[dogears]

Is JH5 anything near a midforward SS? I just want another pair that is close to the Baby Stax sound

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

Is JH5 anything near a midforward SS? I just want another pair that is close to the Baby Stax sound

Not sure but many people that liked the DBA also liked the JH5 when they moved up.  Might want to check w/ some of those folks for reference.
 

 

[dogears]

^Thank you very helpful people. I'm loving the 7550 btw

 

[kiteki]

 
Quote:

Mike at Headfonia compares the JH5s directly with several other dual driver BA IEMs, and says they are a clear winner,

Yes, except he left out the most important ones, i.e. CK10, SE425, J-PHONIC
 
 

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

Yes, except he left out the most important ones, i.e. CK10, SE425, J-PHONIC

Really, you consider the CK10 and 425 on another level compared to the DBA and Q-jays?  I sure don't.  Haven't heard the JPhonics.  
 

 

[kiteki]

     Quote:

Really, you consider the CK10 and 425 on another level compared to the DBA and Q-jays? I sure don't. Haven't heard the JPhonics.
 

Hmm I'm pretty sure I do, unless you're talking about price, I haven't read much on what those have to offer that's better than the ck10 and 425.
 
The q-jays are kinda interesting though, what's your take on them?
 
I haven't heard the J-Phonic yet either, 11 days to go.
 
 
I didn't mean to make a blanket statement that ck10, 425 and j-phonic are better than all other dual-armature IEM's (which I haven't heard or had much interest in), I meant they are highly praised and his multi-review is hardly complete without them.

 
Quote:

The Shures or ATs, though, would not have been rated higher than the JH5s on Headfonia based on his comparisons with the other dual BAs he chose

Ok, well yeah there seems to be a common pattern that "custom > universal", I'd prefer if his review left out the JH5, and he made another review of all the dual-armature customs out there, but that is wishful thinking =p
 
Then again I haven't heard a custom yet so what do I know, not really in yours or Anax territory yet, and if I get a custom most likely won't go for a 2 driver one, TS842 looks cool though.
 
 

 

[dogears]

^Can't wait on your take on the j-phonics since you (still?) have the EX700 for reference.

 

[Haonan]

Dogears you guys shouldn't even be discussing about the Stax or even the ES5 in here, because the eight-hundreds (atmosphere) in this thread has been filled with so much of audiophile goodness coming out from this pair of EX800ST/MDR-7550, that I have been listening to them seriously for the past few days actually.
(sorry for the minor pun there LOL)

Alright, so my EX800s should have reached about 100-hrs of burning in period by now. I haven't been sitting down with them and listening to them seriously when I first received my pair back in early July, I thought maybe I will let it settle down first with the burn-in, considering that dynamic transducers benefit from this procedure step so much more over BA drivers. Last weekend was actually the first time I went through alot of my soundtrack collection, in order to find out how their sound fare against my usual preference, and obviously also did some minor A/Bing with my fav pair of IEM in my current collection, the ATH-CK100.

I guess I prolly won't be doing an in-depth review or impressions here, as I think sumo-kun's earlier review and impressions of the EX800ST should suffice. But having listened to my own pair seriously for the past few days, I think it's correct to say I seemed to have found my faith back in dynamic transducer IEMs. My last pair of Sony IEMs was actually the MDR-EX90s, so I was pretty much in a similar scenario as what sumo-kun had iterated in his original review, and before purchasing the EX90s I also had a couple of their earlier predecessors such as their earlier N.U.D.E EX monitor EX71/EX81 series, which was actually some of my very first IEMs that got me into the world of head-fi.

I will get some things out of the way first. I have to personally confess I used to have this mindset mentality that dynamic IEMs do not do very well especially in the clarity/transparency department. After using the above EX monitor series by Sony, and then moving on to some of the better balanced armature IEMs on the market (audio-technica's CK9 was my first BA), this belief was sort of instilled in me for pretty much a long time and unshaken. Fortunately, I have to say that this belief may start to be broken by my latest ownership of the EX800STs, as they are probably my first pair of dynamic IEMs that do very very well in terms of the clarity/transparency, in fact if I were to say the truth, the EX800ST actually comes very close to my CK100 in terms of the treble quality. (though the CK100 does still have the upper edge in terms of outputting some of the most beautiful and alluring colouration in its mids though, but that's perhaps another story for another day?)

