Panasonic RP-HJE900 Zirconia Review

[Tommyrs]

hmmm, kool,, Thats good to know....... Again ty for your review on the pannies. It was the one I read which made me decide to pick them up. I bought 2 pairs ,,lol. The second pair was bought after I 'burned them i' & was soooo Blown away by how natural & how good they were. I have ath- m50 . the pannies blow them away . I a/b'd a few times. Not even a close comparison. Maybe I have faulty M50's.... Now I'm curious what phones do YOU find to sound better for your tastes, I respect your thoughts , just curious... I think I'm getting into this whole headphone thing , it is koooooool...

[CrowdAds]

[Tommyrs]

Anyway , I bought the t400 comfy tips, There are ok, but do fall apart after a few weeks (which makes them useless unless your willing to pay alot per year for replacements )with even with delicate usage... I was advised to get monster supertip foams?? I guess they don't fall apart ? I kinda like the foam thing...........

[big_lou]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Here's the frequency response for the HJE900:

If I need to EQ the "sibilance" out off the HJE900's, would I need to reduce the output somewhere between 2KHz and 10KHz?

Or is sibilance typically in a narrower frequency range?

Any recommendations for specific settings on a 5-band parametric equalizer for reducing/eliminating sibilance? (Toshiba F20 GigaBeat). I would not mind using all 5 bands for this purpose if necessary.

Thanks in advance!!

Lou

.

[pienose]

Copying and pasting my post from head fi for you guys-

I got my pair of these today, only to find that one of the buds didn't work. Not very impressed with the sound ether, I thought my relatively cheap sonys sounded better. There was almost no bass and the top end was really high, this made symbols sound pretty awesome but everything else was just tinny.

Returning these to play.com and going back to my crappy temporary buds for now...

[sYlt]

Originally Posted by pienose

Copying and pasting my post from head fi for you guys-

I got my pair of these today, only to find that one of the buds didn't work. Not very impressed with the sound ether, I thought my relatively cheap sonys sounded better. There was almost no bass and the top end was really high, this made symbols sound pretty awesome but everything else was just tinny.

Returning these to play.com and going back to my crappy temporary buds for now...

Shame u didn't like these. I on the other hand have a different opinion. GL with w/e future IEMs u might buy.

[dfkt]

You really can't judge the sound of IEMs with only one earbud working. The brain interprets that one-ear-input totally differently than regular stereo sound.

[Confuseling]

Also not a reliable assumption that half of a broken pair of earphones isn't broken, to be fair...

[pienose]

Originally Posted by Confuseling

Also not a reliable assumption that half of a broken pair of earphones isn't broken, to be fair...

I'll be honest with you, I hadn't even considered this and I now realise how goddamn stupid I was being :facepalm:

Originally Posted by dfkt

You really can't judge the sound of IEMs with only one earbud working. The brain interprets that one-ear-input totally differently than regular stereo sound.

This is true however, I use my headphones nearly all day in school and pretty much only have one bud in. There were only two situations when I would have had both of the things in on a regular day- on the way to school and in biology. I do realise there could have been some phycological effects though seeing as I hadn't heard the 'full' sound of the 'phones yet.

I don't know weather I'm getting cash back or replacement buds, but I think it's on the cash route. I might end up buying a pare of these again- from amazon, not play this time.

[kasrhp]

Aww shucks. My left ear bud blew. I have to get some refurbished ones now I guess.

@pienose, I wouldn't recommend judging them based on 1 ear. Would you judge a TV with one eye closed?

[Confuseling]

Originally Posted by pienose

I'll be honest with you, I hadn't even considered this and I now realise how goddamn stupid I was being :facepalm:
...

Well, to be [even] fair[er], the description you gave isn't far off how they sounded to me at first. But they grew on me... lots

[pienose]

Originally Posted by Confuseling

Well, to be [even] fair[er], the description you gave isn't far off how they sounded to me at first. But they grew on me... lots

Yeah, I guess they could, it's just I was expecting to be blown away like I was when I switched from £15 headphones to £30 ones...

[lestatar]

Pienose: Sorry you are not happy with the Panas.

Indeed, I have come to the conclusion that the Panas offer a more subtle musical impact. They are more than capable on every front to my ears. Balanced is the best I can describe them. As for the sibilance thing? Well, my ears have been subjected to some stupid excessive guitar amp volumes in the past and I am kinda old, so I don't have high frequency dog hearing like some of the young whippersnappers around here... lol...But the Panas don't punch you in the face with their sound signature.

I have been using cheesy car analogies of late - the Panas are not like American big block V8 muscle cars. They are more like top tier Jaguars, Porsches, BMWs or Aston Martins in their overall sound signature to me. My Hippo VBs are like those American muscle cars [which I also love to death]. But the Panas are just so buttery smooth.

