[ALRAINBOW]

good morning
 
i have both of these and they are different for sure. also the jh combo i have is freq phase as well. 
bass JH power-full fast but detail is given to the pp6. this observation is with bass boost off, if on the bass for the jh is vastly more power full.
mids about the same both being very detailed, but to me the pp6 has a overall better music presentation.
treble again about the same but pp6 having more musicality.
what i mean other than the bass, the pp6 is more overall detailed all the music as a hole , where jh gives highlights as if you were in the studio with the band but there seems to be a symbol crash or guitar riff that just sounds like it is missing something as compared to the pp6. one more thought the pp6 can only be used with the dac/amp combo as the adapter was not available when i received them.
if driven with an external amp/dac of good quality the jh 16 is more closer to the pp6, i know this may not seem right as the jh3a and jh16 come packaged but it is what i hear. another comparison can be made with the the tg 334 this is more closer to the jh than the pp6, as the tg334 is more of a studio master sound than a audiophile listening device . 
just my observations and please excuse the grammar and lack of terms.
 
this is doing an A/B test same song same track both using coax input flac files .

 

[legokangpalla]

Since some of your messaged me saying you cannot view the full impression of my review, here is the excel file:
 
 
 
 

 

[yjkimnada]

Hi
 
I currently have a JH-3a feeding off of a halide bridge usb to spdif converter with flac files from my macbook to jh3a jh16 WITH freqphase. I mainly listen to modern electronic music, dance music, edm, house, dubstep, trance, pop, etc. I do listen to some classical but mostly electronic music with heavy and fast bass. Will it be wise to go get the pp6, or should I stick with the jh3a and save about 2 grand? On my JH3a I usually turn up the bass knob quite a bit, not max, but still a substantial amount since Im a basshead. I seek bass performance and energy and fun over transparency and resolution. Thanks
 
btw: is it possible to have just the pp6 earpieces for portable use? For my jh3a, I listen with the ampdac and computer at home but when I leave for school, I just take iphone and earpiece since there is the converter. Is there a converter for the pp6?

 

[ALRAINBOW]

You will be able to use the pp6 without the dac/ amp but as of now they do not have the cable adaptor availible. I hope soon though as for your type listening I don't think the pp6 is for you.  Although I do listen to music like that as well I do not think you would be satisfied with the bass as it is very detailed but not massive 
i do think you should consider the heir 8a though it can handle that kind of impact and does not come with an amp. Also the halide USB to spidif does work well I have one to. Just because Jerry has one of course. Do you feel the bass is more detailed without the jh3 a with a good amp ??

 

[yjkimnada]

The heir 8a had too much of a mid- spectrum emphasis. Its bass although powerful was more for acoustic and orchestra. It had good soundstage and sweeping sound but modern music does not seem to fit that category. So do you think the jh3a bass would be more fitting for impact than pp6 bass?
 
In the past I have always went for the iems with the best bass response since im am kind of a basshead. Initially, I debated between the jh16 and wan xuan dynamic. Although the wan xuan dynamic had better quantity, the jh16's impact, speed, and quick decay seemd best to fit to my music and tastes where all my music is fast and energy-filled. Then of the multiple amps I tried, the pico slim seemed to most improve the bass performance compared to the arrowhead, and other amps. Then came the jh3a, which dropped the bomb on any other iem-amp combo I heard in terms of raw bass power and energy and "fun." The bass is indeed more detailed on the jh16 iem with the jh3a amp or a good amp. But I feel no other portable amp can change the bass feel as well as the jh3a.
 
p.s. sucks that there is no adaptor. that really reallly really sucks

 

[ALRAINBOW]

Yes it does, but it still has it coming sooooon on the website.  I think your dead on with the 8a though. What about a hybrid um has one. Buy I guess when it comes to speed the ba s seem to win though. 

 

[MuppetFace]

Too bad you don't live in a country with a local Jaben store. Otherwise I'd suggest getting the FitEar 335DW (the DW standing for "double woofer"). Bass is supposedly fantastic on that.
 
As far as UM goes... what about the Merlin?

