Hey, this is Drew Baird at Moon Audio. In front of me you'll see some of the more
popular IEMs from JH Audio. We get questions all the time about what the
sound signatures are, what are the differences, customs versus universal, so
I thought I'd give a nice brief overview of the more popular models. Starting with
the JH3X, the JH13v2 Pro, the JH16v2 Pro, the Lola, the Roxanne, and the Layla.
I'm also going to talk a little bit about the Angie, which I don't have here.
I've got the Lolas around my neck here. These are one of my favorites from JH
Audio, and I'll talk about that in a few minutes, but let's start at the least
expensive model: the JH3X. So this is a three-driver, balanced armature design.
3-way crossover, one for the high, one for the mid, one for the low. It's a very fun
sounding IEM. These are not available in a universal model, only a customs. It's
really the best way and the most economical way to get into custom IEMs.
I've gotten all my kids in my house this pair. You know, they use them
for working out, you can sweat all over them, they're made of acrylic. Just wipe
them off afterwards with alcoholic wipes to clean them off, and it's really easy
to take care of them that way when they're customs. The next model up the line
that's one of my all-time favorites is the JH13v2 Pro. So this has a 6
driver array - 2 for the high, 2 for the mid, 2 for the low. I've owned just about
every iteration of the 13 that's come out. It's sort of my go-to model. It's
very natural, very smooth from top to bottom.
It's a forgiving IEM, very linear frequency response. It's not really
tipped up on the top or bottom. It's really great for all types of music. I've
used it mostly with Jazz, Americana, things that have lots of strings. You can
really pick up on the plucking of the stringed instruments with these. I
recommend these to mastering Studios all the time for a very clean, uncolored
sounding IEM - a catch-all IEM, if you will. Then the next model up the line we
go to is the 16v2 Pro. So this is a three-way crossover again.
Four drivers on the high frequencies, two on the mid, four on the low.
Obviously, based on this you can tell it is a v-shaped curved frequency response, a
very fun sound. I usually recommend this IEM to people that listen to R&B, Rap,
maybe EDM. Like I said, a very fun sound. Next up the line and one of the newer
IEMs from JH Audio is the Lola. And this is one of my sort of favorites in the
whole lineup because it's a hybrid design that Jerry came up with. Here he's
using, once again, a three-way crossover: four on the high (and these are balanced
armature drivers), two on the low (balanced armature drivers), and he's done something
different on the mids. He's done a bandpass design similar to what's used
with subwoofers where you have two opposite, opposing facing drivers and
he's used to dynamic drivers in the mids. Normally with IEMs you'll see
the dynamics on the low drivers because that's where you can get a lot of bass,
but he used them in a different configuration, using them for the mids,
which provides a much warmer tonality to my ears with this IEM. It's a very
musical, very smooth - I wouldn't say lush and liquid like a tube amp, but out of
the JH lineup it's probably the warmest of the IEMs, and really my favorite
because I listen to a lot of Jazz and Americana.
That matched up with the detail of, say, a Chord Mojo or Chord Hugo - the
combination is just delicious. Then the next one up the line is the Roxanne, and
this has probably been one of the best sellers of all the IEMs from JH Audio, at
least with Moon Audio. This again, 3-way crossover: four high, four mid, four low. This
is a little bit of a V-shape like the 16 but it's got a more aggressive sound
to it. It was tuned and designed for rock and roll in mind. If you listen to metal,
rock, heavy blues, this is the IEM for you. It's got a very aggressive, fun, rock
and roll sound. Great kick drums, great details on the top for the guitars,
fantastic IEM. Now let's talk about the top of the line, the Layla.
So the Layla is using, again, a three-point crossover: four on the high, four
mid, four on the low. This is what we call a reference, audiophile sounding IEM.
Very detailed, very clean, very resolute, much more than the JH13.
It's still uncolored but I will say that it's on the analytical side.
