This is a review i did back in 2011.
I have had these a little over a week and I feel it is time to do a review. A little background in my experience in iems. I would say I really started my journey about 7 years ago. Now before that I would listen to cheap buds with a cd player. In 2003 my stepmother won an ipod 3g and I purchased it off her for 100.00 unopened. I discovered I did not like the feel of the buds nor the sound rushing out as I played my favorite bands. I decided to go find a better feel and sound. I have tried so many different ones through the years and never found what I was looking for. Finally in 2005 I had a pair of Shure e5c that I thought sounded amazing, but was not fond of the feel and I found Head-fi where I was guided to Ultimate ears customs. From that time on I have been using customs, but have heard most of the high end iems out there.
Now the D jays arrived on scene and I am listening to them as I type up this review. Starting off with the packaging. They come in the typical box that Jays put their high end iems in. I is a black box with 2 windows displaying the D Jays surrounded by a green background. There is Jays logo on the bottom left with D- Jays in bold print and a description.
It is quite a nice package, but I could not wait to open it up. As you pull plastic clam shell packaging out you see the D-jays and an airplane adapter attached to a splitter.
You flip the clam shell over and see 3 pairs of tips and a manual. Opening up the clam shell reveals everything included. You four different sizes of sleeves,a pair of foam tips, an extension cable, and a small carrying case. I was surprised this one did not have any filters included.
The carrying case really needs to be larger or a different design. It is pretty much useless to carry the iems in. The airplane adapter is quite useful if you travel, and the splitter can be quite handy listening to music with someone. the extension cable is quite needed as the cables on the iems are quite short. It is nice to actually have four different sizes in tips. My wife has a hard time finding any that are small enough. Overall it is not a bad packaging and comes with some nice accessories.
The D- Jays are a single micro armature similar to the q- jays and many other high end iems. They have a sensitivity of 115 dB SPL @ 1 kHz and an impedance of 115 dB SPL @ 1 kHz. The frequency response is 20 Hz - 20 000 Hz, which is not bad for a single armature design. They weigh in at 14 grams and have a 23.5" cord ending with a straight gold 3.5mm plug. The extension cable measures 35.5'. The silicone tips are xs,s,m,and large, and the foam tips are about a medium.
I have listened to these out of my 7g 160gb ipod classic with and without my two portable amps, RSA p51 and Fiio e11., using both a RSA lod and the L9 from Fiio. I listened to everything from metal to classical and folk music. I used the foam sleeves and the medium tips.
The fit is very comfortable for the most part, Coming from customs with outstanding sound isolation I was struggling to get the perfect seal without any sound leak. I would use the silicone and my wife could hear the music coming from my ears. I would use the foam and the sound was not quite right. If you use universals all the time you would not see a difference between these and most others as far as fit is concerned. What I did to remedy this was pull the foam off the tubs and put it in the silicone tip.
I feel this has pretty much fixed my issues with these and the isolation is much better. When I listen to them first thing that comes to mind is neutral. I think of the early days of me trying to find the right iems and Etymotic pops up. I really enjoy classical music, some christian music like Shane and Shane, and folk music like Lorena McKennet,. Music like this work really well with these. They allow the vocals to come forward and the music is really balanced. For me rock is hit or miss. Some recordings sound great while others lack the low punch I like. Electronic music is also hit or miss depending on my mood. I am listening to The prodigy right this second and it is hitting hard enough for my taste, but while in two hours I might want a harder bass.
These are fairly easy to drive straight out of the ipod. I can not go much higher tan half. With something this like this one may ask why use an amp.Well with an amp the sound stage opens up quite a bit and the bass hits a little harder. The highs are precise and tight. While there is not a huge amount of bass, it is tight and controlled. I feel the rsa 51 handles these great, but I do like the option on the e11 to boost the bass.
As I dwindle down this review I think to my self what do I think of the Jays D-Jays. Well the highs sparkle and the vocals are amazing. In some music I find the bass and the isolation lacking with the stock tips. I fell if one had shure olives it would greatly increase the performance. I feel they are constructed well however qc on this pair was a little off as there was a bit of glue around the iems showing and I was missing the filters that usually come with them. I feel that if someone is looking for a neutral or reference iem these would do nicely. If someone is looking for a hard hitting bass then look elsewhere. I also feel that using two drivers would increase the performance to a level I would love. I also feel that if you have a e11 amp these would be a great pair as you can control the bass output. I would recommend these without hesitation to a certain group around here and would recommend using a portable amp if you could.
