Good news! My pair of Jupiter Ones
are sitting in U. S. Customs. Alex included a tour pair in my shipment. He mentioned that he had some bloggers lined up.
He is on Holiday for one more week. When he returns I will receive instructions from him and start setting up the Jupiter One tour.
After 5 days with the Jupiter One, I find it to be ever so different from the Saturn Two which has the same driver. The J 1 goes a bit deeper with the bass and it shares the excellent definition and sound stage of the S 2. The J 1 has the additional benefit of pad rolling to tune the sound to suit you. Alex is shipping the J 2 with Beyer type velour pads and an even thicker pair of velour pads.
The progression of the Brand can bee seen in the new rod block design with the Hyland Headphones logo on it. All in all the Jupiter 1 is an excellent headphone imo. It shares the comfort and light design of the Saturn One and the new rod blocks give it a sleeker look and feel.
I have the tour pair of Jupiter Ones in hand. I will be posting more information on the tour this next week. In the mean time, here are some pictures of the Hyland Jupiter One.
Ladies and Gentlemen! Announcing the Hyland Headphones Jupiter One, United States, test drive tour. I am currently looking for at least four Head Fi members who are interested in auditioning the Jupiter One. If you are interested, PM me and I will give you the details and put you on the list.
The Jupiter One is very comfortable with soft deep pads and a lightweight frame. But then there is the stiff stock cable. Silver is not worth the “sound improvements”. Also, I didn’t see any markings on the cable to indicate left/right. Another easily fixable issue was that the pivot screws on the gimbals were too tight and made a quick fitting difficult.
The J1s are boutique chic just like all headphones from Hyland, except the J1 uses more conventional pads instead of those Grado-style foam pads used on the Saturns, which also is my one issue with the looks of these headphones. The ear pads mount around the outside of the cups which looks kinda amateurish and tacky. The pad’s mounting strips should be tucked away like on all other headphones. Let us see more wood.
The J1 comes with two styles of pads: velour and hybrid leather(?)/velour. Short take: the velours suck. The velours come with a filter in the form of a felt liner. I imagine this filter is meant for the highs but I don’t know - I didn’t try removing the liner to compare. I did try the hybrids which do not have a filter and it didn’t sound too bright to me. Anyways, the J1 with velours sounded like rolled off bass, mid forward and a little strident. Those were the clear negatives but there are positives which I’ll cover in the next part.
Jupiter One with Hybrid pads:
Before even putting on the hybrids I knew it was going to be preferable. I think every headphone I’ve tried that came stock with velour pads sounded better with hybrid pads: generally becoming more linear with deeper bass, and the Jupiter One was no different.
My equipment:
Macbook Pro -> Eitr -> Modi MBv2 -> Vali2 w/ amperex orange ->
Headphones: Jupiter One, Hifiman 4XX, Koss Porta Pro (modded), and Koss 95X.
For this review I’ll be comparing the Hyland directly to the ubiquitous and stupendous Koss Porta Pro. More comparisons with my other headphones will come later. In case you are uninitiated do not consider the PP to be an easy punching bag for the Hyland. I didn’t really appreciate mine until the pads disintegrated from age and I replaced them with aftermarket pads that were a little bit thicker but same material (HD414 pads).
Comparison:
- The KOSS Porta Pro (PP) sounds smooth without any peaks. The bass is a bit light but is very tuneful and plays deep enough to be enjoyable. Mids are great. Not too shimmery.
- Soundstage is small for an open headphone.
- When listening I do inevitably get the sensation that the driver is too small. Like it should sound more dynamic, more enveloping, with stronger bass. After awhile of A/Bing the two headphones I kept wanting to turn the volume UP with the KOSS as if that would help.
- Inoffensive while not being boring.
- The PP is good, then factor in that its only $20, compact, comfy, and looks unique...
******
- The Hyland Jupiter One (J1) is a bigger headphone and sounds it.
- They are actually more sensitive and sound good from an iPhone as well.
- More bass
- More dynamic
- A little aggressive which may be a preference for some. I’m a devout KOSS believer so… For example, on the PP a particular cymbal may sound papery almost, but on the Hyland it will be metallic sounding. Female vocals relatively more forward. Otherwise the added warmth vs PP makes the Hyland’s vocals more natural.
