[andra555]

what? it's Friday already? time goes fast, and my head-fi notification fail me
shame on it

 

[Wyville]

Thanks....


Thanks.im surprised not one JH AUDIO made the top 10...too coloured?

Not included to start with. Not sure, but I think it might have had to do with JH using rockstars to promote their (C)IEMs instead of reviewers.

Of course they can go on the ever-increasing list for "Ranking the Stars II - @flinkenick's Reviewing to the Grave ".

 

[Wyville]

Rank #1:

Spiral Ear 5-Way Ultimate

​

You're the man Nic! An excellent conclusion to an amazing shootout!

 

[Tulku1967]

Thanks....


Thanks.im surprised not one JH AUDIO made the top 10...too coloured?

This was also surprised ...
Layla I think he would go to top5
The review is based on a very similar sound character as SE5

 

[canali]

Not included to start with. Not sure, but I think it might have had to do with JH using rockstars to promote their (C)IEMs instead of reviewers.

Of course they can go on the ever-increasing list for "Ranking the Stars II - @flinkenick's Reviewing to the Grave ".

I'd like to think many rock stars have pretty good rigs and experience (let alone $$$ to afford the best)

 

[andra555]

Well too bad JH doesn't participate in this shootout for no apparent reason, maybe you guys are right that JH prefer to promote their line up through the rockstar>
JH by itself i think already pretty famous by the name so they don't think they need a reviewer to promote their product or *cough* get a cold feet and afraid to be beaten by other product *cough*

among all the JH line up i haven't found the one i like, beside the original JH13 and JH5, they keep change the tuning every iteration and honestly make me hard to catch up
(original roxanne, custom roxanne, akr03, roxanne II, roxanne perfomance series anyone?)
still interested in the newest lola thougj, the tuning seems interesting

 

[jmills8]

This guy started it and they too have many clients since the early 80s.

http://www.futuresonics.com/fsclients.html

 

[Wyville]

I'd like to think many rock stars have pretty good rigs and experience (let alone $$$ to afford the best)

Sure and it is not to say they are not great IEMs (I've looked at the Roxanne myself), it just means that JH IEMs don't end up in the hands of reviewers that often.

 

[Deezel177]

This was also surprised ...
Layla I think he would go to top5
The review is based on a very similar sound character as SE5

That's interesting to hear, because based on my demos of the Layla and the SE5U review, I'd imagine they're really different IEMs. I'd say the Layla is more neutral, albeit with a dark tonality, that's oddly juxtaposed with a massive upper-mid spike and an attenuated treble, that adds a sense of clarity, sparkle, crispness, but emphasises sibilance as well. The review also suggests the SE5U having a warm and bodied midrange, which I think is not the case with the Layla, being more clean and compact. But, alas, the Layla I tried is the universal demo and not a custom, so please take my impressions with a grain of salt.

I think one of the reasons why JH isn't particularly in the audiophile eye anymore is due to the lack of diversity throughout their line-up. Apart from the Lola, JH has pretty much been championing the same IEMs for years. Aside from refreshes every now and again, they've pretty much stuck to the JHAudio house sound, to the point where they use the same custom drivers in many of their IEMs. The Lola, for example, has the Angie's dual bass drivers and the Layla's quad high drivers. I think this is why they've recently shifted their focus to driver innovation and top-shelf build quality and designs. They better hope their schtick lasts them a while though, because even companies like Jomo are now catching up with their carbon fibre shells.

 

[Overkill Red]

Congratulations Nic on finishing this monumental shootout! Time to go take a break

 

[Mimouille]

Thanks....


Thanks.im surprised not one JH AUDIO made the top 10...too coloured?

They were not included. In my opinion, it is not a major loss, because despite the sound quality of some of their iems, they have very variable build quality and horrendous service quality. Not to mention overpriced in some instances.

This was also surprised ...
Layla I think he would go to top5
The review is based on a very similar sound character as SE5

The Layla II was impressive technically when I tried, but very different from the SE5 approach. Much less natural and focused on tonality, much dryer and more focused on being reference and analytical.

 

[flinkenick]

Congratulations Nic on finishing this monumental shootout! Time to go take a break

Thanks buddy!

