[cooperpwc]

Actually I don't think anyone was mentioning the concept of superiority. I was curious about the camps.

 

[odigg]

Quote:

Has there been anyone on head-fi who has heard both and liked the jh13 better?

 
There were a number of people at Canjam who preferred the JH13.  These are Head-Fiers who are probably not reading this thread.  Despite the other differences, it can really just boil down to how much bass quantity you want.
 
All the people who liked the JH13 better were people who were used to headphones like the Denons and the other JH stuff.  It seemed like the people who liked the ES5 better were people who were used to headphones like the HD800, ER4, Audeo PFE, etc.
 
I'm used (I almost exclusively listen to it) to the Audeo PFE and so the JH13 seemed quite bassy in comparison.  If I had been listening exclusively to my Denons for a while before CanJam I'm quite confident I would have preferred the JH13 and thought the ES5 was anemic sounding in the bass range.
 
I don't think it's a fight over which one is technically better.  It's really just about what kind of sound you are looking for and the type of music you prefer.

 

[Onza]

Quote:

 
There were a number of people at Canjam who preferred the JH13.  These are Head-Fiers who are probably not reading this thread.  Despite the other differences, it can really just boil down to how much bass quantity you want.
 
All the people who liked the JH13 better were people who were used to headphones like the Denons and the other JH stuff.  It seemed like the people who liked the ES5 better were people who were used to headphones like the HD800, ER4, Audeo PFE, etc.
 
I'm used (I almost exclusively listen to it) to the Audeo PFE and so the JH13 seemed quite bassy in comparison.  If I had been listening exclusively to my Denons for a while before CanJam I'm quite confident I would have preferred the JH13 and thought the ES5 was anemic sounding in the bass range.
 
I don't think it's a fight over which one is technically better.  It's really just about what kind of sound you are looking for and the type of music you prefer.

This a useful post and says more to me about the comparison of the JH13 and the ES5 than I've seen in other comments. 

 

[daveDerek]

i was at canjam and my take on my custom jh13 vs the universal es5 (since i haven't (yet) gotten a custom es5) was that the jh is a more neutral sounding device. yes, the jha has a deliberate low bass bump and this is to make up for the the fact that we normally sense very low bass with more than just our eardrums, but this is removed from the equation when the sounds are pumped directly to our eardrums. the jh piece has a very natural sound to it and doesn't sound bass heavy or bloated. it sounds as there is no particular emphasis anywhere in the spectrum and comes off as very balanced. in some ways it's kind of subtle and the amount of information coming through sort of sneaks into your consciousness. replacing the cables with a balanced twag cable and running it from a protector amp fleshes things out even more. there are many reports about it's sound characteristics in the jh13 thread with a handy link in post #1 that neatly points to a list of linked impression posts (http://www.head-fi.org/forums/5911775-post3001.html). the es5 was very engaging, but like some other westone products i've heard, there was somewhat of a midcentric focus sonically that pleasantly highlighted instruments such as vocals and guitars. this lends it a certain clarity. it did not sound anemic. like i said, i'd love to get my hands on the es5 and be able to do a custom to custom assessment myself.

 

[ericp10]

Well, I still plan on getting the ES5 at this point, but I think I will be reviewing the 1964 custom quads before I get my hands on the ES5. Details to come later. If these quads perform the way I think they will, I have a feeling that customs companies will have a strong competitor going up against the 1964 company. We'll see (hear) soon enough.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kunlun /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Has there been anyone on head-fi who has heard both and liked the jh13 better?

I have not seen that yet.  Always different strokes for different folks though.

 

[Kunlun]

Quote:

 
There were a number of people at Canjam who preferred the JH13.  These are Head-Fiers who are probably not reading this thread.  Despite the other differences, it can really just boil down to how much bass quantity you want.
 
All the people who liked the JH13 better were people who were used to headphones like the Denons and the other JH stuff.  It seemed like the people who liked the ES5 better were people who were used to headphones like the HD800, ER4, Audeo PFE, etc.
 
I'm used (I almost exclusively listen to it) to the Audeo PFE and so the JH13 seemed quite bassy in comparison.  If I had been listening exclusively to my Denons for a while before CanJam I'm quite confident I would have preferred the JH13 and thought the ES5 was anemic sounding in the bass range.
 
