[BlinkST]

Bass on these have become like something you hear on a typical single BA. They are north of 200 hours now.

 

[cuiter23]

   
IMHO, it's not the single dynamic driver per se that struggles, but the overly bassy tuning that muddies the low end on fast and punchy tracks.
 
Try to tune down the mid/upper bass range with EQ, or try the mod linked in my sig and you'll see that the FX1100 can actually do "PRAT" very well.

 
Personally, the bass doesn't bother me. I tried the mod and found the bass to be ok. I also EQ'd the bass with my Clear Bass function on my ZX1.
 
I feel they still don't match up to other flagship IEMs with similar sound signatures. But I guess the current street price of the FX1100 is much cheaper than the other flagships. The main downfall of the 1100 is the inability to separate and layer instruments coherently. Instrument decay speed could also be a factor in these not sounding as incisive or rather resolute as they should. Detail is wonderful on slower tracks with heavy emphasis on single instruments but starts to fall apart on faster, modern music.
 
I must say, they are THE BEST sounding IEM I've heard for violin, guitar, and other acoustic instruments. Not even 2-3k IEMs can match the naturalness the 1100 presents. However, this IEM is truly a mixed bag. In short, they are not suitable for me precisely due to the music I listen to.
 
Unfortunately, I cannot return them due to hygiene reasons. Looks like I'll be taking an instant depreciation hit once again. I've only had these for a day... sucks not being able to audition before you buy. If anyone is interested in a basically brand new pair, please PM me.
 
No hard feelings to anyone who owns the FX1100. They are truly a masterpiece and will sound simply incredible to those who favour it's unique signature.

 

[james444]

  I feel they still don't match up to other flagship IEMs with similar sound signatures. But I guess the current street price of the FX1100 is much cheaper than the other flagships. The main downfall of the 1100 is the inability to separate and layer instruments coherently. Instrument decay speed could also be a factor in these not sounding as incisive or rather resolute as they should. Detail is wonderful on slower tracks with heavy emphasis on single instruments but starts to fall apart on faster, modern music.
 
I must say, they are THE BEST sounding IEM I've heard for violin, guitar, and other acoustic instruments. Not even 2-3k IEMs can match the naturalness the 1100 presents. However, this IEM is truly a mixed bag. In short, they are not suitable for me precisely due to the music I listen to.

 
Agreed, their main strength is timbre and naturalness with acoustic instruments. Still, out of curiosity, would you mind posting a track that shows the 1100's shortcomings in separation and speed?

 

[cuiter23]

   
Agreed, their main strength is timbre and naturalness with acoustic instruments. Still, out of curiosity, would you mind posting a track that shows the 1100's shortcomings in separation and speed?

 
The 1100's texture, layering, speed, separation, as well as imaging is great.. Just not that great when put in relative terms. I am comparing it to the other bassy flagship IEMs such as the W50, Z5, ASG 2.5, 846, the list goes on.
 
No matter what you do to the 1100, it is evident they fall behind in rendering a plurality of instruments with definition. The latter IEMs really peel all the layers in a nonchalant way, very effortlessly and cleanly.
 
Listen to some of MatchBox Twenty's songs (She's so mean, 3AM, Push, etc)
Also, Take That - Patience
 
These are only a few examples. Don't get me wrong the 1100 sounds great, but my ears have been spoiled...

 

[james444]

  The 1100's texture, layering, speed, separation, as well as imaging is great.. Just not that great when put in relative terms. I am comparing it to the other bassy flagship IEMs such as the W50, Z5, ASG 2.5, 846, the list goes on.
 
No matter what you do to the 1100, it is evident they fall behind in rendering a plurality of instruments with definition. The latter IEMs really peel all the layers in a nonchalant way, very effortlessly and cleanly.
 
Listen to some of MatchBox Twenty's songs (She's so mean, 3AM, Push, etc)
Also, Take That - Patience
 
These are only a few examples. Don't get me wrong the 1100 sounds great, but my ears have been spoiled...

 
Each to their own, and everyone's entitled to their opinion. I listen to classical orchestras with dozens of instruments and players, and the FX1100 do their job admirably in my book, even next to TOTL IEMs like the K3003 or UERM. So, of course, reading they might fall short in separating the instruments of five-piece rockbands makes me curious. Thanks for posting those tracks.

 

 

[BlinkST]

  Thanks guys!
 
Listened to these for a couple of hours and while they do sound very good (I mean, extremely good) with some genres, I feel that they are not all-rounders. Don't get me wrong I love bass (look at my signature) and the bass on the FX1100 is hands down my favorite attribute. However, when it comes to faster songs I feel that the single dynamic driver struggles a bit in keeping pace. Therefore, for more modern, convoluted tracks, the FX1100 can seem to lose focus and PRAT.
 
However, these do shine with acoustic and instrumentals as well as slower music. I'm going to keep them for a couple more days to form a more accurate opinion. I bought these brand new for $320 USD... Not sure how the return policies work with the place I purchased them. But I'll keep an open mind!

Why don't you try giving 10 days of burn-in, like aafanatic suggested? Wouldn't hurt.

 

[cuiter23]

 
Why don't you try giving 10 days of burn-in, like aafanatic suggested? Wouldn't hurt.

 
Mine are sold. Luckily my friend who lives 5 minutes away from me has one for sale as well. I'm going to take it from him for a week and see if my impressions change. The FX1100 was a stellar performer its just lacking a little something.
 
I'll give it another shot. Thanks, Blink!

 

[BlinkST]

   
Mine are sold. Luckily my friend who lives 5 minutes away from me has one for sale as well. I'm going to take it from him for a week and see if my impressions change. The FX1100 was a stellar performer its just lacking a little something.
 
I'll give it another shot. Thanks, Blink!