 

[tsn141]

from my rudimentary understanding of mechanics, rigidity is better than damping, because damping is not that simple. if you have rigidity, the only moving part is the internal diaphragm. then the tiny driver vibration momentum has to fight the mass of the whole CIEM.
Damping is not as simple as putting a vibrating structure in a pool of material that has damping properties. There is a lot of "fine tuning" to minimize and split the modal vibration peaks (Eigenfrequencies ie resonance frequencies). there are many factors such as where to put the damping element, stiffness, damping factor....

i would think the primary purpose of silicone is comfort. Especially Custom Art has both silicon and acrylic of the same model, i would think minute change in sound.
pinging the Pro @piotrus-g

Hi;

Your understanding of mechanical side is so rudimentary to think logically. But I want to add some words from my point of view.
At dynamic system modelling, there is 3 types of elements; Mass, spirng and damper.(all ideal case everthing are rigid objects) At damping case behaviour a bit different due to it's source; non-linear, viscous etc. or simply coulomb firction. It can be modelled just 3-letter-formula or pages of codes. The key is how much close the original. Main benefit of formulation is; shows performance potantial.( most important side for me)

However, challanging part of the precision control is damping. You can think as a race car has more precise brake pedal than throtlle. For smooth listening a good damping is a necessity. Noise is also come from non-smooth damping element, you can think as squeaky door, those mask the detail in the music.

At Prelude; Well arranged damping helps to maintain linear behavior of prelude's single tiny driver even it's "angry" uncontrolling nonlinear region. That is why Prelude has a good headroom with high resolution just a single driver. I did it every detail.

 

[andra555]

That's interesting to hear, because based on my demos of the Layla and the SE5U review, I'd imagine they're really different IEMs. I'd say the Layla is more neutral, albeit with a dark tonality, that's oddly juxtaposed with a massive upper-mid spike and an attenuated treble, that adds a sense of clarity, sparkle, crispness, but emphasises sibilance as well. The review also suggests the SE5U having a warm and bodied midrange, which I think is not the case with the Layla, being more clean and compact. But, alas, the Layla I tried is the universal demo and not a custom, so please take my impressions with a grain of salt.

I think one of the reasons why JH isn't particularly in the audiophile eye anymore is due to the lack of diversity throughout their line-up. Apart from the Lola, JH has pretty much been championing the same IEMs for years. Aside from refreshes every now and again, they've pretty much stuck to the JHAudio house sound, to the point where they use the same custom drivers in many of their IEMs. The Lola, for example, has the Angie's dual bass drivers and the Layla's quad high drivers. I think this is why they've recently shifted their focus to driver innovation and top-shelf build quality and designs. They better hope their schtick lasts them a while though, because even companies like Jomo are now catching up with their carbon fibre shells.

THIS
the main point i feel really uncomfortable with JH treble tuning, it has a dark tonality with sudden spike in its upper mid range, not really well suited for my collection of bad recordings, it makes engulfed in darkened sound while waiting to be attacked by that surprise spike. not to mention the mid bass is sometimes too full-bodied (for me) it bleeds into the mid range.

i do think this will be somewhat beneficial with good recording though, the spike may add some clarity to the note while maintaining the overall bodied sound

 

[Deezel177]

THIS
the main point i feel really uncomfortable with JH treble tuning, it has a dark tonality with sudden spike in its upper mid range, not really well suited for my collection of bad recordings, it makes engulfed in darkened sound while waiting to be attacked by that surprise spike. not to mention the mid bass is sometimes too full-bodied (for me) it bleeds into the mid range.

i do think this will be somewhat beneficial with good recording though, the spike may add some clarity to the note while maintaining the overall bodied sound

Even my well-recorded jazz albums sometimes suffer from this spike. Unless the engineers use a pretty substantial De-Esser ala most of Diana Krall's work, every single "S" sound is emphasized to a painful degree. Cymbals sound pretty great though, with the darkness favoring naturality yet still retaining crispness due to the spike. But, I don't think it's worth the price of listening to your IEMs at dead quiet volumes to avoid sibilance.