Drop x JVC HA-FDX1 DD IEM: The second coming of ...

Discussion in 'IEM Measurements' started by purr1n, Aug 10, 2019.

  1. randytsuch

    randytsuch Friend

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    :(
    Mine are broken. Was swapping cables and I broke the mmcx connector on one of them. Happened to be at work when I was trying them, so I could look at them under a microscope and see the connector damage.
    Wonder how much to repair?
    I know these are fragile little connectors so I try to be careful, first time I broke one.
    :(
     
  2. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Contact Drop?
     
    Last edited: Feb 7, 2020
  3. PTS

    PTS Friend

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    Received as part of the loaner tour, and can earnestly say these are the best IEMs I've ever heard. I liked them so much, I purchased some this morning.

    I recently bought and sold Andromedas, which while technically impressive, never really drew me in on either an emotional or visceral level. Different story with the FDX1, with their uncanny ability to induce goosebumps or get your head bobbing.

    The first thing I noticed is the insanely fast and well textured bass. It's abundant but not overblown, has the ability to stop on a dime, and is tied cohesively to the rest of the frequency range (unlike Andromedas). The mid-range is lush and the (post-mod) highs are sparkly without being fatiguing.

    These honestly rival large headphones in their ability to create a decent soundstage and draw you in. They remind me of my Denon AH-D7000, with just a touch of nasal honk to the upper mids. They're also a surprisingly heavy for an IEM (each housing feels like a small ball of lead in the palm your hand) and have a tendency to fall out unless you wrap the cable over your ear. Those are the only drawbacks that come to mind.

    All in all, they're fantastic and get a big thumbs up from me. Thank you to SBAF for bringing these to my attention, @james444 for his wonderful mod, and to @CEE TEE at Drop for wrangling such a great price point in collaboration with JVC.
     
  4. PTS

    PTS Friend

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    What freq band dips are best to reduce upper-mid nasal honk?
     
  5. Cellist88

    Cellist88 Friend

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    seems you should reduce the 4k peak. usually some reduction from 2-4k will help with upper mid bite
     
  6. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    I drop it a few dB at 4k and around 1dB at 2k on my ZX300 to reduce nasal honk and overall forwardness. And a slight lift in the mid to upper bass helps fill out the sound for me.

    Edit: ^ what Cellist said.

    I bought the Drop version to try their "factory mod", even though I already had a pair of self-modded FD01s. I like the sound with the stock Spiral Dot tips, but the beveled edge of the shells tends to press against my concha and becomes uncomfortable after a while. I took @james444's suggestion of trying tips that have a shallower insertion, and ended up with Spinfit CP100 but the large rather than the medium I use with Andros. There was less interference with my ear, but the sound was rather hollow (particularly the bass), sounding like there wasn't a good "connection" between the IEM and my ear, even though I had a proper seal. So back to the Symbio Ws I'd been using with my modded FD01s. The green nozzles (max filter) require less EQ, but lose too much treble. So I'm using the blue nozzles with roughly the same EQ as I was for the modded FD01s.

    Curious if there was a difference between the OG and Drop version, I swapped the FDX1 nozzles over and my initial impression was that the FD01 sounded livelier and more impactful. This is probably placebo or possibly due to them being more "loosened up" as @limesoft mentioned on the previous page. The finish on the OG is definitely nicer with a brushed metalic finish whereas the Drop looks possibly painted with a grainy finish. Also, the OG nozzles fit into the Drop shells, but the Drop nozzle (at least my blue one) required significant jiggly to insert into the OG. Maybe minor tolerance issues?
     
  7. PhoenixClaw

    PhoenixClaw Friend

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    My pair just arrived a couple of days ago. I've had a few hours of on-off listening to them but i'll be trying to "digest" the sound over the next few days. However I can say that the best way to wear them (for me) is over-ear, with Medium Spiral Dots tips. I've tried many pairs (final, acoustune, azla, etc) and the spiral dots give me the best fit.

    First impressions would be that in stock form, they had a very metallic timbre and sounded quite off to me.I switched to the blue filters and have been using them for a while. The timbre is much more natural, and overall the sound signature falls to the "balanced" category for me. Slightly bass and upper mid-range boosted, but IMO executed well.

