JVC HA_FX55 vs Panasonic HJE50 vs EX71

[doomlordis]

This was a tough shootout , two of the competitors were very closely matched the other wet its pants before the shooting even started!

Prices paid (UK)

JVC HA-FX55 - £20

Panasonic HJE50 - £25

Sony EX71 - £27.99

Packaging

Panasonic wins here with a nicely designed square box that isnt ruined when opened.

Sony second with a decent box, again not ruined by opening.

JVC last as box is destroyed when opened.

Contents

Sony wins with case for the 3 included earplugs and a felt bag and a earplug case.

Panasonic second with a nice extension cord, 3 rubber earplugs and felt bag.

JVC last again with just the earphones and earplugs

Cables

The Panasonic and sony come with short cables with extensions, the JVC comes with a 1.2 meter cable so isnt any good for remotes , however i wont mark the JVC for this as a short version is available. (HP-FX55 instead of HA-FX55)

Build Quality

Sony win here with well built phones and strong cables, the panasonics have good cables but the phones themselves feel hard and cheap.

The JVCs have well built gumy earphones but thin cables, the cables dont feel bad quality just thin.

Comfort

JVC and Sony are very close here , the JVC pips it for me as they are so light you dont know they are there.The Sonys are very comfy though. The Panasonics are a bit heavy and you are aware of them when you wear them.

Sound quality

Sony is out in the first round!

The Sonys are far , far to bassy, the low end of the frequency range is bloated and the mids are so far in the background you can hardly hear them and to top it off the treble is sparkly and not at all precise - stay down your out!

Also be aware that these cans are super quiet, about 65% of the Panasonics and 75% of the JVC. 4/10

Panasonics entry sound good , they have bass , its precise but a little weak too my ears. The mids sound good and are not drowned out by the bass, they are also very precise and detailed. The treble is where they fall down slightly as they are splashy and sparkly sounding. 7/10

The JVCs are the surprise here, they sound really , really good. The bass is full and smooth , the mids are detailed and punchy and the treble is precise and allows recognition of cymbals etc easily. Insrument seperation is excellent and the soundstage they produce is surprisingly wide for a pair of canal phones.

These are easily the best in-ears i have , i havent ventured to the high end shures etc so i cant compare. 8/10!

For fun i decided to mix the earplugs and see what happened, i found something interesting.

The JVC rubber is thinner than both the Sony and the Panasonic and when i put these on the Panasonics the bass vanished!!!

This makes me think that the bass on the Panasonics is more of an effect and isnt ouput as such.

When i put the JVCs on the Sony bass was reduced but still too fat!

When i put the Sonys on the JVC the bass increased to an unrealistic level and the treble suffered.

So in short these JVCs are a bargain, the Panasonics are good and bin the Sonys.

Edited September 10, 2005 by doomlordis

[Sparky191]

I've a set of the Panasonic HJE50. I find them decent but not amazing. I would say they lack a little bass aswell. I also find I can't get the right ear quite as good a fit as the left. Oddly I've heard this from other users on Head HiFi aswell. But they do the job in that I can listen to my music silently and they block out outside sounds a reasonable amount.

Edited September 10, 2005 by Sparky191

[atrain]

doom can you post pics of them all side by side? nice little review btw.

[DR_ER]

Hey Doom,

Im currently thinking about purchasing either the Sony EX51 (I'd assume it’s the same as the EX71 only longer cord) OR the JVC HA-FX55.

I must admit im rather ignorant when it comes to the overall frequency spectrum; I tend to grossly focus on the lower frequencies. I find myself putting the EQ on my car stereo, MP3 players and Minidisc to the MAX BASS setting and I still want more rich/heavy bass.

I mostly listen to techno and hard trance and just love bass far too much.

When you say the EX51's "are far , far to bassy, the low end of the frequency range is bloated"

Is this aimed at the "general population" who don’t love bass as much as me?

or is it just down-right poor quality?

You also say the JVC HA-FX55's "bass is full and smooth , the mids are detailed and punchy"

So, the JVC's have nice quality bass.

But does the JVC’s provide anywhere near as much bass as the Sony’s?

And final question; which ear-buds do you think would better serve me (the BASS! addict)?

Edited September 22, 2005 by DR_ER

[Sparky191]

To be honest I think we all listen to too much artificial bass these days. If you tone it down for a little while you'll find you get used to a cleaner, dare I say more accurate sound after a while. If you go back to the heavy bass then, it sounds less accurate.

Thats said the bass on ear canal earphones is dependent on the seal/fit you get. With normal ear buds fit/seal isn't an issue, its only a comfort issue.

