FXC51 Review | Another Hidden Gem

[staxxx]

My FXC51 died yesterday.

The right driver simply fizzled out while I was listening to them, I am outside of the 1 month amazon return policy and I will not be buying a second pair of these and waiting another 4 weeks for delivery.

I had some intimate amazing moments with them with goa trance and playing around with an equalizer, but with driver quality like that I will go back to recommending the Jays a-Jays Two and Audio Technica ANC23 for IEM's priced under $50.

Soon the Sony XBA-1 is coming and will hopefully kill all IEM's priced under $100.

My left driver is dead. I treated them with atmost care. But I don't really care anymore, I've got an EX600 now.
I'm also interested in the XBA-1.

 

[kiteki]

 
Hi Staxxxxxx I read your EX600 review it was very good even better than mine actually.
 

 

[kiteki]

 
Seems like Katun hit 2000 posts and quit head-fi.
 

 

[IMAWolf]

This kinda reminds me of the CK10 dude who wrote a nice review just before disappearing forever.... Maybe i should do that too. But I'm not at 2000, will 200 do? 

 

[kiteki]

 
What CK10 dude?
 
Hmmmmmm.... Shigzeo?
 

 

[IMAWolf]

Yep! That's him!

 

[kiteki]

 
Ah, I could have disappeared and been happy when I had the CK10 and Sony EX700.
 
 
I didn't though, I'm still looking!
 

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I've had a similar experience with my Philips SHE3580 IEMs, which are even cheaper at $10.  Except after playing with a 10-band EQ for months I ran into PiccoloNamek's excellent EQ tutorial and with some of my own improvements to his methodology created a parametric EQ that's miles ahead of anything you can do with a graphic equalizer.  I'll bet dollars to donuts my $10 SHE3580 sound better than Katun's $17 FXC51 now

 
Why I started EQ'ing them:
 
Quote:

Of course I would never have bothered to do any of that if I did not hear potential in these phones in the first place.  The 5 things counting for it were 1. solidly constructed, completely closed enclosure with no ports; closed speaker design means no flabby ported mid-bass
2. metal grille over drivers instead of fibre plug means sound reached ear more directly
3. incredibly precise channel matching, 2 pairs of $10 SHE3580 I own each have better matched L/R drivers (as I heard from sine sweeps throughout the frequency range) than the Etymotic ER-4Ps I have now!
4. incredible bass and treble extension, treble going beyond the limits of my hearing and bass still going strong way down at 30Hz
5. just a general feeling of "these actually sound pretty good" when I first paid $10 for them and plugged them in my ears, and moments where I got this nagging suspicion that I was hearing things I never even heard on the etys even before doing extensive EQing (and most of this EQ is turning the treble down, yet I can still hear everything in the recording I have ever heard)

My current EQ curve for them:

 
(the treble curve is jagged because I cancelled out my ear canal resonances as per PiccoloNamek's tutorial.  I have a more general curve for anyone who wants to try these phones)
 
After the Etymotics ER-4P came back from repair, they sat there unused for months until I tried several tips and settled back on the current new stock tri-flanges (softer than the ones I got in 2001) and the channel imbalance I was getting finally settled itself.  Even then the etys took their own night of EQing before I could even say they matched the $10 Philips SHE3580 in performance--some tracks sound better on the etys some tracks better on the Philips

 
(dangit why can't I get some attention for my $10 phones just like everyone else...

)
Link to review:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/561951/philips-she3580-iem-review-10-giant-killers-er-4p-gathering-dust

 

[kiteki]

 
I love this IEM!  It's like going to a club.
 

 

[Joe Bloggs]

You mean the JVC FXC51 or the Philips SHE3580?

 

[JK1]

Anyone here try changing the tips on the FXC51? Even the smallest tips seem too large.

 

[DomA]

Medium tips for me, are you sure you're not trying to push them in too far?

 

[JK1]

These are supposed to be inserted far into the ear, much further than a normal iem.  I guess they should be inserted so that the tab is touching the ear. i can just barely get them in with the smallest tips. A smaller tip would probably be more comfortable. Will the CC51 tips work on this? If so, where can I get low priced tips designed for the CC51?

 

[kiteki]

 
Yes they sound damn good with a nice deep insertion.
 
 

 

[kiteki]

 
I think the stock tips are pretty much perfect, I use the medium size I think, either vertical or over-ear with a deep fit, getting the transducer close to the eardrum for that intraversal sonic mayhem.
 
Sony hybrids are too small, they'll keep sliding off.
 
Decored Shure olives are too large, they'll slide too far down.
 
The small Hifiman bi-flange is pretty good if you want a more analytical sound, especially after tuning the EQ, perhaps the Etymotic tri-flanges will work?
 
 
I want to share one of my favorite tracks with the JVC FXC51, this is the music they're best at IMHO, that deep insertion pounding and detail in the stratospheres!