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You have to ask yourself: IS BASS EVERYTHING? (in a headphone, or IEM earphone?)
If it IS everything to the listener, then they've found Nirvana in the JVC "New" Xtreme
Xplosives In Ear (Headphones), the "New" being some subtle dynamic changes to the driver
itself while increasing its size to 10mm from 9mm. If you carefully read the stats that
are included in the kit with the earphones, the Frequency Response has improved to 8khz
through 23,000khz also. Very, very commendable range for a budget earphone, I must say!
Even if bass response and integration isn't everything, and you're looking for the **best
sounding budget earphones** you've also hit Gold here with this earphone. Why? Because the
ambiance, sound stage, clarity, construction and dynamic representation of the individual
notes and chords that make up a piece of music are finely and specifically, distinctly
tightly integrated, with bass, mids, and highs each given a nice cross-over treatment by
JVC in engineering these new 'phones.
I have been openly comparing these new JVC's with my Ultimate Ears Triple Fi Pros, which
should just plain outclass, outdrive, and bounce out of the ball park these inexpensive
'phones. Does that happen, or did it happen in my experience? Not on your life! Admittedly
the Triple Fi's are much better at constructive integration and sound cross-over disbursement,
ie the notes, from high to low, are displayed to the inner ear in perfect harmony. The highs
are tonally correct, not "tinny or piercing"; the mids are not muddied
and too loud or too soft, just right; and the bass is awesome, and quite deep and loud when necessary also.
But the JVC's are not anything but about a 1/4-step behind the $349 Triple Fi's in any department it turns out, by my direct comparison of the two systems. I used a series of Apple lossless, and 320khz encoded albums
that I have, first in my Android smartphone, a new Samsung Galaxy Note 5.3" AMOLED 1280x800 display equipped
item; then I played the same albums using iTunes player, with my No.1 PC (OEM built Intel Core i7 970 6-12 Core
CPU, 24GB DDR3 RAM, twin EVGA GTX 560 Ti SC's in SLI, and a beautiful Asus Xonar Essence 24-bit, 192khz PCI ST Sound Card-with integrated headphone amp no less...and other tricks and treats I needn't go into here). Couple that system with a Rolls HA-43 Pro 4-channel Headphone Amp, dedicated to the PC No.1 only with integrated controls, and you have my test bed in a nutshell.
With the Samsung Note, I had four audio players to choose from, Google's Play Music player, Samsung's native Music Player, and two pay-for apps, PlayerPro Music Player, and WinAmp Pro player. So I nixed WinAmp for the test session (this past weekend) and used Google's, PlayerPro, and Samsung's player which is surprisingly good with lossless and 320khz-encoded music files (it has Dolby 5.1 Sound available, NICE!). The best comparo I can give you for the review is two albums that I favor for massive tonality gestures+ rock-my-arse-off heavy, heavy cookin' bass lines: "Valleys of Neptune" by the finest guitarist to ever pick one up, Jimi Hendrix; Thievery Corporation's "Mirror Conspiracy" which has arguably some of the finest bass and pump-handle bammin', slammin' groovy electronic jazz ever cut on vinyl, or CD for that matter!
This headphone, the JVC Xplosives, just blew my mind with its constant, pulsing, never-stopping bass rendering, both by Billy Cox and Noel Redding's hand in the Hendrix album, while Thievery Corp's "Mirror Conspiracy" served up some delicious, tight, Ka-BAM-BAM! lyrical and sumptuous bass lines, just penetrating all and every other note struck by the artists in the groups. Incredible! The JVC's are brutal and direct with their bass pumps, the new 10mm neodynium-laced drivers at that, as bass in these phones is simply overwhelming, but in a good way, not a way that it possesses the songs, no, none of that. The JVC bass doesn't lack for volume, drive, thumps, deepness and tonally correct high-bass notes (some of the hardest for rendering in any earphone/headphone). The heavy bass compliments the songs 100%, never blowing out the sound and energy of any given line or lyric, it's just HEAVY, and LOUD, in the best way possible. Much heavier than the Triple Fi Pro's in all respects: volume, impedance, thrust, and certainly punch! These things are ROCK CITY!
The Triple Fi's by comparison, are just about as loud as the JVC, but not quite...punchy and tight yes, but overwhelming and directive like the JVC's are? Not on your life! The Triple Fi's are cleaner in defining the various registers or a lyrical line in a song, they hang-in there when you think they are going to explode and just render amazing mids and highs, and overall are just more refined and special than the brass funk of the JVC's. Both phones are excellent however, hard to choose which is the best, but have to go with the Triple Fi's for overall sound clarity and non-violent rendering of all classes of sound in all the music I played for them to excel with...JVC's are just a hair behind, with a bit of muddiness in the high bass lines, and "overflow" into the mid-range registers on some very loud songs in both albums.
