC/DC’s Back in Black sounded formidable even at 160 kbps. So yeah, I guess one could say that XBA-4 is suited for ears that dig classic rock and metal.
if you’ve read this far – congrats – SONY has kindly provided Power of Pop with one pair of XBA-1 headphones to be given away to the person who is able to describe in about 50 words, the first song he or she would listen to with the SONY XBA headphones and why. Send your responses by email to popbiz AT powerofpop DOT com. Oh and the submission deadline is 11:59pm 15 June 2012 and our decision on who the XBA-1 headphones goes to is FINAL.