Something old...something new.....NEW INFO!

[chynakym 0]

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.

 

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Edited August 14, 2007 by chynakym

[chynakym 0]

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/

Edited July 24, 2007 by chynakym

[sghound 0]

bravo on a well written piece.

 

recorded music goes through so much processing done by different people at different stages with different ears. when it finally reaches the consumer, the end-user is still fussy about "colored" or "neutral", it makes them sounds hilarious. everything has color, period. it's whether u like the color or not.

Edited July 24, 2007 by sghound

[Stereo_Electronics 0]

Well said chynakym.

[nofing 0]

Geez that was one heck of a post TS! Congrats on a job well done. Look forward to more of your insights in future.

[papaya86 0]

You're forcing chunks of tasteless meat down people's throats. And no one other than yourself knows how good your ears really are, but one thing i can say, you're pretty nuts forcing your belief down other peoples throats as if its nothing but the truth. Sound is a subjective thing, different people enjoy different kinds of sound, tones, textures etc etc etc. But me to you, in all honesty, get a decent pair of interconnects brand new, give it an initial listen, REMEMBER the tone, texture, grittiness if theres any and come back for another listen some 30-50hours later. You can try it out on tubes as well.

 

"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." Thats ONE main objective. The other is obviously the change in performance of that electronic component.

 

That is what you perceive of "burn in period", not what most head-fi or hifi guys would agree with. I've had experience on brand new equipment sounding much much better after a break in period. You might say its the mind playing tricks on me if i mention changes in those few categories you mentioned - soundstage high end extension etc, but the initial glare/brightness that was so evident and pretty much unbearable toned down after a period of playing. The mind can play tricks on you, but the ears dont lie. There are so many world renowned mastering engineers out there but none of them deny the fact that break-in will change the performance of an electronic component. So why should people trust YOUR ears when they can trust one thats leading the way in the recording industry?

 

"I have even read that it will enhance the soundstage, giving more details, silkier bottom and more air between instruments etc!" What do you mean you even READ. we're talking music here. You use your ears to come to a conclusion, not your eyes on some Tom, d*ck or Harry's comments.

 

"The term "Sound stage" 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?"

 

A wise listener would know the music hes listening to and the environment in which the music was recorded, be it a studio, or in a hall like the carnegie hall. The recording will then have to realistically present the soundstage of that particular venue to the listener. All this will only happen if the recording of the event was done well and that the mastering engineer didnn't screw up the job by leaving his name everywhere in the recording via the eq knobs. It is then up to your pair of ears to come to a verdict whether the recording is being honest to the actual sound of the event.

 

And audiophiles dont adore the word "flat", its "neutral" or "transparent". And thats pretty much a correct way IF you want your music to be presented to you its original, honest form.

 

"The fact that you can hear the differences between phones is affirmation that it is not flat." You dont seem to know what you're talking about. The fact that we can hear differences between phones is that theres a significant difference in tone, texture,color, characteristics etc. Flat is just a term to describe music thats is dead boring with no extended highs or lows, just like a lousy transistor radio. Get your facts right before you shoot your canon.

 

"Simply put, our ears are sensitive to the mid frequencies from 1kHz to around 4kHz" For a person who does not hear differences breaking in of equipment can offer, i would advice you not to play with those numbers. Reminds me of nerds dishing out facts and figures off the books that they memorized. Sound is based on facts and figures, music isn't.

 

"So if your $200,000 top of the line, no horse run system gets you off then great..." You sound awfully sad and sour here. Speaking of which, i do have a close friend who has a system thats of an estimated $400,000 and above here in singapore and i would firmly and proudly tell him, you've got one heck of a great system, instead of trying to lie to myself thinking my own setup gives me the same enjoyment his system delivers.

 

i shall not douse your flames of passion for your 31.90 earphones, but seriously, open your mind, open your ears, and improve your personality or at least the way you put your thoughts across. We're all individuals, we perceive differently. All of the crap ive written is solely based on my humble opinion.

Edited July 27, 2007 by papaya86

[Absolute0 0]

papaya, I'm surprised by the harshness of your tone. You may disagree vehemently with chynakym, but there's really no need to condescend.

