ericp10
Sits up all night comparing IEMs.
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2009
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I would like to thank RockBob for asking me if I could put together a tight group of Americans to sample three of his beautifully packaged and designed Rock Jaw earphones. The items should be on their way to St. Louis now, and in a week or two cn11 will have some impressions. I personally have not heard any of the earphones yet except for a very brief time with the BA/Dynamic hybrid woodie and metal iem known as the Kommand. I was quite impressed by what I heard with the limited amount time I had with them. Oh, this earphone also has three sets of interchangeable filters for bass, reference and neutral sound signatures. I'll give more of my thoughts after the phones circulate back to me.
Our head-fi member timtucker, however, has had about a couple of weeks with the three different models. He wrote up some brief thoughts, but is a little shy and unsure about writing a full out review. The best way to get timtucker to open up is to ask him some questions, and I'm sure he'll answer in more detail and give more details in his impressions. But below are some of his thoughts:
Other IEM Experience & Testing Equipment
Other IEMs owned or used extensively
Shure 846, Sennheiser IE8, Dunu DN-1000, Sennheiser S4, Westone W10, too many more to list.
Test Equipment
Fiio X3, Fiio X1, Fiio E12A (IEM edition), HTC One M8
Test Material
I did my best to taste a bit from as many flavors of music as possible to try and keep my impressions even handed. Quality and format ranged from 24/192 FLACs down to 16/44.1 Joint Stereo 128Kbps MP3s, and a bit of time watching a random assortment of videos on YouTube.
Packaging / General Observations
The packaging was commensurate with other IEMs in this price range. The only significant issue of note was, short of using a pair of tweezers ( not included ) the additional filters for the Alpha Genius were quite difficult to remove from the sturdy foam they came nestled in.
Arcana V2
Source Fiio X1 -> Fiio E12A - Bass seems exaggerated and boomy which intrudes on the lower mids. Clarity and imaging in upper mids and highs are good.
Alpha Genus (with mic)
Reference / Black
This turned out to be my filter of choice both with the Alpha Genius and the Kommand as well. Even sound with no particular preference for any frequency range.
Neutral / Gold
Source Fiio X1 -> Fiio E12A - Sound signature seems a bit U-shaped and is shifted slightly to the lower ranges.
Enhanced Bass / Silver
Bass is over-pronounced and slow which causes clarity issues in the lower-mids.
Kommand (with ear hook)
Reference / Black
True to the name these filters reproduce the music as-is. Highs are crisp and clear with no noticeable listening fatigue. Mids fall where expected. Lows are well defined with fast transient response.
Neutral / Gold
Similar to the Alpha Genius the sound seemed bowed with a bit more emphasis toward the lows, though nowhere nearly as noticeable as the neutral filters on the Genius.
Enhanced Bass / Silver
I didn't listen to these enough to render a fair opinion. Too many options, not enough time.
Stay tuned:
Our head-fi member timtucker, however, has had about a couple of weeks with the three different models. He wrote up some brief thoughts, but is a little shy and unsure about writing a full out review. The best way to get timtucker to open up is to ask him some questions, and I'm sure he'll answer in more detail and give more details in his impressions. But below are some of his thoughts:
Rock JAW IEM Review
Preface: As I write this review I have the ear hook version of the Rock JAW Kommand (reference filters) connected to my phone (an HTC Once M8 with all audio enhancements disabled ) streaming The Glitch Mob. While not exactly saving the best for last, I felt I should include a test of all the source hardware I have at my disposal.Other IEM Experience & Testing Equipment
Other IEMs owned or used extensively
Shure 846, Sennheiser IE8, Dunu DN-1000, Sennheiser S4, Westone W10, too many more to list.
Test Equipment
Fiio X3, Fiio X1, Fiio E12A (IEM edition), HTC One M8
Test Material
I did my best to taste a bit from as many flavors of music as possible to try and keep my impressions even handed. Quality and format ranged from 24/192 FLACs down to 16/44.1 Joint Stereo 128Kbps MP3s, and a bit of time watching a random assortment of videos on YouTube.
Packaging / General Observations
The packaging was commensurate with other IEMs in this price range. The only significant issue of note was, short of using a pair of tweezers ( not included ) the additional filters for the Alpha Genius were quite difficult to remove from the sturdy foam they came nestled in.
Arcana V2
Source Fiio X1 -> Fiio E12A - Bass seems exaggerated and boomy which intrudes on the lower mids. Clarity and imaging in upper mids and highs are good.
Alpha Genus (with mic)
Reference / Black
This turned out to be my filter of choice both with the Alpha Genius and the Kommand as well. Even sound with no particular preference for any frequency range.
Neutral / Gold
Source Fiio X1 -> Fiio E12A - Sound signature seems a bit U-shaped and is shifted slightly to the lower ranges.
Enhanced Bass / Silver
Bass is over-pronounced and slow which causes clarity issues in the lower-mids.
Kommand (with ear hook)
Reference / Black
True to the name these filters reproduce the music as-is. Highs are crisp and clear with no noticeable listening fatigue. Mids fall where expected. Lows are well defined with fast transient response.
Neutral / Gold
Similar to the Alpha Genius the sound seemed bowed with a bit more emphasis toward the lows, though nowhere nearly as noticeable as the neutral filters on the Genius.
Enhanced Bass / Silver
I didn't listen to these enough to render a fair opinion. Too many options, not enough time.
Stay tuned:
