Build- These things are built extremely well. The earpieces are very solid with no gaps or any manufacturing defects and they’re just plain beautiful to look at. Better yet, they use the popular MMCX connection without any modifications (unlike the Sony XBA-H3 where the connection is recessed) so should you choose to or need to replace the cable, there’s a huge choice of replacements. Something that I didn't notice till much later on was how clever JVC's removable cable implementation is. On both the driver unit and the cable itself, there is a kind of tape to add some friction between the driver and the cable, preventing it from swiveling loosely, a common issue Shure MMCX IEMs are known for.
The cable itself is understated and it takes a while to realize just how good of a cable it is. It’s more like a headphone cable than your usual IEM cable in that it’s thick and very straight with nearly no memory. Luckily however, it’s not stiff and resistant to bending so it hangs down very nicely, avoids tangling, and has low microphonics. It’s nice, loose, and floppy in the best way. I’m less of a fan of the jack which is a straight angle jack. Right angle jacks in my opinion are simply more versatile and considering that this is an IEM, the better option overall. It’s a nice jack though, with metal jacket that says JVC, a thick strain-relief, and a thinner section protruding beyond the metal jacket, making it easier to use with phone cases. Higher up on the cable there’s a decent y-split that says the model number, HA-FX850, and a cable slider, always a welcome addition. The only caveat I can think of build wise is that they’re very large and stick out prominently.
Comfort- For such large headphones, these are really comfortable. I can actually almost forget they’re in my ears and I don’t have to wear them over-the-ear like my Sony XBA-H3, which are really not fun to wear. The stock spiral dot tips are great, nice and soft and pliant. No complaints here and only praise, especially coming from the massive Sony.
Portability- Adding this because this bears noting. These really are not for on the go listening. For my reviews, even if I intend to only use the IEM at home or indoors, I do try them at least once on the go to see what it'd be like. I've done that with these and I have to say, if you considered these for wearing on the go, I'd look elsewhere. The problem is that these are very large and very heavy so they tend to slip out while moving. Also, the combination of angled nozzles and long, inflexible MMCX connectors means that over the ear wearing isn't really feasible nor comfortable. The drivers will push into your ear and the MMCX connector will push against your ear as well. Not only that, but these are vented at the back, making isolation pretty poor. The isolation is probably on par with the Sony's, but the Sony's can actually somewhat be worn on the go because of the over the ear design. To top it off, for some reason the cables on these is overly long. I'm an average height male, 5'10, and the cables on these is much too long. You'd probably have to be at least 4 inches taller than me for the length to be appropriate. Plus, no inline cable controls. You could fix this easily because of the MMCX connectors or by buying an extension cable with phone controls, but you run the risk of changing the sound, perhaps for the worse. So yeah, wouldn't really recommend these for on the go. For that, my preference is the Yamaha EPH-100 because of the extremely tiny drivers and light weight. Plus I just wouldn't' care as much risking/breaking $70 IEMs vs $200 ones.
Isolation- The isolation isn’t too bad considering that it’s ported at the back, but it’s decent at best. These aren’t really made for on-the-go listening though, more for private listening. Also, should you choose to wear them out, because of the large size and ported back, these are very susceptible to wind noise.
Tip choice- In my opinion and experience, these pair best with the stock JVC Spiral Dot tips. With other silicone tips, the treble tends to be more sibilant and bass more bloated. I tried these with meelectronics double and triple flanges, Yamaha EPH-100 double flanges, ultimate ears single flanges, and comply isolation foam tips. I wasn't a huge fan of putting comply foam tips on these; they really change the sound signature in what I believe to be a negative way. The sound becomes much more neutral but just loses that fun, joyful sound it has. Bass tightens up enormously while still maintaining quantity, making these hard to listen to since they're basically blasting a whole in your eardrums at higher volumes. Also, it seems to smear the treble, killing the detail. You also get this weird resonance that makes it annoying to listen to. That's my experience with these, take it as you will. Unfortunately I did purchase these used and they only came with one pair of spiral dot tips. I did not get to try the stock JVC marshmallow foam tips and have no experience with them.