I recommend the 13s and the Laylas to mastering Studios depending on
the mix that they're working on. You know, if they're doing a lot of different
genres the linearity of the 13 makes more sense, but if they're really getting
into the nooks and crannies, the nuances of the recording where they have to have
the cleanest and the most analytical sound, the Laylas are fantastic. And this
is the one that audiophiles gravitate to. If you can't afford the price tag of the
Layla, there's the Angie. The Angie uses the same drivers as the Layla, but
we're using four on the high but in the mids and lows we're only using two
drivers. This gets the cost down and makes it more affordable, so it's sort of
the poor man's Layla, if you will. Fantastic IEM, still not cheap but
in comparison to the Layla, if you really want that audiophile sound but
you can't afford the Layla, the Angie would be the way to go. Now a lot of
these IEMs are available in both Universal and Custom. The difference
between universal and custom really is fit. You know if you do a custom you're
gonna go to an audiologist, they're gonna shoot an ear impression where it
perfectly molds to your ear. The bad news about that is you can't share that IEM
with anyone, it only fits in your ear. But the bottom line is it is the most
comfortable, I can wear them for great lengths of time, I forget about it, don't
even know it's in my ears. The problem with universals, especially
with me, I can't handle the pressure of the tips of my ears. The key to
getting the right seal, fit and finish, with Universal IEMs is you gotta find
the tip that's right for you. So if the manufacturer provides a bunch of tips
and those don't work for you, don't throw the IEM in the trash or return it.
I would suggest going online, there are a million different companies
that sell tips. A couple are SpinFit, ComplyFoam.com - go check out these
websites, buy a bunch of tips. They're very inexpensive. Find the right ones
that fit for you. There's foam, there's polyethylene, all kinds of different
materials and the key to a universal IEM is finding the right tip that fits your
ears. The bad news about some of the tips, especially like the foam ones, is they
get very dirty very easily with build-up from wax. You have to constantly throw
them out, you can't easily clean them. Some of the other ones that are
polyethylene, like from SpinFit, you can clean off with an alcoholic wipe
but over time they start to lose their shape and form, and so you have to buy
some new ones. But that's why I like customs - no muss, no fuss, fits your ear
perfectly. But if you're the type of person that wants to have
twenty different IEMs, you want to buy some, sell some, trade, etc.
then universals are definitely for you. Now with the JH Audio IEMs we've
developed a couple of different connection options for the different
models. The original JHs, way back in the past, were all 2-pin. They still have
a few two-pin models left in-house, like the 3x has the 2 pin, the 10. You can
get the option to add the 4-pin connection, which is now standard on the
13 and above, and we recommend different cables depending on the different genres
of music you listen to, the different sources you're using, to sort of improve
and balance out the sound signature of the IMS for you. A couple of the popular ones
that we go with on some of these models: The Layla, usually that person that wants all
that analytics, they usually go with our Silver Dragon version 2 IEM. The Roxanne
is almost always the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon is a very heavily plated
silver over copper conductor strands. This gives a little bit of the best of
both worlds, some of the analytics from the Silver Dragon, some of the bass and
fullness from our copper cables. So it's a good, balanced cable and really most
people with the Roxanne and the 16v2 go with the Black Dragon. The Layla,
definitely recommend the Silver Dragon. The warm balance of the Layla teamed up
with a Silver Dragon and a really good, detailed headphone amp DAC will just
provide incredible musicality and detail at the same time. I talked about the JH
16, same thing as the Rockanne, most people go with the Black Dragon. The
JH13, because of how neutral and natural it is, really you can go either way. You can
go with the Black Dragon or the Silver Dragon. I'm a detail
freak, so I'm always gonna use Silver, so that's my pick for that one. And then
again, the JH3X is so versatile, it's a fun-sounding IEM, you can go either way.
For that one we're using the version 1 cable because that's a dedicated two-pin
connection. Like I said, you can get the 4 pin but it may not be cost-effective on
the entry-level model because it does cost more money. So that one
you can go either way, with either the Silver Dragon V1 IEM Cable or the
Black Dragon V1 IEM, depending on whether you want to add a little more
bass or a little more analytics. So that's a broad overview of the JH Audio
IEMs. We're gonna put a link that gets into the nitty-gritty of all the drivers,
the coloration of each one, sound signatures, recommended cables,
so check that out. I hope you've enjoyed.