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Hi! Welcome to 'Lachlan Likes a Thing', a show where I take a thing and see whether
or not I like it. Now, the thing that we're looking at in this video is the Sony XBA-C10,
which is a single balanced armature in-ear headphone.
Now, if you've seen my earlier review of the Sony XBA-1, the XBA-C10 will seem a little
familiar to you, because they actually used the same single balanced armature driver.
Now, if you don't know what I'm talking about, I recommend you have a look at my Sony XBA-1
review, because it does go a little into what a balanced armature is and how it works for
the Sony XBA-1.
Now the XBA-C10 is very similar to the XBA-1, but there are a number of things which make
me like it a lot more than the XBA-1, and make this one of my most recommended budget
earphones.
Now, firstly, the XBA-C10 is a newer release, and it comes in at a lower price. I got this
for something like 30 dollars on Amazon Japan, so they're really nicely priced, and they
also come in a couple of different colors, so I've got the green pair here, but you can
also get them in black, red and white.
The XBA-C10 is the earphone I use when I go to the gym, and there's a couple of reasons
for this. Now, firstly the most distinctive part of the XBA-C10's design is the ear-loop,
which is just this delta-shape here. And what that does is it just sits in the outer ear
and it gives the XBA-C10 a really comfortable and stable fit in the ear. So when you're
moving about that's really nice.
The other nice thing about the C10 is that unlike the XBA-1 where the driver has been
horizontally mounted, the XBA-C10 has a vertically mounted driver, which means it sticks out
of your ears less, it feels more stable in the ears, and you also get less wind noise
when you go running.
The XBA-C10 has a lightweight cable that's still quite durable and doesn't tangle very
easily, thank to the serrations that run along the length of the cable and they're quite
hard to see in this video, and they have a noise significant strain relief unlike the
XBA-1, which mean that you don't get much cable noise, and they's nice and durable.
On the other end of the cable, you get this nice simple ninety-degree mini-jack with a
strain relief.
With the C10 you get a shirt-clip, a cable-winder, and four different sizes of silicon hybrid
earths, but you don't get the foam hybrid earths or the carrying bag that you get with
the XBA-1
So how so the C10's sound? Well they sound very similar to the XBA-1, so I'll try not
to repeat myself too much. They have a clean articulate sound to them, it's quite lean,
they work really nicely with female vocals and stringed instruments.
They don't have a great deal of bass to them, so if you're after a lot of bass punch, these
are perhaps not your best option, but hey don't completely lack bass, so they're pretty
nice and neutral.
These actually sound a little cleaner to my ears than the XBA-1 theres just slightly more
high-frequency detail, so I actually prefer the sound of the XBA-C10 over the 1 because
I thought the XBA-1 could sound a little grainy.
So overall, I really like the XBA-C10, and I'd really recommend it to anyone as a workout
earphone, a backup earphone, or because they come in a number of different colors, they'd
make a really nice gift for someone, because they're comfortable, and almost everyone could
get along with these. If you buy a couple of them in one go, you can get them for something
like 30 dollars from Amazon Japan, so they're really good value, and I can't emphasize how
much I was surprised that the XBA-C10 given that it is cheaper than the XBA-1, I was actually
more impressed with this one.
Anyway, I have a Facebook page now, so if you want to talk to me about gear, just hit
me up there, or you can tweet me @lachlikesathing. As always, thanks for watching this video,
thanks to everyone for liking my videos and subscribing to my channel, and happy listening!