[kingice10]

Yup, I read your post yesterday and it struck me. But it's no problem, there's always a better IEM out there waiting to be unveiled...hehehe.that's how it is in the consumer world.
 
What I want to do now is to wait for my JVC FX700, do a little review or comparison to my other IEMs to contribute to other Headfiers out there and most specially, ENJOY THE MUSIC!
Quote:

Did you read my EX1000 review? It includes an A/B comparison with the FX700. Just click the EX1000 link in my sig. A comparison with the JH16 is included with the Headphonia review that I've linked in my own review.

Maybe if I have the cash, I can try the EX1000 too for sometime.
 
 

 

[james444]

Quote:

Thanks for the suggestions. I know the HJE900 isn't the best IEM out there and I did say it in my first impressions of it in the previous page. I also noted that the W3 beats it in almost everything especially detail retrieval, mids and treble. Technically speaking the W2, W3 and IE8 are all better but I seem to enjoy the realistic timbre in the HJE900 more than the the other's excellent all round performance. As another Head-Fier rightly said, "the HJE900 is a gem, albeit a rough one". Sure it can use more polish but it proves me that great timbre exists in IEMs. It is that same great timbre that seems to missing from other more expensive IEMs I had a chance to listen to. I can't say much about the Denons or Klipschs as I've never heard them. But specifically about electric guitars, the general consensus seems to be in favour of the HJE900 and I don't find it hard to believe considering I have an electric guitar myself. There is less difference in other instruments but I think it still does it slightly better than the W3.
 
The HJE900 is a stepping stone for me to other "timbre kings". I was curious to know what "great timbre" sound like and it didn't disappoint. That led me to my next purchase. I think I've already implied 2 posts before that I've bought a (used) EX1000 and I'm only waiting for it to arrive at my doorstep 

 Then I can tell if it really has the combination of awesome timbre and low level resolution that I seek in my ideal IEMs (not that I doubt James' review, but I'll save my impressions of it until I actually have it with me 

) 
 
IMHO, all IEMs should get timbre right first of all, then focus on other factors like PRaT and detail. HJE900 got its foundation right and that's why I love it. Doesn't matter if it don't sound like an expensive amp that brings out all the details, as long as it actually sounds like an amp in the first place!
 
P.S. My 100th post! Yipee! 

Congrats on both your purchase and your 100th post! Wow, I didn't dare buying such expensive phones when I had only 100 posts.

  Back then it was more like the PL30 for me, but speaking of which, PL30 => HJE900 => EX1000 sounds like a good plan. Looking forwards to your impressions...
 
Quote:

Yup, I read your post yesterday and it struck me. But it's no problem, there's always a better IEM out there waiting to be unveiled...hehehe.that's how it is in the consumer world.
 
What I want to do now is to wait for my JVC FX700, do a little review or comparison to my other IEMs to contribute to other Headfiers out there and most specially, ENJOY THE MUSIC!

Maybe if I have the cash, I can try the EX1000 too for sometime.

 
Just enjoy your FX700, they are brilliant IEMs and quite close to the EX1000. Though I prefer the latter by a slight margin for my kind of music I could easily picture it the other way round for someone else's taste. Some folks say music preferences don't matter for the rating of IEMs, but I think it does. I listen mainly to classical, acoustic jazz and folk and there are certain virtues that make a phone stand out with that kind of music, one of them being timbre.
 
But lately I decided to try out a death metal record (Origin / Antithesis), because someone had posted that it was his ultimate IEM test. Well, I know some Pendulum, but this here was considerably more agressive. Surprisingly I quite enjoyed that wall of sound and raw energy, yet at the same time thought, omg, if I were maily into that kind of music I'd probably rate phones a lot different. Speed, punch, precision were things that immediately came to mind, whereas the ability to portray subtle nuances in vocals (absolutely essential with my favorite genres) seemed completely irrelevant with this lead singer's low grunt.
 
