When Sony unveiled its new XBA balanced armature earphones in February, it made sure to include an iDevice compatible cousin to four of its models, leaving the rest of us who wanted a pair of XBA earphones with a built-in microphone for our mobile phones out in the cold.
Fortunately, that can soon be remedied, as Sony just announced two new additions to the XBA line, the XBA-1VP and XBA-2VP. Sony didn’t specifically say which mobile phones these earphones can work with, but was confident that BlackBerry and Android smartphones in general should work fine.
Both feature the same tiny balanced armature units that allow the earphones to be so small yet produce clear sound. The 1VP contains one full-range driver unit, and the 2VP throws in a woofer to the mix.
Still, that’s nowhere near the four “iP” models specially designed for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, and non-iDevice totting audiophiles who want the top-of-the-line XBA-4 will likely give these a miss.
Plus, if you own a Windows Phone, Symbian, or any other smartphone, there’s no guarantee that the microphones will work, and you may still have to hold up your phone to talk.
These two earphones will be available from May 2012, and their prices are as yet unreleased.