I don't think it's a fight over which one is technically better.  It's really just about what kind of sound you are looking for and the type of music you prefer.

 
Quote:

This a useful post

 x2

 

[animalsrush]

Es5 Journey Part 3: Strange thing with Westone on how they advise their dealers. I went to an audiologists recommended on their site in IL . After the impressions were taken instead of shipping them directly to Colorado, they shipped it to the Michigan office ( Which i think Westone recommends for all Midwest) which in turn shipped them to Colorado. So i lost couple of days. The impressions are now with Kyle at Westone who btw is the nicest guy to work with. He is patient and answers all questions you have. Also based on Cooperpwc excellent recommendations placed an order some accessories like Monitor saver and Individual wipes. They will ship all together so i can save some shipping charges

 

[Wildcard30]

I got mine from an Audiologist in Lake Geneva and she shipped directly to Colorado on Thursday arrived at Westone on Monday shipped to me on Friday.  Just over a week total.

 

[animalsrush]

Hmmm. That is what is interesting. Each audiologist seems to do it differently. Next time i will tell them exactly what to do if i need a refit

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Quote:

there were a bunch of people at canjam (and probably at rmaf too) who either listened to both universals or who own jhas and heard the demo es5s. i fall into the latter camp and was duly impressed with the demo es5 but didn't feel it to be superior to the jh13. i cannot think of anyone offhand other than Larry who has both iems to compare them directly, although i wish i did

.  I'm not sure if Larry thinks the es5 is superior to the jh13, but i am sure he prefers spending the bulk of his iem time listening to the es5. that's not  the same thing. folks, please keep in mind that while HPA (a well earned name!) has a ton of experience and shares it generously and prolifically that doesn't mean that you would come to the same conclusions.

 
Quote:

 
There were a number of people at Canjam who preferred the JH13.  These are Head-Fiers who are probably not reading this thread.  Despite the other differences, it can really just boil down to how much bass quantity you want.
 
All the people who liked the JH13 better were people who were used to headphones like the Denons and the other JH stuff.  It seemed like the people who liked the ES5 better were people who were used to headphones like the HD800, ER4, Audeo PFE, etc.
 
I'm used (I almost exclusively listen to it) to the Audeo PFE and so the JH13 seemed quite bassy in comparison.  If I had been listening exclusively to my Denons for a while before CanJam I'm quite confident I would have preferred the JH13 and thought the ES5 was anemic sounding in the bass range.
 
I don't think it's a fight over which one is technically better.  It's really just about what kind of sound you are looking for and the type of music you prefer.

 
Quote:

i was at canjam and my take on my custom jh13 vs the universal es5 (since i haven't (yet) gotten a custom es5) was that the jh is a more neutral sounding device. yes, the jha has a deliberate low bass bump and this is to make up for the the fact that we normally sense very low bass with more than just our eardrums, but this is removed from the equation when the sounds are pumped directly to our eardrums. the jh piece has a very natural sound to it and doesn't sound bass heavy or bloated. it sounds as there is no particular emphasis anywhere in the spectrum and comes off as very balanced. in some ways it's kind of subtle and the amount of information coming through sort of sneaks into your consciousness. replacing the cables with a balanced twag cable and running it from a protector amp fleshes things out even more. there are many reports about it's sound characteristics in the jh13 thread with a handy link in post #1 that neatly points to a list of linked impression posts (http://www.head-fi.org/forums/5911775-post3001.html). the es5 was very engaging, but like some other westone products i've heard, there was somewhat of a midcentric focus sonically that pleasantly highlighted instruments such as vocals and guitars. this lends it a certain clarity. it did not sound anemic. like i said, i'd love to get my hands on the es5 and be able to do a custom to custom assessment myself.

I would like to say that I don't like just one sound signature, or lean towards one and not the other - I like a wide variety, including HD800, LCD-2, HE-5 LE or HD600, HE-60 and O2 Mk1, and LA7000 or SR-Lambda.  Some of those can be very different than others, or more similar than you would think if the source and amp are just right.  Likewise, with the right source and amp my ES5, JH13Pro, ES3X, and UE11Pro sound more similar than different, such as with my Macbook > Apogee mini-DAC > Woo WA6. (that was order of preference there).  With other sources and amps, the gaps widen in some areas and narrow in others.
 