Bottom line, what I'm trying to say is that the slightly more edgy and aggressive FX700 may easily be better suited than the ultra-smooth romantic EX1000, depending on the music you enjoy most. So there really is no absolute "better" between these two, they are both extremely impressive IEMs in my book.

 

[kingice10]

Thanks @james444 for the advice and for another comparison! I would like to have the more aggressive FX700.

 

[Inks]

More aggressive than the FX700? huh, I think it's at times it's borderline agressive in it's bass and treble, it's just fine where it's at. 

 

[james444]

^ I think you misread his post, it was meant as a response to mine above.

 

[Inks]

yeah...lol. Anyways still perplexed you describe the EX1000s as a more smooth sounding iem, all others have said otherwise. Perhaps you found that trick to get a good seal unlike others using those unique tips. 

 

[james444]

Actually not all others. The guy who wrote the Headphonia review heard them pretty similarly, and he was using stock tips. But yeah, you're right, it's quite puzzling...

 

[mvw2]

It may depend on what people focus on.  "Aggressive" can be from a variety of factors.  For example, is high dynamic range aggressive?  High energy, impulse?  Is a thick note and "wall of sound" aggressive?  Different earphones accentuate the notes in different ways.  Some make use of a thicker note to convey presence and loudness.  Some have very strong attack using high impulse energy instead.  Is being forward aggressive?  What is the particular listener focusing on to measure their sense of aggressiveness?  Does the music they are using accentuate certain characteristics and hide other characteristics?  It all tends to vary.
 
Here are a couple of examples.
 
The SE530 is one of the more dynamic BA earphones on the market.  The dynamic range is broad and effortless.  The loudness conveyed is pretty much unparalleled, and it's extremely revealing with a very clean note.  Errors in audio tracks make you cringe as the earphone almost bites your head off from a glitch in the track.  Yet, the earphone is often described as laid back.  In ways it very much is.  Despite the dynamic breadth, the note thickness is very minimal with very short decay and a sqeaky clean sound.  It has the range of loudness but not the heft to back it up in presence.  I could call the SE530 aggressive due to the dynamic breadth that it has or laid back due to the lack of body and presence.  They're both right despite the terms in general being pretty much polar opposites of each other.  A reviewer would need to clarify what specific traits deserve the descriptor.  Why is it aggressive?  Why is it laid back?
 
Aggressiveness comes in many forms.  A compressed dynamic range typically creates an overall loud or sometimes noisy earphone.  The subtle information is brought forward and you are engaged with more info.  The sound stage often gets smaller in size and closer.  It's more engaging and aggressive.  Earphones like the RE-ZERO, RE252, e-Q7, DBA-02, and Triple.Fi 10 are like this to various degrees.  There's aggressiveness and a forward nature to the sound.
 
Another form is from shear body of note, thickness of note  that more easily conveys a wall of energy (more area under the curve).  Some of the BA earphones gain improved presence and sense of authority from the byproduct of creating a heftier note.  The amount of sound can come across as aggressive.  Often you can point out these earphones when relating warm/neutral/bright tonality versus actual frequency response.  The hefty earphones will have a warmer signature despite not actually having extra SPL in the bass region.  The bassy nature comes from the unusually thick note.  Earphones like the CK90Pro, Triple.Fi 10, Custom 3, e-Q7, and C700 gain additional heft and presence by offering longer decay and subsequently thicker note.  The Custom 3 is a great example.  The treble is actually EQed louder than the bass, but the bass is more pronounced.  From the frequency response, the earphone should be bright but it sounds warm.  As well, low notes carry a high amount of heft and sense of authority.  There's good presence and punch and versus many other earphones, it can be described as aggressive.
 
It's not always a matter of being aggressive or not, it's a matter of why it was labeled as aggressive and how does it specifically come across as aggressive.  The term aggressive used alone really carries minimal context.  One must be able to back it up with why and in what ways to really describe the term, but this is like most terms.  Even when we're discussing timbre, we need to be careful in explaining how we are using the term and why we are using it for a particular earphone.  One could say timbre comes in many flavors too, and it's useful to know what flavor we're getting.

