The discovery thread!

[FieldingMellish]

You can use these fearlessly in the gym and not feel lacking for sound. If they eventually break from sweat or entanglement, no problem dollar-wise.

 

[Gee Simpson]

Quote:

The Jazz are really nice, only issue is the really crappy 3.5mm jack. Still well worth £10. They're a much less ergonomic fit than the FX40. In the process of recabling my Jazz so can't compare them atm.

 
Keep me updated mate, thanks. I'm thinking about getting the FX40's, for anyone who has them, how do they compare to the SoundMAGIC E30's?

 

[KEP1]

A friend of mine recently bought the FX101s so I got a chance to A/B vs my burned in pair. Highs were definitely less harsh on my burned in pair. I was having a hard time figuring out just how much they had settled down until now.

 

[ZeneticX]

just got the my HA-FR201, which is the variant with the mic
 
sounds superb on my sgs 3. only a complaint so far......
 
 
the one who design the packaging should be shot

 

[Dsnuts]

Quote:

just got the my HA-FR201, which is the variant with the mic
 
sounds superb on my sgs 3. only a complaint so far......
 
 
the one who design the packaging should be shot

Lol. Ya I have to agree. The packaging is maddening. It is theft proof at the cost of being human proof. You have to take a very sharp knife to it with a chance of slicing yourself. I should have warned guys about the not so friendly packaging on these.

 

[ericp10]

I almost slit off all of my fingers on the left hand trying to open the FX40 packaging. So Dsnuts: scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the worst and 10 being out of this world) where do you rank the FX40, FXD80 (so far), and the CKM500 in sound quality (I know they don't share same sound signatures?
 
Also, percentage-wise how far is the FX40 from the FXD80 in sound quality (ex: is the the FX40 60 percent or maybe 80 percent of the FXD80)? Thanks for your input in advance buddy.

 

[Dsnuts]

I would rate them like this
 
The FX40 a solid 8.5 I know I gave it a higher score initially but I think this score is more realistic to how Joker would rate it. But for guys that like this sound signature with more bass end I would give these a 8.9.
 
The FXD80. Oo I am no where near done with burn but I would give them a good 9.2. Technically these are easily up there with the Gr07, EX600 and such. These are more refined versions of the FX40 with even more detail better instrument separation spacing and easily the more higher end tune over the FX40. That being said. It is shocking how close the FX40 sound to the FXD80. I bet the FXD70 will be even more closer.. I would say the FX40 has around 85% of the sound. The core sound signature is similar as they use the same Carbon nanotube. The FX40 does have a more fuller bottom end lower mids more of a funner sound signature over the FXD80. The FXD80 has a very even sound more audiophile touches if you will and has the sound stage and airiness of a higher end sound. Detail on these are clearly above what is on the FX40.
 
Now for the CKM500. lol. The sound is so much fuller on these over both. I would personally give the CKM500 a sound score of 9.3 but that is just me I suppose. So while technically the FXD80 is a bit more superior to even the CKM500 they don't beat out what makes the CKM500 so engaging for me. The thick lush beautiful sound they have. I do think the new FXD80 does have lesser aggressive tune over the FXT90 and therefore has the more higher end tune over them a more audiophile friendly tuning.. If your contemplating should I or should I not..
 
Get rid of one of your earphones and get one. Why not. I am listening to the FXD80s now. They have a completely different sound over my CKM500 but you know what. I enjoy this sound just as much you might even enjoy them more over the CKM500. I know you like a less colored sound so you might find the sound on these to be the 9.3 and the CKM500 the 9.2. It will be more of a preference in the sound..I would say both are on a very similar level of sound per dollar for their given sound signatures.

 

[ericp10]

Thank you sir!!

 

[Gee Simpson]

Quote:

 Whew !   ...thanks for that Buddy.

