The JVC HA-S500.. Appreciation, fan thread. - Page 145

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdman 

This was my reaction, too.  Lost way too much bass for my taste, and I'm not a bass head.  Seemed to lose some staging in the bass end, too.  Amazing how much difference pads can make.  The ATH's are way more comfortable, though. 

 

What's the physics behind such a difference?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobeau 

 

To me they look almost identical in material, thickness... but the diameter of the opening for the ATH's is probably a couple mm wider.  They're more comfy as they side more 'around' your ear, but I feel that also reduces the seal a bit.  So this effect is probably somewhat dependent on user.

 

I took them to a noisy coffee shop and they hardly isolated at all.  But they do sound pretty great with my Nexus so at least they have a home for that use case which is probably how I spend a good 10-20 hours per week.

I am in concurrence, it seems the diameter of the opening has great influences on the bass.

Which is probably why JVC choose to stick those pads on there, it seems a smaller opening would increase the bass boost but muddy up the mids and a bigger opening would bring the mids forward but at the expense of a weaker bass.

Real pity they did not try making them original pads more comfortable, otherwise we wouldn't have to wade thru the swamp of alternate pads ! 

I ordered mine three days ago (the sixth) and it looks like they're scheduled for delivery via UPS tomorrow, the tenth. Is this possible?

EDIT: The Delivery turned out to be something else. Mine are stuck in LA customs. Oh well.

I'm really drinking the Kool-Aid now. I bought a clip today. I will be good to go tomorrow around 5PM, when Mr. Brown rolls into my my neighborhood. This better be good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by audiomagnate 

I'm really drinking the Kool-Aid now. I bought a clip today. I will be good to go tomorrow around 5PM, when Mr. Brown rolls into my my neighborhood. This better be good.

And it's all so TASTY!!! I can't get enough of this deliciousness that is the sweet carbon nanotube nectar!!! My 3 sets of S400s will be here tomorrow, can't wait.

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdman 

This was my reaction, too.  Lost way too much bass for my taste, and I'm not a bass head.  Seemed to lose some staging in the bass end, too.  Amazing how much difference pads can make.  The ATH's are way more comfortable, though. 

 

What's the physics behind such a difference?

All the headphone types ( around the ear, in ear, on ear - in exactly this order, from the lowest to the highest ) suffer from the distortion of the natural hearing to some degree , depending on the size and shape of one's ears - therefore it varies from person to person. There is an envelope ( far from linear ) within which limits should the response fall - but the tolerance gets ever larger with increasing frequency, reaching 5 to 10 dB by 20 kHz ! 

There are no headphones capable of  reproduction without this inherent distortion. Historically, it was Jecklin Float electrostatic from Swiss' Juerg Jecklin

that got it about  right for the first time  in the mid 70s - creating world's first HEAD LOUDSPEAKER or EAR SPEAKER.  Followed by the "next to perfect"

design of the AKG K 1000 in 1989 - also termed EAR SPEAKER. These two ( along much lesser known and next to impossible to get MB electrostatics, variation on the Jecklin theme , and a Sony dynamic driver attempt from a couple of years ago) form a very exclusive club of  correctly termed EAR SPEAKERS.  Stax also refers to its HEADPHONES as Ear Speakers - they want to suggest the headphones are producing the same ( or very similar  )

sound as loudspeakers in a room - but no Stax product to date can be qualified into the ear speaker  category.

Ear Speaker by my definition is any sound device that is worn on head and producing sound without anything touching or encircling your ears - allowing you to hear exactly the same as you would be able without the device on your head. By far, second to none, closest to this goal comes AKG K 1000.

Make a simple test. Listen to your enviroment with your ears only - than try to just slightly press the outer ears with a single finger per ear, followed by 2, 3, 4... finges - next you can place some earpads ( we in this thread will be all swimming in them in no time flat ) on your ears, etc - and listen how these modification to your natural hearing affect the sound. Got the idea ? 

On ears are the most affected, simply because they press on our outer ear parts thus modifying our natural hearing the most.  I will never say any headphone/earpad/tip is the best in universal terms because of all things mentioned above - only what has best results for me.  It is perfectly possible that a say $20 headphone (that is at least reasonably well done) will outperform your TOTL model at a hundred times the price - simply because of the

next to perfect match between your $20 phones and your ears and slight (or not so slight ) mismatch in the TOTL case. No review or reviewer can tell you EXACTLY how any given headphone will sound to you - only gross and general observations hold true from person to person.

Even AKG K 1000 need personal equalization for proper results - imagine how gross and crude are the deviations in "anything" else in real life situations with your ears.

JVC HA-S500 suffers from all of the above - badly so ( just check the multitude of responses as measured by Tyll, confirming the descriptions of sound with slight deviations in positioning of HA-S500s on your ears ) .

