chynakym

Thanks meeting up last evening. Works great and sounds great. Only problem is the adaptor....my fear is to lose it and that will be the end of using it for anything...heheheheh. Dunno if anyone has a spare one for sale?

Are you refering to Pico mp3 player?

Oooops....just realise I have less than 50 post! Mod delete if this contravene with your policy. I don't need to be warned...heheheh.

Got my hands on the new ATH-ANC3 noise cancelling earbuds recently. I have too many IEM and would like to swap with the ATH-ANC7. Please note mine is brand new and won it at Audio Technica's anniversary celebration three weeks ago. Never open and probably you will be the first in Singapore to try it as it is not release yet. Sms to 918-3-46-48.

Not excessive use...more like listening at too loud a level. Ever experience hearing what someone is listening to in an mrt as it is travelling underground even though he or she is a couple of seats away? That is too loud and will cause hearing loss over a period of time.

Nice article...heheheheh.

If you read my article...I have an UM1 that was used to compare with the JVC. And I state in no way the JVC is better than that. Do take another read. Please also do not assume I am not in possession of what you consider as a high end headphone or speakers. To satisfy your curiousity, I am still in possession of a Stax SR-5 bought brand new when it first came out and an Audio Technica ATH-2 as well. Have you even hear of the ATH-2? Please do not assume I have nothing for I have been listing to music playing through the Linn Sondek LP12, Macintosh and Magnaplanar long before you were aware of them. Have you worked in studios with Qwested and KRK monitors? And yes, since you like comparing.....will you be able to eat humble pie if I bring you to an associate with a $750k setup? A lot better than your friend's setup I am sure if you are comparing how great a system sounds with how much money that was plonked down. Last but not least, yes I was baiting you and you were silly enough to fall for it. I wanted to rile you since you have proven, to not have any form of manners when responding to people whom you don't even know personally or their background...the way you have judged me is truly juvenile and let's turn the table over and put you in my position....is that how you would like someone to respond to you? Rameish....its up to you to decide if you want to lock this thread up. I have nothing more to comment and will no longer respond to any rude posting from someone who cannot even respond decently. Oh...I know it is hard for you to accept but one day Papaya86, you will also grow old and you will be where I am too. I hope you'll still have fun being an audiophile.

Hi Papaya86....I am glad that there are so many of people like you around that are passionate in your hobbies. I am really not irritated by what you are saying as everyone is entitled to their opinion but sadly, the more you write the more you show how ignorant you really are. And to quote your words..."Not trying to be mean, but i dont think you can deny that." I have been checking my article and failed to find anything written that is a personal attack on you and your rights to listen to whatever you want? You mean the sharing of my fondness for a 31.90 earphones is a crime? Have you bought any Koss or the OVC? Perhaps more readers should comment if I have been harsh in my article in whatever manner or form. In anycase, I rest my case and you can carry on ranting if you like.

Here are more info to stir up the hornet's nest.... Ten_Biggest_Lies_in_Audio.pdf

Don't think they are selling anymore. I got them from Popular.

You can try but I have a problem with silicon gel.....it takes too long a time to set and you need to have a mold to maintain the shape in place as it is curing.

Not in my case but you may need to shape it to suit your ears.

Papaya86...thank you for your opinion. I must apologise for my ignorance. I have only been a sound engineer for the last 30 years. Design recording studios, TV and radio stations for last 10 years. Taught audio engineering with an international college for 5 years and write for an international broadcast magazine for 2 years plus training major broadcasters in South East Asia on their equipment and recording environment. My humblest apologies for writing something that I have no knowledge of. And I will remain quiet from now on.

I seconded that

If it fits your requirement, invest in it.

But you'll have a sense of fulfilment if you made it yourself.

There may be some passive version that could be cheaper as there is no amplification. I really have no idea of the cost. The pro version is around 1k.

There is a shop that sells mixer and stuff in SLS. You should be able to get it from there.