That's impressively quick turnaround time. Anyway, I hope it all works out. From what I've read, they do need a lot of time to reach their full potential. 
 
 
 

They get closer to 1k IEMs than I'd have thought likely prior to buying them. With well recorded material the imaging is exceptional. The muscular bass and floating quality you sometimes notice put me in mind of the LCD-2.

 

  I agree regarding the LCD-2s. I sold my 2.2s and replaced them with the FX1100s wanting to move to an iem. Not saying the FX1100s are as good overall as the 2.2s, but there is a sonic resemblance.

 

  Just remember It's all about pairing, I'm enjoying my FX1100 more than my Z5 at the moment.

 

“Amazing rich full detailed sound. They are a great portable option when I can't take my fostex th-900's . In fact, after 100 hours of burn in using pink noise they sound very much like fostex. And that's a great thing. Love these things.”
-Gary
 
“I am not an audiophile, but I am an audio enthusiast. I wanted a pair of IEMs I could power through my iPhone alone, that would sound great overall, and that would have enough low end to please, which is always a problem with IEMs. The bass is HUGE right out of the box, but it is a little muddy. It reminded me of my old Klipsch IEMs a bit. I have had these for about a month now, and I feel like over the last week, the bass has noticeably tightened up and the sound has balanced out, but with a sound signature on the huge, warm, thumpy end of the spectrum. I compared these against Shure 535LTD, Sennheiser IE800, and Westone W40. All of those three sounded very nice, but a little thin in the lower bass region (the Westone was the "bassiest"). But I just kept sighing with pleasure whenever I came back to the JVCs. The mids and highs are plenty clear, but the bass just feel like it has power to spare. A deep note on an acoustic guitar is just so satisfying on these, as is thumpy dancehall and reggae.”
-Mike
 
“Ok I've been listening to this for 2 weeks. And I think burn in time is finished. At first listen the bass truly sounds congested. After less than a week the treble has gotten more forward the bass now is tighter. I wish I have the fx850 at hand so I can compare. I wasn't satisfied much with the bass so I tried to swap a pure silver portable cable for my DAC AMP combo. The bass has improved more and gotten more controlled. I suggest using silver cables with this rather than using copper. Copper seems to exaggerate the bass more. Now the treble like everyone says lacks of sparkle. It is true but for me a little more treble with this would make it sound sibilant and hurt my ears! Anyway I can hear all those cymbals fine. Actually it is as clear as the vocals. Details are also great. The sound stage is wide and it doesn't sound like its in your head sound. It's like in the middle of hifiman HE400 and Audeze EL-8's sound stage.”
-moises
 
These are all verified purchases:
http://www.amazon.com/KENWOOD-In-Ear-Headphones-HA-FX1100-Import/product-reviews/B00P8NZJLO/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewopt_srt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=recent&reviewerType=all_reviews&filterByStar=all_stars&pageNumber=1

 

[lescanadiens]

Imho, i did a burn in session for about 100 hours (50 should be enough, but i went further) using a desktop amp (better current).

The result was great and the slightly bloated feeling was off, more natural more expansion and all. I also play around with tips. I don't like the spiraldots on jvc 1100 and try other tips to match my taste. Also played with silver cables to enhance the soundstage and now back to the original cable. Love the original sound better with that smoky, jazzy sound.

Mine is now about 2000 hours and love every minute of it. Throw complex music from eletronic to classical and rock, 1100 stand tall.

Love the timbre and this one's a keeper and scale with sources. I use this on my desktop.

Ymmv

 

[cuiter23]

 
That's impressively quick turnaround time. Anyway, I hope it all works out. From what I've read, they do need a lot of time to reach their full potential. 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

Imho, i did a burn in session for about 100 hours (50 should be enough, but i went further) using a desktop amp (better current).

The result was great and the slightly bloated feeling was off, more natural more expansion and all. I also play around with tips. I don't like the spiraldots on jvc 1100 and try other tips to match my taste. Also played with silver cables to enhance the soundstage and now back to the original cable. Love the original sound better with that smoky, jazzy sound.

Mine is now about 2000 hours and love every minute of it. Throw complex music from eletronic to classical and rock, 1100 stand tall.

Love the timbre and this one's a keeper and scale with sources. I use this on my desktop.

Ymmv

 
Don't worry guys I'm still burning them in haha! I'm going to keep music playing on them for 3 days straight and then come back to them. I have other IEM's in rotation while the 1100 is getting it's massage
 

 

[kameenadesi]

The JVC FX1100 is a godsend. It sounds freakin amazing with trance music. And we all know how complicated and complex most trance tracks can be... It was brand new out if the box and i've had it for about a month now. It is sooooo atmospheric and engaging, and open. I'm in my own "big" world when i put these in my ears. The bass is incredibly addicting.

 

[kameenadesi]

it is so good that my other iems (CKS1100, IE800, etc. are gathering dust)

 

[Alberto01]

"Don't worry guys I'm still burning them in haha! I'm going to keep music playing on them for 3 days straight and then come back to them. I have other IEM's in rotation while the 1100 is getting it's massage "
 
My experience with bass abundant headphones is that the bass keeps tightening up and reducing its interference with the other frequencies, even after 500+ working hours.  Also, both headphones and cables take that long for 3-5kHz peaks (hot, shouty, uncomfortable treble) to smooth out to varying extents.

 

[James Reference]

Great iem, I like it very much
Even better than ie80 I believe

 

[cuiter23]

@james444 and @BlinkST
 
Oh boy was I wrong.... Not sure if it was my ears burning-in (i.e. getting used to it) or physical driver burn-in but these sound absolutely fantastic. I sold my pair and immediately got another one. Lost about $70 from my stupid mistake of not sitting on these longer but still worth it.