Anyone own the FXT100? They're 77 on Amazon, is this a good deal?

I just got my FXT200LTD today and I noticed that the plug has some play; the 3.5mm plug and the strain relief doesn't seem to be fused together. I can rotate the plug a bit which causes the cable to wiggle a bit. No problem with audio cutting out or signal issues though.

No biggie or RMA it?

I bought my HA-FXT100 exactly one month ago and now it already fell apart:

It can not be repaired anymore, because when I pulled it out of my ear one piece dropped and I could not find anymore.

So I went to the shop where I bought it, STEREO in ION Orchard in Singapore, and all they tell me is that I need to go to the service center. This will cost me 20S$ for one way taxi. So totally 80S$ just to bring it there and then to pick it up again..... and this for a 170S$ headphone!!!
Legally they are surely correct, this is how warranty matters are handled here. But frankly I perceive this a very bad customer service. They shall just give me a new one and then handle the case with JVC directly. As a major distributer this should not be any issue for them!!!! I bought stuff for several thousand S$ in STEREO before. BUT I WILL NOT SPEND A SINGLE CENT THERE AGAIN!!!

monkey4054 said:

  I'm currently tossing up between the 90, 200 and 200LTD. I want to use them for commuting and I listen to mostly metal music, which was how I found out about the FXT90, as it is commonly recommended for that genre. I'm just wondering if it is worth getting the 200/200LTD over the 90?

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I haven't 'A/B' compared my 90 and 200 yet... guess it depends on what you like about metal and what types you listen to- the 200 have the bass I missed in the 90 (which had nicely controlled punch but totally rolled off lows), the treble seems smoother vs my memory of the 90, with somewhat elevated details. The 90 were my first pair of great earphones, so maybe I'm a little biased, but I think the more aggressive upper mids/treble gave distorted guitar sounds a nice bite and more cohesive sig which I tend to prefer for metal. On the other hand, the 200s might be more rewarding for metal with a lot of low-end (drone or sludge, though some proper basshead cans would be better, I reckon) or recent stuff with really clean production.

I can get the FXT100 cheaper than the FXT90, should I go for it? I listen to a wide variety of genres: classical rock, EDM, fusion etc.

I ordered these today: HA-FXT200 ltd.
I am psyched that I finally made it through a thread so that I can comment. Both the HA-FXZ thread and the S500 thread that I am reading are more than 250 pages. I didn't want to comment before I read it all or I would be asking the same questions that have already been answered
I ordered the FXT, the FXZ, and the FXH. Sounds like they all enjoy a long burn-in.
I ordered the ML spriral tips to arrive soon as well.

aafanatic said:

I ordered these today: HA-FXT200 ltd.
I am psyched that I finally made it through a thread so that I can comment. Both the HA-FXZ thread and the S500 thread that I am reading are more than 250 pages. I didn't want to comment before I read it all or I would be asking the same questions that have already been answered
I ordered the FXT, the FXZ, and the FXH. Sounds like they all enjoy a long burn-in.
I ordered the ML spriral tips to arrive soon as well.

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Looking forward to impressions. FXH is my favorite of the bunch at this point, though I think i have just the  200 not ltd. and only briefly tried fxz.

how are fxt208 compared to fxh30?

I have had both fxt ltd and fxh for about a week. After rereading this thread I bet they are not burned in enough. First off, I had to use the ML spiral dot ear tips for a comfortable fit on the fxt. The fxh has an odd sized nozzle that doesn't accept other tips easily, but are still comfortable. A/B-ing them, the FXT200ltd is just a BIGGER sound. Both have great space in the mid and treble, but the FXTs have a larger, more immersive sound. I think the frequency response goes deeper on the fxt's and supports a bigger sound stage.The fxh seems light and airy, but fast and very articulate. More like what I wish a BA sounded like, very clear and distinct. The fxt's are by no means muddy, they have a lot of the clarity and articulation, it just has the bass behind it so the mids and highs are not alone. I love them both, and I don't have to choose, but I would take the fxt over the fxh if I could just have one

I am interested in the 200ltd mostly for the soundstage, but from the reviews it seems like these phones did not carry over the timbre/musicality of fxt90s, yes? I listen to mostly rock (alternative an post-rock), are they suitable for that?
Also compared to other JVC threads, these FXTs dont get much attentions. Are they just underrated or not that good?