They are both winners in their own ways, but the fact that the JVC's are on the same page as the Ultimate Ears Triple Fi Pro's is totally off-the-planet scale-wise!! Holy Cow Batman!!! They really push out bass unlike any cheap, or inexpensive set of phones are meant to do, you think? I guess so because they pull it off with aplomb and solid, finely and tightly punched-out bass notes that simply permeate your head, TOTALLY!
Next? We switch over to the fantastic PC NO.1 with its Asus sound card/amp/and Rolls HA-43 Pro amp to totally blow the suds out of both sets of headphones/earphones, just make them speechless and trembling because of the POWER driven through them by the Rolls amp. It's a good combo for both sets of phones however, don't let this overwhelm your thinking at this point, because a good headphone amp does nothing more than amplify and clarify the driven sound of any headphone/earphone getup, and I mean ANY! And make it much, much louder with that clarity intact for anything you put through the system, ANYTHING!
First, I have to admit prejudice to the Ultimate Ears units because I've been listening with this particular set for almost 6 months, and I broke them in carefully, steadily, and surely with 24/7 playback (put albums on never-ending refresh, and let them rip!) for something like 3.5 weeks, ie while I was working or not using the PC No.1 it was breaking in the Triple Fi's for all that time...I figure about 450 hours of actual musical interlude with the phones, non-stop. They say 500 hours is ideal for break-in of any headphone or earphone, and I tend to think similarly, with variations on that theme, by specifically altering the type of music you push through the phones, programming them carefully and methodically to break-in the phones to the types of music YOU listen to, yah? Right!
Anyway, on the headphone amp and PC setup these two sets of earphones just knocked my level-headed socks off their perch, and sent them into space somewhere, I think!! I really don't know, they are both so competent in all respects, the Triple Fi's handling any and all types of sounds and music emanating from those two radical and precedent setting albums, arguably. With Hendrix playing guitar, you *know* you're in for some action like you've never heard a guitar attempt to do, much less actually do, and the JVC's carry his heavy and intricate, radical and tortuous guitar ripping and grinding, shredding if you will, into another dimension. You never lose sight of the bass line, but Jimi just dominates the songs and their performance so strong-handedly that you'd expect the phones to not respond quick enough, fast enough to catch it all intact...but the JVC's do just fine and Hendrix comes through in all 99-shades of purple, red, black, and blues musical lines that he liked to play for the people. Gosh I miss him!
Verdict? The JVC's and the Triple-Fi's tie on the amp setup, how about that? I can't give the nod to either as they are equally competent and the staging or ambiance attached to each song remains intact, is correctly translated by the phones into pure aural pleasures for the listener, no more and no less. It is almost perfect, and I can't imagine two more distinctly different, yet so similar in results, headphones in action on my beast of a PC sound system, all optically-cabled I might add. This is good news! My $25 JVC headphones are the equal of the Triple Fi's ($349) in almost every respect, just losing out ever so slightly on clarity and sound stage for the various eclectics and dynamics of the music.
Now there are some ways the Triple Fi's blow the little JVC's out of the water, and mainly it is the pure and professional construction of the physical aspects of the set, the wiring, the over-the-ear placement of the lead wiring vs. the "hang down to your guts" wire arrangement of the JVC's. Additionally the Triple-Fi's have a 2 year warranty vs. the JVC's 1-year coverage. The wiring on the Triple Fi's are replacement oriented, ie you can detach the wiring from the headphones and literally replace them as new with the help of Logitech (UE's new owners) of course! They are also easier to place in the ear canal subjectively, physically they are simply easier to 'get right' as rain in the ear, no discomfort even after many, many hours of use. And finally, the total package from Ultimate Ears is mind blowing in itself: attenuator modem for airplanes and busses and trains; extension cord; L-shaped connectors that are solid gold plated, 24Kt style. There are other things too, which should be mentioned in this review that I personally favor and use, for my own pleasure and comfort it seems. YMMV...
For the phones I never use the stock silicon ear pads, I toss them in the trash because I'll never use them, and I mean NOT EVER. I long ago discovered foam tips, and chose the TX-500's Comfort Ear Pads for both of these particular headphones, and man, what a difference it makes to use foam tips! One is totally isolated from the outside environment with foam tips, no sound whatsoever gets into the ear canal if you get a perfect seal goin' on, so like, DO NOT DRIVE A CAR with these in place, you'll most likely crash if you do!
In addition to the foam ear pads, which have earwax protection built into their interior spaces by the way, ie little tiny screens are fused into the pad material, which is "high response Recovery Foam" in nature, for a forever-good prophylaxis from anything getting into the phones, God forbid! I use the factory containers for traveling with any earphones, ie the Ultimate Ears stainless steel getup is my favorite of course, but the JVC's small plastic (hard) "black box" is adequate for the length and breadth of the earphones and their cable, that crazy-strong but flexible bright red contact wiring. The UE cabling is form fitting around the ear, ie it has "memory effect" so that it's always in the same spot when it comes time to place them in the ears for a session, a far superior method of wiring up an earphone.