The product is called an audio distribution amplifier. What it does is split a single source to a number of outputs. To maintain the same output level for all outputs, you will need some form or amplification and also not to provide a load to your signal source.

You are looking at a distribution amplifier. Plenty of them running around at SLS.

This review took a while to finish but now that it is finished, I am happy to share my views to those who care to read. I am referring here to the JVC Marshmallow HA-FX33B. Who would have believed an earphone that cost a paltry $31.90 would exhibit characteristics that rivals and in some cases bettered more costlier version. You may not believed it but the JVC Marshmallow is a rare gem and truly a piece of art! A rare find in a market filled with too many IEMs that does not justify their price tag. The Marshmallow comes with a stated frequency response of 8Hz at the lower end of the scale to 23kHz for the upper end, truly an engineering marvel if it is true when compared to the UM-1, whom rate itself a conservative 40Hz - 16kHz. Would be interesting to note if the engineers at JVC is measuring them by the same standard as those from Westone but that is digressing too much and takes away the focus of this mini review. So what is the focus? The technical capabilities of the IEM or how it sounds? In this review, I have chosen to focus on the later and will skip useless comments on how airy the highs or how silky smooth the bass is. These are not the way sound is described in the professional arena as the ultimate goal of a sound engineer is to capture a performance and translate that to the listener. Of course there are some technicalities to observe but none that the audiophile subscribed to. Music is meant to be enjoyed and not dissected into pieces. With the audiophiles, too many emphasis were placed on meaningless pursuit for clarity, details, separation and soundstage without understanding what they truly meant. The term "Soundstage" is a good example. How many of the listeners are actually present during the mixdown of a particular song to be able to state categorically the soundstage is narrower or wider than what was mixed? Your comparison is only benchmarked on what you are referencing it to i.e. this headphone seemed to have a wider soundstage than the other. In reality, no one can tell unless you are the mixing engineer and even he, will forget as that is not the only song he'll mixed! So if you experienced a wider soundstage upon changing some component in your listening path, you are only experiencing phasing problems. The more out-of-phase the signal is, the more the illusion of width in your audio program. Not only that, soundstage varies with different genre of music as well as between CDs too. Another misused word is "Flat". Audiophiles seem to adore wearing that word as a badge to separate themselves from the ignorant, proudly proclaiming to everyone within earshot that he listens to music flat. What is flat? Ideally it means that you do not tweak your signal source with equalisation and listening to the source as close as possible to the way it's been recorded or mixed in the studios. That is the ideal situation but in reality this does not hold true. Why? Firstly, no two ear's frequency responses are the same...go have your ear's checked with an audiologist and have your responses plotted and check it with your friend's. For that matter, compare the difference between your own ears. Secondly, the home equipment used to play out the music are not identical to those used in the studio. So what you are listening to is definately going to be different from how it originally was mixed. Lastly, your listening environment is vastly different from the recording or mixing studio. The room in which the music is mixed or recorded is designed by acoustician and specially treated for a specific decay time with design that will cancel out interaction of sound reflections through absorption and diffraction so as not to confused their ears during the mixing or recording. Our listening environment at home is not even close to their's. Remember, you are also listening to the interaction of the sound with the surroundings, the boundaries of your room, its furniture etc., that impart a certain characteristics when combined with the program you are listening to. So using the word "Flat" is meaningless. Even the recording and mixing engineer uses equalisation to get what they want. If everything is truly flat, it will mean all phones will sound the same since everyone have the same frequency response. The fact that you can hear the differences between phones is affirmation that it is not flat. And another thing, ever heard of "Equal Loudness Contours"? Also known as Fletcher Munson curves, it basically states that the ears do not hear all frequencies of sound at the same level. That is, our ears are more sensitive to some frequencies and less sensitive to other frequencies at lower level of volume. Why is all of this so important? Simply put, our ears