    EDIT: I'd like to add that the shell design is genius to me - rotating so there's a high degree of freedom in how someone can wear them. Likewise, the mechanism for filter changing is pretty intuitive too.
     
  8. lucser

    lucser New

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    Mostly a reader than a writer, I was learning a lot from this forum posts on different sections. Purchased the FDX1 before reading about them here and even if these are the most expensive IEMs that I've ever bought, I must say that I didn't expect them to be so good. Honestly speaking these are one of the few pieces of audio equipment that offered much much more than I've expected from them based on the pre-purchase "research".

    I do not have the skills to properly describe in fine details the audio properties of these IEMs and it is also not needed, as reading the posts on this topic I've found that what was already said match my impressions as well. Instead, I will try to share the impressions on one track that I really like and where, due to the nature of how the piece of music it is played, some details and differences from the previous IEMs and Headphones were easier noticed. It is about Ravel's Bolero with Munchner Philharmoniker, Sergiu Celibidache conductor (DISC 3 from an 11 EMI Disc set French & Russian Music). As a well-known fact, Celibidache had an original approach to the timing of his interpretations, most of them being in a much slower tempo than other conductors. One of the ideas was to leave the notes and sound "space" to breath and develop. This is quite obvious in this interpretation of Ravel's Bolero were everything just seems to fit in the right place at the right time and with the maximum impact of the resulting sound. The piece is starting as a soft whisper (actually on many other systems or headphones is almost as a ~10 seconds of silence) that is perfect audible with FDX1. Second is the timbre and the evolution of the two timpani hits that are constantly repeated until the end. There is something special when heard through FDX1, you can hear the nuances and slight vibrations in the sound decay, and is easy to discern the Celibidache attention and control on how these two timpani hits evolve having so many different nuances until the climax at the end of the piece. Really magical and this is only one piece of music. Now it became my daily IEM and it is really nice when, from time to time, small details in an otherwise well-known piece of music reveal themselves bringing always an involuntary smile before even the brain to register the novelty of the detail.

    The main reason for this post is actually to say a big thanks to all that made possible that this great IEM to be offered at this fair price. I'm not a regular IEM user, using them occasionally when travelling or seldom at the office but I was trying many new IEM as always something was missing. Now my search is finished.

    Again big thanks to JVC & @CEE TEE for making this possible to @james444 for his mods and to all others that influenced or helped in any way the arrival of FFDX1! Great Job!

    PS: Mostly used with my old Fiio X5 DAP (looking for a new DAP) but soon I plan to try them extensively on my home equipment Holo Spring DAC, Cavalli Liquid Carbon, EC ZDS Jr. and soon ECP DSHA3F)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 5, 2020
  9. imackler

    imackler Key Lime Pie Infected Aberdeen Wings Spy

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    Medium-filters with Final Audio Tips is a pretty sweet combo. I think the E-tips mellow things out a little bit with that narrower bore; I'd get a little tense after a while with tips with a wide-opening. I went from love at first sight to buyer's regret with the FDX1... but the E-tips are helping me think that this iem may stick around.
     
  10. bilboda

    bilboda Florida boomer

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    Thought mine might be broken until I found foam tips laying around. Night and day. Craptastic sq led me to purchase a Hiby R3 pro. Then I found the foam tips. Ah well. Very nice dap. Sporting Comply TX 500 now, with an assortment of generic foam tips for back up.
     
  11. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    FFS - filter confusion.

    In the early run of these which went to reviewers including Purr1n, the nozzles with the blue rings were the ones with the most-stuffed, most upper mid- & treble-reducing filters (see his measurements in post #29). In the first sales run, the colours were transposed so that the green-ringed nozzles had the most effect. In the current run, it appears that they've been transposed back to the original form and blue are again the most extreme.

    When discussing these, look inside the nozzles you like and describe the stuffing wrt the others so we'll all know which is which.
     
  12. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

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    HA HA HA that is unfortunate. I had a feeling that the later runs would correct it.
     
  13. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    I finally got around to replacing my lost modded FD-01s, and it looks like while I was taking my sweet time Drop decided to price these permanently at $250 instead of $280, which is such an incredible value.
     