I have had these a little over a week and I feel it is time to do a review. A little background in my experience in iems. I would say I really started my journey about 7 years ago. Now before that I would listen to cheap buds with a cd player. In 2003 my stepmother won an ipod 3g and I purchased it off her for 100.00 unopened. I discovered I did not like the feel of the buds nor the sound rushing out as I played my favorite bands. I decided to go find a better feel and sound. I have tried so many different ones through the years and never found what I was looking for. Finally in 2005 I had a pair of Shure e5c that I thought sounded amazing, but was not fond of the feel and I found Head-fi where I was guided to Ultimate ears customs. From that time on I have been using customs, but have heard most of the high end iems out there.
Now the D jays arrived on scene and I am listening to them as I type up this review. Starting off with the packaging. They come in the typical box that Jays put their high end iems in. I is a black box with 2 windows displaying the D Jays surrounded by a green background. There is Jays logo on the bottom left with D- Jays in bold print and a description.
It is quite a nice package, but I could not wait to open it up. As you pull plastic clam shell packaging out you see the D-jays and an airplane adapter attached to a splitter.
You flip the clam shell over and see 3 pairs of tips and a manual. Opening up the clam shell reveals everything included. You four different sizes of sleeves,a pair of foam tips, an extension cable, and a small carrying case. I was surprised this one did not have any filters included.
The carrying case really needs to be larger or a different design. It is pretty much useless to carry the iems in. The airplane adapter is quite useful if you travel, and the splitter can be quite handy listening to music with someone. the extension cable is quite needed as the cables on the iems are quite short. It is nice to actually have four different sizes in tips. My wife has a hard time finding any that are small enough. Overall it is not a bad packaging and comes with some nice accessories.
The D- Jays are a single micro armature similar to the q- jays and many other high end iems. They have a sensitivity of 115 dB SPL @ 1 kHz and an impedance of 115 dB SPL @ 1 kHz. The frequency response is 20 Hz - 20 000 Hz, which is not bad for a single armature design. They weigh in at 14 grams and have a 23.5" cord ending with a straight gold 3.5mm plug. The extension cable measures 35.5'. The silicone tips are xs,s,m,and large, and the foam tips are about a medium.
I have listened to these out of my 7g 160gb ipod classic with and without my two portable amps, RSA p51 and Fiio e11., using both a RSA lod and the L9 from Fiio. I listened to everything from metal to classical and folk music. I used the foam sleeves and the medium tips.
The fit is very comfortable for the most part, Coming from customs with outstanding sound isolation I was struggling to get the perfect seal without any sound leak. I would use the silicone and my wife could hear the music coming from my ears. I would use the foam and the sound was not quite right. If you use universals all the time you would not see a difference between these and most others as far as fit is concerned. What I did to remedy this was pull the foam off the tubs and put it in the silicone tip.
I feel this has pretty much fixed my issues with these and the isolation is much better. When I listen to them first thing that comes to mind is neutral. I think of the early days of me trying to find the right iems and Etymotic pops up. I really enjoy classical music, some christian music like Shane and Shane, and folk music like Lorena McKennet,. Music like this work really well with these. They allow the vocals to come forward and the music is really balanced. For me rock is hit or miss. Some recordings sound great while others lack the low punch I like. Electronic music is also hit or miss depending on my mood. I am listening to The prodigy right this second and it is hitting hard enough for my taste, but while in two hours I might want a harder bass.
These are fairly easy to drive straight out of the ipod. I can not go much higher tan half. With something this like this one may ask why use an amp.Well with an amp the sound stage opens up quite a bit and the bass hits a little harder. The highs are precise and tight. While there is not a huge amount of bass, it is tight and controlled. I feel the rsa 51 handles these great, but I do like the option on the e11 to boost the bass.
As I dwindle down this review I think to my self what do I think of the Jays D-Jays. Well the highs sparkle and the vocals are amazing. In some music I find the bass and the isolation lacking with the stock tips. I fell if one had shure olives it would greatly increase the performance. I feel they are constructed well however qc on this pair was a little off as there was a bit of glue around the iems showing and I was missing the filters that usually come with them. I feel that if someone is looking for a neutral or reference iem these would do nicely. If someone is looking for a hard hitting bass then look elsewhere. I also feel that using two drivers would increase the performance to a level I would love. I also feel that if you have a e11 amp these would be a great pair as you can control the bass output. I would recommend these without hesitation to a certain group around here and would recommend using a portable amp if you could.
