It's been a long time since I've gotten a new pair of headphones (like 3 years) and had the time to sit down for some quiet listening due to two young babies at home. My go to pair of headphones these years have been the SE846 and they've served me well as a fantastic all rounder- comfortable, great sound, and amazing noise isolation for travelling. So recently spent some time checking out new earphones and came across these new JVC woodies. I bought a pair of FX500 when it first came out way back when, and besides the unique characteristics of the woodies, I didn't like the sound signature all that much. It was too bassy and bloated, severely v-shaped, and harsh fatiguing highs. After reading some reviews of the new woodies and it seems like JVC has resolved most of those problems, I decided to pull the trigger on the FW01s.
After about 40hrs of burn in, I am already quite blown away by the sound. Honestly, with my past experience with the FX500 and it being a sub $500 pair of earphones, I did not expect much competition to my Shures. I'm pairing the FW01s to Marantz HD-DAC1 and ZX1 as my sources, and I really love what I'm hearing so far. What first hit me is the timbre is so natural and organic, especially with string/acoustic instruments. The 01's are also quite reflective of the source/recording, with some of my classical/jazz/instrumental recordings the soundstage can be very wide and has very good depth, but on some modern recordings it can be narrow and congested. Highs are just right, smooth and extended, never sibilant or fatiguing. Vocals are well separated and never mushed into the instruments, I would say they are about on the same plane as each other, reducing the v-shaped 'problem'. I can't stand v-shaped sound and the 01s don't bother me in the slightest. The bass quality is just viceral- fast and detailed, hitting deep and hard. However to me it is a bit of a double edged sword as I find the bass quantity can be too much at times, again especially with modern recordings. I've been listening to some Joe Hisaishi's tracks with lots of string instruments. Cellos in particular give me the goosebumps, hearing the minute string vibrations and rich tonal expression, haven't had this feeling in a long, long time.
Then going back to SE846 I feel like I'm missing something. Very surprised. SE846 is extremely balanced to my ears, and technically superior, but it sounds... slightly unorganic and unnatural. Can almost use the analogy of digital vs analogue. The strings don't quite have the air vibration and emotions, and the vocals sound slightly too tamed. Also sudden bursts of volume and dynamic range is far better with the JVCs, quite evident with Beethoven's Fifth symphony, this performance reminds me of loudspeakers. The Shure's don't quite have that sudden response and dynamism. I think in the end I'm going to attribute the differences to the driver types, BA is just a bit more clinical and lack that emotional element for me.
What also really surprising is that the noise isolation is actually quite good, not Shure good obviously, but can filter out decent amount of ambient noise, way better than FX500s for sure.
Anyway didn't mean to write that much but I'm very impressed with the FW01s, and I can't wait to hear the evolution after some more burn in. I say it is perfect for classical and instrumental music in general. SE846 for me still is a better all rounder, I can throw anything at it and I can trust it to sound decent at least, basically no matter what genre or recording. The only down side to the 01s is bass is too much at times and can lead to congestion in lesser recordings. I am just so surprised and impressed that how close a $450 pair of earphones can be to a top tiered product from Shure. Loving the the 01s!!