Jupiter Audio JAR 580 and 650 Measurements and Review

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by Vtory, Aug 15, 2021.

  1. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    For some unknown reasons, I thought I already posted my impression and measurements. But this morning I realized I didn't. I didn't even make any progress on writeups since I made extensive listening notes while I had the loaner units in the house. Oh well.

    Will post in the following order.
    1. JAR650 measurements and comments
    2. JAR650 subjective impressions
    3. JAR580 measurements and comments
    4. JAR580 subjective impressions
    5. Closing thoughts

    In short, I'd like to begin with this bold claim.

    Both JAR580 and 650 were very impressive achievements. Refinedness found in every element that matter to my listening experience. TBH I can't think of any sonic reasons for myself to take the original 600/650/6XX (kiss-mod included) over JAR ones. Excess costs/fees still seem arguable tho.

    Ok, let's take a look at the results.

    jar650_fr_leftright.jpg

    jar650_dist_l.jpg

    jar650_dist_r.jpg

    jar650_waterfall.jpg
     
  2. M3NTAL

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    I had Marv's Kiss'd 650 for a little bit alongside my very old and worn 650. The KISS was too aggressive for my eardrums. The mid-bass punch seemed to be the thing that my ears took too much notice of and it changed what the HD650 was for me. I think the JAR might be nice if it doesn't remove the foam in front of the driver.

    I don't know if the guy who was doing magnet modification mods fell off the planet or if there is still work being done there + the mass loading of the chassis.

    Unless you actually change the driver, you are just tuning the room. A solid & well dampened room is always a plus. I don't know if the front foam changes reflections or not, but it was way more painful for me with the front foam having the center cut out. (KISS vs. Stock)
     
  3. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    Quick thoughts on JAR650
    • FR is mostly very similar with HD650. Maybe a tad smoother from both subjective and objective perspectives. Bass is also a little lifted, but it comes at a cost of higher distortion.
    • I don't think I hear bass in the same way as distortion charts suggest. But when switching from HD650K to JAR650 in synthetic tracks, I found JAR650's bass sounded a bit loose and less controlled by a small margin. Not as much heft as I want. This barely cased any issues in listening to acoustic tracks though.
    • Also subjectively, I don't think JAR650 makes any meaningful technical improvements over lightly-modded 650/6xx. They do sound different and jar650 was the most preferable to my liking. But not in the way I can confirm a clear winner.
    • Readers should understand these measurements taken at a relatively high level (95db spl@300hz). I believe results at lower level might be much cleaner.
    I honestly spent way more time with JAR580 which was doubtlessly of more fun.
     
  4. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    A comparative plot below. To exclude pads effect, I used the same sets of pads in the measurements. Not much difference other than a little more tamed mid trebles.

    jar650_vs_hd650.jpg
     
  5. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    JAR580 measurements below.

    jar580_fr_leftright.jpg

    jar580_dist_l.jpg
    jar580_dist_r.jpg

    jar580_waterfall.jpg
     
  6. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    I will post subjective thoughts a little later tonight or tomorrow. Instead dropping some comparative plots below for now. They did sound bright, forwarding, and aggressive (in a good way).

    jar580_vs_jar650_vs_hd650k.jpg

    jar580_vs_hd600_vs_elex.jpg
     
  7. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    Thoughts on JAR580
    • Better bass quality. Not surprisingly, reduced (borderline lean to my taste) bass quality of JAR580 seems to be associated with many favorable quality merits. Around 100hz or so, I will take JAR580 over JAR650 any day: tighter, cleaner, better focused and textured, and so forth. Not too different from my memory of HD600, but even slightly better. While it's still within limitation of Senn 40mm drivers (high resonance frequency, lower rigidity, etc), the experience is impressive enough to turn me on.
    • Very clear and forwarding vocals. JAR580 had the most elevated treble level among anything I tried in the Senn 6x0 realm (original 580 included). Vocal tracks opened up and came with better presence. More so than what I can recall with HD600.
    • Occasionally, some tracks sounded too sharp or sibilant.
    • Impressively good for classical and acoustic music. Maybe one of the best headphones for classical music purposes (sub-bass not much required + generous for elevated trebles). Not a great choice for dance pops and most electronics (except treble-shy tracks).
    • Interestingly, JAR580 to me was closer to HD600 than to HD580. But that's from a very old memory (my 580 was dead a decade ago). Can't confirm well.
     
  8. Vtory

    Vtory Audiophile™

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    Closing thoughts on both
    • Overall, there's no doubt that ext1 did a fantastic job in pushing the original drivers to their limits. They're probably the best experience that I can hear from Senn realm. Aesthetics and BQ were pretty good, too.
    • JAR fixes some of Senn annoyances I had for many years, if not solved perfectly. Everything sounds very balanced and cohesive. They can replace any of original Senn headphones. In this regard, JAR was an excellent accomplishment.
    • My concerns come from rather external scopes. One is value. 100% surely you (or I) should get JAR IF we can get it around 6xx price or so. But it seems to require fair amount of premium on top of original Senn prices which I don't think cheap at all for what they are in 2021. For example, I vaguely remember new JAR was up in the sbaf classified around elex price or a bit less. Do I take one of those JARs over Elex for that level of money? That's a tough question. This also correlates to the next point below.
    • JAR mod could let me know what Senn drivers are capable of. But it's still Senn sound at the end of the day. For some people, it might be bliss. For people like me, that can be an inherent downside. There are certain things that I believe small+mylar drivers can't do to my liking. I still regard JAR (particularly 580 one) as a genre specialist but never as a day to day generalist for myself. This can be very likely a biased opinion from Audeze-Focal head though. Senn lovers' mileage may vary.
    • This may sounds completely season-dependent. But I really didn't like velour pads (I do know this material has a lot of sonic benefits tho). If ext1 can come up with the similar level of perfection with pleather or any plastic fiber pads, I will be very interested.
     

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