[dnullify]

Quote:

WHY YOU DO SAY THIS?!?!
 
Now I want the 101's too

Sorry about that.
 
 
On one hand the FX40s are really REALLY good. On the other, i just plain like the FX101s.
 
 
Waiting on your impressions Dsnuts.
I'm wondering whether i should just save them pennies and get the fx3x... there are tons of others in the $50-100 range though.

 

[bjaardker]

Quote:

If I listen to electronic music, the cymbals can make me go ape at times, on vocal music, the "sss" also make me do this.  My playlist is on random so I can't tell you exactly which tunes it was. I also own the Vsonic GR99 and I don't notice this on those at all.  I really dig the sound of those also.  

Bingo. That's exactly the same issues I'm having with the FX101.

I burned in the fx101s with about 16 hours on Jlab's burn-in page: http://www.jlabaudio.com/burn.php and now about 25 hours on bassdrive.

After about 30 hours of burn I'm able to listen to the fx40s for long stretches at a time without the highs being too piercing. 

As a background, I'm really sensitive to high pitched sound and I've never been one to like upfront or sparkly highs. Before this foray into budget-fi, my favorite phones were Koss Porta-pros, and TF10s.

I'll spend some time listening to the fx101 tonight and see if I can put together a couple of songs to share.

 

[Dsnuts]

So I got the FXT90s in my hands and I have to admit. The FX40s come damn close. And your right eke the sub bass does seem to be stronger on the FX40s..The FXT90s have a bit wider stage but beyond that the sounds are identical..Wow these FX40s being at the cost of what they are vs an actual FXT90 which cost 4X to 5X more. This is crazy. Lol!

 

[dnullify]

Ah, so we're in similar boats then
 
 
Do you happen to have tinnitus/hearing damage?
 
I'm still finding it odd that you can listen to the FX40s for long stretches but are finding the FX101s painful and fatiguing.
The cymbal hits and "ss" lyrics are precisely what i'm hearing on the FX40s that makes them nearly intolerable.
 
If you've got John Mayer's "No such thing", if you could give that a listen with both the 40's and the 101s It'd clarify things...
 
I also have TF10s for reference, and don't have any of these treble problems with those.

 

[stozzer123]

Ok just finished up, i guess the easiest way to do this is to just give a small comparison review and then just answer questions as they come.
 
Those of you who know me know that i always advocate a multi-iem setup.  Just as you do not use a sledgehammer to put in a picture frame, you dont use a toffee hammer to put in a fence post.  Just like in all things in life different tools do different although similar jobs better.  It is no different in audio so for the purpose of this, im first comparing these phones with bass prominent music (although there are a couple of vocal and mid tracks in there to test range.)
 
 
 
Tested:
 
Audeo PFE 112 (with black, gray and green filters)
Panasonic hje900
Meelectronics m6
Vsonic GR06
TF10 (not pictured)
JVC fx1x
JVC fx101
Jvc fx40 (not pictured)
 
 
Tracks:
 
Awolnation - Sail
Glitch mob - Animus Vox
Infected mushroom - Artillery
Living legends - Never fallin
Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust
Sia - Little Black Sandles
 
 
Results and why:
 
1.  Panasonic Hje900  -  The original underrated bad boy with unique timbre.  where as i have put very pricey phones against the fx101 recently such as my tf10 and through gritted teeth admitted i preferred the JVC.  In this case however, its not even close.  for this genre of music the hje900 blows the holy hell out of the competition in all areas, and to boot it probably has one of the best constructions of any phone ever.  Glitch mob and Infected mushroom shine but tracks like Diamond and rust and Little black sandles i dare say i have never heard better from and iem, the timbre is just simply incredible.
 
 
2.  Audeo PFE  -  Usually shouldn't be in such a comparison but having procured some green (bass) filters i thought i would give them a shot.  Heres where using different phones for different jobs comes in.  with the green filters in the pfe as every other iem in this test is whole heartedly murdered by the hje900.  This isnt to say they sound bad, the sound incredible, the incredible clarity of the PFE is still retained even considering the less refined filters, bass is fast and tight but definetley not hitting like the subwoofer feeling of the fx101.  The Fx40 is more comparable i think and while the pfe bass does not extend to that of the fx40 is sheer rumble i find the pfe to be generally less fatiuging.  Theres not much in it in reference to this sort of music but with the fact that i can change filters and have a phone that is one of the best in the buisiness and blows out all the jvc tested in other genres.
 
3.  JVC FX101  -   To me the wnd best bass and soundstage of the lot,  after the 100 hours of burn in these just sound great for the price they are at,  at times they did come across boomy but on a whole a very impressive sets of phones.  And when price comes into it i would say they sit second for me overall.  The pfe are a bit better because of there refinement but not so much as to justify a 8X increase in expenditure (if it comes down to revealing detail etc by all means the pfe become worth up to 10x more than the FX101).  Now with comparrison to the hje900, its a no brainer for me the hje have it in every area apart from maybe that rumble bass,  the hje bass still goes very low however and i feel is tighter and better quality than the 101.now i payed £150 when i got the hje900 and if you put it to me to purchase now against the 101 what would i do,  in a heart beat id take the hje.
 
4.  Vsonic GR06 - Incredible build quality, tons of tips and great design.  i dont think I have enough burn on these at around 10 hours, the bass is nowhere near as deep as the 101's of the 40's the sound is very good for diamonds and rust and sandals, bass tracks dont sound quite as good as with the 101 but mids and highs are far more enjoyable.
 
