Disclosure: these are my first custom pieces.
These are first quick impressions over two days of use. Using iPhone 3GS and Macbook Pro, direct. Ranged from 128Kbps to Apple Lossless. Compared with a Sennheiser HD650.
I am more of a Full Speaker nut, my reference system being Accuphase Class A with italian speakers. Lush, luxurious with detail.
Pix
Cosmetic
My transparent white shells have bubbles and marks on them. Don't care much though when they sound so good, but important for some people here to know.
Also the laser art is not perfect. Good enough though.
Fit
They seem to be pretty good though i have not much point of reference. I can move my mouth pretty much freely, bite, without compromising the seal.
The only thing that seems to dislodge them slightly is a wide grin, and gets worse when i combine that with a mouth wide open. Thankfully this never happens when i listen to music, and they pretty much snap back into place anyway.
I get a constant sensation that they 'want' to leave my ears, which is odd because im sure theyre not moving, but i feel as if my ear canals exercises slight pressure on them to pop them out. Im guessing this is because as a first custom, i need to get used to having these deep inside my ears.
When i press on the top of my ears or on the right back of the shells, bass is much more pronounced, but can be unnaturally so, it quickly becomes cavernous.
When i press on laterally on the shell to try and push them more in, same thing happens (more unnatural bass) with the added pain on my eardrums.
That leads me to believe that the seal is good.
One thing i hadnt thought of is glasses. I cant wear them when using the JH13. At least i havent found a way to do it correctly.
Sound
Ok, i read so much on these that i was prepared to be floored.
To be honest, i was disappointed. Disappointed that so much music sounded like crap because badly engineered or badly ripped.
Its only when i listened to some Dire Straits, Porcupine Tree or Radiohead that my head exploded and i was floored by how good these were.
These babies reveal everything, every nuance of every detail its scary. I sometimes heard some chair moving during live sessions i had never head before, even on my reference system. And the best thing is that they are not bright at all.
Instruments had never sounded so full, they had a weight to it that felt organic, if that makes any sense.
Voices were crystal clair and were positioned perfectly. On a good recording, the soundstage was wide. I am very picky on having a large soundstage and they didn't disappoint.
Only reservation i have is on bass, which doesn't seem as prominent or as heavy as i would have thought. Its a bit disconcerting.
My HD650 sounds very, very dark when A/B compared. Voices seem muffled and theres like a veil on top of the music that is striking. Its like listening in behind a door to the music, whereas the JH13 put you in the room. I can hear more bass though.
Questions
I wonder if these need any break in, they sound so good out of the box its hard to imagine.
I also wonder if the lack of bass is a problem with the fit, if its the correct fit and ive been suckered by too much bass on the HD650 or.... Im still exploring this point.
Thats it for now.
Cheers
Xavier