 

[tuahogary]

 
Quote:

aggressive Reproduced sound that is excessively forward and bright.

Quoted from http://www.integracoustics.com/MUG/MUG/bbs/stereophile_audio-glossary.html. No need a long explanation, people should agree on a standard for audio terms 

 

[esanthosh]

 
Quote:

Just enjoy your FX700, they are brilliant IEMs and quite close to the EX1000. Though I prefer the latter by a slight margin for my kind of music I could easily picture it the other way round for someone else's taste. Some folks say music preferences don't matter for the rating of IEMs, but I think it does. I listen mainly to classical, acoustic jazz and folk and there are certain virtues that make a phone stand out with that kind of music, one of them being timbre.
 
But lately I decided to try out a death metal record (Origin / Antithesis), because someone had posted that it was his ultimate IEM test. Well, I know some Pendulum, but this here was considerably more agressive. Surprisingly I quite enjoyed that wall of sound and raw energy, yet at the same time thought, omg, if I were maily into that kind of music I'd probably rate phones a lot different. Speed, punch, precision were things that immediately came to mind, whereas the ability to portray subtle nuances in vocals (absolutely essential with my favorite genres) seemed completely irrelevant with this lead singer's low grunt.
 
Bottom line, what I'm trying to say is that the slightly more edgy and aggressive FX700 may easily be better suited than the ultra-smooth romantic EX1000, depending on the music you enjoy most. So there really is no absolute "better" between these two, they are both extremely impressive IEMs in my book.

 
Thanks James for this comparison. I guess I'll have to re-think a bit about EX1000 now, though I don't think my curiosity will leave my wallet happy forever.



 

 

[tuahogary]

 
Quote:

Congrats on both your purchase and your 100th post! Wow, I didn't dare buying such expensive phones when I had only 100 posts.

  Back then it was more like the PL30 for me, but speaking of which, PL30 => HJE900 => EX1000 sounds like a good plan. Looking forwards to your impressions...
 

Haha, perhaps I'm not as active as you in this forum. I'd never reach 2000+ posts ever in my life lol. 
 

 

[selferinoz]

i need opinions about JVC Dual Dynamic HA-FXT90 on this topic ( timbre performance ofkos) and maybe ranking with those other dynamic IEM mention on this post, any1?

 

[hepatus1234]

Would be great to wake up this thread again.

 

[mvw2]

Would be great to wake up this thread again.

Likely the newest JVC "woodie," the HA-FW1800. I've been casually looking at it, bit it wasn't yet available when I last looked. The HA-FW01 has a price easier to swallow at about half the cost, and there's reviews floating around on that one. There wasn't much wrong with the old stuff. They just needed to work at getting any amount of highs above like 12kHz and they'd be golden.

I'm still a big fan of Ortofon to this day and still think the e-Q7 is the best single BA driver IEM on the market (and they are again offering it on their website), although this isn't saying much as I haven't been in the IEM hobby for the last decade. I did recently buy the Shure 846, although it's a little light on note weight for consideration in a timbre thread, a really good pleasant analytical IEM, but it NEEDS an amp or sounds off. Something like the old, old TripleFi 10 is still a bassier IEM and had more timbres (still purchasable surprisingly, but they really need to make a new version). My favorite is still the CK100, but it's long discounted. I don't know if there's a newer equivalent. It has bass weight, energy, and timbre, unusually so for a BA. I'm sure there's LOTS of newer items with not modern BA drivers that are compatible or better than this old stuff, aka Campfire which has become very popular.

Still, for real timbre, you pretty much have to go to a dynamic driver. Sony makes great stuff, but they tend to engineer their sound more smooth than texturey, so JVC tends to stand out in comparison. I really need to try new stuff to get a modern sense of the landscape. I just haven't decided if I want to tie up a few thousand dollars to just fiddle around with new stuff. In this timbre area, JVC "woodie" has been the historical safe bet.