JH Audio JH-3A

[Sonic 748i]

 
Quote:

I would have to reply with an unqualified YES! The sound was as clear as any any headphone I've ever tried... Clear as crystal. The separation between instruments... the layering.... the textures... it all seemed top notch to my ears. And the authority was, of course, great. The ability to tune the bass to your liking is a great benefit, too.
 
I absolutely love the sound of my JH13 driven by my RPX-33. But yeah, I would have to say the JH-3A is better. With the custom version and more time to listen, I'm sure I could be more specific and definitive with my impressions...

I can't wait to get mines...Thanks for your input.

 

[Sonic 748i]

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" After all the craze on trying to fit more transducer into custom IEM, finally we see a more logical approach to better sound quality: Take the passive crossover (which has been the bottleneck of multi-ways IEM) out, put an active crossover in. JH-3A is not only an portable amp, but also has a DSP (digital sound processor) that actively separates the whole frequency into three ranges and fed them independently to the treble, mid and bass transducers on the IEM. The issue is, coherence is often a big issue with larger passive crossover (3-ways and up). This however is not a problem with a DSP, which keeps track on things digitally. "​

 

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Notice the wiring. JH13/16 Pro's mated with the JH-3A now have 2 socket plugs per ear.​

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SOURCE​

 

[bada bing]

Quote:

 
[size=small]I just want to correct a couple misconceptions. I spoke to Jerry at CanJam yesterday and today, and ultimately opened my wallet wide for this very exciting system.[/size]
 
[size=small]The demo is using an analog line out from the ipad.[/size]
 
[size=small]The minijack on the front will accept analog or coax. No optical.[/size]
 
[size=small]The final product will also have a miniusb input on the rear. The prototype at the meet didn't have this.[/size]
 
[size=small]The in-built dac accepts 24/192.[/size]
 
[size=small]A cable with an in-built passive crossover is, according to Jerrry, impossible. It could sort of work, but there would be massive compromises. He said you'd basically get the sound of a dual-driver phone.[/size]
 
[size=small]I'm very excited to hear the custom version. Hope this helps![/size]

I stopped by the JH room for another listen and some questions. What I was told was as you have reported, but with one clarification. The USB port that will be implimented was originally envisioned only for DSP programming, not for digital audio streaming. Jerry said that work is underway to add the hardware for USB digital audio input, just since the issue has been brought up at CanJam. He expressed confidence, but not a guarantee, that this can get done.
 
USB input seems to be a fairly big deal. I know it is for my intended use. I want to be careful to not misquote what I was told, but I'm sure that is the gist of it. FWIW, I probably muddied the waters more than clearing them. 

 

[Hcjung10]

My god, Jerry has done it again...
Stop opening my wallet goddangit!

 

[blessingx]

Thanks for the comments Bada. Indeed it would be great to have an alternative to coax, as it's obviously the least likely common connection to be available in a portable/transportable rig. Course I'd still probably jump without. 

 

[Hcjung10]

By the way guys, for size comparisons, iphone on top of the JH-3A on Jude's flikr.
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-jude/4671148991/

 

[Pepito]

Quote:

By the way guys, for size comparisons, iphone on top of the JH-3A on Jude's flikr.
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/the-jude/4671148991/

I'd say that's pretty portable. About the same size as an iBasso D10

 

[thread]

Wow, I'd be very surprised and bummed to hear that the forthcoming USB input can't be used for audio. Jerry definitely left me with the idea that it would, but perhaps he wasn't as clear as he should have been...
 
I've just written a little piece on my blog. I'll duplicate it here.
 
Quote:

JHAudio's New JH-3A IEM System

The most impressive thing I heard at CanJam I think would have to be the new JH-3A system from JHAudio. It’s a system because the JH-3A consists of a chassis containing an DAC/amp and an IEM — buyer chooses either the JH13 or the JH16. What makes this such a revolutionary, first-of-its kind device is the fact that the crossovers that feed certain frequency ranges to one of the 3  (low, mid, and high) registers are no longer passive ones built into the IEM shells themselves, but are active ones that reside within the chassis. This allows the DSP to dynamically reassign certain ranges of the frequency spectrum to different drivers as the music plays, which apparently is lifting a very significant bottleneck that passive crossovers impose. Correction: While the crossover points can be tweaked in the software, they are apparently NOT changing as the music plays as I assumed from the word “active”. See my The Active Crossover post for a better idea.

When I put the demo pair of foam-fitted JH16’s in my ears (each of the 4-5 times I did) I was simply floored. I mean I’m already used to the superb performance of the JH13, but the sound from this system was nothing short of breathtaking. The detail was some of the most impressive I’ve ever heard; the soundstage was truly beautiful — and not just for and IEM. The sound was wonderfully clear as crystal, in a very good way. It was analytical and euphonic at the same time. The bass knob lets me choose how much bass I want to hear. (Jerry says it can be made to sound essentially just like the JH13 this way.) The DAC/amp is portable with 20 hours of battery life… It’s… exactly what I was looking for.