 

Not that I question the validity of your comments, but there should be a better way to put it across.

 

Let's keep things civil from now on.

[chynakym 0]

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.

Edited July 28, 2007 by chynakym

[papaya86 0]

Ill try to put it as nicely as i can. Thats your pair of ears. I have mine.

[chynakym 0]

[Stereo_Electronics 0]

Ill try to put it as nicely as i can. Thats your pair of ears. I have mine.

 

If that's the case you didn't had to say things like,

 

"You're forcing chunks of tasteless meat down people's throats. And no one other than yourself knows how good your ears really are, but one thing i can say, you're pretty nuts forcing your belief down other peoples throats as if its nothing but the truth. Sound is a subjective thing, different people enjoy different kinds of sound, tones, textures etc etc etc."

 

Since you agree to the fact that music and sound is subjective, then there is no right or wrong. And if there's anyone "forcing chunks of tasteless meat down people's throat" here, it's definitely not chynakym, there is a difference between sharing and forcing.

 

I personally don't think you can say that the mod $31.90 earphone don't sound good since you haven't even heard it with your ears. Unless you're like the some who believes expensive means good, therefore only mentioning your friend's "$400,00.00" system (which isn't as important as stating what stuff he was using, which I believe is a better way to let us gauge the system's quality.)

Edited July 28, 2007 by Stereo_Electronics

[sghound 0]

i would love to have some of the weed papaya's smoking.

[papaya86 0]

sghound, i'd love to have you rebut my shoot down in a more intelligent way, of whatever the thread starter believed in, given that i see you commented "bravo on a well written piece". You on the other hand, got to stop whatever you're smoking, going downslope on the iq scale.

 

Erm, stereo,

"Since you agree to the fact that music and sound is subjective, then there is no right or wrong."

 

I dont know how well you read into words, but, it was pretty clear to me that the threadstarter voiced out his comments strong and clear, with utmost confidence that he was right and everything that he didnt believe in was wrong. Clearly he wants everyone else to be on his boat.

 

"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"

 

Given this paragraph, one can come to a conclusion on his personality. And also, given my tone and my choice of words, its pretty obvious im aggressive and do not take it lightly when someone shoves his views straight up my ass, moreover one that i feel is utterly wrong. (anything up any ass is wrong, seriously.)

 

He has ONLY been a sound engineer for THIRTY years, to ear train for 30 years and finally come up with those views on sound, on my side, i feel sad for him. But hey, thats his pair of ears.

 

"I personally don't think you can say that the mod $31.90 earphone don't sound good since you haven't even heard it with your ears. Unless you're like the some who believes expensive means good, therefore only mentioning your friend's "$400,00.00" system (which isn't as important as stating what stuff he was using, which I believe is a better way to let us gauge the system's quality.)"

 

Since when did i say the 31.90 earphones sounded good/bad? And did i mention about me ever hearing those phones? How do you know whether i have heard the phones before? You seem to read into something that is non existent.

 

It was just a wake up call to him to open his ears and open his mind and given the coincidence that i do have a friend with a system with a a price tag that falls under the same category. Its pretty obvious how sour he is to the somewhat fair/unfair circumstances in which each individual is entitled to materialistic possession. And mind you the 400,000 system sounds good, is in a well treated room and in the hands of an intelligent audiophile. Ive auditioned systems costing 10k and up and some sound like sh*t due to all sorts of reasons, mainly room acoustics though.

And if it really does matter to you what he uses even with you not knowing how well the rooms treated, how the speaker are positioned, how clean the current is and how the system interacts with the room - the main components are Jadis Ja800 for power, Jp 800 for pre, Jadis J1 transport, Genesis 1 loudspeakers and as for the dac, i cant seem to remember what it is.

Edited July 29, 2007 by papaya86

[papaya86 0]

Heres a quote.

 

Remember, information is not knowledge; knowledge is not wisdom; wisdom is not truth; truth is not beauty; beauty is not love; love is not music; music is the best.

-Frank Zappa

[Absolute0 0]