 

[yjkimnada]

damn.. so confusing.....too many iems...
 
I think i will just stay with the jh16-3a combo since the pp6 does not seem to deliver the bass i crave for after some reading.
I agree that having mutliple ba drivers for bass than one dynamic driver for bass since to better fit my tastes.
But thank you for your suggestions. I guess I will be saving 2 grand

 

[ALRAINBOW]

Wait your not done spending yet !!!!!   Headphones lol

 

[edwardsean]

Hi, 
 
Yeah, agree--you're not done spending. None of us ever are. Just when I think I have my ultimate system... you know how that ends.
 
I'm presently running a JH3A with a Halide Bridge too. I have the PP6 demo is well. Just a side note first. I've found the Halide makes a real difference to the sound quality of the JH3A, but feeding the PP6 with the Halide into the coax, vs. a good optical cable into the toslink is negligible. This actually equalizes the costs of the units a bit, because to really get the best performance from the JH3A you have to input into coax. 
 
As for the specific bass questions, the JH3A bass is pretty fantastic hitting all the marks: quantity, detail, texture. It's one of its best features. However, the PP6 has a pretty gorgeous bass itself. I don't really feel like I'm losing that thumping impact--overall--when I switch between the two. I'm traveling right now so I have to wait to get back home to do some final A/B's. There is a definite difference in terms of where they hit in terms of frequency emphasis but I'm not quite confident I would place it accurately by memory. Here is what stands out the most for me. The JH3A bass presence is "always on" even when the bass knob is turned down flat. You can only defeat it by switching it off entirely. Then the lack of bass is pretty dramatic bringing the Jh16 down to Jh13 bass levels. The PP6 is more program responsive. When there is a lot of bass in the track, it reproduces it well. It can hit pretty hard in fact, and sometimes produces more impact on a certain track than the Jh3A, even without engaging the bass boost. So as it stands, the 3A will add bass, and the PP6 will be more faithful to the source material. 
 
In real world use which one you favor depends on what kind of music you listen to and your preferences. For example, music mastered in the 80s has a weak bass response, so you won't get that deep full modern bass from the PP6 on those tracks, because the bass is not there in the source. The 3A will add in bass and give it that deeper/stronger bass response. The PP6 still sounds full in the bass but the 3A will generate more bass, again, when bass is low on the track. So it depends whether you want accurate reproduction or added bass. Judging--solely in the area of bass response--for 80s music I would favor the 3A personally for these reasons. Switching to acoustic music the 3A's added bass can interfere with the pristine clarity and detail you want throughout the frequency spectrum. If you flip the bass to 'off,' you get that clarity (turning it functionally into a Jh13) but personally the sound is bit thin. The PP6 is more full in the lower registers, when the 3A bass switch is disengaged.
 
The next wrinkle in all of this are the relative bass controls. The JH3A's bass boost is a marvel. It's one of the best implementations of its kind as it is able to add the lower registers with a minimum of phase anomalies and interference of other frequencies. Also, it's a knob so it's eminently adjustable. The PP6 unfortunately does not do nearly so well. It only has two stages of boost. The boost also is a bit "ham-fisted" for me, lacking the natural nuance of the 3A bass boost. All of a sudden there is just a whole lot more of the lower registers that covers too wide a Q in my opinion. It adds bass quantity without qualitatively fitting the frequency curve organically to the music. Having said that, except for experimentation, I leave the PP6 bass boost alone, and when I do, I find the bass in the PP6 to be quite strong and extremely well textured and detailed. So, much so that I can't actually agree with those who say that the PP6 doesn't fit rock, electronic, or "fun" genres as well as the 3A. I actually like the PP6 for rock, pop, electronica, etc, and appreciate the 3A for acoustic and jazz, even with the 3A bass switch on, for the following reason.
 