But the driver has such great potential I thought opening this can of worms might lead to something useful in the end - lowering the price of admission for truly great sound within the reach of most music lovers and audiophiles alike. With the portability thrown in as a bonus.  Being able to listen to a good impersonation of the best sound posible in absolute terms while on the go - priceless, and worth any effort to get there.

I was a Jecklin Float dealer back in the day, and was good friends with the importer, Bob Welch, who also imported Transcriptors. I loved them but they did so many things wrong they shouldn't be held up as the perfect headphones. The best way to listen to a pair of Floats is prostrate on your back on the floor with the Floats supported by the floor. It helps the bass and fewer people are likely to see you with those silly things on your head.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute 

 

Thanks to your photos I was able to cancel the order for the 840 pads......HM5 pads were ordered instead!

I recommend the cup/driver switch mod for those who is going for the pad on pad mod. Doc-holiday has it all covered;

http://www.head-fi.org/t/621063/the-new-jvc-ha-s500-40mm-carbon-nanotubes/1275#post_8706948

Gives the headphone a more natural clamp once it is circumaural.

So I'm quite content with the pad mod for myself, not sure what I'll do when my ATH velours arrive.

I'm also wondering instead of pad on pad, why not just stuff the HM5 with cotton as usual and use some disposable

plastic cups cut to the correct dimensions in place of the stock pads.

Kinda like how markl mods the denon pads.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc-holliday 


Hey guys!!! We actually got this guy to fall for the whole Clip+ thing! Lmao... Wait till he get's to hear that piece of junk.....
Naw... using mine now. Other than my W4's, the best purchase I've made in a while.
Doc.

Isn't it pretty amazing? I demoed some SR80is this week. The Clip+ drove them just fine to a fairly loud listening volume. 

Plus they are so darn small, you can even forget that it's in your pocket 

Quote:

Originally Posted by audiomagnate 

I was a Jecklin Float dealer back in the day, and was good friends with the importer, Bob Welch, who also imported Transcriptors. I loved them but they did so many things wrong they shouldn't be held up as the perfect headphones. The best way to listen to a pair of Floats is prostrate on your back on the floor with the Floats supported by the floor. It helps the bass and fewer people are likely to see you with those silly things on your head.

Agreed on all counts - hope they got at least some of the most bothersome real life defects right in the recently launched reincarnation. But for all of its ( numerous) defects, it remains the first HEAD LOUDSPEAKER, not headphone, that did start to image correctly. No Precide produced version of the Float can be termed "perfect". Reliability is also a not inconsiderable issue with Float.

Interesting the floor thing - it must definitely help the bass, but  distort the ability for the natural crossfeed to occur, thus reducing the corectness of the space localization. Will ty it next time visiting a friend who still has Float.

Transcriptors = another love//hate affair going on for me from 1976. Creators of the first audio device that made it into the most prestigious award I can possibly think of. The name of this award is Component(s) I Will Die With and Transcriptors made it in 1977 or so - for the Transcriptors Stylus Scales,

still the best stylus scales in existance ( Supex is supposedly similar design ). The supremacy of the design over anything else to  make me then 17 years old create a category with such a name - mind boggling but as true/honest statement that can possibly be made.

Regarding Transcriptrors - this is Head-fi and not The Weirdest/Most Beautiful LP Players.org - if you or anyone else have any questions/suggestions regarding Transcriptors turntables and  pick up arms, please PM me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc-holliday 


In a lot of ways. Especially after my 64gb card comes in tmrrw.... For 80 bucks I end up with a player that holds 8GB more than my 400 dollar ipod touch.
Odd "feature" i guess but I love that if you drop the little bugger, it doesn't violently rip the iems out of your ears, (or even worse damage the cable).... Ive had a couple scary tugs on my iems that way. You can practically let the thing dangle from the cable comfortably it is so light.

I know. Very user friendly clipped on the outside of my pants pocket. Easy to skip tracks without looking. But if I'm walking around and doing stuff and bend the wrong way, it pulls loose easily. No more hard yank at my head.

But yeah. The cost. I was also thinking the other day that if I was going on a trip where charging would be a problem, just buy an extra one as an alternate for when the battery runs out. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by cel4145 

 

I know. Very user friendly clipped on the outside of my pants pocket. Easy to skip tracks without looking. But if I'm walking around and doing stuff and bend the wrong way, it pulls loose easily. No more hard yank at my head.

 

But yeah. The cost. I was also thinking the other day that if I was going on a trip where charging would be a problem, just buy an extra one as an alternate for when the battery runs out. 

My portable mobile charger doubles as the Clip Zip charger on the go !