[DR_ER]

I ended up purchasing both the JVC HAFX55 and the Sony MDR-EX51 earphones.

I found the HAFX55s to have NO issolation what-so-ever. Absolutely everyone can hear my music when i use the JVCs loudly and you can still hear background noise at lower volumes.

The Sony's on the other hand, have awesome issolation. I can barely hear anything other than the music and its hardly audiable by others who aren't using them, even at high volumes.

I'm by no means an expert. But i found the Sony's to be much better overall qaulity and better sound qaulity.

Although there is a price difference between the two. The JVC's were only AU$37, and the Sony's were AU$75.

So in closing i would have to say its a case of you get what you pay for... and i would have to strongly dis-agree with DOOM about the JVCs being much better sound qaulity.

Although no1 is really wrong, its a matter of opinion and again I'm no means an expert, but i found the JVCs to be a complete waste of money in comparison to the MDR-EX51s.

[streaml1ne]

How long were these burned in before you did your listening tests?

[atrain]

i now have a pair of both the hje50 & ex71. the panas are too new to make any real comparison as yet.

[DR_ER]

My sister uses the HAFX55s now and i use the MDREX51s.

I'd say i've run mine into maybe 30 hours, and the JVCs my sister has run in maybe 12 hours.

But at the time of testing... maybe a few hours on each.

Does it really make that much of a difference?

[streaml1ne]

My sister uses the HAFX55s now and i use the MDREX51s.

I'd say i've run mine into maybe 30 hours, and the JVCs my sister has run in maybe 12 hours.

But at the time of testing... maybe a few hours on each.

Does it really make that much of a difference?

Depends on the headphone, but yes, burn in time definitely makes a difference in sound reproduction. The actual sound production is a mechanical system so with use components will settle into an equilibrium.

[Sparky191]

I know its not that on topic, but I prefer my Sennheiser MX500 buds to my Panasonic HJE50. The HJE50 are ok, I just don't find them that comfy.

[AMPlitude]

so whats the difference in bass response between these three?

[Sparky191]

The bass response is very dependent on the fit/seal you get. It would also depend on the player you are using. For me the panasonic are ok. Not very bassy and not bass lite either.

[AMPlitude]

ex71s are definitely too bassy

[Sparky191]

ex71s are definitely too bassy

With a MD maybe. If you are using something like a iPod with a bass rolloff problem it can balance out and sound ok.

[sonic_rage]

man, i just got the EX71s thinking they were gonna be some sick pair of earbuds and was i disappointed.

these things sound so tinny and the bass is weak with the trance compared to the PX200s. the volume is also weak; i need some loudass portable cans.

how long do these things take to properly burn them in? ill let them burn in overnight and see how they sound in the day.

[Sparky191]

Tinny and weak bass is a symptom of not having a good fit/seal with in ear earphones.

[mercury_in_flames]

try burning them in for a day. The sound gets better.

[sonic_rage]

Yeah, i left em on with winamp looping overnight.

the sound and bass have improved, but still not living up to expectations.

ill leave em on for more and see if they get any better.

[Damage]

EX71s require something on the order of 100+ odd hours to sound properly broken in, and even then, they're out classed by the Panasonic HJEs or the JVCs, I'd assume.

[DR_ER]

EX71s require something on the order of 100+ odd hours to sound properly broken in, and even then, they're out classed by the Panasonic HJEs or the JVCs, I'd assume.

No ... im sorry... i'd have to disagree. The JVC's in my opinion weren't as good as the EX-71s... even now after maybe... 60 hours roughly on the sonys and perhaps 40 on the JVCs... the Sonys sound much better.

Although its just my personal opinion.

[AMPlitude]

personally i prefer the ex71s to the panasonics because the panasonics simply aren't as bassy as they should be. when eq is used, the hje50s give too much bass, not something i personally like

[zerodB]

With in-ear carnal phones it's important you get a good seal - that can really alter the sonic qualities

[Sparky191]

I struggle to get a good seal, the same on both ears with my hje50s. Even when I have a decent fit (for me) I wouldn't say they were overly bassy. Maybe I never get a good seal though. But then everything seems bass lite since I stopped using my old Sharp MD. Sonically I prefer my Senn MX500's to the hje50s. Though the hje50s are probably more accurate.

[The Low Volta]

I use senn MX350's, senn MX450's and the panasonics RP-JE50's and I must say I definitely prefer the Pana's and though they are not bass heavy (not at all actually) they do have a lot more bass than the very bass-light Senn's

[Sparky191]

The newer Senn 350/450/550 are meant to be less bassy and more trebly than the older 300/400/500. That might explain the disparity in opinion.

Edited November 22, 2005 by Sparky191