Panasonic RP-HJE900 Zirconia Review

[Thunderkiss]

Bought from Amazon UK for £90.

Player: Cowon S9

Time in use: 15+ hours

Music: Mainly listen to Deep House and Trance

Impressions:
These are the best looking, most solidly built IEMs I’ve tried so far. They ooze quality.

An issue for me is getting these IEM's to remain in my ear. I find it hard to get them to remain in my ears firmly. Trying the over-ear option has resulted in these IEM's remaining firmly locked in.

The fit has a big impact on sound quality. The sound difference is simply amazing, especially with the Bass, as it varies from pathetic to brilliant. I feel the cable tips that connect to the phones themselves, although great looking, add weight and are the cause of these IEM's to want to come out. I have noticed that the Panasonic replacement cables do without the fancy cable tips, and would be lighter.

Like other reviews on the HJE900, I agree the Bass is well balanced, full, punchy and extends deep, but it's not an exaggerated bass, rather more natural.

The midrange is precise and works equally good with a wide genre of music and sounds.

I find the treble to be very precise and detailed but also too sharp/ high. I would prefer if the treble was a notch or so lower.

The soundstage is simply fantastic, being dynamic and very precise, allowing single instruments and specific sounds to be pinpointed.

Overall, I am happy to have bought these.

[CrowdAds]

[lestatar]

@Thunderkiss: Congrats and so delighted to see yet another fan of these underappreciated, sadly disappearing IEMs from Panasonic.

Your comments are spot on, though I personally like the sharpness of the treble - as an old guy with old ears and a penchant for crisp high end, I love em.

The stock tips...suck. Give the Sony Hybrids or the Super.fi tips a shot - a world of difference.

As an aside, as a fan of deep house/trance, you must consider the Hippo VBs at some point to experience in your chest bass that still sounds good across the board.

[Leen]

I have a question regarding the sony hybrid tips for panas.
How do you know which size of the tip to settle down with? It sounds like a noob question but I am actually trouble picking which one to use.
Can someone help?

[lestatar]

@Leen, this is kinda tough and usually involves trial and error I fear. For me, it is a combination of things. I use the largest size Sony Hybrids on pretty much all my IEMs that accept them. Because the Sony Hybrids are sold in multi-size packs like this...



...you pretty much have to sample and find your own best fit. Once you find the size that works for you, you pretty much have 3 extra sets on your hands [in my case, I give em away to friends/family.]

Be advised: it seems the Sony Hybrid tips are a smidgeon smaller than most companies tips - e.g. the large seems to feel more like medium-large to my Grand Canyon ear canals. Perhaps it is the condom-thin nature of the Sony Hybrids that makes them feel that way.

I would try to find tips that result in the IEMs fitting snugly, well enough so they don't fall out, but not using tips that feel very tight. There have been some folks who are heavy IEM users who seem to experience premature ear canal widening as a result of prolonged IEM use with tips that might be too large and also who may be shoving IEMs in too deeply.

The large size Hybids on my Panas are almost perfect. I do find I have to gently tap/re-seat my Panas every now and again, especially while in motion, but this is no biggie to me. Notice I said gently tap/re-seat, not shove into my ears

And FWIW, I am no fan of foam tips like Comply and such. They totally annoy me and I only use stuff like that when I hear certain live music. I just don't like the feel of the expanding foam in my ears and I personally find the concept of having to shell out regular money for expensive tips like Comply that at best last a couple months to be ridiculous. This is a case of severe fund wastage IMO.

cheers and good luck,
-les

[Thunderkiss]

Originally Posted by lestatar

The stock tips...suck. Give the Sony Hybrids or the Super.fi tips a shot - a world of difference.

As an aside, as a fan of deep house/trance, you must consider the Hippo VBs at some point to experience in your chest bass that still sounds good across the board.

Yes, changed over to the Sony Hybrids and now the HJE900's remain in my ears. The sound, especially Bass, is more profound too

Thanks for the Hippo VB advice, I might actually buy a set

[Leen]

I managed to borrow Phonak Pefect bass and it is no match to Panasonic HJE900E in terms of bass. Clarity and precision though, I think I like it better on phonak. Definitely for 2 different group of listeners, I think.

If only Panasonic can isolate as well as phonak ...

Oh ya, I got the phonak tips to put into pana + compare/contrast with Sony Hybrids. My ears are not well trained enough to tell the difference but I think the hybrids stick a bit deeper into my ears so I'm sticking with hybrids.

[lestatar]

^ It's funny...As a proud owner of Hippo VBs, I would never describe the bass on the Panas as being huge. But the Pana bass is surprisingly deep and more importantly, fast, punchy and responsive.

Good to hear about the Sony Hybrids

[Leen]

I don't think bass on pana is huge. I've heard the ones on hippo vb from my friend.
But compare pana to phonak, pana seems big on the bass. At least to me.

