[Ewok]

I am considering getting some new high end custom moulded IEM's since my current SE530 cable is now splitting and even with a custom sleeve I am not sure the fit was that good (the sound was better with foam tips but they never stayed in properly), although they at least fitted better than any standard tips ever have.

So I have been looking at JH IEM's which I would get custom moulded and hopefully get the best possible fit, unlike my old SE530. I can't use normal tips, I think I have small ear canals and even the smallest comply tips wouldnt fit properly.

I have been considering anything from the JH11 upwards so far. I can get some universal second hand Layla II's for £1300 (RRP is about £2300) and possibly get them reshelled and custom moulded for £300 giving me a new pair for about £1600, so around £700 less than retail. I could get an Angie v1 for say £660 and do the same thing, giving me a custom moulded angie v1 for £960.

Or I could just get a new pair of JH11 (£800), JH13v2 (£1040) or JH16v2 (£1300) - anything above the 16 will be too expensive.

What I am not sure about is whether going the second hand route carries a large risk/issues or whether it would be a good way to get a higher end model for a similar price that I would end up paying for buying a lower end model new.

Now I am no audiophile, but I am a perfectionist who likes to have the best of everything, but within reason. I wouldn't want a Layla just for the sake of it if I can't really tell the difference between that and a JH11.

I listen to mostly rock, pop, and ballads (The Darkness, Queen, Aerosmith, G'n'R, Oasis, Green Day, Adele, Mariah Carey, Michael Jackson etc). I have a HD600 for home and use my SE530 for everything else. I have never been THAT impressed with the SE530 but that may be largely due to never really having had a perfect fit, the best sound was when I used the smallest comply tips but even those would come loose very easily as I couldn't get them im properly.

I will generally be using my new Galaxy S8 (exynos) to power them when out, and my o2 DAC and amp connected to my PC when at home (if they beat my HD600's, which I would certainly hope for this price). All with 320k mp3's (but I could potentially move to FLAC if it would really make a big difference, but I was not entirely sure I could tell the difference on my HD600's, although the FLAC was louder so it was hard to compare since I used mp3gain to remove clipping from all my mp3's which had lowered the volume).

So I am trying to work out a few things.

• Should I strongly consider the second hand route to get an even higher end pair like the Angie or Layla?
• If not then I need to somehow choose between the 11, 13 and 16. I know the 11 have more bass than the 13 but I don't really know whether that is good or bad for me and with them having adjustable bass anyway it may not even matter. Then the 16 is another step up in price and is getting towards double the cost of the 11, I am not sure if they would sound THAT much better, but if there is a definite jump in sound it may be worth it for the extra wow factor.
• Whatever ones I may end up with, am I going to really notice a big difference between them and my SE530 and HD600's? Spending that kind of money I would EXPECT to put them on and be going "WOOOAH that's good!!" every time. What I REALLY don't want is to spend all that money, put them on and be like "meh im not even sure they beat my SE530, I wasted a LOT of money".

In my own mind I need to be certain I will see a big improvement, and be able to justify the price, otherwise I may as well go grab me a new pair of £350 SE535's and have them reshelled to custom moulds (but that takes it to £550 and I can get custom JH3x pro for that which I assume will be a lot better). Or reshell my exisiting SE530's for £200 and be done with it.

Urgh why can't these things just be clear!

 

[jadedaid]

I have the jh16v2 so thought I'd chip in. On the jh16v2 vs SE530 - it is a very different sound signature. I have the se215 which I am a big fan of and demoed the se530 which I didn't like at all (the shure silicon tips fit me wonderfully so was not a fit issue). In my opinion the jh16v2 and se530 is a very big step up but that could also be due to the different sound signature. The jh16v2 sounds more like some of the westone IEMs. I demoed either the W40 or W50 (don't remember which anymore, I suspect it was the W50) which sounded very good and close in terms of signature. Again the jh16v2 was a clear step up, but not as drastic as se530 to jh16v2. Given that it was 600 bucks vs 1600, I was impressed with the westone. In any case the 16v2 sounds very different to the se530.

On the experience of getting customs, I would recommend getting some from a european manufacturer if you're in the UK. I'm on mu 3rd refit of the JH16v2's and they still don't fit and sound right. This has been an absolute pain in the ass (and I'm US based and have luckily had free shipping each way) and I've resigned myself to chalking this up to a failed experiment. I ordered these in January and we're now in May... There's a big caveat emptor with customs from my experience, but as always, some are less lucky than others in this regard.

