Victor HP-FX500 Review: World's first Wood Canalphones - Page 3

From what you've described, these canal phones sound (pun intended) great! A few things are preventing me from getting it.

1. Price - if they're only in Japan right now, I'd rather not pay through the teeth on all the custom and duty fees I can see myself paying to Canada Post. As well, for $180, I think I'd rather splurge a bit more, and move to Sleek Audio's SA6.

2. Semi-open design - I like maximum isolation, and would prefer a totally closed design. My Atrio's with Comply foams provide me with a seal that's better than anything else I've tried so far.

3. Balance - You're saying that that the Victors are best when directly from the source, and that through an LOD iPod, the bass was overkill. As someone who uses a portable amp (RSA Tomahawk, no knob to control bass), that's a tad discouraging to hear, since my Atrio's perform remarkably with my amp (surprisingly, the amp doesn't overkill my bass levels on my Atrios, but refines my lows, and warms up the mids and highs).

4. Wood + moisture = potential warping? Since it is of partial wood construction, and stuck directly into your ear, I can see potential issues after heavy usage in higher temperature (ie: the heat of summer), with the wood possibly warping from the sweat and humidity of our ears. I know my IEM tips often come out sweaty in the summer, especially after a long listening session. Even if it's got a layer of anti-moisture coating on the outside, the internal moisture buildup in rapid temperature changes or humid conditions may even cause warping from the inside out. This will be interesting to observe.

Just a quick comment about the SA6: I very much understand/empathize with what you're saying about the fatiguing "armature sound," but my experience with the SA6 has made me rethink fatigue as utterly inherent to the armature design; my SA6s are blessedly harshness- and sibilance-free while they push out their clear, detailed sound. This is something I have not been able to say about many of the dynamic canalphones I've used over the years, let alone the armature-based ones. The Atrios and the SA6 will be my in-ear mainstays for, I expect, a long time to come. Here's hoping I get to add the FX500 to that list sometime soon...

For $180, I might as well go ahead and spend the extra cash on some Livewires.

However, I haven't worked up the nerve to spend over $130 on headphones.

There is nothing wrong or inherently bad with armature design. It is how the company's implement it.

Armatures are made/created for hearing aids. They are extremely sensitive and easy to drive. That is necessary since hearing aid batteries of course need to be small.

So the headphone makers, who should know better, were making them too easy to drive. For universals that normal consumers will use that was unnecessary. Actually we now see many are now 50 Ohm and above and around 109-112 sensitivity instead of the 119-120+ and 13-27 Ohm designs preceding them. If it is too sensitive it will fatigue certain people, many players have less bass power at lower volumes and the earphones will lack punch/sound thin, the volumes differences between files are more pronounced and other similar issues arise.

The fatigue is due to design and not type. There are also fatiguing dynamic designs also. The only real difference if properly implemented are that housing material matters for dynamics and not armatures. And that armatures don't move as much air since they aren't as big a diameter, so they don't have as much vibration/resonance issues. Of course they aren't as bottom heavy as dynamics and need a better seal to have more punch. The advantage I see is that armature can have darker non-fatiguing sound with some punch whilst the dynamics really find it hard to have the precision/clarity of the armatures due to the resonance issues. Obvious to see why those such as UE and Shure use dynamics only in lower end models and stop there.

My SE420 is an excellent example of two things. It is still too sensitive. It needs added impedance even unamped. It came out six months after the E500/530 and when corrected, to me, has more extension, equal detail, and a more cohesive image than it's big brother. Maybe Shure reworked it to lessen it's performance?
Also, the FX300 has quite a bit more bass than the SE420. Buuuuut, the 420 has more impact when the recording calls for it. It will vibrate my ear drums more than the Victor. My now deceased modded Super.fi 3's also had plenty of impact with a single armature. Vibrations can be felt not only on percussion instruments but bass guitar and other low spectrum stringed instruments. The armatures can certainly give enough punch.

Both types are evolving. Armatures improving from the high end of the spectrum downward and the dynamics from downward up. the armatures are still ahead now and I agree that an FX500 can't run with my SE420 and it cost me only $20 more, so I wouldn't purchase it. One day they will even out.

The new Sennheiser IEMs are a good start at catching up. Coincidently, they are highly sensitive(16 Ohm, 120+sensitivity) which while not as good for armature based phones should work in making dynamics more precise and help with transient/response times bringing the detail levels/speed up.

They sure look cool, but I am not sure if I want something as moisture sensitive as wood in my damp ear canals. Would be great if you updated this thread in a month or so after some serious use to see how they cope with daily wear and tear.

I've got it the very first day of shipping. I guess stock foamy were supreme if it fits my ear, but it was too small for me. I had spent almost a week until I found UE foamy. I strongly long for the large sized foam tip from Victor.

Before acquiring it, my main earbuds was JBL reference 220. It was not too bad but Victor's HP-FX500 should be in the different class.

As for sound, I agree your precise review. Thanks to victor, I enjoy music contains great bass notes such as Kodo's Japanese drums or historical church organs.

I usually do not believe the burn-in effect on the canal earbuds, but with this victor one, I feel the sound quality became better or evolved -- just mere subjective impression from bass separation.

I carry the earphone with Lyrix amp and Sony Walkman NW S616F in my shirt pocket withｏｕｔ　ｅｘｔｅｎsｉｏｎ, or Lyrix plus iPod Video in a briefcase with extension. Required length of the cable is different from to the shirt pocket and to the brief case. Therefore, the extension solution fits well in my case.

Although Victor claims the anti-libration gel reduces rustle noise from the cable, I do not see the advantage by the gel. As you mentioned, the cable material is nice.

The isolation is better than Audio Technica ATH-ESW9, but not a satisfactory level due to an open design. This is the point to be improved to me.

So far I am very much satisfied with HP-FX500. It makes my portable music life much enjoyable.

I thought your guess on the cable that Victor people thinking about the use of md very interesting. As far as I know, surely they are very conservative. Though I do not much care about the cable, on kakaku.com I see there are people claims the cable length are betwixt and between. (You might know but kakaku.com is a popular BBS on the product review in Japan.)

I am not worry about the summer humidity at all because the wooden case is fully immersed with plastic. I strongly believe the Victor developed this as moisture-resistant with sufficient care. Ordinary Japanese manufacturer treat wood how to cope with moisture.

Conversely, the moisture-resistant feature may weaken the natural characteristics of wood. The looks of wood is very attractive, but I am not sure how much wood, birch in this case, housing's acoustic characteristics has effect.

thanks for adding more comments on these canalphones. i'll be in tokyo next week and it'll be hard to keep myself from getting a pair of these cans, providing that they're available. kakaku.com seems to say that they're widely available now.