[lestatar]

^ lol....True that, though I only have dfkt and other reviews of the Phonak sound sig to go by at the moment. Apologies, I only meant I found your description of the Pana bass amusing - nothing bad meant by it

[Dark~~Glower]

Hey dfkt! Very good review! I bought one a few months ago after reading your review. Unfortunately the detachable cords are having problems. Sound was interrupting on the left ear and now on both sides unless I twist the cord and leave it in a certain position. It's becoming worse everyday...
I can't return it because its return period of 90 days is past so my only option is to buy a new cord at the price of ~75 canadian dollars and a period of 3 weeks for the delivery. Are there other detachable cords that could fit in with the pair of earbuds you know of? Where can I buy them from?
Thanks

[dfkt]

Cables for Sleek Audio IEMs should fit the Panasonics nicely, from all I read. They've been mentioned a few times in this thread, including purchase options, AFAIK. A search through the thread should give you more info.

[Dark~~Glower]

Originally Posted by Dark~~Glower

Hey dfkt! Very good review! I bought one a few months ago after reading your review. Unfortunately the detachable cords are having problems. Sound was interrupting on the left ear and now on both sides unless I twist the cord and leave it in a certain position. It's becoming worse everyday...
I can't return it because its return period of 90 days is past so my only option is to buy a new cord at the price of ~75 canadian dollars and a period of 3 weeks for the delivery. Are there other detachable cords that could fit in with the pair of earbuds you know of? Where can I buy them from?
Thanks

I bought the earbuds when it was in the range of ~$80 . But now its really expensive! Instead of just buying a new cord, what I could also do is buy another headphone with cables that fit like this one:
http://unclewilsons.com/shop/step1.php?number=667

Do you guys think that the cable will work with the panasonic earbuds? Are the SA-One, even good or worth it??

[Dark~~Glower]

Originally Posted by dfkt

Cables for Sleek Audio IEMs should fit the Panasonics nicely, from all I read. They've been mentioned a few times in this thread, including purchase options, AFAIK. A search through the thread should give you more info.

Ha! I just read your post after I posted about the Sleeks. Thanks for the reply will dig into the posts.

EDIT: Ok so I bought the SA One cables. I'll let you know my impressions on it.
Also bought the Sony hybrid tips and the Super.fi tips. After months of experience with the stock pana tips, it annoyed me how they always tend to fall off though they were comfortable.

[sYlt]

Originally Posted by Dark~~Glower

Ha! I just read your post after I posted about the Sleeks. Thanks for the reply will dig into the posts.

EDIT: Ok so I bought the SA One cables. I'll let you know my impressions on it.
Also bought the Sony hybrid tips and the Super.fi tips. After months of experience with the stock pana tips, it annoyed me how they always tend to fall off though they were comfortable.

Cool! I'm looking forward for your impressions.

[Confispect]

Originally Posted by Dark~~Glower

Ha! I just read your post after I posted about the Sleeks. Thanks for the reply will dig into the posts.

EDIT: Ok so I bought the SA One cables. I'll let you know my impressions on it.
Also bought the Sony hybrid tips and the Super.fi tips. After months of experience with the stock pana tips, it annoyed me how they always tend to fall off though they were comfortable.

Yes they would fit, cord wise head over to Sleek and make sure you get the angled one or you defeat the purpose.

[lilghost]

Somebody please hold me tight and comfort me

I've been following the tread since it was started, but it wasn't before my CX300s crapped out on me that I finally decided to shed out the money fot the Panas.
Which of course meant paying 150€ for those babies on amazon DE, cause no one would ship to this God forsaken Third World country that Austria is =/

So, I get these today, pop them in, and sure enough, one bud has a dodgy contact. It's not the cable, cause the other one keeps working if I switch them. The other one stays dumb as a fish most of the time, unless I bend the pin inside it a little to the side, which I'm really not comfortable with. And that's just a temporary solution.

Best part is, these are sold out again, and I don't want my money back, just a working pair =/

[Confispect]

Dodgy contact explain that.

Loose connection on inside or the bud is not working for unknown reason.

[lilghost]

That's what it is, I reckon, loose connection on the inside. Sometimes, when i twist the cable just right or i shove it in really hard, the bud starts working again, sometimes it just produces a very distant, muffled sound. But mostly nothing comes out of it.

I called Amazon customer support, the extremely freindly rep told me they were most likely going to receive another batch soon enough and that I should hold on to these in the meantime if I want a replacement.

Which I am. Phones are sitting neatly in their tacky box ready to be shipped back =/

[lestatar]

^ man, that sucks. But glad that Amazon has more stock coming - good to hear on a number of levels.

Terrible luck for you initially, but hang in there - I think you will love the Panas.

[j4r3du]

Today is a sad day, after having these guys for nearly a year I was convinced they were never going to break. I went to swap off one of the silicone tips and look at what happened: http://i56.tinypic.com/f1286.jpg

I tried popping the pieces together but their was still no sound coming out