pianoplayer88key
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2002
- Posts
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Ok... so I've been on here periodically asking about recommendations for headphones to buy. For a while I had been using the Panasonic RP-HT355, but those were apparently being discontinued if I remember correctly, and I wanted better quality, more durable, better sounding/isolating, etc headphones. So, based on recommendations, I purchased the $140 Phonak Audeo PFEs around early March 2009. Around mid may, the left side basically just about failed (I could still hear something but it was >40dB lower than the right side), the cables were cracking and exposing the internal wire, etc.
So, I ended up blowing $18 or so on the JVC Marshmallows right before Memorial Day Weekend (late May) 2009. Interestingly enough, the ear tips on the JVC would actually stay in my ear better and seal at least as well if not better than the large ones on the Phonak, it actually sounds quite good to my ear, especially for the price, and is probably a little easier to drive than the Phonak. (Sure, it's not nearly loud enough for some things on my computer (especially when I play music that was somehow recorded improperly from another source and the peak is -6dB, and average is more like -24dB or so), but that's probably due to the anemic amp on my computer's on-board sound.)
Here it is mid October 2009, and while the ear tips on the JVCs occasionally like to come off (and they need to be cleaned - any suggestions how to do that?), they have so far outperformed AND outlasted the Phonaks in just about every way. For example, the $140 Phonaks barely lasted 2 months before major failure, (early March to Mid May 2009) and the $18 JVCs are still working perfectly fine after 4-5 months (I thought I bought them right before Memorial Day weekend, but I find a post on here dated 6-12-2009 that says I had bought them (but that post doesn't say when if I remember correctly) to October 2009).
Sure I'd love to have much better isolation, and better overall sound, but I feel like I may have gotten at least some of my money's worth out of the JVCs, but the Phonaks were an utter failure.
So why would the cheapies actually BEAT the more expensive ones, in spite of the fact that I didn't baby the JVCs any more than I
did (NOT!) the Phonaks?
So, I ended up blowing $18 or so on the JVC Marshmallows right before Memorial Day Weekend (late May) 2009. Interestingly enough, the ear tips on the JVC would actually stay in my ear better and seal at least as well if not better than the large ones on the Phonak, it actually sounds quite good to my ear, especially for the price, and is probably a little easier to drive than the Phonak. (Sure, it's not nearly loud enough for some things on my computer (especially when I play music that was somehow recorded improperly from another source and the peak is -6dB, and average is more like -24dB or so), but that's probably due to the anemic amp on my computer's on-board sound.)
Here it is mid October 2009, and while the ear tips on the JVCs occasionally like to come off (and they need to be cleaned - any suggestions how to do that?), they have so far outperformed AND outlasted the Phonaks in just about every way. For example, the $140 Phonaks barely lasted 2 months before major failure, (early March to Mid May 2009) and the $18 JVCs are still working perfectly fine after 4-5 months (I thought I bought them right before Memorial Day weekend, but I find a post on here dated 6-12-2009 that says I had bought them (but that post doesn't say when if I remember correctly) to October 2009).
Sure I'd love to have much better isolation, and better overall sound, but I feel like I may have gotten at least some of my money's worth out of the JVCs, but the Phonaks were an utter failure.
So why would the cheapies actually BEAT the more expensive ones, in spite of the fact that I didn't baby the JVCs any more than I
did (NOT!) the Phonaks?