JVC FD01: A new contender for best DD IEM?

Discussion in 'IEMs and Portable Gear' started by james444, Jun 20, 2018.

  1. blackships

    blackships Friend

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    Borderline contentless post incoming:

    I'm really loving these balanced out of the ZX300. I have small ear-holes, so the stock medium tips just kind of squirted the IEMs out of my ears, but SM Spiral Dots are perfect. I wasn't terribly bothered by the stock sound and was skeptical of the mod, but I finally did it yesterday. The change is noticeable and definitely an improvement. I may end up selling my Andromedas at this point. Not because the FD01 is strictly and objectively better sounding, but they're more comfortable for me and I prefer the DD sound.
     
  2. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    I too prefer the FD-01s over the Andromedas because I prefer the sound of DDs. They’re not technically superior but they’re more pleasing to my ear. They’re so good that it would have to take a truly stellar DD IEM to dislodge it as my number one pair, I’m done with BA.
     
  3. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

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    I haven't used my Andros since I got the FD01.

    Could be just new toy syndrome, and could be expectation bias, but I also notice a different "weight" or "body" to the music with the FD01s.

    I should do some comparative listening to both, but TBH I hate comparative listening. Such a low ROI on the time it takes to do it. If the FD01s are makin' me happy, why bother?
     
  4. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    @captkirk Appreciate your impressions as I also have CA Orions. While I do enjoy the sound, comfort for me is a problem. I must have small ear canals or something. Medium foam tips seemed to fit the sturdiest but my ear canals would hurt after <2 hours, while the other tips and smaller sizes made the Orion too bass-shy for me as a 'fun DD.'

    Sonically, in contrast to the Orion these seem like an improvement overall? I use my phone Pixel 2 XL as a source using the provided Google USB-C dongle. @philipmorgan 's comments of 'weighty' is a big plus in my books for a DD.

    Where is everyone finding these? I looked for some in Canada and can't find anything...

    In terms of reference pertaining to comfortable IEMs to these snowflake ear canals, I actually find the Monster isport victory to be fantastic. Sound is...well it turns on and isn't gawd awful...
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2019
  5. Soups

    Soups Sadomasochistic cat

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    Also received my FD01 a few days ago and wanted to choo choo this hype train.

    Some quick background - been searching for a competent sub $500 iem. First tried the Brainwavz B400's and then the Massdrop Plus. Sold both after a few weeks, and concluded that the BA timbre was just not for me, or at least the options in my price range. What ultimately pushed me to Team DD is that I kept going back to a few ~$30 dynamic iems (w/ easy mods) that @james444 rec'd.

    Back to the FD01. Like others, I am wow'd by the build quality. Fit and comfort wise - I find them acceptable. I know JVC likes to market these to smallish Asian women hanging out in ritzy, anti-social coffee shops, but they are heavy! My guess is that they would be uncomfortable for long listens on smaller ears, especially if you wear them hanging down rather than over-ear. And although I'm using the large tips with these, if I were a small asian woman with small ears, I'd still buy them and listen for as long as I could bear - because no pain, no gain.

    Stock tonality seems just fine if you listen mostly to instrumental acoustic (jazz, classical). But I believe that's considered an insult around here. So, since I enjoy other genres and the stock treble peaks were too much for me, I applied the mod (13mm strips). And then all the music started to sound great, and I was getting a nice neutralish sig with a light treble tilt.

    I don't have many points of comparison, but I find the FD01 so pleasantly balanced, highly resolving and spacious sounding for an IEM. Someone earlier mentioned their "in the room" feel, and there were a few tracks where these beat my Elex's in that regard. I hear more detail on the Elex, but these sound more natural. The biggest possible downside of the FD01 is the bass. If you prefer anything other than neutralish bass, I doubt you'd like these. I sometimes find myself wanting a bit more, and I'm looking forward to having the very different CA Atlas loaner in house soon to compare.

    PS - For those in the US, I got them from AccessoryJack.com after reading about it from others here - and my first-time buying experience was trouble free.
     
  6. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    I’ve gotten some seriously kickin’ bass from these. Like I couldn’t believe that the bass I was experiencing was coming from a tiny diaphragm lodged in my ear canal.
     
  7. monacelli

    monacelli Friend

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    It's been said before, but major props to @james444 for unearthing this gem. In stock form the FD01 has a lot of potential, but is also fatiguing and has kind of a sharpening filter effect due to the treble peaks. But James' mods turn it into a legit Golden Schlong winner that might be better than anything under $1k right now. And the mods are way easy and come with zero risk. Kudos, dude

    [Aside: I'm also totally satisfied with the bass quantity. You'd have to be a big-time bass head to find them lacking in that department, imo.]
     
  8. Soups

    Soups Sadomasochistic cat

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    I'm pretty happy with the bass as well. But as I listen more, I'm trying to figure out what I'm hearing in the upper bass - could be tips or my M0 - but they sound a bit recessed at times. Not a dealbreaker by any means, but I do have my basshead moments.
     
  9. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

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    Agreed, that's the reason why I always wear them over-ears. And tbh, at times I just don't bother and grab my "Poor Man's FD01" instead, which are much lighter and not that much worse sounding.
     
  10. mscott58

    mscott58 Friend

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  11. TomHP

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    What's the inner diameter of the tube? If it's around 2-2.2mm, you could use Knowles dampers Would be perfect to dampen those too sharp resonances.

    I just came back from Japan, and completely missed these guys during my listening session at E-earphones. Will have to track them down in Taipei.
     
  12. Augmentin

    Augmentin MOT - DUNU IEM Company

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    I didn't measure exactly, but the inner diameter is definitely wider than the outer diameter of a Knowles damper.

    I heard them at JM-Plus. If you ask nicely they will change out the different material tubes for you and you can hear the *lack* of any difference between the three metals. I believe they're open all throughout the CNY holiday.
     
  13. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Just heard these at JM-Plus. They were more refined than the PMFD, but this tuning isn't for me. I found the mids really thin, and even with a lot of filtering to shelve the top end, it still wouldn't be my cup of tea. My reference is Andro w/ foam mod out of ZX2.
     
  14. jafnvaegi

    jafnvaegi Friend

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    Did they allow you to apply the nozzle filter for the demo or were you using EQ on your ZX2? I've personally not used a ZX2 but I did have a ZX300 and attempted to EQ the FD01 using that (and other DAPs) and from my experience, it can't give the same filtering effect as the physical mod. I agree that stock or as I had found with EQ, the midrange is just too thin but the mod really transforms the tuning and presentation.
     
  15. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    Yeah, physically modded the mids on these shine and are more upfront than the Andros. The Andromedas sound U-shaped after listening to the JVCs regularly.
     
  16. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    I probably could have transferred the filters from my PMFDs to the 01s, but I ran out of time. My comments are based on extrapolation from my experience modding the PMFD. I dunno, could be just anti-synergy with my ears, but they're 2 different DD iems that happen to have the same tonal sig (with the right mods). I find it hard to imagine that the filters would fill in the mids on the 01s to where they'd make Andros sound U-shaped to me. But I could be wrong, as my wife often likes to point out.
     
  17. fraggler

    fraggler A Happy & Busy Life

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    BTW, Amazon.jp has these for $343 shipped (3-5 days) based on today's exchange rate.
     
  18. brencho

    brencho Friend

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    I'm not your wife, but you won't know until you actually try it out
     
  19. bengo

    bengo Friend

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  20. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

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    I'd actually agree with you there. Properly modded PMFDs are a very close approximation of FD01 tonality, so if these aren't your cup of tea, there's reason to believe that the modded FD01s won't be either.
     

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