CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS
Lobby => Headphone Measurements => Topic started by: Marvey on December 04, 2012, 06:34:18 PM
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Sent to me along with the D7000 open mods by Imswjm.
(http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=661.0;attach=2653;image)
Finally got a chance to get to these. A supra-aural type. These are equipped with the K81DJ??? pads. Actually not a bad sound. Reminds me of DT1350 tonally (a "good" non-defective DT1350 that is), but it doesn't have the Beyer's technicalities.
Compare results with M-80, HD25, DT1350, ESW10, etc.
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I really love these cans for about $25 delivered from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/JVC-HAS400B-Nanotube-Headband-Headphones/dp/B008P8EXRU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354669371&sr=8-1&keywords=ha-s400
The ones I sent to Purrin with the AKG pads sound pretty good. Best I've heard for the price, though I haven't heard the KSC-75.
I've since gone back to the stock pads and dampened the cups to get a more neutral signature. They really respond well to the pad swapping and dampening to get the signature you're looking for. SQ is pretty damn good. I prefer these to a lot of higher priced portables. Enjoy!
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Left driver seems pretty darn clean O_O makes m80 look like shit, distortion measurements would be nice. Damn decent for 25.
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Good find for a budget can. Wish I could see how the stock pads compare.
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Just how expensive are these? :-DD Looks like just some EQ short from very good.
They look like they would sound similar to my darker variant of DT1350 sans the 14k resonance... but with some shout instead.
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Just how expensive are these? :-DD Looks like just some EQ short from very good.
They look like they would sound similar to my darker variant of DT1350 sans the 14k resonance... but with some shout instead.
This would be a close assessment of how they actually sound like. Less what I would call shout, but slightly honky. For freaking $25... definitely a good mod candidate. The Koss driver is more resolving I think.
Harmonic distortion later tonight...
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After the shipment of these and my Denons went missing, I purchased another S400 and new AKG pads ($4 on ebay). The AKG pads that are being measured are stretched out due to being transplanted from a bigger driver housing. The consequence of a more loose fit I believe translates to poor controlled bass thats a little sloppy. The new AKG pads are a tighter fit and have little bit bass quality. After referencing The Paradox however, I went back to the stock pads and dampened cups to reduce the 'U' shaped response.
Marv, feel free to take these apart and change pads, etc if you want. I'm guessing you probably don't have much time these days to tinker though. Also, I'm in no hurry to get the shipment back if you want to hang on to them for a bit.
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A THD chart would be most instructional. I actually need a cheap headphone to recommend to friends, this might be it.
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Also, there is a slightly more expensive cousin, JVC HA-S500. Carbon nanotube supposedly, that's their secret. The real question is how they make them so cheap.
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What about passive isolation?
Just asking because for me portable headphones for me have to isolate me to some extent...
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I've found the S500 to be too hyped in the treble, way beyond neutral. Many HF'rs think that they are more detailed than the S400's but I'm just hearing treble boost.
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Many HF'rs think that they are more detailed than the S400's but I'm just hearing treble boost.
Karma points.
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I'll reserve the judgement of S500 until I hear them or see thorough measurements.
It'd be useful to know as well whether these two models suffer from Beyer-like QC. (likely not)
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After the shipment of these and my Denons went missing, I purchased another S400 and new AKG pads ($4 on ebay). The AKG pads that are being measured are stretched out due to being transplanted from a bigger driver housing. The consequence of a more loose fit I believe translates to poor controlled bass thats a little sloppy. The new AKG pads are a tighter fit and have little bit bass quality. After referencing The Paradox however, I went back to the stock pads and dampened cups to reduce the 'U' shaped response.
Interesting...I might make these my new go-to budget cans if the stock pads work well enough with some mods. I'll hold off until I can see HD measurements.
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JVC HA-S400-B Harmonic Distortion
Lots of 3rd order throughout. Compare to other circumaurals such as M80 (http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=47.0;attach=1677;image) or DT1350 (http://www.changstar.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=367.0;attach=1623;image). This $25 headphone may indeed be comparable to the Beyer DT1350. Of course it depends upon which DT1350 you get. The distortion characteristics can even be different between channels of the DT1350!
Kudos to Imswjm for a great find!
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Hmm, I think I'll have to try a pair of these! The FR looks like it would be easier smooth out with mods than those Monoprice headphones I like to mess with, but I wish these JVCs had lower bass HD like the Monoprice ones. Still pretty good when compared with the M80 and DT1350! Definitely a great find!
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I've since gone back to the stock pads and dampened the cups to get a more neutral signature. They really respond well to the pad swapping and dampening to get the signature you're looking for. SQ is pretty damn good. I prefer these to a lot of higher priced portables. Enjoy!
Just got a pair in today for a friend's Christmas present. Already did some basic mods on them with the stock pads. Fantastic sound for just under $30! I'm not crazy about the pads (or supra-aural in headphones in general), and the headband is fairly uncomfortable...but can't complain on the sound!
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Another pad option which was included.
Now I'm not sure which is which. One measurement uses the ATH-SJ5 earpads the other the K81DJ pads. These pads sounded bassier with less treble than the ones from the first measurement. Hard to tell. Seal on the ear seems critical.