 

[Ewok]

I have the jh16v2 so thought I'd chip in. On the jh16v2 vs SE530 - it is a very different sound signature. I have the se215 which I am a big fan of and demoed the se530 which I didn't like at all (the shure silicon tips fit me wonderfully so was not a fit issue). In my opinion the jh16v2 and se530 is a very big step up but that could also be due to the different sound signature. The jh16v2 sounds more like some of the westone IEMs. I demoed either the W40 or W50 (don't remember which anymore, I suspect it was the W50) which sounded very good and close in terms of signature. Again the jh16v2 was a clear step up, but not as drastic as se530 to jh16v2. Given that it was 600 bucks vs 1600, I was impressed with the westone. In any case the 16v2 sounds very different to the se530.

On the experience of getting customs, I would recommend getting some from a european manufacturer if you're in the UK. I'm on mu 3rd refit of the JH16v2's and they still don't fit and sound right. This has been an absolute pain in the ass (and I'm US based and have luckily had free shipping each way) and I've resigned myself to chalking this up to a failed experiment. I ordered these in January and we're now in May... There's a big caveat emptor with customs from my experience, but as always, some are less lucky than others in this regard.

Ok thanks. I have never been hugely impressed with the SE530, but again I am no audiophile and have not had any decent phones other than my current SE530 and HD600. I love the HD600 and I was hugely impressed when I got them, but then they were the first decent heaphones I got of any kind so I was always going to be amazed by them.

If I get anything I will probably be getting them from this place in the UK http://www.custom-inearmonitors.co.uk/index.html (there don't seem to be many places to get them and this place is 30 mins away) they seem to guarantee the fit and can do the impressions themselves. I am kinda leaning towards the JH16v2, I think I will have to see if I can demo them but that will be difficult given that I can't get universal tips to fit, I will be left trying to demo them with some comply tips and it may sound completely different when in custom acrylic.

 

[jadedaid]

It will sound different if you can't seal properly for sure. I found the tips on the JH universals to seal poorly in my case, and the customs sound a lot better than the universal demo. If the shop is 30min away give them a listen, but I suspect refit will likely have to go to JH in the US for remoulding.

If you have the chance demo all the JH stuff in your price range. I tried the jh10 (garbage), jh13v2 (ok), angie (not a fan) and the jh16v2 which I ended up getting. The UERM was awesome, found it much cleaner sounding than the jh16 but ultimately lacking the bottom end which is why I went for the jh16s.

On the FLAC thing - with my 2nd fit jh16s I could hear the difference between spotify 320k and Tidal HiFI (substantially), both when running the the iems via a chord mojo and out of an iphone 6. A a/b test would have been easy to discern. On my current 3rd fit as the seal is worse I can't really hear the difference.

Good luck!

 

[Ewok]

It will sound different if you can't seal properly for sure. I found the tips on the JH universals to seal poorly in my case, and the customs sound a lot better than the universal demo. If the shop is 30min away give them a listen, but I suspect refit will likely have to go to JH in the US for remoulding.

If you have the chance demo all the JH stuff in your price range. I tried the jh10 (garbage), jh13v2 (ok), angie (not a fan) and the jh16v2 which I ended up getting. The UERM was awesome, found it much cleaner sounding than the jh16 but ultimately lacking the bottom end which is why I went for the jh16s.

On the FLAC thing - with my 2nd fit jh16s I could hear the difference between spotify 320k and Tidal HiFI (substantially), both when running the the iems via a chord mojo and out of an iphone 6. A a/b test would have been easy to discern. On my current 3rd fit as the seal is worse I can't really hear the difference.

Good luck!

I will have to go and demo them, I would expect them to easily smash the SE530 even without a perfect fit if I was going to go for it. I will ask them what happens if they come back and are not a perfect fit, and whether they will then charge for having to send them back to the US (assuming they send to US, I guess they would have to unless JH has a European base somewhere).

 

[Roen]

I think the most important step is to figure out what kind of sound signature you like, and then look at the UIEM's / CIEM's that give off such a signature.

For example, you might like enhanced bass and treble, and the Shure's would be a terrible match.

 

[Ewok]

I think the most important step is to figure out what kind of sound signature you like, and then look at the UIEM's / CIEM's that give off such a signature.

For example, you might like enhanced bass and treble, and the Shure's would be a terrible match.

Yeah I have booked a demo of the JH11, JH13v2 and JH16v2 on Sat 20th so I will see what super high end IEM's sound like, and I had better be VERY impressed or they aren't getting a penny