And I was worried about ear damage with the 55's!! Yay!!!... I need the E12 though. Probably would be considerably better than the E11 I have... Well, when I get a job, I'll have some cash to spend. First thing im going to spend it on? These headphones. Then the E12. I suppose it would still slam my head with an E11. I know it makes the 55's vibrate fairly good. Wonder what the E12 with the 77's sound like!!! Can't wait!! I suggested the 55's to my friend, and he was blown away at how much better they were in all aspects than his beats studios he had before they broke. How does JVC manage to make these at such low prices and not be extremely famous or renowned for bass or sound quality??????
The biggest question I had for about 2 weeks. How on earth are the 77's not being pushed by J.V.C?
My conclusions:
1. The audiophile crowd in Japan is quite enamored with name branding. Beats Pro are widely considered by some of the biggest audiophile headphone shops as being "subarashi" (wonderful) The shops top seller rankings reflect this. I have friends who are DJ's and they have no comment about Beats (meaning they are over pushed and priced) They use Sony mostly for DJ gigs. They are pro's though (The DJ's i mean)
Most view Japan as an audiophile /otaku dreamland and it is but the % of Audiophiles..
being folks who seek pure sonic signatures is less than the % in America. The Beats hate is far far stronger back in America than over here. That doesn't mesh with the image of Japan by most western audiophiles. If it's popular they want one. The West following the East in terms of Hi-Fidelity is backwards. They are smitten with the West. Beats are expensive and well promoted and endorsed and that assures they are popular here. Folks look at FOSTEX and some other high end models in awe the way Japanese look at Euro hi end manufacturers. The Bang & Olufsen new series is booming on the J net and blogs. They are fashionable, expensive and made in Europe. Nuff said (for the great great majority which are not audiophiles)
So #1. They are smitten with outside Hi fi (the grass is always greener in the other yard mentality)
2. The most popular Japanese music is J-Pop. By a very very wide margin. It emphasizes highs...really really sparkly highs. EDM and Club have a bigger market than Hip Hop so there are few artists who could/would endorse a bass-centric Japanese made cans. A great many Japanese may not even know too many folks from that niche' besides DJ Kaori.
3. Market...this may be the real #1 . Japan lost the DAP market to Apple. The % of portable music devices used in 1990 were about 80% Japanese made and now 25 years later a paradigm shift has happened. They are on the other side. They also lost ground in flat panel manufacturing to the point where samsung panels now sit in some Sony Bravias.
A Japanese meeting is not really a meeting but a series of announcements with a tatemae question of "is there any question"......nobody is expected to actually ask a question.
J.V.C. is
Victor Company of Japan, Ltd (日本ビクター株式会社
Nippon Bikutā Kabushiki-gaisha),
The Bass market is not seen as one they can crack. Sony is seen as the J audio maker with bass headphone pedigree as well as pioneer but J.V.C is seen and may see itself as more of a home audio maker. Truth is that market is tapped in their mind and nobody will choose a J.V.C over an imported bass can where they
think it ...bass-centric was invented.
I have students who work at Sony, Hitachi and Pioneer affiliates. They are all very maji mei (serious) and short focus (next financial quarter) because Japan has been through a generation of economic stagnation. This all sounds far from headphone talk but it's related.
J.V.C has a deeper pedigree than most anyone as they helped create the sonic backdrop for the birth of Rap and Hip-hop....They lost their mojo....which is why most Japanese have iphones and Beats not Walkmen.
I bought my JVC boombox because it looked like a tank and sounds like one too
I bought the JVC XX's because they (the 55's) blew me away and caused me to give my Beats to my GF and she listens to Glee episodes on HULU.
I pushed them to the edge because they were cheap and fun and they had a bigger brother. That bigger brother is an animal. A very slept on under the radar beast. There are 2 identical named 57mm XX's but one is "new version" and one is not. get the "new version".
Europe has a sound listening law for headphone output. These cans I assure you violate that law when amped. They are waiting for you. Get em. Tune and amp them and wait for a friend with Beats or V-moda or any other Bass-centric cans and then pounce. Swallow them. Make them feel like I did when i looked at the price on the 55's v.s. my Beats studio's and Pro's. I felt like a moron. The 77's? Get a picture of their face.
Call it
"Audio Butt hurt"
These are 5-6 songs it got tuned too. i used them for very slight adjustments on the bass hit. If you like this kind of hit your gonna fall in love.
Impact and extension
Sonic impact (upper mid techno grind hit follows a super bass hit)
long throw hit from 35-80Hz
How low do they go?? (this one will show you the truth when amped
)
I can say that these tracks and the one in my sig along with Geto Boys "Assassins" hit harder with the 77's than anything your friends have. If you EVER hear a harder slam on cans you come back here and tell me...I'd LOVE to know what that is? As of March 1st 2014 it don't exist.
LL would be a great spokeman for these .
I like it loud
I'm the man with a box that can rock the crowd
Walkin' down the street, to the hardcore beat
While my JVC vibrates the concrete
"I Can't Live Without My Radio" LL Cool J (1985)
