[Dsnuts]

So I am trying to wrap my head around what sound these are going for..These have nothing to do with any type of cheap Bassy earphone sound. I am sure we all have an idea of what cheaper bassy earphones should sound like. Meelc earphones comes to mind. The older HAFX1X. Or even the Xeport 5010.This is the reason why I couldn't wrap my head around this sound earlier.. I was expecting maybe a newer version of the old HAFX1X.. Guys JVC went all out on these earphones. They are offering some of their best sound for the cost of almost nothing. When I say these are special. I mean it.
 
Isolation, least microphonics, comfort . TOPS
Clairty, staging, depth. .Astounding.
Balanced  Unbelievable.
Detailed and imaging. Impeccable
Bass. Tight and not the boomy type at all. I will get to the bass end more in detail later.
 
Just when I was blown away by the new HAFX40. These come out of left field and shows me another area that JVC can do with master like sound tuning that I was not aware can even come close to this sound for this price. Guys this sound I am hearing is a HIGH END SOUND and not a cheapo at all. Not even close. Believe me these sound nothing like a bass heavy. Bass hump junk you hear on bassy earphones.  These have nothing to do with any of that non sense. These are a different sound from the FX40s but I can clearly tell the team responsible for the tuning for them are also responsible for these.  The sound is full yet clean and precise. The balance in sound will flip your lid.. Gone are the mid recessed sounds of JVC earphones past. These have a full mid section that only comes 2nd to the CKM500. You can read that part again.!  In fact the only bassy earphone that come this clean is MG7 and the CKS77.  But we are talking about earphones that cost $100 plus vs these..
 
These actually have a more natural tone vs the others I just mentioned. Not as colored sounding as the CKS77 and no limiting imaging like the MG7. These have layers and layers of sound that is just exciting to hear. No earphone that cost less than a $100 should sound like these.. These are JVCs answer to what AT has done with their Solid bass series but in all honesty minus the massive sound of the CKS77 these are clearly at that level of sound. And there are some aspects these actually do better.. These have the cleaner sound with even more precision and better speed over them too. I will still give the edge to the CKS77 for the big bold sound those have that currently nothing matches for me. But these. Wow.
 
This is what is crazy.. These sound like what a CKM500 and a CKS77 would sound like if they had kids.. The clarity and balance of the CKM500 with the bigger sound of the CKS77...Nothing surprises more than hearing an earphone that matches $100 earphones in sound easily but only cost $16..Now I do have one warning. Of all the people these might actually disappoint.. Believe it or not is gonna be bass heads. These are at the bottom end of what one would consider basshead material. I noticed the sub bass was tuned to be strong just like the FX40s but these do not have a big punch like the CKS77s. But for non bass heads these will sound perfect for you..
 
I am not gonna say these are bass light. These might be a perfect bassy earphones for guys that thought the CKS77 was too bassy yet want full bass. The older FX1X is what I would consider more basshead than these. These have a high quality bassy sound. Tight, punchy and deep but half a notch lower than basshead levels. Which imo is a great compromise for clarity and detail. Much like the versatile CKS77s these sound great for everything. These sound stupendous for vocals. Very intimate and clean..The resolution in the sound is very evident. Very clean and even sound for a bassy iem.. These are definitely easier to listen to over the FX40 but it doesn't mean the highs are not as lively or detailed..The highs on here is gonna surprise as it is perfect for the presentation. The highs are more crisp and clean vs extended and sparkly of the FX40 but these highs have depth and detail on them again has nothing to do with a cheapo..For guys that listen to your music at a working environment and want more isolation over the FX40 these have awesome isolation for earphones. Way above average. They just keep on impressing.

 

[JCJiffy]

Hmm, the FX101s don't seem to exist in JP market.
 
Darn. Wanted to try these out.

 

[musubi1000]

Thanks in advance Dsnuts. Just ordered. Oh yeah!

 

[phantompersona]

Quote:

So I am trying to wrap my head around what sound these are going for..These have nothing to do with any type of cheap Bassy earphone sound. I am sure we all have an idea of what cheaper bassy earphones should sound like. Meelc earphones comes to mind. The older HAFX1X. Or even the Xeport 5010.This is the reason why I couldn't wrap my head around this sound earlier.. I was expecting maybe a newer version of the old HAFX1X.. Guys JVC went all out on these earphones. They are offering some of their best sound for the cost of almost nothing. When I say these are special. I mean it.
 