Sound- The most important part of the review. After all a well-built comfortable headphone with terrible sound might as well be an ear plug right? These definitely live up to the very large hype though. They sound rich, bright, and lively in a way that’s just so fun and infectious that you start tapping your toes and smiling. These are very v-shaped with VERY prominent treble and bass, but the mids are very nice and rich as well. The bass is the best out of any IEM I’ve ever tried, it’s got quantity, detail, tightness, and depth, and it wields it with aplomb. No it's not as tight as a balanced armature, but it's thicker than any BA IEM I've ever tried. Drums and other bassy notes hit with authority and are a joy to listen to. The treble is great too; it’s pretty bright and peabut has this nice thickness from the wooden timbre that give the vocals life. The soundstage on these is also pretty massive for an IEM. Surprisingly though, it still somehow manages to sound quite intimate, a very large plus in my book. Also, despite the brightness, it's not all that fatiguing either.
After listening to these I finally understand why there’s such a devout following to “woodies”. The wooden timbre really is addictive. It just makes everything sound so much natural, rich and alive. The sound just has this delicious texture that you can’t get enough of. It’s something that’s really hard to convey and something that needs to be experienced to understand.
I will note however that these are not actually the best for modern music like EDM and pop. They still sound great, but they simply just pair better with acoustic music and indie rock, basically anything slow and melodic and/or using wooden instruments. They're just not quick enough, not compared to other sets. They also don't do well with very energetic rock due to the lack of speed and the sheer amount of bass.
Comparison- I also own the Sony XBA-H3 which retails for the same price as the JVC and competes directly with it. I did some A&B comparisons and here are my impressions. Usually conclusions should come last… but I’ll just open with it: these beat the Sony’s in just about every way.
Bass on the Sony’s is not very well done. Though it was intended to be one of the Sony’s greatest strengths, it’s really the Sony’s greatest weakness. It’s got quantity, no doubt about that. It can even match the JVC’s absolutely massive bass in that, but it’s flabby and flat in a way the JVC is not. It’s not very detailed and it really needs tightening. I want to say that it’s boomy but it’s really not. It’s just… two dimensional. It’s just a wall of sound without definition. The JVC is actually more boomy sounding but that’s because it has dimension and depth to it. The worst part is that the bass manages to drag down the rest of the sound with it by casting a shadow on the rest of the sound and obscuring detail. This is further exacerbated by the difference in sensitivity between the BA drivers and the massive dynamic driver.
Mids on the Sony are more recessed and are often overshadowed by the bass. When the bass isn’t overshadowing it though, it’s pretty pleasant to listen to. No real complaints here other than it sounds a bit thin.
Treble is the shining point of the Sony. The Sony has a specialized balanced armature driver that Sony has coined a “super-woofer” that really does a beautiful job with treble. The treble on this is just fantastic, it easily beats the JVC here. It’s delicate, detailed, and fantastically clear. Female vocals are a joy to listen to on the Sony. It’s also smoother than the JVC which can be too bright and peaky. My only complaint is that like the rest of the sound, the treble can sound somewhat thin and sterile, something endemic to BA drivers. Some people prefer this, but I really don't. It just doesn’t have the warmth and richness of the JVC and other dynamics. On the plus side, it is more detailed than the JVC, but that can be to it's detriment as well as it is far more critical of poor source material. Even 320 kbps mp3 sounds pretty poor coming out of it. It really shines with good quality FLAC, like the one's from Tidal.
Coherence is another big issue with the Sony. I don’t mean this in the usual way people do when they review multiple driver IEMs. The Sony’s don’t use a crossover circuit network so that’s not really the issue here. The issue is that the dynamic driver and dual balanced armatures don’t really mix well. The balanced armature drivers are delicate and sophisticated while the dynamic driver is just loud and crude. Just not really a good mix and not well done on Sony’s part. Also, while not hard to drive because it’s an IEM, the Sony is considerably harder to drive than the JVC because of the triple driver setup. Interestingly, the BA and dynamic drivers respond very differently to power and can cause a weird decoherence as the dynamic driver eagerly laps up power and overpowers the two BA drivers. This is even worse when trying to watch movies as you try to get the treble and mids loud enough during a quiet scene, but then the movie transitions to a bass heavy scene and you've basically manage to blow out your eardrums.
