JVC FD01: A new contender for best DD IEM?

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

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Preliminary measurements here. The deltas between stock and modded are very similar to @james444's results. A few things to note:
    1. Quicky measurements - the seal was somewhat looser than usual.
    2. Quicky mods - I just rolled up the gauze and shoved it in. @james444's approach leaves a gap, which might account for less attenuation past 15kHz.
    VIOLET = stock
    GREEN = modded
    JVC-FD01 frequency response.png
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2018
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    BA drivers are small, have odd (pun intended) distortion characterisitics, and don't do high SPL well. Multiple drivers mitigate these weaknesses. The problem with hybrids is the same as the Martin Logan speakers trying to mate small woofers with big fast panels.
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2018
  3. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Overall quick subjective notes for modded JVC-FD01:
    1. Wish the bass was tighter, faster, more articulate, but hey, it's DD. Take the good with the bad.
    2. Fantastic timbre all around and fast natural transients up top.
    3. I could personally use a little bit less of that 3-4kHz bump. This is a minor complaint.
    4. The mods also shove down the upper-mids a bit too much. Another minor complaint.
    5. Good extension in the highs, exceeds expectations.
    6. Not lean or bright. It's actually kind of dark overall - with the exception of the slightly overdone 3-4kHz bump.
     
  4. EagleWings

    EagleWings Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Jul 20, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,709
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    India
    Does adding a couple of dBs at 1 & 2khz and reducing a couple of dBs at 4khz on a 10 band EQ help improve things or does it make it worse?
     
  5. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    On my ZX2, added 1 notch at 1kHz, reduced 4 notches at 2.5k and 3 notches at 6kHz, and one notch down on bass. The physical mods seem to do a much better job IMO. EQ tends to be good at fixing things that don't need much fixing in the first place.

    Impulse response before and after mods.

    JVC FD01 stock impulse response
    FD01 stock IR.png

    JVC FD01 modded impulse response
    FD01 modded IR.png
     
  6. Friday

    Friday Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 29, 2015
    Likes Received:
    520
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Would adding a thin criss-cross micropore tape on the nozzle help tame the 3-4khz without attenuating the higher frequencies too much?
     
  7. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Probably not. That peakage is too much out of control. LOL. The stock tuning reminds me of the ATH-W5000 from years ago.
     
  8. Priidik

    Priidik MOT: Estelon

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    2,153
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Estonia
    Could it be the high-ish source resistance of the ZX2?
     
  9. Stuff Jones

    Stuff Jones Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,790
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Also the ZX2 is a little underpowered. It wasn't great with my DDs which needed juice.
     
  10. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

    Pyrate Flathead IEMW
    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,100
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    Are you wearing them cable upwards? I feel that greatly helps to achieve a more secure fit.

    That said, they're probably too heavy for jogging anyway...

    I intentionally leave the gap in those filters, because I feel that damping the entire nozzle cross-section results in slightly less dynamic and somewhat murkier bass. It's something I noticed with all my DD mods, not only the FD01 (though I haven't been able to corroborate it with measurements). Damping just part of the nozzle and leaving an air duct open gives me subjectively clearer and more dynamic bass.

    Here's how my filters look from the front side, through the nozzle grill:

    [​IMG]

    I tried micropore tape too, but the swab filters did the best job out of all damping materials I've tried.
     
  11. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    To some extent yes, comparing to Magni 3, THX AAA, etc. But not all.
     
  12. Stuff Jones

    Stuff Jones Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,790
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Allow me to emote in a way unbecoming of an SBAFer: These balanced out of the GOV2A sound phenomenal. Like as good as anything I've heard phenomenal. So physical and detailed. Bass that goes deep with texture but always stays in its lane. Great treble extension. Precice SS. Still very good out of other sources (SE GO, balanced and SE from the ZX300), but the pairing with the GO balanced is special.

    I'll need to mod to get rid of that extra brightness (not as bad as I was expecting), but man these are impressively capable. Thanks james!
     
