MattTCG
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jan 22, 2012
- Posts
- 15,685
- Likes
- 3,874
After years of trying to make universal iems work with regard to fit/seal, I finally gave up the ghost and decided to order a good pair of customs. With advice from my friend and local iem guru @purk, I pulled the trigger on the well regarded jh13 prov2. This iem already had garnered somewhat of a cult following with the freq phase edition, so I was well aware of what they were capable of, but there were very little reviews of the new v2 edition. But on my friend’s advice and the stellar reputation of jh audio, I put down $1200 bones and started the process.
Of course if you haven’t been through the process of having custom iems made before, it all starts with an audiologist and getting your “impressions” done. I went with my friend @purk advice once again and chose someone that he had used for his own pair. It turned out to be advice well taken. The good doctor happened to also be an alumni of Auburn University so we hit it off right from the start. If you’ve ever gone through the process of getting impressions of your ear canal made, it’s not very pleasant. Basically you get your ears filled with a rather cool syringe full of goop. Once the ear canal is full, you then sit with a bite block in your mouth and wait for a period of about five minutes for the material to firm up while you drool like a toddler cutting teeth. After the doctor had completed the process, she wasn’t happy with how one of the impressions turned out so I got the pleasure of doing it again, yippee. In the end it was well worth it because my customs came to me in perfect shape and fit like a glove with no seal issues even when exercising or eating. Sweet! I find that I’m able to wear my customs longer than my full sized headphones due to less fatigue from both weight and listener fatigue.
I’ve had the jh audio for a couple of weeks and couldn’t be much happier (this is coming from one of the biggest malcontents in all of headfi). Inserting them quickly is not something that I’ve quite been able to work out as of yet. It’s easier if I’m in front of a mirror but trickier if I’m flying blind. The jh13pro v2 sounds pretty darn good right out of my phone (HTC m8), but even better from my fiio x5. And I’m hoping for yet another improvement still from the Sony nw-wm1a that I have on pre-order. This iem comes outfitted with a slick moon audio branded cable that is soft, very flexible and not prone to kinking or microphonics. The connectors are a new 4 pin variety which while an improvement over the old 2 pin style, may limit your custom cable option if you decide to opt for such.
My favorite place to listen to the jh13pro v2 ironically turns out to be my desktop. When plugged into my current desktop rig (Gumby, Jot) these iems really sing. It’s an added bonus to be able to work at my desk and have the benefit of 26 db of isolation from this iem. Even with no music playing I can just barely hear the tv or kids when I’m at my desk about 25 feet away. After I turn on music even at considerably low levels, I can hear absolutely no ambient noise. The impressive single ended performance of the Jot pairs exceptionally well with the jh13pro v2 with no observable hiss or noise floor of any kind. I’m only getting to around 8:00 on the volume pot but there is no channel imbalance issue whatsoever.
So how does how does the jh13pro v2 sound. In short, impressively good. The overall signature is smooth and coherent. The bass is tight and punchy with no perceivable bleed into the mids. The mids themselves are lush and convincingly natural. Female vocal are no problem even with singers and recordings that tend to be somewhat peaky or sibilant. The highs while on the smooth side still offer good detail and extension. Overall, the signature is pretty close to neutral which is my preference. The moon audio cable offers an adjustment to dial in the bass if you so choose. Settings from 1-5 are available and I set mine to just over 1 and haven’t felt the need to adjust it since. With EDM or bass heavy music the bass response from these iems really delivers the goods. Bassheads will probably still want more and might consider the jh16 instead. I like almost all genres of music and have yet to find any of my regular recordings that cause the jh13 to falter.Jazz, acoustic sets, pop and EDM are all exceptional with the jh13.
So what does the jh13 give up to full sized flagships? Not as much as you might think. The hd800 offers considerably better staging width and depth. The best planar magnetic headphones will have more texture to the bass and possibly more slam depending on the model. But the difference in performance is most likely much less than you might think. When I’m listening to the jh13, I don’t feel that I’m missing out on a “true audiophile” level of performance. In fact I'd say that I'm getting just that. The jh13 delivers the goods and puts a big Cheshire grin on my face every time I use them. If you’ve ever had the notion that you might want a good pair of customs but weren’t sure what to get or even if you should get a pair, the jh13 gets my highest recommendation. Big props to the gang at Jerry Harvey Audio and especially to Angie who made a special effort to be sure I had my pair before leaving town.
