Jerry Harvey is back! - Page 10

Originally Posted by strangelove

Well I just got my 10x3 Pros delivered today. Initial impression: hugely, hugely disappointed. I really hope these things need to break in because right now I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach because I just wasted $700 on a pair of custom IEM that I don't want to listen to and can't sell off.

Briefly, first I listened out of my Zune without any amp. They sound very muddy. There's a very wide, open soundstage but they don't handle any type of complex sound (eg, music) well. They quickly get muddy and things become indiscrete. This is especially true with the bass which is not only of low impact to my liking but very, very muddy. The highs are a bit bright, but bearable. What is bad is how harsh and almost sibilant the highs were. Now part of this I hoped was the 10x3s just bringing out the limitations of the Zune so I tried them on my home rig which I will get to next. But first I went back and tried my old portable phones the Ety 6is. While the 10x3s definitely have way more detail and wider sound stage than the Etys, the Etys are much more effortless and don't sound congested/muddy. There is also more bass with the 10x3s than the Etys but I consider the Ety's to basically have no bass. Plus the bass on the 10x3s just sounds bad and there really isn't too much more of it. I'd rather it be missing frankly.

Next I tried them on my home rig out of my Graham Slee Solo + PSU and Denon 3930CI. Now the Solo isn't known to sound that great with low impedence cans but they sound really good with my AT phones (approx 40-50 ohms) and even my Etys (16ohm I think); for reference the 10x3s are listed as 28ohms on the JH Audio web page. Out of my home rig the first thing I noticed was how unbearably bright and harsh the treble was on the 10x3s. Grating is the only word I can think of. While there was better detail and soundstage on the home rig than the Zune, there was still a lot of muddiness. The bass was a little more impactful but again very poor quality. Frankly, I would rate the 10x3s much worse quality than my old Senn 650s on my home rig, probably worse than my old Senn 595s as well. They are definitely worse than all my current home phones.

So there it is. I'm going to continue to do some listening on these and pray for a miracle. I guess maybe I should have gotten the JH13 Pros. I heard the universal fit versions of both at CanJam and decided on the 10x3s because out of my Zune they sounded better to me than the JH13s which sounded flatter.

Also a note on build quality. So both IEM have some irregularities in the acrylic. Maybe it's from the original molds but I would have thought that would have been fixed for the actual product. The cord had some sort of glue on part of it that I'm having a hard time getting off without damaging the cord. The case provided is huge, pictures don't put into words just how unnecessarily huge this thing is. Also it came with several scuffs on it.

Lastly, after about 20min of use the left side started feeling rather uncomfortable in my ear. This came as a surprise to me because I've had custom molded earplugs for years that I can wear for hours without any discomfort and have pretty open ear canals so I wasn't expecting any discomfort.

Originally Posted by jamato8

My JH13's underwhelmed me at first, as I posted in the other thread. I even tried some prototype earbuds that sound good but shouldn't be in the same class and in some areas they were better! After some time the 13's cleared up and got better and better. I think it was my ear canals and the IEM's burning in. Oh and the bass really sucked for a while and the mids were nothing special but that has all changed a great deal, to a dramatic degree.

On the case I mentioned this to Jerry and they are making two new sizes that are appropriate for the IEM's. He pushed to get these out and didn't feel the case was an overriding factor on holding up production of the IEM's.

I hope they clear for you.

Originally Posted by strangelove

Well I just got my 10x3 Pros delivered today. Initial impression: hugely, hugely disappointed. I really hope these things need to break in because right now I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach because I just wasted $700 on a pair of custom IEM that I don't want to listen to and can't sell off.

Briefly, first I listened out of my Zune without any amp. They sound very muddy. There's a very wide, open soundstage but they don't handle any type of complex sound (eg, music) well. They quickly get muddy and things become indiscrete. This is especially true with the bass which is not only of low impact to my liking but very, very muddy. The highs are a bit bright, but bearable. What is bad is how harsh and almost sibilant the highs were. Now part of this I hoped was the 10x3s just bringing out the limitations of the Zune so I tried them on my home rig which I will get to next. But first I went back and tried my old portable phones the Ety 6is. While the 10x3s definitely have way more detail and wider sound stage than the Etys, the Etys are much more effortless and don't sound congested/muddy. There is also more bass with the 10x3s than the Etys but I consider the Ety's to basically have no bass. Plus the bass on the 10x3s just sounds bad and there really isn't too much more of it. I'd rather it be missing frankly.

Next I tried them on my home rig out of my Graham Slee Solo + PSU and Denon 3930CI. Now the Solo isn't known to sound that great with low impedence cans but they sound really good with my AT phones (approx 40-50 ohms) and even my Etys (16ohm I think); for reference the 10x3s are listed as 28ohms on the JH Audio web page. Out of my home rig the first thing I noticed was how unbearably bright and harsh the treble was on the 10x3s. Grating is the only word I can think of. While there was better detail and soundstage on the home rig than the Zune, there was still a lot of muddiness. The bass was a little more impactful but again very poor quality. Frankly, I would rate the 10x3s much worse quality than my old Senn 650s on my home rig, probably worse than my old Senn 595s as well. They are definitely worse than all my current home phones.