 
Anyway, just in case anyone's interested, I've dug further and found out that the 4 contacts jacks are meant for smartphones and if you plug them into dedicated MP3 players, you'll only get sound coming out of one side, if you keep the button on the mic depressed they will behave like 3 contacts jack.
On the other hand, plugging a 3 contacts jack into a smartphone will do one of 2 things:
1) With Android phones, you get a weird sounding earphone or messed up controls i.e: tracks skips by themself or phone enter into call mode, on some models, you got both problems.
2) With Iphones, both 3 and 4 contacts jacks works perfectly if the phone is on before you plug in the jack, it seem the Iphone is able to detect which connector is plug in.
 
Looks like I'm stuck with having to burn in the FR201s on my HTC !

 
 
Just to confirm, so what you are saying is, I will need to buy the FR201's to use with a smartphone running android as I'm about to get one. The FX101' s that I own will cause it to skip am I correct?
 
Thanks.

 

[aBc.CaN]

I would agree that the FX101 needs burn in. The treble for me was very hot, and for my gf too. It's showing signs of settling a little bit after about 10 hours of burn-in, but think it definitely needs way more.
 
The bass quantity is amazing, I would say ~30% more than the ASG-1, but of course at the sacrifice of bass quality. Needless to say, the FX101 doesn't compare to the ASG-1 in every else besides bass quantity.
 
Very impressive so far! Now it's got me interested in the FX40 or the FXD70! But really should I buy them when I have the ASG-1?!

 

[Dsnuts]

I think for me at least even though I own a pair of ASG-1s myself. Not having and discovering other great sounding iems if you have the means is just denying who we are as headfiers.
 
Even guys that own high end custom iems end up with a little side action. Why not. There is no rules of how many we can have. Even when the ASG-2 come out I will still listen to my other earphones. Don't deny yourself. If you have the means. Listening to what some of the greatest minds in all of audio has to offer for us fans.  Plus there is no possible way I would use my ASG-1 at the gym. Lol.

 

[KEP1]

Quote:

 
 
Just to confirm, so what you are saying is, I will need to buy the FR201's to use with a smartphone running android as I'm about to get one. The FX101' s that I own will cause it to skip am I correct?
 
Thanks.

No, the 101s don't have a mic so it's not possible for them to cause problems. If you use IEMs that have a mic with an android phone then you need to make sure it's of the 4 contact variety.

 

[Ghostfit]

Quote:

 
 
Just to confirm, so what you are saying is, I will need to buy the FR201's to use with a smartphone running android as I'm about to get one. The FX101' s that I own will cause it to skip am I correct?
 
Thanks.

 
Since you already have the FX101 you could bring it along and test it with the Android phone you're contemplating, if it works that's great otherwise you'll need the FR201.
I don't have a FX101 so I can't tell you if you will have any problems but I did not have any success with IEMs that are equiped with the standard 3 contacts 3.5mm jacks.
 
So far my HTC 3D Evo doesn't like the 3 contacts jacks and It seems there is no common standards on these stereo 4 contacts, jacks used by the various HP manufacturers.
The FR201 comes with an extra 3.5mm, 4 contacts jacks (Which is exactly like the original jacks of the IEM) which is wired differently for use with Samsung and Sony Ericson smartphones.

 

[Gee Simpson]

Quote:

No, the 101s don't have a mic so it's not possible for them to cause problems. If you use IEMs that have a mic with an android phone then you need to make sure it's of the 4 contact variety.

Oh really? Sorry, I'm a noob 

Quote:

 
Since you already have the FX101 you could bring it along and test it with the Android phone you're contemplating, if it works that's great otherwise you'll need the FR201.
 
So far my HTC 3D Evo doesn't like the 3 contacts jacks. It seems there is no common standards on these stereo jacks used by the various HP manufacturers.

I'm confused now, who's right here? lol

 

[ZeneticX]

i'm using FR201 on my SGS 3 now. no problems with the headphone so far, sound quality is superb, but i not sure whether its the same as the 101 because i never tried that
 
 
the mic controls works well as well. but the button seems fragile to me, not sure how long it will last after long periods of pressing. controls are same with the stock earbuds for most android phones