The EX800ST have a pretty balanced sound signature overall but also at the same time, being a monitoring IEM capable of resolving micro-details in alot of my fav soundtracks. Some of my fav collections include soundtracks by Yugo Kanno and Hans Zimmer, and the EX800ST really do not spare any mercy in resolving the minute clarity details in all of these soundtracks I have listened to. As a midrange lover since I put alot of my faith in IEMs that comes with excellent mids, the EX800ST certainly do manage to impress as well, though they are certainly not as upfront or forward-sounding as my pair of CK100 or RS-1i.

I generally don't really do alot of A/Bing against my own gear as I believe in owning different gears to suit my sugar and spice taste preferences, so I can't really decide whether it would be the CK100 or the MDR-EX800ST when it comes to choosing the one and only IEM if I were to only keep one. But in terms of musicality and listening enjoyment, I can definitely conclude and say, the EX800ST is by margins far better than some of the phones I had owned/listened to such as the Fischer Audio DBA-02, Audio-technica CK9, CK10, CK90pro, Sony MDR-EX90, UE Superfi 5pro/TF10pro, Westone 3, Shure SE530/SE535. So far the only ones that I still seemed to favour more in terms of midrange quality over the EX800ST, are probably my own CK100 as well as the Westone UM3x which are definitely still some of the best sounding top-tier universals to date, at least to my own pair of ears.

 

[xjy1990318]

nice!!

 

[music_4321]

 
Quote:

Dogears you guys shouldn't even be discussing about the Stax or even the ES5 in here, because the eight-hundreds (atmosphere) in this thread has been filled with so much of audiophile goodness coming out from this pair of EX800ST/MDR-7550, that I have been listening to them seriously for the past few days actually. 

(sorry for the minor pun there LOL)

Alright, so my EX800s should have reached about 100-hrs of burning in period by now. I haven't been sitting down with them and listening to them seriously when I first received my pair back in early July, I thought maybe I will let it settle down first with the burn-in, considering that dynamic transducers benefit from this procedure step so much more over BA drivers. Last weekend was actually the first time I went through alot of my soundtrack collection, in order to find out how their sound fare against my usual preference, and obviously also did some minor A/Bing with my fav pair of IEM in my current collection, the ATH-CK100.

I guess I prolly won't be doing an in-depth review or impressions here, as I think sumo-kun's earlier review and impressions of the EX800ST should suffice. But having listened to my own pair seriously for the past few days, I think it's correct to say I seemed to have found my faith back in dynamic transducer IEMs. My last pair of Sony IEMs was actually the MDR-EX90s, so I was pretty much in a similar scenario as what sumo-kun had iterated in his original review, and before purchasing the EX90s I also had a couple of their earlier predecessors such as their earlier N.U.D.E EX monitor EX71/EX81 series, which was actually some of my very first IEMs that got me into the world of head-fi.

I will get some things out of the way first. I have to personally confess I used to have this mindset mentality that dynamic IEMs do not do very well especially in the clarity/transparency department. After using the above EX monitor series by Sony, and then moving on to some of the better balanced armature IEMs on the market (audio-technica's CK9 was my first BA), this belief was sort of instilled in me for pretty much a long time and unshaken. Fortunately, I have to say that this belief may start to be broken by my latest ownership of the EX800STs, as they are probably my first pair of dynamic IEMs that do very very well in terms of the clarity/transparency, in fact if I were to say the truth, the EX800ST actually comes very close to my CK100 in terms of the treble quality. (though the CK100 does still have the upper edge in terms of outputting some of the most beautiful and alluring colouration in its mids though, but that's perhaps another story for another day?)

The EX800ST have a pretty balanced sound signature overall but also at the same time, being a monitoring IEM capable of resolving micro-details in alot of my fav soundtracks. Some of my fav collections include soundtracks by Yugo Kanno and Hans Zimmer, and the EX800ST really do not spare any mercy in resolving the minute clarity details in all of these soundtracks I have listened to. As a midrange lover since I put alot of my faith in IEMs that comes with excellent mids, the EX800ST certainly do manage to impress as well, though they are certainly not as upfront or forward-sounding as my pair of CK100 or RS-1i.