are sensitive to the mid frequencies from 1kHz to around 4kHz and to a lesser extent the lower bass frequencies and upper high frequencies. That is the reason why when you lower your listening volume, the lower bass frequencies and upper high frequencies seemed to have disappeared. On the contrary, the frequencies are still present in the program but our ears cannot pick them out because of this deficiency. It is for that very same reason why some integrated amplifiers came with the "Loudness" button, specifically to compensate for the way our ears worked when listening at a lower volume. We can go on and on about the misinformation spread by the uninitiated to the uninformed but for this review, let's forget about the technicalities and focus on what is the primarily purpose of music recording....the enjoyment of a performance. The Marshmallow, so named is probably due to the foam tip as it does resembled the marshmallow in feel and texture. I chose the black coloured version as the pink variety would probably identified me as someone with an exotic preference not of the heterosexual kind. The packaging is nothing to crow about and came with an extra pair of foam tips as replacement when required. I noticed though that the stock foam tip looks exactly like those that came with Koss "The Plug" and "Sparkplug". The chief difference is that it expand slower than those from Koss, thus making it easier to insert. Trying to get the Koss foamies into your ears before it inflate is almost a futile effort! I've never tried using the stock foamies as upon ripping the packaging to shreds, I made my own mod using earplugs from Boots with quad flanges. The seal from this mod is much better than any that I have tried so far. It also allow me to enjoy my music without distractions plus it looked way cool too. For those keen on getting them, I can only find them in Thailand from Boots! For approximately $10 Singapore dollars, you get two pairs...one adult and one child size with a hole running through it. You can push out the ceramic plug that provides the noise reduction seal and cut the length to suit your preference. Pretty spiffy once it is mod. So how does it sound? Bloody good if I do say so! There are still however, a few more modifications required to tame the leaks and bottom frequencies. So what I did was get my hand on some fast setting epoxy that you can knead. I sealed both the front vent and also the rear port so as to ensure that the earphone is properly sealed. It then took me all of 10 mins, waiting for it to set and thereafter shape it to my preference. In less than 30 mins, we are ready for the listening test. What!!! No burning in???? What burning in? The term "burn-in" comes from electronics. Burn-in is a process by which components of a system are exercised prior to being placed in service (and often, prior to the system being completely assembled from those components). The intention is to detect faulty components....an extension of quality control and has nothing to do in changing the characteristics of that particular component. For example, wires are wires...does the "burning in" of the power cable makes it more efficent to conduct electricity resulting in a clearer light from the bulb and tone down the harshness of the glow. What do you think? Outragious? But that is exactly what is claimed by believers that burning in a component will bring out the best in them. I have even read that it will enhance the soundstage, giving more details, silkier bottom and more air between instruments etc! There is even one that claim playing Trance or House music will tighten up flabby bass. Is that truely possible? Think rationally for a moment how accurate can the earphones be if the type of music you listens to can determine the eventual sonic signature of the earphone? What happened if you changed taste? Do you throw that costly earphones away because your taste have changed? Also, what if the bass is recorded flabby in the first place? Think about it. Oh, did I forget to tell you that a dynamic moving coil microphone works in the same principle as the loudspeaker or earphone drivers? If what was claimed earlier was true, imagine finishing a vocal recording and having the vocalist returning a few days later for overdubs with the microphone have that so called burned-in characteristics after a few days of use, the overdubs will have a totally different sonic signature from the initial recording. Imagine the horror of trying to blend the two recordings together. Getting back to the review, I believe the engineers at JVC have designed the Marshmallow for low volume listening. If you had not skipped my point on how your ears work, you will understand that our ears will have a problem making out the low bass frequencies and upper high frequencies when the volume is low. The Marshmallow nicely compensates for that deficiency. All the complaint about how bloated the earphone sounds is because they are not being listen to at the correct level. Bring the volume down and start enjoying your