JH Audio JH-13 PRO appreciation thread - Page 92

Fair enough, you know him better then I do

But think about it.. HD800 or any headphone, dynamic or 'stat, is still two drivers, in a fixed frame shell with limited adjustments and many other 'faults' such as leaking sound to others or if not leaking, then the closed frame usually means gets hot in summer.

So why can't such a technology that allows for TWELVE drivers to fit in an area that is usually the size of the smallest part of a headphone, that fits snugly, allows you to immerse yourself in a new way due to not feeling its presence, and can do all these out of a mere smartphone or dap, be allowed its achievement in ultimate in sound technology?

I mean really.. a DT48 is a 50+ year old headphone! And its still top ranked in many categories... we haven't advanced that much on the old headphone front. In contrast, for around $1100 you can have something truly mindblowing. Out of ANY source!

Tell me if I'm tracking with this:

The 13's are as good, or better, in many areas of sound reproduction as compared to the HD800.

The HD800 is supposed to be the top tier headphone with few peers.

If the 13's actually are comparable to the HD800's, then does this mean that they (the 13's) provide better sound quality than all lesser headphones than the HD800?

I want to believe the 13's are really that good, but gotta admit that I'm more than a bit skeptical.

10x3's are (IMO of course) better then Essence STX -> M3+S11 -> RS-1 .. thats only 3 driver version :P

Yup got it from Singapore.... I sent in my impressions in early May though. =X

Haha... If this is of any gauge... The predator gives that aggressiveness and punch to JH13 that I think anyone who's into speed and accuracy would die in bliss...

On the D10 you have to use low gain for no hiss and the sound is great. It is also very fine and very, very clean with the iBasso T3 and as stated the Shadow and the Mustang and . . There was no hiss with my Woo 6 but I don't think the impedance is a good match so the bass impact wasn't what it should be.

I am listening to Buena Vista Social Club, from the movie and it is better than on any headphone I have and better than I have heard. I am using the P-51 Mustang at the moment. What tuneful bass, depth, separation and clarity! - this is while using the line out of my iRiver H140 to the Mustang. With the optical out to the D10 or my Monica II Dac and then to the amp it is even better.

I was listening to Beethoven's 9th this AM and the chorus was well separated with voices each to their own space and great, great depth and width on the orchestra.

Skepticism is a good thing; it helps to contribute some balance when assessing one's own subjective reactions. I won't speak directly to whether the 13s are better than everything else; I am just comparing to my HD800s, which I love. I just finished an extended listening session with my HD800s on the ATV/PS Audio/Apache setup of the following tracks:

1. Supertramp School [both Crime of the Century Remastered & MFSL cuts]
2. Crime of the Century [ditto]
3. Tears for Fears Shout [Remastered Import; not MFSL, but the same tapes I believe]
4. The Kinks Living on a Thin Line [Remastered Ultimate Collection]
5. Rush Subdivisions [MFSL Signals]
6. David Bowie's Putting Out Fire/Cat People [Remastered soundtrack album, not Let's Dance]
7. Dire Strait's One World [Remastered Brothers in Arms]
8. Verdi Requiem Dies Irae [Robert Shaw Telarc]. I know I sound like a broken record on this one, but whether you are a classical buff or not, you deserve, you owe it to yourself, to listen to this music. It is so effing gut-wrenching, spine-tingling, inspiring music, and a good recording of it has so many great testing elements for your rig. I love Mozart, Bach, and Beethoven, and still get a thrill from Carmina Burana, but if I could only have one piece of music on a desert island, it would be Verdi's Requiem.

I picked these tracks to reacquaint myself with the HD800's vertical and horizontal soundstage, its ability to position instruments, and its layering of complex passages, as well as frontal transient speed [the first part of piano note, guitar string, kick pedal, or cymbal], and transient decay. I also made notes about tonality, thinking warm, cool, dry, or lush. I listened less for bass. I am going to repeat these tracks with the JH13s later today. The notes on the HD800 are pretty consistent with yesterday's session.