I generally don't really do alot of A/Bing against my own gear as I believe in owning different gears to suit my sugar and spice taste preferences, so I can't really decide whether it would be the CK100 or the MDR-EX800ST when it comes to choosing the one and only IEM if I were to only keep one. But in terms of musicality and listening enjoyment, I can definitely conclude and say, the EX800ST is by margins far better than some of the phones I had owned/listened to such as the Fischer Audio DBA-02, Audio-technica CK9, CK10, CK90pro, Sony MDR-EX90, UE Superfi 5pro/TF10pro, Westone 3, Shure SE530/SE535. So far the only ones that I still seemed to favour more in terms of midrange quality over the EX800ST, are probably my own CK100 as well as the Westone UM3x which are definitely still some of the best sounding top-tier universals to date, at least to my own pair of ears. 

 

 
Thanks for your impressions - quite a few of them seem to mirror mine. I've owned some of the IEMs you mention in your post, including the EX71 & EX90. I was personally so impressed - and still am - by the EX1000s that I decided to try the EX800ST/MDR-7550 & EX600 as well. The EX800/7550 is indeed a great IEM.
 
 

 

[dogears]

Same reason I mentioned the Stax - PREFERENCE
 
Quote:

Dogears you guys shouldn't even be discussing about the Stax or even the ES5 in here, because the eight-hundreds (atmosphere) in this thread has been filled with so much of audiophile goodness coming out from this pair of EX800ST/MDR-7550, that I have been listening to them seriously for the past few days actually.

(sorry for the minor pun there LOL)

So far the only ones that I still seemed to favour more in terms of midrange quality over the EX800ST, are probably my own CK100 as well as the Westone UM3x which are definitely still some of the best sounding top-tier universals to date, at least to my own pair of ears.

 

 
 

 

[kiteki]

Thanks Haonan.
 
 
dogears, let us know what you think of the J-phonic K2 versus the EX800ST ok? =)

 

[dogears]

^Sureness Madam. Hoping to get it next week (paws crossed).

 

[Haonan]

 

 
Thanks for your impressions - quite a few of them seem to mirror mine. I've owned some of the IEMs you mention in your post, including the EX71 & EX90. I was personally so impressed - and still am - by the EX1000s that I decided to try the EX800ST/MDR-7550 & EX600 as well. The EX800/7550 is indeed a great IEM.
 
 

Hey there guys, sorry about the kinda late reply as I don't regularly check back here. No problem, just thought I will share some of my listening impressions with my own EX800ST since it's being almost a month since i had these. I was quite surprised that you are selling the MDR-7550 actually, I think I did remembered coming across one of your post in the other thread started by james444, you did mentioned you preferred the MDR-7550 for your kind of music, but I did backtracked and read up some of the previous posts posted by you in that thread and I supposed I could understand why you decided to keep the EX1000 now, I'm guessing it's probably got something to do with its nice mids colouration, just like how for some vocal-centric songs on the overall I still prefer my CK100 as well as the Westone UM3X's rendition of vocals when it comes to midrange presentation. (I do have to emphasize I'm usually a sucker for female vocals though, so my view might just be biased here it does not mean the EX800ST/MDR-7550 doesn't perform well when it comes to presenting female vocals in songs)

Also, I have cross-posted this before in my local forums, but thought I will share this with everyone else here on HF. Below is a chart shared by Phile-web, a japanese website publication which they had done an interview with the Sony engineers before when it comes to interviewing them about their latest Z1000/EX Monitor series of IEM products, according to Sony it seems that the EX1000/EX600/EX800 soundstage presentation (or known as soundfield) is meant to be presented as seen in the image below. I have once explained to my fellow audiophile peers in my local forum who have listened/own the CK100 before, the CK100 soundstage presentation is probably akin to the Z1000, while phones like EX1000/EX800ST is indeed as heard/projected as illustrated in the 4th picture of the chart, although I would say EX1000's soundstage is probably alittle wider than my EX800ST, from my recent brief audition.

Same reason I mentioned the Stax - PREFERENCE
 

 
 

Yes good sir dogears, it's all about preferences lol. Hope you are enjoying your MDR-7550 now as much as I am.

 

[kiteki]

I don't get the picture, is the brown rectangle like a screen in a movie theatre?  If it is, the SA-5000 sounds nothing like sitting 20 rows back in a movie theatre =/