  13. skem

    skem Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 1, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,911
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Charles River
    I actually liked it more out of my iPhone than a proper headphone amp -- fwiw.
     
    Last edited: Jul 17, 2018
  14. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

    Pyrate Flathead IEMW
    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,100
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    This is probably audiophile blasphemy, but I like them a lot streaming LDAC from my phone via the Shanling M0.

    The latter being such an impressively well thought-out device and easily worth its price, even though I only use it as a Bluetooth receiver.
     
  15. Stuff Jones

    Stuff Jones Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,790
    Trophy Points:
    113
    @james444 I've tried the alcohol swab technique but I find it hard to be exact in cutting exactly identical dimension pieces and inserting them with exactly the same opening. This also applies to just sticking cotton in. How does the imprecision of mods affect sound quality? I know channel imbalance is an issue unmodded - can (almost inevitably) unbalanced mods introduce it?
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2018
  16. james444

    james444 Mad IEM modding wizard level 99

    Pyrate Flathead IEMW
    Joined:
    Jun 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,100
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    Personally, I find it pretty easy to cut the alcohol swab, since it's already folded, so you can cut both layers at the same time. And if you still notice a slight difference afterwards, then place both pieces on top of each other and trim along the edges. The absolute dimensions (e.g. width being 5.9mm or 6.1mm) are less important than making sure that both pieces have identical dimensions.

    Then use a needle... fit one end through the eye and wrap the strip around the needle:

    [​IMG]


    Lastly, you can carefully use the needle's rear end to keep same size gaps open in the middle of both filters:

    [​IMG]

    In my experience, slightly unbalanced mods aren't necessarily an issue. But if you feel that the center image is skewed, or that one side sounds a tad more muffled than the other, then you should definitely redo the mod to ensure proper channel balance.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2018
  17. monacelli

    monacelli Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2017
    Likes Received:
    1,649
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    The Land of Enchantment
    I ordered a pair of these on eBay and have been enjoying them immensely after applying @james444's mod. I will write up some impressions after living with them for a week or two. For now, I wanted to make a quick post showing how to remove the nozzles. It's fairly intuitive, but I had to stare at it for a few minutes to figure it out. (I find that new toy syndrome sometimes makes it easier to overlook things too.) In case anyone else is sort of dense like me, here are the steps and a picture:

    1) Use your fingernail to push the little slider back toward the vent. Hold it there.
    2) Rotate the nozzle counterclockwise toward the small notch (marked with the red diamond).
    3) Stop when the notch on the nozzle is aligned with the notch on the housing. Gently pull the nozzle out.

    When you put the new nozzles on, be sure to line up the notch on the nozzle with the little notch on the driver housing. That's it, super easy after you do it once.

    [​IMG]
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

    Staff Member Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 24, 2015
    Likes Received:
    89,778
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Padre Island CC TX
    Took them on my trip and have been using them straight from my Pixel 2 XL. If anything, just a tick bright in mid-treble and a tick laid back in upper mids after mods; but really I'm just bitching about nothing. These are thoroughly enjoyable with great DD timbre, texture, and richness. I will be sad sending them out on the loaner program when I get back from vacation. This is it. This is the high-end DD IEM that actually sounds normal without messed up treble peaks. Thank you @james444 for finding this gem and suggesting appropriate mods.
     
    Last edited: Jul 28, 2018
  19. Stuff Jones

    Stuff Jones Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2016
    Likes Received:
    1,790
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Still with cotton shoved in?

    Just as word of caution to others, the filters don't appear to be that well secured. In maneuvering my mod in the nozzle with a toothpick I managed to push one of the filters out.
     
  20. drkwntr

    drkwntr New

    Joined:
    Jul 12, 2017
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    3
    Location:
    Tx
    Can anyone recommend a balanced cable for FD01? Preferably one without memory wire.

    TIA
     

Share This Page