[TedwardRoberts]

Okay, well, as prompted by a response in the thread about the JBL 220 IEMs, I thought I'd go ahead and make a thread on their supraural cousins.

Obviously, I'm a bit of a newbie as far as the head-fi game goes, but I'm no stranger to music (my dad has always been a bit of an audiophile, and I've played trumpet and its various flavors as well as other brass instruments for years).

At any rate, I work for a Staples store, and before Christmas, we got in this new JBL line that included the JBL 210 buds, the 220 IEMs, and the 400 series supraurals. Naturally, I was intrigued and by them, and needing some better portable phones to compliment my new Zune, I decided to indulge myself and check out the 410s, knowing I could return them if they weren't what I wanted. On the 29th, they happened to be a part of a one-day internet sale at Staples.com that included an instant $20 off, so I jumped on it, and soon was expecting a pair for a grand total of ~$59 in 1-2 business days. Well, 1-2 business days turned into 3-5 (Staples was very backed up after christmas orders) but I didn't mind since the shipping was free anyway. Eventually, the UPS man came and brought me a nifty package which inside I knew held my new toy.

First of all, I should mention that removing the phones from the internal plastic packaging was incredibly frustrating, and when I had finally released them from their damned plastic prison, it looked like a rather angry bear had done the job for me.

When looking for reviews (here and elsewhere on the net) on these particular phones, I was rather disappointed to not find that many (or really any) at all. My small investment was quite a bit of a leap of faith; with that said, my test consisted of:

Source: Zune playing music at 320kbps
Music: Rock, Rap, Jazz, Classical

Initial Impressions:
Well, the phones are terminated by a 1/8th tip, but JBL does include a 1/4th adapter and an airline adapter inside of a neat bag to store the phones. The very good thing about these phones is that they are pretty portable, and fold into a small package about 5 inches by ~1 by ~1--small enough to drop into your pocket (not very comfortably) or very easily into your backpack, purse, or breifcase, whatever the case may be.

Each ear cup can be adjusted independantly, and I assume they would fit most weird shaped heads, which does include my own. I did notice, however, that they were a little difficult to adjust; a little too resistant. This creates a bit of a power struggle, though, when you first put them on your head, because they certainly are small, but clamp pretty hard. What happens is that you end up fighting to get them in a correct position for a while, but you'll probably be adjusting for a long time afterward as well... finding the perfect position is pretty difficult I would think.

Though the pictures make them look like they are open cans, they are, in fact, a closed design.

Okay, so on to the sound of them. I plugged these into my zune and picked a little Maynard Ferguson to start out with. I was pleasantly suprised to find a fairly good soundstage from them, despite their small size. Listening to Birdland, I found a pretty detailed midrange, a pretty darn good bassline, and a slightly sloppy upper range (which was certainly unfortunate for Maynard!). These are accurate enough to pick up on a bit of the echos of whatever ensemble hall that particular recording was captured in.

Moving on to classical, I decided to listen to some songs from Gershwin's piano song book, and the scale of the piano is a pretty good indicator of where JBL seems to have been favoring; again, the low notes were pretty good, the midrange was a little behind, and the highest parts were just a bit harsh on me.

Unfortunately, about this time (I'd listened through a couple of albums), I ran into a bit of pain on my ears. I think it's safe to say that these could benefit from a little headband stretching, and should probably become more comfortable over time.

Next I spent a little time with some Rock, and though I wasn't particularly impressed by the performance, I wouldn't say that these sounded terrible. These phones seem to favor drums a lot, so if you're into that, you'd probably have a good time with these.

Rap was actually pretty impressive. For something so small, I was greeted with a nice little kick for every heavy beat. I think that JBL was kind of going more for the casual iPod listener looking for something portable to take with them than your usual head-fier. These seem like "young" headphones.

I would say that overall sound quality on these is not amazing (especially compared to some of the cans you guys are rocking

) but definetly a lot better than any stock buds or on-ear phones. For a very quick comparo, Bose tri-port supraurals seem to sound a little bit better throughout the spectrum.

To wrap it all up, I guess I could recommend these to any person looking for something kind of bassy that is portable enough to travel with and looking for a midrange listening experience.