Let me say that the PP6 sounds more "analog." I know that's almost a useless descriptor. But I mean that it has thicker, richer mids than the 3A and is, in that way, more euphonic (I successfully avoided saying "musical" and replaced it with a word that basically means "sounds good"). And as I said, it's quite full throughout the frequency spectrum, so the bass is not weak, and when the source pounds the PP6 responds. By the same token, the PP6 can get thick to the point of muddy/hazy. There's also a peak somewhere near 8K? that can get a bit strident and distorted. The 3A on the converse, can get thin and analytical, however, it isn't sterile. The 3A has a transparency and clarity that the PP6 lacks. So contrary to the thinking of others, in terms of tonality and voicing, I quite like the PP6 for "fun" genres and the JH3A for "serious" genres.
 
However, another critical area I'll touch on is the soundstaging. Both could be considered airy and spacious. However, they are significantly different in terms of presentation. They both follow their "house sound." The 3A like other JH products is more intimate and gives you the sense of a studio space, the PP6 tends to scale larger. As for aspects of separation, imaging accuracy, and dimension, I'll save for a future post along with other observations when I'm not pulling from memory. 
 
Didn't mean to go on this long but I knew there was some curiosity out there about how the two units compared. I hope something in there might be helpful. I should add that I only have a universal demo of the PP6 and a custom mold for the JH3A-16s. 
 
Best Regards, 
 
Edward

 

[ABRockWell]

Quote:

good morning
 
i have both of these and they are different for sure. also the jh combo i have is freq phase as well. 
bass JH power-full fast but detail is given to the pp6. this observation is with bass boost off, if on the bass for the jh is vastly more power full.
mids about the same both being very detailed, but to me the pp6 has a overall better music presentation.
treble again about the same but pp6 having more musicality.
what i mean other than the bass, the pp6 is more overall detailed all the music as a hole , where jh gives highlights as if you were in the studio with the band but there seems to be a symbol crash or guitar riff that just sounds like it is missing something as compared to the pp6. one more thought the pp6 can only be used with the dac/amp combo as the adapter was not available when i received them.
if driven with an external amp/dac of good quality the jh 16 is more closer to the pp6, i know this may not seem right as the jh3a and jh16 come packaged but it is what i hear. another comparison can be made with the the tg 334 this is more closer to the jh than the pp6, as the tg334 is more of a studio master sound than a audiophile listening device . 
just my observations and please excuse the grammar and lack of terms.
 
this is doing an A/B test same song same track both using coax input flac files .

Thanks for your impression of the PP6 and JH-3A. Impressions for the JH-3A are scarce and are over a year or more old and the PP6 is relatively new and very pricey so I understand reviews also being scarce for the unit. Just wondering what your preferred sound signature is and which of the two units your prefer the most. Thanks!

 

[ABRockWell]

Thanks for your impressions on the PP6 and JH-3A Edward, simply awesome! I am currently considering one of the two. After reading your impression I'm leaning more towards the PP6.

 

[ALRAINBOW]

Very well stated and i agree with all that you said. I have a question to pose have you heard the tg-334 and if so what do you think of them??

 

[edwardsean]

Hi, 
 
I'm not sure if the question was for me, but I haven't heard the TG-334. I've been really impressed with the comments. But, for what it's worth Steve Guttenberg's CNET article comparing the TG334 and the 3A is somewhat misleading. He concluded that the TG334 was clearly better in terms of nearly all SQ metrics. However, the 334 was being fed from an CLAS + ALO MKIII combo and the 3A was sourced by an iPod through its analog input. Not at all an apples to apples comparison. 

 

[ALRAINBOW]

yes the question was for you. and yes Steve is full if you know what i mean . Somewhere in his article he says the best in the world or some thing like that.
But i do own them and i have to say what he says is true as far as SQ. They put you in the studio with the instruments. They are clearly for a sound engineer . However i like that sound some times if i am in the mood to listen for sounds i never heard  before in a recording.They are extremely revealing. They are also easy to drive and sound pretty good right out of a iphone 4s or 5 but to achieve something really special then you need the good stuff. 
I have a pair of heir 4AI . and the 8A. they are very good, but not as detailed , i guess its the upper mids and treble being more forward.
but even the bass is very detailed, I'm tempted to get custom version but i do not know anyone in japan..