Isolation, least microphonics, comfort . TOPS
Clairty, staging, depth. .Astounding.
Balanced  Unbelievable.
Detailed and imaging. Impeccable
Bass. Tight and not the boomy type at all. I will get to the bass end more in detail later.
 
Just when I was blown away by the new HAFX40. These come out of left field and shows me another area that JVC can do with master like sound tuning that I was not aware can even come close to this sound for this price. Guys this sound I am hearing is a HIGH END SOUND and not a cheapo at all. Not even close. Believe me these sound nothing like a bass heavy. Bass hump junk you hear on bassy earphones.  These have nothing to do with any of that non sense. These are a different sound from the FX40s but I can clearly tell the team responsible for the tuning for them are also responsible for these.  The sound is full yet clean and precise. The balance in sound will flip your lid.. Gone are the mid recessed sounds of JVC earphones past. These have a full mid section that only comes 2nd to the CKM500. You can read that part again.!  In fact the only bassy earphone that come this clean is MG7 and the CKS77.  But we are talking about earphones that cost $100 plus vs these..
 
These actually have a more natural tone vs the others I just mentioned. Not as colored sounding as the CKS77 and no limiting imaging like the MG7. These have layers and layers of sound that is just exciting to hear. No earphone that cost less than a $100 should sound like these.. These are JVCs answer to what AT has done with their Solid bass series but in all honesty minus the massive sound of the CKS77 these are clearly at that level of sound. And there are some aspects these actually do better.. These have the cleaner sound with even more precision and better speed over them too. I will still give the edge to the CKS77 for the big bold sound those have that currently nothing matches for me. But these. Wow.
 
This is what is crazy.. These sound like what a CKM500 and a CKS77 would sound like if they had kids.. The clarity and balance of the CKM500 with the bigger sound of the CKS77...Nothing surprises more than hearing an earphone that matches $100 earphones in sound easily but only cost $16..Now I do have one warning. Of all the people these might actually disappoint.. Believe it or not is gonna be bass heads. These are at the bottom end of what one would consider basshead material. I noticed the sub bass was tuned to be strong just like the FX40s but these do not have a big punch like the CKS77s. But for non bass heads these will sound perfect for you..
 
I am not gonna say these are bass light. These might be a perfect bassy earphones for guys that thought the CKS77 was too bassy yet want full bass. The older FX1X is what I would consider more basshead than these. These have a high quality bassy sound. Tight, punchy and deep but half a notch lower than basshead levels. Which imo is a great compromise for clarity and detail. Much like the versatile CKS77s these sound great for everything. These sound stupendous for vocals. Very intimate and clean..The resolution in the sound is very evident. Very clean and even sound for a bassy iem.. These are definitely easier to listen to over the FX40 but it doesn't mean the highs are not as lively or detailed..The highs on here is gonna surprise as it is perfect for the presentation. The highs are more crisp and clean vs extended and sparkly of the FX40 but these highs have depth and detail on them again has nothing to do with a cheapo..For guys that listen to your music at a working environment and want more isolation over the FX40 these have awesome isolation for earphones. Way above average. They just keep on impressing.

The way i am interpreting what you wrote is that fx101 might be superior to the ckm 500??

 

[Dsnuts]

Quote:

The way i am interpreting what you wrote is that fx101 might be superior to the ckm 500??

No. Not superior to them but these come alarmingly close to that level of sound for $16 I payed which is crazy talk. I need to sleep on it and I wrote that impression while I was listening to these..I can't believe just how much JVC has stepped up their game.. It is mind boggling to the likes I have never seen before.
 
The CKM500 represent one of the best sounding earphones I have ever heard for dynamic tech. For guys that are willing to spend the money for them you will not be disappointed. Especially guys that love their highs and mids and more of a neutral flavor.
 
The FX101 does have a more colored sound over the CKM500 but somewhere between the CKS77 and the CKM500.  That is why I mentioned that these are like the offspring of the 2. The sub bass on these, I am gonna do a A/B soon against the MG7s but the sub bass is strong on these. More so than the FX40s. The sub bass is bigger than the mid bass punch..I will tell you guys right now even without A/Bing I will tell you which I prefer already.. These FAX101s. These have almost a magic like sound tuning. I have no idea how they can get the isolation this good and have this crazy open like sound. There is no denying it. These have an airy sound to them and not confined at all yet they isolate better than %80 of other earphones.

 

[Rainbow Randy]

Nuts, I love the thread. Your embrace of the low-end is a refreshing rebuke to the fat cats upstairs pissing on the rest of us.