To me, the Panas are really just a joy, musical and full and accurate in every sense. So capable of making all my music [across a zillion genres] sound really really great. I want clarity, I get it. I want some good deep but not chest rattling bass? I get it. I want crisp mids and top end? I get it. I can easily dissect my music with the Panas or simply close my eyes and enjoy the great soundstage and imaging and musical "funness" they allow me to perceive.

But like we all say all the time: our ears [and expectations] are all different.

Good luck on your next pair and yes, receiving a pair that is not working 100% is not really a good way to judge IEMs [or anything in life for that matter].

Still, as much as I love the Panas, I personally have never claimed they are the second coming of Jesus. Just that, for me, they are, overall, the finest pair of IEMs I have owned and pretty much ever heard, especially remarkable IMO for a sub 80USD price bracket. To me, these would be a bargain at nearly twice the price.

cheers,
-les

[dfkt]

Originally Posted by pienose

I was expecting to be blown away like I was when I switched from £15 headphones to £30 ones...

A little gratuitous/general tip on listening to the HJE - especially for people not used to quality phones, or for people new to the HJE.

Listen to the dynamic range, the punch, the attack speeds, the roomy decay of notes, the fast transient response, the tight control over the whole frequency range. That is what separates the HJE from cheapo phones. They may have the average V-shaped frequency response as many cheaper IEMs, but it's between the lines what makes the HJE special for that price - things you usually only find in pricier phones. It might take a while to appreciate those subtleties, contrary to the obvious stuff like bass, clarity, etc - but it's worth it trying to listen with different ears, in my opinion. Brains need to "burn in" to a fresh pair of phones.

[Confuseling]

Nicely put, lestatar.

It's also an economic truth that you shouldn't expect the quality to improve proportionately to the price.

The difference in taste between a £5 bottle of wine and a £20 one is probably a lot larger than the difference between the £20 one and an £80 one.

[Not that I've ever wasted £80 on a bottle of wine... ]

[lestatar]

This is very very true Confuseling. It really comes down to questions of subtlety, doesn't it?

One need not be an oenophile or an expert sommelier to taste the difference between a very cheap bottle of wine versus a low-moderate priced one. The difference in your example between the 20GBP and 80GBP bottle of wine might very well be very huge, but may require more effort to discern.

Ultimately I don't want to imply price is always the main determining factor - see the HyFyMan for proof of this concept. But certainly, price can come into play for well-designed products that actually offer really good value.

This, I believe, is the case with something like the Panas. Not for everyone perhaps, but so far, just judging by people who have them here, most are delighted with how they sound.

Real? Placebo? Mass hynopsis? Who knows. I don't care. The recommendation came from someone I have come to trust. So I got them, have been listening to them myself and it just so happens I agree completely.

But I guarantee you this: If I had hated them, I would have absolutely no qualms saying so and getting my money back.

[Adub]

A wise man once told me:

<wiseman> some people should just stick with skullcandy

[BRAB]

Copy and pasted from my Head-fi first impression.

Fortunately the HJE900s are built like a tank. If not, my earbuds would have been pancaked in the damaged envelope they were packaged in, not to mention the HJE900's box was damaged as well.



I am not too impressed with the HJE900s listening them for the first time. The bass is deep and more rich than the ATH-ES7s headphones but as of now I can hear nothing to warrant the $80 I spent on them.

Hopefully, they will improve with some "burn-in" .

[lestatar]

Originally Posted by Adub

A wise man once told me:

<wiseman> some people should just stick with skullcandy

roflmao!

I would very much like to meet this clearly witty and clever individual...

[JxK]

Originally Posted by Adub

A wise man once told me:

<wiseman> some people should just stick with skullcandy

Pfft. At least go with meelelectronics. Same price, but better build (and sound). Most of all, they won't die after 3 months of use.

/me bashes on cheaply made overpriced skullcandy.

[pienose]

Originally Posted by dfkt

A little gratuitous/general tip on listening to the HJE - especially for people not used to quality phones, or for people new to the HJE.

Listen to the dynamic range, the punch, the attack speeds, the roomy decay of notes, the fast transient response, the tight control over the whole frequency range. That is what separates the HJE from cheapo phones. They may have the average V-shaped frequency response as many cheaper IEMs, but it's between the lines what makes the HJE special for that price - things you usually only find in pricier phones. It might take a while to appreciate those subtleties, contrary to the obvious stuff like bass, clarity, etc - but it's worth it trying to listen with different ears, in my opinion. Brains need to "burn in" to a fresh pair of phones.

I have to agree with this 100%. Unfortuatly, I just think that the music I listen to does not demand great instrument separation, if I listened to different tunes I think these would be sonically amazing; some breakdowns with clear vocals and little bass sounded just that.

I do have to say I was bloan away by the build quality of these, they felt like they'd last forever-something I was defiantly looking for. This was proven today when I blew one of my cheep sonys and it just squealed until I pulled the monitor out of it, I would NOT be bake to do this with the hje's