Typically I find that universal fit demos only give you an idea of how the full custom IEM might sound, but it's not close enough to compare two demos and make an accurate assessment of their best and worst qualities and capabilities.  You can say you liked one demo pair more than the other, but you can't definitively review them based on demo alone.  I've been saying this ever since I went to CanJam 09 and heard many demos - my custom UE11Pro and JH13Pro both sound different from the demo pairs at CanJam.  At CanJam I thought the UE11Pro demo sounded a bit better and more balanced than the JH13Pro demo which was bass-lite with a 6K peak in the sibilance region; but in the final products the JH13Pro soundly beat my UE11Pro which has a mid-bass hump that makes it hard to pair with portable gear.  That's a big 180 degree turn there.  
 
When I first heard the ES5 demo I told them that they could give my JH13Pro a run for their money, and while the JH13Pro customs were better than a universal demo ES5, it wouldn't have been fair to pass judgement on the ES5 at that early stage of the game.  The ES5 demo pair was more mids-centric than my final custom fit pair, and I think the final product is noticeably better and will beat the demos without a doubt.  At that first demo I was not willing to state if the ES3X were better or worse than the ES5 demos, because it was fairly close.  Now the final ES5 makes my ES3X sound more mids-centric and I don't enjoy them as much as before the ES5.  The ES3X are great IEM that also beat the UM3X, but the ES5 are even greater.
 
We all hear differently, and I'm sure that once enough people have the ES5 and another custom, that some will prefer the other over the ES5.  Same argument with HD600 vs HD650, Stax O2 Mk1 vs Mk2, HD800 vs T1, etc.  However, I think that the ES5 are the best custom IEM I have heard, but I don't expect everyone to agree with me.  That doesn't make the JH13Pro bad at all, but it just means that I don't get as much enjoyment out of the JH13Pro as I did before I owned the ES5.  
 
Soon I'll get into the details of why I feel the way I do about them.  But cooperpwc is doing a good job of that in the meantime.

 

[3X0]

Quote:

 
There were a number of people at Canjam who preferred the JH13.  These are Head-Fiers who are probably not reading this thread.  Despite the other differences, it can really just boil down to how much bass quantity you want.
 
All the people who liked the JH13 better were people who were used to headphones like the Denons and the other JH stuff.  It seemed like the people who liked the ES5 better were people who were used to headphones like the HD800, ER4, Audeo PFE, etc.
 
I'm used (I almost exclusively listen to it) to the Audeo PFE and so the JH13 seemed quite bassy in comparison.  If I had been listening exclusively to my Denons for a while before CanJam I'm quite confident I would have preferred the JH13 and thought the ES5 was anemic sounding in the bass range.
 
I don't think it's a fight over which one is technically better.  It's really just about what kind of sound you are looking for and the type of music you prefer.

Thanks for this, I appreciate the points of comparison to familiar headphones. I for one am a pretty big fan of the ER4s but also really enjoy the Sennheiser IE 8s (as an example of something completely different). I love my JH13s and didn't end up liking my JH16s as much while I had them. I'm currently at a point of deciding between another pair of 13s with the JH3A DSP or just the ES5s, and it's getting terribly difficult. I'm mainly attracted by the promising fit and comfort results I've been hearing.

 

[RockaRolla]

hi guys, been reading some lastest replies from this thread, and i have decided to get the ES5!
 
gonna get my impression done tomorrow and deliver it to the dealer immediately, man the next 3wks is gonna be excruciating long haha!
 
hmm, any1 have any links to the real colours on the shell, as opposed to the digital colour they put up on their webby? its hard to see how each colour will turn out, have only seen merlot and smoke so far...and also are there different cable colours, or do they only come wif black?
 
sorry if i have too many questions
 
Regards

 

[Kclone]

Hi RockaRolla.  Doesn't your Westone dealer also do impressions?

 

[RockaRolla]

Quote:

Hi RockaRolla.  Doesn't your Westone dealer also do impressions?

i live in Singapore, the only authorised dealer is Thinking Group, and sadly they dont do impressions at all
so we gotta bring it to them, however i must say the price offered by them is pretty good, so no problems there