I should mention that I did go ahead and return these just because they really weren't the sound or style I was looking for--I was looking for something for when I study at home or just want to enjoy some music, and these are really more for a more portable experience than that... though my marshmallows don't sound nearly as good, I have those for my portable needs. My money instead is going towards a set of Alessandro MS-1s that I've got coming my way

Let me know if you have any other questions about them--I'd be glad to answer.

 

[Satan on a stick]

Did you give these phones enough time to burn in? I have a pair and I'm still in the process of burning them in, so far I would say they might be the closed equal of of the Koss Porta Pros. They also may be music genre specific, seem to like bass heavy music and voices seem to excel.

 

[swagga]

I purchased them from Target when they first came out, and basically they are a retooled version of the AKG K26p. I found them to have not enough detail and too much bass. I bought them because I liked the design of the K26and I thought that they would have a more refined sound. However after A-Bing them, I found that they sounded very similar, and returned the JBL's because I could not justify keeping them both.

 

[facelvega]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swagga /img/forum/go_quote.gif I purchased them from Target when they first came out, and basically they are a retooled version of the AKG K26p. I found them to have not enough detail and too much bass. I bought them because I liked the design of the K26and I thought that they would have a more refined sound. However after A-Bing them, I found that they sounded very similar, and returned the JBL's because I could not justify keeping them both.

Yep, a glance suffices to tell that those are rebadged AKG. Nothing to write home about. If you still want to take advantage of your staples discount even with the MS-1 on the way, go for the reference 220, which have been getting some good press around here lately and should satisfy far better than the 410 did.

cheers, FV

 

[wombatsauce]

Do these have the same drivers as the JBL Reference 510's? I got a pair of these (the 510's) recently because the deal was too good to pass up. Initially I was also irritated by the packaging and the noise-cancelling pod is rather odd as well. I ask about the 410/510 because I have grown to really like these after about 2 months of listening, and have begun to solely use them when using a headphone amp (HeadRoom BitHead).

Granted I do not own any better cans, so this may change as soon as I can afford some Senns. I currently own some Shure E2c's, E3c's JBL Reference 220's and these 510's. At first I was disappointed with the 510's because they were very heavy on the bass and not super clear. Then I got the idea to use them with my Sony D-9 player as it sounds pretty good and seems to put out good power but is very bright. So these matched that player very well and I believe allowed me to properly break them in.

This morning I have been listening to a bunch of CD's on my Sony D-311 PCDP running through a HeadRoom Total BitHead and have been rotating through the phones with each track. When listening to Mozart's 40th I kept forgetting to take off the 510's to try the Shures. Popped in Sonny Rollin's 'metro jazz' and the same thing happened. This is not the music I normall listen to, but it provides an excellent basis for comparison. Onto some Unai and Booka Shade - these 510's are really making me happy. Same deal with some Will Ackerman guitar and some Fleetwood Mac.. Without amplification, the Shure E3C's win with their superior precision and clarity. I am thinking I need to experience some Senns as well as some E500's...

Okay, there is my $.02...

-Jacob

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Quote:

Bose tri-port supraurals seem to sound a little bit better throughout the spectrum.

'nuf said

 

[TedwardRoberts]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jilgiljongiljing /img/forum/go_quote.gif 'nuf said

That's essentially why I returned them...

 

[ranz_blacker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by swagga /img/forum/go_quote.gif I purchased them from Target when they first came out, and basically they are a retooled version of the AKG K26p. I found them to have not enough detail and too much bass. I bought them because I liked the design of the K26and I thought that they would have a more refined sound. However after A-Bing them, I found that they sounded very similar, and returned the JBL's because I could not justify keeping them both.

i got these yesterday from staples for clearance price.. although the bass is quite strong, it lacks detail.. good for hip hop and stuff.. but not for acoustic ..

 

[aphexii]

i've been messing with these all day, they sound great for $20, but my LORD my ears get HOT AS HELL wearing them. What's up with that?

 

[Parisis]

I won't comment on the sound because it is always so subjective. For $19.99 these are well worth the money especially compared to it's sibling , the well reviewed Alg k26p.

It's a shame they didn't look at the pk100 and give you some place to store it's flimsey cord. No it's not worth the $79 some folks are charging but if you have a Staples in your town grab them up . BTW my staples also had the
220s for $9.99.