5.  JVC FX40 - I just find these very hard to listen to for long periods of time, yes the bass goes low, there is good detail, i actually like the design, however sometimes iust makes me cringe and rip them from my ears.  this was especially prominent in diamonds and rust, i almost didnt want to get through the whole track.  Handled bassier tracks better but still had the occasional What moment.  90 hours burn in already and i will give them another 50 before i give up.
 
6. JVC FX1X -  good but really no point in comparing this anymore, the 101 are here now and are just an all around better phone at a lower price.
 
7. Meelec M6 -  Sounds like someone throwing a plate of mashed potatoes off a wall in comparison to all the above,  spend your cash elsewhere.

 

[FieldingMellish]

I am digging the FX40 more so that the FX101's. Maybe I have a freak copy of FX40? 

 

[dnullify]

Thanks for the comparison Stozzer123. I completely agree with your evaluation of the fx40.
You don't happen to have the vsonic gr02 do you?
 
I might have to see if i can find those panasonics hje900 used somewhere.
 
 
 
Quote:

I am digging the FX40 more so that the FX101's. Maybe I have a freak copy of FX40? 

I'm really beginning to wonder what kind of QC there is with these phones. they are msrp $20 after all...
there seems to be a bunch like me that can't handle the 40s. Some that are perfectly okay with the 40s. And a couple who find the 101s more sibilant than the 40s.

 

[Ghostfit]

Quote:

 
 
Not at all, my friend. I am in awe of the knowledge others have and enjoy soaking some of that up. Then, it's fun to be able to pass something along to others. 

 Whew !   ...thanks for that Buddy.

 
Anyway, just in case anyone's interested, I've dug further and found out that the 4 contacts jacks are meant for smartphones and if you plug them into dedicated MP3 players, you'll only get sound coming out of one side, if you keep the button on the mic depressed they will behave like 3 contacts jack.
On the other hand, plugging a 3 contacts jack into a smartphone will do one of 2 things:
1) With Android phones, you get a weird sounding earphone or messed up controls i.e: tracks skips by themself or phone enter into call mode, on some models, you got both problems.
2) With Iphones, both 3 and 4 contacts jacks works perfectly if the phone is on before you plug in the jack, it seem the Iphone is able to detect which connector is plug in.
 
Looks like I'm stuck with having to burn in the FR201s on my HTC !

 

[Dsnuts]

I think it has more to do with sound preference. One is more of the musical flavor being the FX101 and the other is more detailed being the FX40..
 
Update. The FX3X some burn in time..The bass end on these are MARVELOUS. Glorious sub bass on these things, and the rest of the sound signature is very natural sounding..Nothing really recessed or missing in the sound. The sound is very full and smooth.. These are JVCs answer to the higher end CKS earphones from AT and goes easily toe to toe with them in overall sound and bass..The CKS77 still retains just a bit more stage and depth but they are more similar in staging than different. The Carbon drivers these have are crazy for bass. Imagine the FX40 with a bigger 10mm Driver with a deep bass port and a bigger housing of XX series and add a metal housing and you get a clean high end bassy earphone that these represent. More later.

 

[DannyBai]

Sounds good so far.  

 

[stozzer123]

Quote:

Thanks for the comparison Stozzer123. I completely agree with your evaluation of the fx40.
You don't happen to have the vsonic gr02 do you?
 
I might have to see if i can find those panasonics hje900 used somewhere.
 
 
 
I'm really beginning to wonder what kind of QC there is with these phones. they are msrp $20 after all...
there seems to be a bunch like me that can't handle the 40s. Some that are perfectly okay with the 40s. And a couple who find the 101s more sibilant than the 40s.

might know a lad with the gr02 can see if i can get a lone at the weekend.   

hje900 now hard to come by but in my opinion possible one of my top 3 iem of all time, those who have seen them in the flesh and then heard them know why.

 

[mochill]

13hrs later and the 3x becomes more airy .......:0 the trebles starts to sparkle and i am like What

 

[mochill]

The mids also become more clean,and soundstage is epic ....bass is more controlled hehe....its burnin time baby...more to come soon

 

[Dsnuts]

Ya I am gonna keep burning them overnight as there is a bit of peakiness going on around 4k-7K hz range. Similar to what was on the older FX1X. I don't  think it is as bad but I did detect some sibilance on some of the trance tunes I was listening to on the way home.  It seems the female vocals are more prone to be sharper than male vocals. I know Japanese manufacturers have a tendency to enhance the upper regions for J pop and female vocals and I detect that type of tuning was done also on these. I hope with some aggressive burn in will tame this down a bit.   Will report back with more burn in..So far the imaging and detail is solid for a bassy earphone but this peakiness needs to smooth out or the same guys that wasn't liking the FX101 will not like these either. These have a much fuller sound so the mild peakiness will be even more detectable.

 

[musubi1000]

Bingo. That's exactly the same issues I'm having with the FX101.


I burned in the fx101s with about 16 hours on Jlab's burn-in page: http://www.jlabaudio.com/burn.php and now about 25 hours on bassdrive.


After about 30 hours of burn I'm able to listen to the fx40s for long stretches at a time without the highs being too piercing. 


As a background, I'm really sensitive to high pitched sound and I've never been one to like upfront or sparkly highs. Before this foray into budget-fi, my favorite phones were Koss Porta-pros, and TF10s.


I'll spend some time listening to the fx101 tonight and see if I can put together a couple of songs to share.

I had the same piercing treble problem with both the 40s and the 101s. Much more so on the 40s from about 20-100 hrs. And the 101s from about 30-80 hrs. Both have settled down to very enjoyable treble after significant break in. These should be given as samples for people that don't believe in burn in.