What makes the 13's different is their since of "air". You don't, well I don't though I did at first, have that feeling of space and openness without that boxed in stuffy feeling. I get more of the open sound of an open vs closed can. It isn't the same as my speakers. It isn't a speaker system but you hear the soundstage and dimensions nonetheless. I think the nuances are what makes up for some of what you would be getting in relation to a good speaker system, which can not get and magnitude of detail (natural detail not hyped) that the 13's retrieve.

I don't know if they are better than the HD800 but for my musical tastes (Prog-Metal), I prefer the JH13s over the headphones that I had in the past. (Edition 9, RS-1 and ESW10JPN)

I completely agree. I keep drawing sketches of the soundstage and instrument placement, and the 13s are consistently wider, deeper, and taller. I haven't fixed the exact shape yet, but that consistency is clear. And there is no question that the amount of air, combined with the detail, lends to the instrument spatialization.

Preferred over ED9 and RS-1 for Prog-Metal, huh? Wow.

Without going into much detail, could you briefly describe the reasons why? I'm trying to get a sense of the sound signature of these cans and, as I've got both the ED9 and RS-1, a comparison to those would be very helpful.

Thanks.

'Dwebe

I think you've hit on another unique quality of IEM's. We were talking about it in terms of detail retrieval and intimacy compared to headphones, but the ability to sound open when they're technically a closed can, is almost paradoxical with IEM's.

I think the biggest reason might be the speed that they're capable of. I'm not at all familiar with electrostats, but I imagine that their speed probably helps them avoid the closed in feeling that I would get with my W5000's, which are still considered fast for a closed dynamic. Especially with the lower end of the spectrum that tends to create reverb.

I guess it's not surprising that IEM's don't suffer from this, being that they're not really chambered in the same way, but it seems that you get a lot of the spatially advantageous characteristics of a closed can in creating soundstage/headstage without the downside of reverb and claustrophobia.

Got my tracking number - 2nd day UPS should arrive Friday, assuming they make it into UPS' hands today.

I'm not skeptical per se but I realize over time things get old. Every now and then you may shake up the same ole flavors for something new. When I first got my ue11s I loved them-- now I am open to trying something new because I've had the ue11s for so long (in head-fi years)--- and I bet whatever I try (HD800, JH-13) will knock the socks off of the ue11s because I am so accustomed to their sound signature that something just as good with a little flair (say soundstaging or bass reproduction) will sound so much better. It will re-energize my music collection and thereby become the king in my headphone line-up.

I do not think the JH-13s are leaps above ue11s and ue11s are leaps above ue10s. I don't at least but it may sound like leaps because I am so accustomed to my current phones.


But the JH-13s have another benefit --- if they can reproduce sound even better without amplification--- I still play the ue11s right out of an iPhone because for highest portability and good SQ they sound really go. They sounded better with a Predator amp but that hindered portability. Portability is so important to me right now.

The main reason why I prefer the JH13s over the RS-1/Ed.9 is because these headphones are revealing the music as I have never heard from any headphones or speakers.

Regardless if it's Porcupine Tree, Dream Theater, Opeth, Pink Floyd or Rush - it does not matter. You just do not only listen to the music, you "live" it. I would even say that it's better than a live concert.

Technically, the JH13s sound very open to me, the depth of the soundstage is very impressive. For the bass, they don't have the quantity that Edition 9 have but the quality is really nice, they can go quite deep. I am not a basshead so I have no complain here. They are also more balanced than the RS-1/Ed.9 but don't worry they are very musical. Compared to the RS-1/Ed.9, everything seems to speed up a notch without losing any details in the music.

Another strong point of the JH13s is the comfort, I had them in my ears for the last 5 hours without any ear fatigue.

I will post more comments later.

cheers

Patrick

Thank you.