 

[ranz_blacker]

i think these were designed with ppl with small head size, even after almost 5-6 days of stretching.. im finding it causes pain on ears and not easy to put on more than 1-1.5 hrs..
but a good effect of this is decent isolation, remember not good isolation.. however in comparison to default ipod earbuds.. it's much better.. i have a lot of metro and bus travel, and i often maxed out my ipod earphones to the 70% max limit (tht i have set myself using the volume limit), and even than most of the times i had difficulty listening to the music.. however with these jbl, i dont go above 50-60%, and able to cleanly hear music... if i hit the 70% limit on my ipod i almost cant hear the metro even on the noisiest part..

Sound Quality
as other people have mentioned, the music is really a mixed bag with these headphones.. im talking about these JBL headphones for 20-25$, and ive compared them to HD280 and D1000... and i doubt you can get better bass at this price range.. if you enjoy your bass loud and thumping, than yes they were better than HD280 in that department...D1000 were better than jbl 410 and much better hd280 in bass department.. with regards to treble and clarity, these jbl are pretty much dominated over by those hd280 and d1000.. drums and bass is the strong point of these JBL 410, while id say guitar and vocals are something of a weak point..
for overall soundquality, id rate these headphones on a scale of 1 to 100,
ipod earphones -- 33
jbl reference -- 55
hd280 -- 65
D1000 --80

some ppl might disagree with my opinion of low rating of HD280, but i like to enjoy my music warm, but HD280 were too analytical and studio sound for my preference..

 

[jjen89]

I originally found out about the JBL/Staples deal off of anythingbutipod's forum yesterday. I called around at the local Staples stores, and on the fourth try, I was able to locate one in stock. The employee was helpful enough to hold the item for me until I was able to pick it up today.

When I went to the store to get the item, I checked where the item had been shelved. The store had no clearance signs, but rather they had a sales markup of $59.99 from the price of $79.99. I asked if they could scan the item for me and it showed up as the $19.99 price I was expecting. I saw some Reference 210s, but not 220s, else I would have bought a pair of those too.

Right now I'm still in the process of burning the 410s, but I can already notice more bass compared to my px100s and especially my ety er-6is. I'm glad to have read the reviews telling about the tight fit because I can already feel discomfort after using it for an hour.They feel more sturdy than my px100s, but then the px100s has the great Sennheiser 2 year warranty (had very positive experience with their customer service when I had to get repairs) whereas the JBLs has a 1 year warranty (haven't heard much about the quality of their warranty). I'll probably add more details as they come up

 

[Seidhepriest]

They're actually repainted AKG K-27i.



Image links to the full-size photo.

 

[derevaun]

I picked these up at Staples yesterday. $20 seems a pretty good price for any closed phones, especially with generally positive reviews for their AKG siblings.

I'm gonna guess the reason Staples discoed them is a multitude of returns from people cutting the phones or cord while trying to wrestle them out of the blister pack. Good god man!

Anyway, I'm a cheap bastage but I wouldn't feel good paying more than a twenty for these. Compared to the KSC75, the cord is spectacularly flimsy, the plug is bulky, and the sound is dull. And, it appears that if you have a big head, glasses, and the 410s, you gotta pick your favorite 2

They do bring the bass, and I think they'll do just fine for cases where I want to hear the lower register and there's too much background noise to get that with open phones. Like bus or train commuting, though I'd prefer to have better sounding phones at both destinations. Another scenario is to replace middling in-ear phones--I prefer to limit putting things into my ears that are, as most any doctor will tell you, bigger than my elbow.

My verdict: worth $20, but not a candidate for primary duty--yet. Hopefully they'll improve a little with burn in.

 

[ranz_blacker]

welll it's been more than 2 weeks.... and i planned to return them because of the tight headband.. but u knw wht, the tightness seems to have gone ... its more comfortable than it was new.. like i can easily sit with them for a couple of hours.. also the sound seems to have improved slightly.. i say so because earlier wen they were new, i tried comparing them to my ipod earphones..and the JBL 410 were better, but not a gr8 diff.. but now after 2 weeks, i couldnt keep the ipod earphones for even a mnt, they seem so so worse than these JBLs... even if i go for a better headphones, i dnt find any fault with these for 20$.. definitely a must pick at this price range, simply blow the ipod earphones away..