 

[Dsnuts]

Quote:

Nuts, I love the thread. Your embrace of the low-end is a refreshing rebuke to the fat cats upstairs pissing on the rest of us.

 
I have no other way to put it fellas. Both the HAFX40 and the HAFX101s are mind blowing and here is the ridiculous part of all this. You can get both for $35- $40!
 
I guarantee anyone that reads this thread. You have never heard anything this good remotely at this price for both. Both these will make you wonder why the heck other companies charge so much for the sound they shell out and why JVC charges so little for these.
 
See I had a theory on the CKM500 thread. See it is all about the colors and how great these sound. You use these for work and for gym for casual use and you won't feel so bad loosing them or breaking them. For me I already bought. 3 pairs of FX40s and 3 pairs of FX101s.. Once you have the blue ones. Well you gotta have the green ones and then the purple. Lol! It is collect a color.  It is hard not to buy more than one when they sound like this and are so cheap. I didn't intend on getting 3 pairs of each but I have friends and family that need to hear these..

 

[eke2k6]

Dammit Dave. Ordered.

 

[dustdevil]

Do you mind measuring the nozzle size of both the fx40 and the fx101?

 

[FieldingMellish]

What emerges upon hearing these is that the high end (costly) IEM's are primarily about the packaging and promotion.

 

[musubi1000]

HA FR201 is same thing but with mic and remote. About $20-25.

 

[RyanH22]

Ordered the green ones without hesitation! I was always interested in them though they are almost flashy, if they sound sweet, looking sweet is a bonus 

. Anyway there is a over ear version of these JVC's as well. JVC Ham5x, $31 on amazon... Wondering if they compare to their in ear brothers?

 

[Dsnuts]

Quote:

Ordered the green ones without hesitation! I was always interested in them though they are almost flashy, if they sound sweet, looking sweet is a bonus 

. Anyway there is a over ear version of these JVC's as well. JVC Ham5x, $31 on amazon... Wondering if they compare to their in ear brothers?

Nope I had them. Sold them to some kids..The full sized and portable XX series kinda suck. Lol. I would skip any of the older JVC XXplosive series. The new stuff is what is up with JVC. Even the older HAFX1X was heads and shoulders better than the headphones. 

 

[jiddu]

Quote:

What emerges upon hearing these is that the high end (costly) IEM's are primarily about the packaging and promotion.

big surprise, I only ended up in this thread because I was reading another one where people were recommending +$100 earphones to the OP even though 100 was his limit, they were even arguing amongst eachother what is better.  Among all the pages was a single post linking to this thread, the poster talked about the effectiveness of an EQ and the sub $10 Philips he was using and it rung a bell for me since I've gone down this same path before when assembling my HT, which BTW sounds awesome for the price I paid for it, no $1000 pure silver speaker cable on "risers" included LOL.  Anyway how many responses do you think this poster got in that thread?  The answer is 0, completely ignored which is pretty funny.  Audiophiles are suckers and businesses are more than happy to give them something to suck on for a certain price.  I could go on and on, touching topics such as "burn in" etc.. but I don't care, people are free to do what they want if it makes them happy, Head-Fi has been quite usefull to me especially with members such as Dsnuts who can swallow the harsh pill and recognize quality even if it doesn't cost $500.  Not that super expensive gear isn't good or better in many cases but my point is in general, consumers (audiophiles included), are not engineers and logic doesn't really play a huge part in their choices, usually it's the opposite as expensive correlates with better in most our minds when we can't back anything up with real science.
 
I'm going to pick up some JVC today, granted they're in stock at the store, and I'll see how they stack up to the 2x more expensive Nuforce (which were supposed to be a bargain according to Head-Fi to begin with).
 
Cheers Dsnuts!  You should change the thread title to something reflecting the nature of what you are doing here, ie. "The awesome IEMs at bargain prices thread" .. and maybe update the first post with a list of the ones you've found.  Many countries will not have the same gear available but they will have at least some of them, so everyone could find a budget IEM for themselves that way.

 

[Techno Kid]

I guess I've been spoiled by higher-end gear because the FX40 sounds like a $20 or $30 IEM to me.  My buddy that got the CKS77 took a chance with these after everyone saying they sound as good as $100 sets.  I listened to the FX40 and compared them to my MG7, Aurvana IE3 and R-50 which are all $120 and under, they all sounded better then the JVC's.  Tomorrow my R-20's (the R-50 has my wondering how good their cheaper stuff is) will be here they were $39.99 and I'll compare them to the JVC's.