Soundstage is something the Sony and JVC manage to match each other equally on. Both have massive soundstages for IEMs, they sound almost like headphones. But the JVC somehow manages to still sound intimate while maintaining that largeness whereas the Sony can sound distant.
Overall, I’ll close in saying that the tuning on the Sony is amateurish while the JVC is masterfully done. The Sony sounds thin and boring and honestly, not really all that fun to listen to. There’s really no contest in terms of enjoyment. I’d love the treble of the Sony on the JVC but the JVC’s treble doesn’t really leave me all that wanting. I’ve heard good things about how the XBA-A3 and XBA-Z5 fixed most of the H3’s issues but they’re out of my price range right now.
EDIT- I tried the Sony with a warm source and wow is there a difference. The Sony now sounds rich, warm and smooth and fun to listen to. The bass still is not as competent as the JVC but the treble is definitely better. It's smoother and more detailed, and now has more weight and warmth. It lacks the tonality of the JVC but is still fun to listen to. However, the soundstage and detail retrieval do decrease somewhat with a warmer amp, but that's to be expected. Unfortunately, it's somewhat hard to find a good warm source for cheap nowadays as most dacs+amps have moved towards more neutral sound signatures. (For example Fiio's previous generation was known for their warm, musical sound, which the newer K generation, which I own, is known for being more neutral and detailed.) You're really going to need a warm source if you want to make these sound their best imho.
I’ll end this comparison with a small part on the physical aspect of the two IEMs. The Sony is large in every sense of the word. The massive dynamic driver and two balanced armature drivers do not make for a small housing. It has an absolutely enormous 16mm driver, the largest I can recall any IEM having. Not only that, but it’s also got memory wire earhooks which definitely do not help to minimize its footprint. It’s much more annoying to wear and much more obtrusive. You’ll never forget they’re in your ears. However, they are not all that uncomfortable once you shape the memory wire and get a good seal. The JVC still has it beat though, in both convenience and comfort.
Design-wise, the JVC utterly tramples the Sony. The JVC looks like a steampunk-esque wood and brass work of art while the Sony looks plasticky and cheap. Both have good build quality though, the Sony is very solid as is the JVC. It’s just plasticky and tacky in terms of aesthetics. I’ve praised the JVC cable but the Sony’s cable is easily its match or superior. It’s flat, doesn’t really have memory, very low microphonics (and any it does have is eliminated by the over-the-ear design), and is just a general joy to use. Plus there’s the awesome fact that Sony gives you not one but two cables in the box and one comes with android phone support and a headphone + control button. Also, the cables have right angle jacks, which is great. The only caveat is that since the cable is flat, it can twist around itself quite a bit. Also, worth noting is that the XBA-H3 also uses the same MMCX connection as the JVC, but whereas JVC uses a standard unmodified version, the Sony uses a sunken design to avoid the twisting issues MMCX traditionally has. This means that replacement cables will be hard to find for the Sony. To be fair though, Sony gives you two durable cables which should last you for the lifetime of the device.
In closing, the JVC is just a really great, really unique IEM. The wooden timbre is something I think everyone will love and it’s just great fun to listen to. For around ~$200 these are a great buy. Highly recommended.
(This review was conducted using a Fiio E10K. The Sony was tested with the stock Sony Hybrid + Foam ear tips, and the JVC with the stock Spiral Dot ear tips. I will note that these have a strange scooped nozzle design which makes fitting tips on them annoying. Strangely, because of this, the Yamaha EPH-100 tips, which basically don't fit on anything, fit perfectly on this. Also, do not pair these with a warm or bright source. You'll need a more detailed, neutral source to really get the best out of these. A bright source will make the already bright highs even brighter and a warm source will make these sound muddy and bloated.)