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...The ones I sent to Purrin with the AKG pads sound pretty good...
I've since gone back to the stock pads and dampened the cups to get a more neutral signature. They really respond well to the pad swapping and dampening to get the signature you're looking for.
the ones in the box box must be stock?
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I should be able to offer some impressions of these after the 25th when my cousin opens them and I steal them back for a while :& Thanks for the scoop imswjm
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They shipped with K81 DJ pads installed that were pretty loose fitting. The ATH-SJ5's and stock pads were also included. The ATH-SJ5's were the thinnest pads.
Hope they don't disappoint you RD...
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Unfortunately, that harmonic distortion cannot be fixed by pads, it's probably due to undampened driver or not stiff enough spider. FR can somewhat though, I'd say velours might work well if there are any of the right size.
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I got my pair in today and I've been listening all day.
I'm actually quite impressed by them. For a while, I was going on a budget headphone binge and buying everything from the Incipio Forte F38 (AKA Fischer Audio FA-004), Monoprice 8323, Panasonic HTF600, and KSC75. Of that group, my favorite was by far the KSC75, but I've got to admit that the JVC HA-S400s sound really good, too. For people that don't like the clip-on design, I think these guys will be my new suggestion for budget headphones.
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lmswjm let me keep these a big longer and suggested some mods. I stuffed them with two layers of magikal poly fill (from Walmart).
This was done to rectify the echoey reverb effect I was hearing inside the cups. I wasn't sure this would work and even thought about cutting out some metal to clue to the plastic cups for from mass damping. Fortunately, this wasn't necessary, and the little bit of poly fill made a huge difference. Sort of tightens everything up and definitely got rid of that internal reverb effect.
I don't know if this was too much of a good thing because now I can really hear the limitations of the driver - mainly highish distortion (blurriness, muddyness in the bass, congestion with things get loud and busy) But otherwise I really like this cheapo headphone. I'm thinking another mod may be the "white caulk" mod RD used on his little yammies to extend the pads further out. Some experimentation with the pads could definitely yield some gains. My favored pads right now are the ATH-SJ5 pads.
I'll get measurements later.
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Nice...
On the HF thread, people are sticking bent cotton swabs inside the pads to space them out a little and stuffing them with paper. I haven't tried that though...
(http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad90/Maxx134/Snapbucket/BAA2FD7D-orig.jpg)
There's a bunch of different tricks going on:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=112485.60
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That's funny. HiFiMan has done a similar trick with their newest pads. They stuck a thick piece of foam inside the pads.
I like what they did on the Audiocircle site. Duct tape = thin, more manageable Dynamat lite. Beyer could certainly learn from those guys.
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I cracked mine open today and added a layer of Silverstone acoustic foam to the back wall. I experimented with the duct tape, but I didn't like how it changed the sound. The pad mod really removed some of the bass emphasis. I really like the tonality of these guys now. They're my favorite cheapie headphone by far.
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I briefly listened to these and thought they sounded pretty great. Bass is terrible, but it is in a good place to potentially sound good after some anti-resonance mods, which typically reduce bass. If the bass was improved I could live with them and they'd honestly probably put a lot of headphones to shame. Pretty open sounding too for their size. Mids were a bit back in the mix, though not recessed (didn't affect integrity of midrange, just back in the mix a bit) but that might go away if the bass was pulled back. Highly recommended!
I thought they had much better tonality than the DT1350 I heard and can't remember the DT1350 being better in any way except for the bass. But it was a very brief listen (few songs) and it's been a while since I heard the DT1350 and that was only one pair. YMMV depending on your box of chocolates.
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caulk mods should fix bass balance. i suggest black caulk.
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After finished with the mods some new plots would be nice.
Hoping they validate the audible differences.
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I don't need validation. ;)
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Black caulk should prove more than adequate then. You just have to give it time to firm up, bad things can happen if its too soft.
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After my dad fell in love with my Amperior, I decided to gift it to him. Unfortunately, I did this without considering my budget and so my next portable headphone purchase needed to be cheap. Enter the JVC HA-S400-B.
I just bought them and even without any mods, I can already tell that they are amazing for the price. There are some issues here and there but hopefully damping the inside of the cups (I'm thinking of using a cork mat), replacing the pads and applying some duct tape to the front of the driver frame will sort them out as much as possible. One of the cables also makes a noise when moving it around due to being poorly secured in the cup. Considering how cheap these are, quality control issues like these are probably common. I think some epoxy will fix this particular problem though.
Here are some impressions before modding them:
-they are not neutral but not hugely colored, the mid-bass and lower mids are emphasized.
-the above makes them really, really good for metal, there is potential here for some really skullcrushing riffs.
-their clarity level is hugely above their price point, I'd say they can be compared to the ATH-M50 in terms of clarity.
I'll do the mods and share my impressions once I'm done.
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I did my mods.
1. Cut out a bit of cork mat that fits into the cups and attached it to the cup with double-sided tape.
2. Surrounded the cork with duct tape.
3. Put a thin layer of cotton over the cork.
Result is audibly less distorted and with less resonance, which is particularly audible in the high frequencies, which are no longer as shrill. No real change to sound signature.
Overall, a nice improvement. I am still going to change the pads on them, probably going to use AKG K81 pads.