So there it is. I'm going to continue to do some listening on these and pray for a miracle. I guess maybe I should have gotten the JH13 Pros. I heard the universal fit versions of both at CanJam and decided on the 10x3s because out of my Zune they sounded better to me than the JH13s which sounded flatter.

Also a note on build quality. So both IEM have some irregularities in the acrylic. Maybe it's from the original molds but I would have thought that would have been fixed for the actual product. The cord had some sort of glue on part of it that I'm having a hard time getting off without damaging the cord. The case provided is huge, pictures don't put into words just how unnecessarily huge this thing is. Also it came with several scuffs on it.

Lastly, after about 20min of use the left side started feeling rather uncomfortable in my ear. This came as a surprise to me because I've had custom molded earplugs for years that I can wear for hours without any discomfort and have pretty open ear canals so I wasn't expecting any discomfort.

Originally Posted by MaoDi

making two new sizes of what?

Originally Posted by strangelove

Lastly, after about 20min of use the left side started feeling rather uncomfortable in my ear. This came as a surprise to me because I've had custom molded earplugs for years that I can wear for hours without any discomfort and have pretty open ear canals so I wasn't expecting any discomfort.

Originally Posted by strangelove

Well I just got my 10x3 Pros delivered today. Initial impression: hugely, hugely disappointed. I really hope these things need to break in because right now I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach because I just wasted $700 on a pair of custom IEM that I don't want to listen to and can't sell off.

Briefly, first I listened out of my Zune without any amp. They sound very muddy. There's a very wide, open soundstage but they don't handle any type of complex sound (eg, music) well. They quickly get muddy and things become indiscrete. This is especially true with the bass which is not only of low impact to my liking but very, very muddy. The highs are a bit bright, but bearable. What is bad is how harsh and almost sibilant the highs were. Now part of this I hoped was the 10x3s just bringing out the limitations of the Zune so I tried them on my home rig which I will get to next. But first I went back and tried my old portable phones the Ety 6is. While the 10x3s definitely have way more detail and wider sound stage than the Etys, the Etys are much more effortless and don't sound congested/muddy. There is also more bass with the 10x3s than the Etys but I consider the Ety's to basically have no bass. Plus the bass on the 10x3s just sounds bad and there really isn't too much more of it. I'd rather it be missing frankly.

Next I tried them on my home rig out of my Graham Slee Solo + PSU and Denon 3930CI. Now the Solo isn't known to sound that great with low impedence cans but they sound really good with my AT phones (approx 40-50 ohms) and even my Etys (16ohm I think); for reference the 10x3s are listed as 28ohms on the JH Audio web page. Out of my home rig the first thing I noticed was how unbearably bright and harsh the treble was on the 10x3s. Grating is the only word I can think of. While there was better detail and soundstage on the home rig than the Zune, there was still a lot of muddiness. The bass was a little more impactful but again very poor quality. Frankly, I would rate the 10x3s much worse quality than my old Senn 650s on my home rig, probably worse than my old Senn 595s as well. They are definitely worse than all my current home phones.

So there it is. I'm going to continue to do some listening on these and pray for a miracle. I guess maybe I should have gotten the JH13 Pros. I heard the universal fit versions of both at CanJam and decided on the 10x3s because out of my Zune they sounded better to me than the JH13s which sounded flatter.

Also a note on build quality. So both IEM have some irregularities in the acrylic. Maybe it's from the original molds but I would have thought that would have been fixed for the actual product. The cord had some sort of glue on part of it that I'm having a hard time getting off without damaging the cord. The case provided is huge, pictures don't put into words just how unnecessarily huge this thing is. Also it came with several scuffs on it.

Lastly, after about 20min of use the left side started feeling rather uncomfortable in my ear. This came as a surprise to me because I've had custom molded earplugs for years that I can wear for hours without any discomfort and have pretty open ear canals so I wasn't expecting any discomfort.

Originally Posted by jamato8

The 13's have a very, very well controlled bass that for me, does not get in the way of the music and is part of it, as it is supposed to be. It goes down very low but never becomes boomy.

Originally Posted by strangelove

Pretty sure I have a good seal. I triple checked because that was my first thought. Right now I have them playing 24/7 through my Zune. I'm going to give them a couple of days before listening again to see if they're any better. I'm very surprise because I was blown away by these at CanJam out of my same Zune with the universal fits. Now the UE10s were a different story. They sounded incredibly muddy to me at CanJam which is why I went with the JH10x3s (which I listented to 3 times at CanJam).

Originally Posted by jamato8

Yes, the cases will also be carbon fiber but really nice for IEM's. It will be a nice addition.