I got to spend some time with Jerry Harvey, chatting about the system. Since the system wasn’t quite production-ready, the demo included some sort of development box underneath the unit and a netbook that was using some emulation software to allow us to manipulate the volume and bass sliders that will ultimately be controlled via the physical controls on the front panel. They were feeding the JH-3A box with an iPad via an analog line-out dock.

The unit has a 24bit/192kbps capable DAC and a 3-channel amp. Each of the three amps is dedicated to each of the 3 registers of sound in the IEM. In the case of the JH16, we have 2 drivers for the high end, 2 drivers for the mid range, and 4 drivers for the bass. That bass control I mentioned is now able to act not as an EQ as such controls typically do, but actually manipulate the level of the bass amp discretely, entirely independent (literally and audibly) from the rest. The rear of the device will have a mini-USB input, and the front has a minijack input that will accept a digital coax signal, or an analog one. Since the device is manipulating the amp levels all in realtime to pull off the active crossover, the signal must always be digital before the amps. So consequently, even an analog input must be converted to digital inside the device before becoming analog again for your ears. So, a fancy DAC will not help us at all here — we’ll always rely on the D to A abilities of the device. Thankfully, they seem to be very good.

And speaking of restrictions, because the IEMs are without crossovers themselves, they rely exclusively on the box, and the box relies exclusively on the IEMs. In fact, the box is digitally tuned specifically for the IEM shells. No two people will get the same IEM or box.

In the end, this system sounded just too damn good to pass up. I plunked down the plastic and am eagerly awaiting some quality time with Jerry’s new innovation.

 

[Sonic 748i]

Nice write up thread, I appreciate it.

 

[theory_87]

Quote:

 
[size=small]I just want to correct a couple misconceptions. I spoke to Jerry at CanJam yesterday and today, and ultimately opened my wallet wide for this very exciting system.[/size]
 
[size=small]The demo is using an analog line out from the ipad.[/size]
 
[size=small]The minijack on the front will accept analog or coax. No optical.[/size]
 
[size=small]The final product will also have a miniusb input on the rear. The prototype at the meet didn't have this.[/size]
 
[size=small]The in-built dac accepts 24/192.[/size]
 
[size=small]A cable with an in-built passive crossover is, according to Jerrry, impossible. It could sort of work, but there would be massive compromises. He said you'd basically get the sound of a dual-driver phone.[/size]
 
[size=small]I'm very excited to hear the custom version. Hope this helps![/size]

Very disappointed with no optical input.

 

[AVU]

Good god,  I wasn't around for a few days and then saw this thread -
 
So the JH-3A Amplifier + JH16 combo ends up being like $50 LESS than the JH13 + RSA B-51 + Twag that people got last year, and $200 less a JH16 + RSA Protector + Balanced Twag that people started buying just the other month? 
 
The rate of development in the IEM world is getting ridiculous!  

 

[project86]

This setup is hugely exciting to me. I enjoy the JH13pro but don't find it to be a clear step up from my ES3X or LiveWires Trips. This on the other hand has potential to blow them all away.
 
In the full size speaker world, active crossovers and DSP are (in my opinion) the way to go. My Linkwitz Orion system is better than any $ 5 figure standard speaker I've ever heard/owned. If the same thing applies here, I'm buying it for sure.

 

[Sonic 748i]

So, ummm, Jude, your impressions please?

 

[qusp]

sounds like its a great piece of kit, but not something I would get in the first version, sounds like there are too many things that werent thought through and only being added now after feedback at CanJam. its smaller than I thought too which is nice. I do think that coax was an odd choice other than its capable of 192 while optical spdif is usually only 96khz. i'm sure they got plenty of great feedback at Canjam, so i'l sit back and watch you guys for a while. I dont need to justify not buying this thing, if I want something, I make it happen, i'm a bad impulse buyer with plenty of unused stuff to go with it, I just want to make sure this isnt one of those things
 
excellent info on the ignore list sonic! thankyou very much. I spotted while I was there that you work as and teach as an audio engineer??... its a rhetorical question obviously

 

[Sonic 748i]

Quote:

sounds like its a great piece of kit, but not something I would get in the first version, sounds like there are too many things that werent thought through and only being added now after feedback at CanJam. its smaller than I thought too which is nice.
 
excellent info on the ignore list sonic! thankyou very much. I spotted while I was there that you work as and teach as an audio engineer?? hehe

No, I'm just learning it.