  14. ufospls2

    ufospls2 Friend

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    I was able to grab a pair of FD-X1 used from Head-Fi. I've been listening to them for the past two hours or so. They sound great to me with the green filter installed. A little bit bass light for my preferences, so I've boosted up 80hz and under about 2.5-3db, and that is really hitting the spot. Im impressed with how good these sound so far for the money. Will report back later with more thoughts :)
     
  15. farbinator

    farbinator Facebook Friend

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    Received my FDX1s from Drop today and I am positively blown away that a set of IEMs sound so good on so many levels. This is my first set of IEMs which I bought primarily as a portable option for bedroom and travel use when I don't feel like using the desktop rig.

    BLUF
    These have no business sounding this good at this price level. A perfect choice for one's first set of quality IEMs. I think someone else might have stated these might just be the HD6XXs of the IEM world? I'm a believer, the value here is incredible.


    Fitting
    My ears are notoriously difficult to get a good fit with IEMs and these were no exception, but after playing with the rotating bodies (what a great design feature) and the smallest included tips I was able to get a comfortable fit. Given how heavy the IEM modules themselves are I'm genuinely surprised how that weight actually disappears once fitted.

    Sound/Tuning
    When first plugged in with my LG G8 with its fancy built in DAC, I realized very quickly that I needed to fine tune some of the sound options, including applying some EQ mostly to bring the lower frequencies up a bit. Screenshots attached for what I ended up settling with, which sounds decent to my ears without being overly harsh, particular at the higher end making for some very easy listening.

    Seriously, don't even look twice. These are a Japanese masterpiece.
     

    Attached Files:

  16. imackler

    imackler Key Lime Pie Infected Aberdeen Wings Spy

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    Has anyone switched out filters as time goes? I'm not sure if its switching out source... or I say this cautiously, burn in. I really liked the middle filter but have just switched to the most stuffed one. Has anyone else made a similar change, despite initial love with the middle filter? I was just fatiguing too quickly...
     
  17. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    I started with the middle filter and after a few weeks switched to the most stuffed filter, which is now what I prefer.
     
  18. CEE TEE

    CEE TEE MOT: NITSCH

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    I have changed damping filters if I change tips- bore opening width or how deep/shallow can affect the response and make me change...
     
  19. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    @imackler @Merrick what are you driving them with? I've found these things to be very sensitive to source, the 'metallic sheen' straight out of my phone being way more noticeable with these than with any other IEMs. From Dragonfly Black though and probably Ifi Nano BL (haven't had long enough sessions with them on that for fatigue to be a factor), I remain happy with my initial middle filter choice. Allo Miniboss -> Vali 2 is great too.

    But of course, see my sig...
     
  20. BenjaminBore

    BenjaminBore Friend

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    The following is an on profile discussion regarding the elevated upper-mids/lower-treble. @E_Schaaf @YMO @obsiCO @shotgunshane @Biodegraded I hope you guys don’t mind my putting this here. It seemed pertinent to the main thread.
    A small follow up on my end. My apologies I’ve not had time to put real effort into anything audio this last year. I would usually be more thorough before having commented.

    I’ve just recently gotten a new adapter and after talking to you guys I went and plugged the FDX1 into a few more things. A Fulla 2, Apple dongle, NBM, and the 3.5mm SE output of the ES100. What I found was that the elevation exists in all cases and the louder things get the worse it is, and some tracks are worse than others. But the 2.5mm balanced output of the Radsone ES100 has some timbre issues, which are much less evident from the 3.5mm SE output. I haven’t listened enough to say anything more than it exacerbated the issue with the FDX1, and I heard a bit of the same thing from a HD650m out of the 3.5mm SE output.

    So I would no longer claim that I found the FDX1 completely intolerable. How tolerable and whether I would be able to live with it from another amp/dac is yet to be determined. But I still dislike the frequency response and do not consider it accurate, and would still want to EQ. @shotgunshane thanks for the suggestion. I’ll try this at some point as I really don’t want to be dependant on EQ for anything portable.
     
    Last edited: Aug 22, 2020

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