I apologize for not updating my initial review of the FXT200LTD (mine's the 208se btw since mine's the asian import version) because there wasn't much interest in it even with it's overly spacious soundstage and organic sound signature. Additionally, I didn't want to bump the thread up for no reason and invite unnecessary flak to these gems. To top my excuses off - I'm kinda busy with work and school, so there's that
 
Quote:

frequencyblue said:

  I am interested in the 200ltd mostly for the soundstage, but from the reviews it seems like these phones did not carry over the timbre/musicality of fxt90s, yes? I listen to mostly rock (alternative an post-rock), are they suitable for that?
Also compared to other JVC threads, these FXTs dont get much attentions. Are they just underrated or not that good?

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My memory of the FXT-90s are fuzzy, but from what I remember during my time with it, the FXT-90s and the FXT200LTD's were the ones that best represented JVC's very organic and spacious 3D soundstage, without losing any of the bass ambience at the same time, which, might I add, are NEVER muddy, compared to the rest of the stuff I've listened to, and I've listened to quite a number of IEMs with sound signatures similar to what JVC iems have (refer to my profile/audio inventory). The only difference between the 2 is that the FXT-90's were extremely smooth relative to the 200LTD, and that the FXT-90 had a noticeable bass and sub-bass rolloff that the 200LTD didn't have. 
 
If you listen to rock or any other rock variant, try renting the 200LTDs before you buy it; I suspect it would be too harsh in the lower treble for you, especially in the 3khz and 5khz region as there is a significant spike in those 2 frequencies. You can remedy this down to tolerable levels with long durations of burn-in, but you'll most likely break the pair before you ever hear the difference (which is around after 200~300 hours of burn-in). 
 
Underrated? Yes. It's the main reason for there being no updates to my initial review. 

aafanatic said:

  A/B-ing them, the FXT200ltd is just a BIGGER sound. Both have great space in the mid and treble, but the FXTs have a larger, more immersive sound. I think the frequency response goes deeper on the fxt's and supports a bigger sound stage.

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If you take a look at my audio inventory under my profile, after having listened to all of the things I listed there, I still use the FXT200ltd for my daily commute even to this day. 
 
Nothing out there could beat the soundstage on these, save for the DITA Truth/Answer and the Astell&Kern-Beyerdynamic AK T8iE, all of which break past the 1k$ barrier (at least in my currency). 
 
If you like wide, deep and tall 3D soundstage, try the new Audio-Technica CKB-50 single BA driver. It's very sensitive to your audio source's output impedance, so be careful if you do actually try it out. That being said, the CKB-50 has this 3D spacious soundstage, which is extremely similar to the FXTs but it falls short on soundstage width (if I recall correctly). Its treble also isn't very refined but at the same time its bass, specifically sub-bass, reminded me very much of the audio-technica IM02, but noticeably cleaner. It also costs roughly $38 on Amazon (it's also the same number of $ here locally, but since it's in our currency, it's cheaper here). 
 
Narmoo S1 and B2M also comes close to the FXT200ltd's soundstage, but somehow I still like the FXT200ltd's impeccably tuned mids and immersive soundstage - the combination of which always sounds natural to me. The Narmoo's can sometimes sound a little artificial and unnatural, especially in the mids, akin to how the RHA T10 (reference nozzle) sounds artificial in it's bass and treble. 
 
