JH Audio JH-13 PRO appreciation thread - Page 301

Got mine tonight. I've put a couple hours on them so far.

The sound is pretty much what I thought it would be after reading all the reviews and posts (or at least reading as many as I could). It is very nice indeed. I hope to post further thoughts once I get a lot more mileage on them.

The one thing that surprised me is how hard it is to get them in my ear and (especially) to get them back out. It took me a good 10 minutes to wrest them out the first time. I watched the Ultimate Ears video, and I suspect the geometry of my ears just makes it hard. Hopefully practice is the answer. Certainly there is nothing wrong with the monitors themselves.

Source is actually a lot less inspired...



Also, time from impressions sent to getting the package (2-day) was 17 days. Actual time in the factory is under two weeks I think.

I had a hard time at first. The I realized that by twisting them counterclockwise on the right and clockwise on the left as I put them in and then reversing that as I take them out made it quick and easy, with no pain. It took a few tries to get the knack of it.

That's what I'm doing. Put the wire memory on your ear first and then rotate clockwise. Quite easy when you're used to. Taking them out is more difficult though.

Yes, that is the way to take out and put on customs. It's just a matter of practice. pulling the monitor away from your head while twisting also helps.

Just wondering something about custom IEMs like the JH13s... are they as neutral as let's say REOs? I mean are they made for engineers and all that (which means dead neutral), or rather for live performance with enhanced bass?

I find them very neutral with nothing enhanced. They deliver what is put in. Good in, good out, bad in bad out.

It's been a few weeks of listening now. These things are fricking amazing. I love them. Took some pics, posted below. In the shot are my UE10 (left), UE11 (middle), and JH13 (right). You can see how much deeper the JH13 are than both UEs. All three IEMs were made from the same impressions (had UE send my molds to JH). The little plastic case is a pill box I got from the container store, then just cut a tiny hole with wire cutters for the cable. If you want one, it's the size "Small" one at this link:
The Container Store > Pharmacy Boxes. 99 cents, works great and highly recommended.

That looks like a job for the pico slim.

Wow, what are the odds? When trying to come up with some original artwork for my first customs, I thought about getting the "hear no evil" monkey! I never found a picture I quite liked though and have gone another route. I suppose great minds think alike.

hehe, well we'll see about that; also the pico slim is incompatible with VCAP and its ilk, as it only utilizes a 10k pot (same with shadow I think) so there will be bass roll-off when using any of these docks; there is insufficient capacitance to avoid it. so any IMOD/DIYMOD users will have to go back to using a BG LOD. or use at least 10uf film caps; which are generally HUGE. so unless the pico proves to actually sound better than these type combos, I cant see anyone giving them up. of course they provide a nice alternative for different uses.

also manaox2, any particular reason you quoted all 5 pics directly after the OP?? I mean; the very next post

Oh man, tell me about it! I looked FOREVER for a good hear-no-evil graphic I could use. Never found one I liked that was usable on an IEM. The two versions on my two IEMs were both drawn for me by friends. I was obsessed by the graphic for several weeks before ordering both my UE10 and UE11, but after I got them I never spent any time looking at the graphic and not a single person ever commented on them, so I went graphic-less on JH13. One funny thing too is that I think with UE10 and UE11 I thought "this will be my last headphone ever, so I want the graphic to be perfect". When will I learn? JH13's make me wonder how I could ever want another headphone, but honestly so did both UE10 and UE11 when I got them.

Interesting - I've only tried Pico Slim with iMod + stevenkelby Piccolino mini iMod dock with Blackgates (at CanJam). I should have tried my portable Vcap dock too (left it in my room).

yeah well your LOD will be either 22uf or 47uf; the 2 BG NXHiQ caps large enough in value, but small enough in size to fit in an LOD. also the same type installed in ALO and the RWA 4g IMOD. if lucky there may just be what is called intermodulation in the bass, a form of distortion, either way the bass will not pass through untouched. VCAPs are generally 3.3, 4.7uf so nowhere near enough for a 10k pot. most RSA, headamp and many other portables utilize a 50k pot, so no problem there, but digital pots such as those used in the slim and shadow are not available in many sizes and so 10k was chosen for pico slim; not sure about the shadow. Justin confirmed this nwhen i was talking with him about the specs of the slim. I suppose its really not so much of an issue considering the main purpose of these amps is for an uber portable rig, rather than just making a larger rig smaller. so those wanting to use IMOD with them will have to either custom make a dock, add some BG to the VCAP in parallel, or just use a blackgate type LOD. the D10 also uses a 10k pot, so I dont use my duelund or any of my curent film caps docks with that, only using them with Lisa III and my diablo. the original pico had a 10k pot, but by the time I got mine it was a 50k pot.

sorry for the OT, but back on topic; I could use some feedback from those who are using JH13 with their home rigs in my thread about the phenomenon of customs invading the space formerly held by high end fullsize cans and the steps you are taking to tune your rigs to suit (dac/amp/PSU etc). i'm looking at my next amp or even pre-amp purchase to drive them in conjunction with my Buffalo32; as well as tweaks to power supply. havent had too much 'on point' posts in there so far. there has been a few, but I really think its an interesting topic. i hope you guys feel the same.

I've got the same iMod/piccolino dock you have. Can you say how the Slim sounds compared to an iQube?

Thanks.