That's the essence of my review for these fantastic budget-minded earphones, although I heavily favor the over-the-ear setup of the UE's, the JVC's are aok fine for hang-down earphones, un-over-the-ear type wiring. The weight is on the JVC's side, they are much lighter than the UE's, what with triple mini-drivers and speaker ports in the UE earphones vs a single helical driver system in the JVC's. But this phone all by itself deserves the award for Wavey Davey's "Best Earphones Less than $30!", as I cannot emphasize how good these are sound-wise for the price-point they are in...it is just unbelievable! If JVC had made them over-the-ear phones, they'd sell out to the walls each and every shipment, I am certain of this...it's just that important to any level of user, critic, consumer, musician, or anybody else for that matter. Once you've had the system OTE, you don't go back. Same for foam pads, you never, ever want to use silicon after you try foams.
As above, the JVC's get the "Best Earphones Less Than $30" Award from Wavey Davey, and any consumer who is capable of getting a "true seal" on their phones in the ear would have to agree, certainmounte? I think so!!
They are weak in the cable department, not having attachable cables that can be replaced, but then again you don't see this in the price point area they are in, so big deal about that. But overall? They are winners pure and pure again! Sound is unreal and strong, strong on the bass side, with a nice crossover-network effect, albeit not a complete 3D cross-over like in the UE Triple Fi's. What a value, too! My Lord, it is a winner right there bar none!
Finally, thank you for reading my extensive, but thorough delving into the essence of the JVC phones, as they deserved a complete review, which they now have, so there you go! It's always a pleasure to write reviews here at Amazon.com Reviews, so thanks again for the read, it's appreciated.
Wavey Davey - 7-21-2012
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From the manufacturer
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Inner-ear Headphones that Reproduce Powerful and Dynamic Deep Bass Sound |
10mm Large Diaphragm Neodymium Driver Units and Extreme Deep Bass Ports Deliver Ultimate Bass Sound |
Rubber Protectors for Body Durability |
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Gold-plated 3.5mm Stereo Straight Plug |
2.0mm-Thick and Robust 3.94ft (1.2m) Pure Copper Cable (Y-type) |
Special XX Hard Carrying Case Included |
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This Item  JVC HAFX1X Headphone Xtreme-Xplosivs, Black, Red |  |  |  |  | ![Wired headphones with [four speakers], high-fidelity noise-cancelling stereo subwoofer earbuds with microphone,universal 3.5mm plug earphones with volume adjustment,cnc processing metal back shell](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41YgQrlSsqS._AC_.jpg) | |
| Price | $25.92 | -5% $17.98 List: $19.00 | -6% $40.19 Typical price: $42.88 | $24.99 | $19.95 | $29.99 |
| Delivery | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | Get it May 20 - 31 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 | Get it as soon as Friday, May 17 |
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| Sold By | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Amazon Japan | JISCO CORP | Amazon.com | suyuz |
| connectivity tech | Wired | Wired | Wired | Wired | Wired | Wired |
| headphones form factor | In Ear | In Ear | オーバーイヤー | In Ear | In Ear | In Ear |
| connector type | 2.5mm Jack | — | 3.5mm Jack | 3.5mm Jack | — | 3.5mm Jack |
| noise control | sound isolation | — | sound isolation | — | — | sound isolation |
| cable feature | Retractable | Retractable | Removable | Retractable | Retractable | Retractable |
| control type | Media Control | Media Control | — | — | Siri | Noise Control |
Reviews with images
Elegant Sunrise (Japan Premium) sells fakes
Elegant Sunrise sold me fake JVC HAfx1x headphones. DO NOT buy anything from this vendor. These headphones are insanely good value even at $40 for authentic ones. If your hafx1x headphones don't have your chest and head vibrating from bass at moderate volume then return the fake pair you just bought. Unfortunately, these are discontinued and you have to look for the more recent and comparable hafx3x since the hafx1x are easier to fake and brand new originals are hard to find, even on amazon apparently...I had my first pair for a solid 2.5 years before someone cut off my cord with scissors. I used these things daily in college and the gym with the included eartips and their construction is top notch and they even outlasted my sport Klipsh headphones. The tangle-free cord is great for stuffing in your pocket, but I recommend using the included hard shell case or buying another case. If you do put them in your pocket, then be sure to take them out of the device so the tip of the wire doesn't get pinched off inside when walking.Great for electronic music, bass heavy tracks (like rap), or bringing out bass from metal songs where bass is always muted or drowned out by drums for some stupid reason.An easy way to tell you have fakes and explain why your heart is now sinking is the white stripe in between the wires after the Y splitter. Some even have the wires after the Y splitter attached to each other and you have to peel them apart. These are fake and a common trait among $1-2 dollar headphones.