I can't think of anything else at the moment with good soundstage but feel free to drop me a PM if needed

Unfortunately there's no retailer importing FXT200 in my country, so i got no chance to give these a quick listen, let alone renting (there's no renting service for headphone/iem either) I am basically buying blind at this point
As for the high, I used to own FX40 which is said to have shrieking treble but i managed to withstand them, so lets hope 200ltd isn't much worse. However i am very skeptical about the low, since the sub-bass rumble was the only thing i liked about fxt90 and I always consider fxt90 to be lacking in bass quantity. I dont know how low bass guitar in rock music can go, but fxt90 is capable of catching the rumble of the guitar riff, if 200ltd fails to do the same, that's almost a no-no.
Trading low for the soundstage, even if its soundstage can make more expensive phones make a run for it, is not some i can choose easily, which is why i am asking myself if i should pick these up. On the other hand the hipster inside me is screaming to get these asap, so i am not too sure anymore, lawl.

Am thinking about puting my non-ltd fxt200s up for sale soon, maybe. IDK how they compare to the 200ltd though... they have much more bass than the fxt90, but midbassy... imo fxh30 is closer sound to the fxt90 with improved bass from my memory. I don't remember 90s soundstage particularly though... fxh30 is very direct sounding.
 
Have you tried different tips with the fxt90? I found they could make quite a big difference... my favorite so far were aurisonics sureseals. a slightly deeper fit for me, also very good seal, seemed to smooth out the treble a little bit which made the bass a little more noticable (not a huge change or anything, but I liked it).

@frequency blue:
I don't think that you can go wrong with the fxt200ltd or the fxt100 or the fxh30. All of these are great iems. I don't know if you believe in burn in or not; some don't, but I believe that these need some breaking in, not just listening, to sound thier best. I have had the fxt200ltd and the fxh30 for some time now, and I just recieved the fxt100 today. I really love all three of these, and the differences in sound are not as easy to describe as are thier similarities. They are very fasy and very articulate, especially the fxh30, which is probably the fastest of the bunch, none of them have harsh treble in my experience, there is just a slight difference in the fullnes of the sound on the three. It really is like visiting the same pond in the same meadow on different days with slightly different weather. At first I didn't love the fxh, but it has grown on me. It seems like a very clear and still day in Early Spring. Just a little cold still, but very clean and alive.
The fxt200ltd is more like late Summer, very rich, and thick with life, a little muggy, but the meadow in full bloom.
The fxt100 is more like the begining of Autumn, the air is clean and clear, but the Sun is a little lower and life seems a little more real.
As I said, I really don't think that you can go wrong with any of these three, especially if you have the patiences to burn them in to some degree. All of these are far above the fx40, and are in a different class.

I came back to this thread because after reading everything I could about the fxt 100/200/208 I found very little about the fxt100 specifically, and I think that it is way under rate and over looked. I went for the fxt200ltd initially because it had fancy tech and was "better", but the fxt100 is amazing in it's own rite, and would recieve greater accolades if it didn't have such a famous older brother.
I hope to A/B the 100 and the 200ltd and get a review of the fxt100 up, as there is not one yet
Thank you head-fi for turning me on to these special iem and especially iWaffle for the most comprehensive information to date.

aafanatic said:

@frequency blue:

I came back to this thread because after reading everything I could about the fxt 100/200/208 I found very little about the fxt100 specifically, and I think that it is way under rate and over looked. I went for the fxt200ltd initially because it had fancy tech and was "better", but the fxt100 is amazing in it's own rite, and would recieve greater accolades if it didn't have such a famous older brother.
I hope to A/B the 100 and the 200ltd and get a review of the fxt100 up, as there is not one yet
Thank you head-fi for turning me on to these special iem and especially iWaffle for the most comprehensive information to date.

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haha, that's interesting because I tried 100 and 200 non-limited at a store, and the 200 wowed me in-store so i bought it, but after a few hours I started wodnering if I wouldn't have preferred the 100 instead.