Of course if you haven’t been through the process of having custom iems made before, it all starts with an audiologist and getting your “impressions” done. I went with my friend @purk advice once again and chose someone that he had used for his own pair. It turned out to be advice well taken. The good doctor happened to also be an alumni of Auburn University so we hit it off right from the start. If you’ve ever gone through the process of getting impressions of your ear canal made, it’s not very pleasant. Basically you get your ears filled with a rather cool syringe full of goop. Once the ear canal is full, you then sit with a bite block in your mouth and wait for a period of about five minutes for the material to firm up while you drool like a toddler cutting teeth. After the doctor had completed the process, she wasn’t happy with how one of the impressions turned out so I got the pleasure of doing it again, yippee. In the end it was well worth it because my customs came to me in perfect shape and fit like a glove with no seal issues even when exercising or eating. Sweet! I find that I’m able to wear my customs longer than my full sized headphones due to less fatigue from both weight and listener fatigue.
I’ve had the jh audio for a couple of weeks and couldn’t be much happier (this is coming from one of the biggest malcontents in all of headfi). Inserting them quickly is not something that I’ve quite been able to work out as of yet. It’s easier if I’m in front of a mirror but trickier if I’m flying blind. The jh13pro v2 sounds pretty darn good right out of my phone (HTC m8), but even better from my fiio x5. And I’m hoping for yet another improvement still from the Sony nw-wm1a that I have on pre-order. This iem comes outfitted with a slick moon audio branded cable that is soft, very flexible and not prone to kinking or microphonics. The connectors are a new 4 pin variety which while an improvement over the old 2 pin style, may limit your custom cable option if you decide to opt for such.
My favorite place to listen to the jh13pro v2 ironically turns out to be my desktop. When plugged into my current desktop rig (Gumby, Jot) these iems really sing. It’s an added bonus to be able to work at my desk and have the benefit of 26 db of isolation from this iem. Even with no music playing I can just barely hear the tv or kids when I’m at my desk about 25 feet away. After I turn on music even at considerably low levels, I can hear absolutely no ambient noise. The impressive single ended performance of the Jot pairs exceptionally well with the jh13pro v2 with no observable hiss or noise floor of any kind. I’m only getting to around 8:00 on the volume pot but there is no channel imbalance issue whatsoever.
So how does how does the jh13pro v2 sound. In short, impressively good. The overall signature is smooth and coherent. The bass is tight and punchy with no perceivable bleed into the mids. The mids themselves are lush and convincingly natural. Female vocal are no problem even with singers and recordings that tend to be somewhat peaky or sibilant. The highs while on the smooth side still offer good detail and extension. Overall, the signature is pretty close to neutral which is my preference. The moon audio cable offers an adjustment to dial in the bass if you so choose. Settings from 1-5 are available and I set mine to just over 1 and haven’t felt the need to adjust it since. With EDM or bass heavy music the bass response from these iems really delivers the goods. Bassheads will probably still want more and might consider the jh16 instead. I like almost all genres of music and have yet to find any of my regular recordings that cause the jh13 to falter.Jazz, acoustic sets, pop and EDM are all exceptional with the jh13.
So what does the jh13 give up to full sized flagships? Not as much as you might think. The hd800 offers considerably better staging width and depth. The best planar magnetic headphones will have more texture to the bass and possibly more slam depending on the model. But the difference in performance is most likely much less than you might think. When I’m listening to the jh13, I don’t feel that I’m missing out on a “true audiophile” level of performance. In fact I'd say that I'm getting just that. The jh13 delivers the goods and puts a big Cheshire grin on my face every time I use them. If you’ve ever had the notion that you might want a good pair of customs but weren’t sure what to get or even if you should get a pair, the jh13 gets my highest recommendation. Big props to the gang at Jerry Harvey Audio and especially to Angie who made a special effort to be sure I had my pair before leaving town.