music. Stop wasting time listening to technicalities as that takes away the joy in music. Music preferences is also very subjective where there is no right or wrong in listening. If you liked how your stock earphone sounds, then enjoy it rather than get bitten with the upgrade bug that benefits no one excepts the pockets of the manufacturers who are literally laughing their way to the bank at your expense. Earphones that cost over $100 may not sound better than those that are priced more reasonable. As no two ears are the same, if you feel your latest $1000 investment is the best acquisition you've ever made in your quest for audio nirvana, who is there to say that you are wrong. Just enjoy your music. For comparison, I have the Westone UM-1 so that we can have a reference point to benchmark and I think there are already many that are familiar with how it sounded. I won't even bother to bring out the Koss version of IEM, "The Plug" and "Sparkplug" as their sonic signature really paled in comparison with the Marshmallow and at $35 after discount from Hung Bros, they are not a good buy at all. "Sparkplug" fared the worst with an emphasis at the lower mids that made it almost impossible to listened too. It is probably what the audiophile will term as a "honk", making everything you listened to, sound rather nasal. "The Plug" is surprisingly listenable but you'll have to perform some mod to get it sounding that way. Do a google and you will probably find out how. The source is from my Creative Touch without any amplification playing an assortment of music that I have a preference for....practically everything under the sun with the exception for house, trance and trash metal. Songs are ripped to mp3 format in a variety of resolution from 128 to 320 kbps plus the odd wma and wav files. Fit: I just loved my UM-1 fit. Very comfortable and seals out pretty much the outside world. I have used it in the plane and it really gives a new meaning to "quiet Comfort" to borrow that phrase from a well known audio manufacturer...nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more. The MarshMallow is fared just as good in this area after all the ports were sealed and the plugs were pretty comfortable but it takes getting used to. Sonic impression: First off, the UM-1 is a little more sensitive than the Marshmallow. Loud level - You must be kidding! I never listen to anything at that level! You should learn to protect your ears lest in a couple of years time you will realised that you are slowly losing your hearing. Mid level - Now, here is where it becomes interesting. There seemed to be a roll off in the upper highs, the mids is pretty ok and the bass is tight. Overall, not too bad. Low level - Surprise, surprise...the bass is still there and mids more prominent but not that much to be irritating. Highs are still missing. Now for the Marshmallow. Loud level - See above. Again I cannot stress the importance of listening at a moderate level and protect your valuable asset...your ears. Mid level - The UM-1 is clearer in the mids but the Marshmallow has better bottom and a slightly accentuated highs. If the mids were to be of the same quality as the UM-1, I'd dare say it will sound better than the UM-1. As it is, the vocal out of the Marshmallow sounds muffled. Without a reference and on its own, the vocal is rather pleasant. Low level - This is where the Marshmallow shines. A nice sheen to the highs, again a great bottom and pretty nice sounding mids. Sounds fuller than the UM-1. In conclusion, the Marshmallow is not the UM-1 and vice versa. The UM-1 is a nice sounding IEM and the Marshmallow has some way to go to achieve that quality. That being said, the Marshmallow is extremely cost efficient, less than the Sony Ex series or even the Panasonics for that matter. Seriously, you will be hard pressed to find something that sounds as good as the Marshmallow at that price. It does not have the snob appeal of the higher end IEM but who cares, I like the sound. For the readers...I am using the Marshmallow as my primary listening IEM to tweak the sound of 12 radio stations at current count and I have no complaints thus far from my clients. In the word of Corey Greenberg from Stereophile,"The harder you listen, the less you hear" and if it's of any interest...I leave you with another Corey Greenberg quote,"If I couldn't get off to the music, I didn't care how good it sounded". So if your $200,000 top of the line, no horse run system gets you off then great...my $31.90 Marshmallow gives me the same fuzzy feeling too. Oh, I got myself a second pair as well. Ciao. Subnote: Corey Greenberg - http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/792awsi/

Here is a mod that I've carried out on a very under-rated IEM currently unavailable in Singapore. Anyone wish to guess which make is it? Full review to come shortly. [attachmentid=3859]

Looking for a Zen Micro with faulty drive. If you have one, let me know the condition and how much you wanna sell it for. Thanks. sms to 9183_4648

Ermmmm.are you still selling?