[chilip]

Hello:
 
I am pretty new to Head-fi.  I have had a fantastic time wasting too much money on this new headphone hobby though.  I would like the ask the following question(s):
 
How vast of a difference is there in the SQ between an amped and umamped JH13 (likely with a portable amp)?  With a desktop amp?  Does anybody have the same experience with the Westone 4?
 
If possible, I would like to not be limited with an sort of amp at all with a portable setup.
 
Thanks for your time!

 

[jp11801]

first this question is probably better served in the portable headphone section.
 
I find the JH13 sounds excellent through my iphone 4 but amped takes it up several notches to a rig I could live with exclusively. My preference is the Headamp pico slim or the TTVJ amp but ymmv.

 

[chilip]

Thanks for the input, I appreciate it.

 

[chilip]

Was wondering if anybody else had input regarding the JH13? Is it still a significant deal of quality better than upper tier universal IEM?

 

[silverkaze]

Technically speaking JH13 beats all the top universal iems I've heard: sm3, IE8, and TF10. The amount of information and details JH13 presents in a song simply out classes the iems I mentioned above. After comparing my sm3 with JH13 side by side, I can hear more details and more musical information in the JH13 in songs, and JH13 is also quite a bit faster than SM3, SM3 sounds quite laid back in comparison. Even though they are on a different technical level, whether I like JH13 over all the universal iems is a different story since personal preference really comes into play. 
And also I found JH13 amped to be much better than it unamped, this is not to say JH13 doesn't sound good when unamped, but the difference was quite big for me, the sound becomes more 3d and the sound stage gets bigger. I get a more surrounded feel from the music and for me personally, if I were to get JH13, I will buy it with a good amp after seeing its potential with one.

 

[chilip]

Thank you both for sharing your opinions.  I think I might be leaning towards purchasing a set of Westone 4s as I don't think I would want to carry about a portable amp in order to fully appreciate the earphones.  Not that the Westone 4 would likely not benefit from amplification, but maybe it just seems less wasteful to me.