JH Audio Layla and Angie - Head-Fi TV
Jan 28, 2015 at 8:20 AM Post #556 of 1,931
There's retail and there's MAP. Online volume retailers advertise MAP or they don't make sales. Non volume based brick and mortars may sell them at a higher price (to stay afloat) to clients that want better personal service which includes auditions and familiar recommendations. Obviously they won't advertise price as incentive. Mail order is great for price but it can be worth a bit more to not make a mistake and have to redo the process 3 times or take a loss in swapping later.
 
Jan 30, 2015 at 5:57 PM Post #558 of 1,931
I tried the Angie's today with the AK120ii as well. Sound great compared to my Se535s.

Looks like you SE846s have a Forza Audio Works cable on them like mine :grinning:.

How did you rate the 846 against the two JH uiems?

I bought an AK120ii and I am wonder which of the 3 IEMs u tested to buy next to upgrade my 535s.

Comments appreciated :blush:
 
Jan 31, 2015 at 2:48 AM Post #559 of 1,931
jon773

I suspect we were talking to each other :p - that or word is getting round about Forza :cool:

Actually upgraded from se535 to se846 myself last year.

Both have tighter and bigger hitting bass than se846. The soundstage for me was the biggest difference in the brief demo window. It really did sound like a full size headphone.

Angie however did not make me want to trade in the se847. Layla is a different matter altogether. Layla impressed my ears more than the full audeze range in the same room, even if all those drivers stick out of your ears. The soundstage, separation and coherency across the entire spectrum is really setting a new bar.

Obviously diminishing returns applies. Upstairs ACS had their yet to be released single driver for £150 with the kevlar string cable which represents excellent value for money. The ACS 5-driver for £700-or so seemed less smooth and more pop than my se846.

But if you are only interested in end game and money is no object I think ppl will want serious demo time with Layla universal before getting custom moulds.
 
Jan 31, 2015 at 5:45 AM Post #560 of 1,931
I could see that. When I compared them, I never tried the Layla on the 120II. The Angie wasn't as full on the slightly leaner AK120II and the Layla was a bit too full on the AK240 for my tastes. Angie on AK240 was really good and I suspect Layla on ak120II would be about the right flavor as well. I really couldn't say which one is better from my short listen but the AK240 plus Angie rang my bell. Why it's nice to have those pots. Adjusting them, which I didn't do, may have changed my perspective on combos and units themselves.
 
Jan 31, 2015 at 11:56 AM Post #561 of 1,931
Ok i took the plunge and bought the UIEM Angie's. Headroom had them at 20% off and as they are universals, they can always be sold on if we don't get on together :p.
 
I also picked up an AK120ii to use them with and i already have a Pono and a Fostex HP-P1 to test them with as well.
 
I have a feeling that the Pono and Fostex will be getting retired and sold on at some point soon 
blink.gif
.
 
Should get them this next week and then i can get post some impressions (they will be very basic) compared to my SE353s and also against my HD800s at home. 
 
Feb 2, 2015 at 11:18 AM Post #564 of 1,931
Can't believe I just got them! Haha, first listen session in a car from iPhone 6 Plus :) .. Expect some straight comparison with Hidition NT6. Let the games begin!

 
Feb 2, 2015 at 11:32 AM Post #566 of 1,931
Can't believe I just got them! Haha, first listen session in a car from iPhone 6 Plus :) .. Expect some straight comparison with Hidition NT6. Let the games begin!


 
Congrats! Looking forward to your impressions!
 
Btw, they look mighty huge.
 
Feb 2, 2015 at 1:02 PM Post #569 of 1,931
  Haha I initially thought my Roxannes were huge as well but after much usage when I went back to my UE900 I actually thought it was too small LOL

O_o;
 
Feb 2, 2015 at 2:00 PM Post #570 of 1,931
JH Audio Layla universal!
 
First of all I have to admit, I’m not an audiophile or hi-fi oriented person. I’m sound engineer and music producer. This can significantly affect my point of view on Layla or any headphones in general.
 
I do consider only a good headphones or bad headphones. Good are those who can translate the sound exactly, or closest possible way to how the song is meant to be heard (how the original artist / producer intended).
On the other side the bad headphones are all those, where are any of the parts or frequencies played differently than they should be (coloration, smoothness, emphasised certain parts of freq. spectrum, etc). I do not understand the point of having the headphones which makes the song sound different. So this can be some hard fight with the audiophiles, who actually find something like this as an advantage :)
 
Some of the other audiophile terms used to describe qualities a different way, are mostly psycho acoustic hard to measure feelings, which are difficult to describe, and hard to explain (at least to me, being a non-english native). So I will just keep it short, what I hear compared to my other IEMs or studio setups I’m used to work with.
 
Last note - most of the professional studio reference monitors used to create the recordings by vast majority of artists and producers are near field, or mid field type produced by Focal, Genelec, Adam, Dynaudio and many others. Most of them are 2 speakers, 2 way or 3 speakers, 3 way. In a few extreme cases up to 7 speakers, 4 way - Adam S7A Mk2 / $48,000 pair.
So the ‘driver war’ is not any kind of measurement. 2 way 2 drivers can produce same quality sound as the 4 way, 4 drivers. 
Perfect similarity is shown there in headphone world - when you look at the only two ‘producer reference’ IEMs on a current market -  Ultimate Ears In-Ear Reference Monitor (3 way / 3 drivers) vs. JH Audio Layla (4 way / triple quad driver - 12 drivers).
 
The hardest part is the fit. They are huge. I mean more huge than I thought from the already published photos. Significant part of the Layla stick out of the ear. I don’t care about that - but someone who consider to use them in a public needs to have that in mind - you look weird.
 
Provided tips are just the basic selection - not sure what aftermarket companies (Comply / Spinfit) will introduce for this Siren series, but for now the choice is very limited. All the tips are completely unusable for me (this can explain some negative comments over the forums from US / UK listeners). Only tips which can perfectly seal my ears are the smallest foam tips - and I can imagine I’m not the only person with the same problem, as my ears are average size - nothing special. All the other tips are fully out of the game and makes the Layla not usable at all. 
 

 
I’ve got like 4 hours of listening only, but I consider the Layla as exactly what JH promotes - a reference / mastering IEM. 
The sound is perfect. Whole frequency spectrum is amazingly translated without any flaws. I have found, that there is big similarity with IERM, but the sound from Layla is much “bigger” yet preserves still superflat sound signature. Bass frequencies are with better impact than what IERM can do, very fast and exactly as they should be.
NT6 as the ‘king of clarity’ is also very close, but Layla wins over there. NT6 has slight emphasis on mids which doesn’t sound exactly as the source.
Sound of Layla is perfectly flat and when I compare it to the reference studio speakers like Adam S4X-H, Genelec 8250A, Event Opal, Focal SM9 it is unbelievable how close the signature is. JH Audio made finally possible what I have been looking for. To have your own personal sound studio in your head without any problems of a room treatment, listening position and other things you have to care about in a real studio environment.
 
Final conclusion - Layla outperforms IERM and NT6 (both the current best reference IEMs on the market).
I’m fairly impressed - if you are looking for the best in ear headphone. There it is. Custom version will probably solve the fit problems. If you don’t care about the price, don’t look any further.
 
(There are tons of other manufacturers who makes amazing designs, amazing IEMs/CIEMs but they do not play the music correctly, so there is no contest when compared to Layla).
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top