- More weight to instruments
- larger soundstage / medium
- better imaging
Conclusion: I would not buy the Hyland for it's retail price, but thats me. I am a cheapskate with a slightly more laid-back sound preference. If J1 cost the same as a PP then duh yeah I’d recommend the J1 unless you need something more portable and inconspicuous like the PP. Without direct A/B I'd wager the 95X and 4XX to be all around a little better and preferable, more interesting and complimentary. I plan to do that comparison next.
The Jupiter One* is a nice listen. Definitely more resolving than Porta Pro and we shall see if its comparable in this regard to 4XX/95X. Cymbals are a little hard. A bit of midbass bump. Together can make male vocals sound a bit depressed at times.
4XX also has a distracting cymbal issue but its higher up like a splashy sound. 4XX is planar so not going to lose on bass. The upper mids is where the 4XX can sound distant, most problematic when it comes to some electric guitar.
I need to A/B. Ive not listened to the 4XX lately because I just got the 95X and v9 in the past two months and am still getting over those first.
*(comments are with hybrids)
EDIT: I take back the comment about the slight midbass bump. It was some drum beat with some high and strong kick drum or snare sound. Mistake. Vocals do sound a bit odd still.
Its like the “treble” knob on an old receiver was turned up. Its nice on some albums making them sound clearer but on a few others it had me pull off the headphones (not painful just yuck). For example, Built to Spill’s “Keep It Like A Secret.” I always thought this album to be a little bright, add the Hyland and it becomes unlistenable.
I am not very treble sensitive which is why I can enjoy Grado headphones. Bass on the other hand I am very picky because I can get a headache from boomy bass pretty easily. So, it's taken me a little longer to realize that the J1 is bright. I guess the treble filter is necessary. I guess I'll transplant felt liner to the hybrids, though why would it not come with felt liner already installed? Its a $400(?) headphone! Provide an extra piece of felt please?
How similar or different is the Saturn Two from grados / alessandros? It's not a grado driver, right? I seem to like warm tunings as well as Harman curve, am not a fan of the grado sound, but am a fan of the hd6xx and fidelio x2. By Hyland's description of the S2, it should be up my alley, but this thread being filled with grado-heads has me nervous about pulling the trigger
The J1 is a really sensitive headphone. I have Vali2 set to low-gain, volume pot set to just past channel-imbalance which is about 8o'clock, and I have my mac set to minimum - and its still a little too loud for me. It prevents me from using my preferred volume on a lot of dynamically compressed releases (aka most music from this century). I think its causing me to feel the headphones may sound harsher at times (ie. brightness) because the effect is multiplied by the loudness. Time to finally settle this with some A/B and kindly mastered music. 4XX vs J1!
How similar or different is the Saturn Two from grados / alessandros? It's not a grado driver, right? I seem to like warm tunings as well as Harman curve, am not a fan of the grado sound, but am a fan of the hd6xx and fidelio x2. By Hyland's description of the S2, it should be up my alley, but this thread being filled with grado-heads has me nervous about pulling the trigger
I will give you my take but justhavingfun will be able to add to it.
I migrated to Hyland Headphones because I was experimenting with Grado style drivers like Nhoord, Symphones, etc in Grado style cups. I found Alex Hyland on Etsy. He was selling wood half cups to slide the Grado SR series drivers in. After I tried his half cups and heard the effect of his tuning with the half cups I kept an eye on his Etsy store. The half cups produced better bass, soundstage and less harsh detail.
When the Saturn One came out and was followed by the Saturn Two and Jupiter One, I have become an advocate for Alex's craftsmanship and driver tuning.
Yes there are Grado heads in the Hyland ownership group. But most of us are ex Grado heads or Grados are less of our collection now. About the only thing that a Hyland headphone has in common, imo, is the lightness of the headphone and the ear cushions. The Jupiter One dispenses with the Grado style cushions and allows you to roll different cushions to suit your listening taste.
There is a spot open on the Jupiter One tour. If you would like to try before you buy, send me a pm.
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