FiiO JT1
- Added by Sha1rholder
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>>I am brazilian and I speak portuguese, so forgive my english, I’ll use translation tools to help<<
INTRO:
The JT1 is currently the company’s entry-level headphone, it’s a good opportunity for me to dive into this other side that is headphones. For those who still don’t know, Jade Audio is a subsidiary from FiiO.
Price: $69.99 USD
Colors: Black
FiiO Reviews: FH3, KA1, HS18 (in portuguese), JD7, KA5, FD11, Q11, M11S, KA11 (in english)
FIIO LINKS:
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DekS5Qn
SPECIFICATIONS:
– Closed Over-ear Headphones
– (1) 50mm Dynamic Driver (DD) PEC+PU +aluminum foil per side
– Frequency range: 15Hz – 30kHz
– Impedance: 32Ω
– Sensitivity: 103dB/Vrms (@ 1kHz)
– Cable with Mic + 1 button
– Connectors: 3.5mm TRS (detachable)
– Plug: 3.5mm (straight design)
– Cable material: Paracord (nylon) OFC
– Cable size: about 150cm
– Headphone weight: 303.5g (without cable)
– Cable weight: 51.5g
– Total weight (box, headphones, etc): 684g
– Packaging size: 22cm [H] x 20.5cm [W] x 11cm [D]
UNBOXING:
PHYSICAL ASPECTS:
Price: $69.99 USD
Colors: Black
FiiO Reviews: FH3, KA1, HS18 (in portuguese), JD7, KA5, FD11, Q11, M11S, KA11 (in english)
FIIO LINKS:
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DekS5Qn
SPECIFICATIONS:
– Closed Over-ear Headphones
– (1) 50mm Dynamic Driver (DD) PEC+PU +aluminum foil per side
– Frequency range: 15Hz – 30kHz
– Impedance: 32Ω
– Sensitivity: 103dB/Vrms (@ 1kHz)
– Cable with Mic + 1 button
– Connectors: 3.5mm TRS (detachable)
– Plug: 3.5mm (straight design)
– Cable material: Paracord (nylon) OFC
– Cable size: about 150cm
– Headphone weight: 303.5g (without cable)
– Cable weight: 51.5g
– Total weight (box, headphones, etc): 684g
– Packaging size: 22cm [H] x 20.5cm [W] x 11cm [D]
UNBOXING:
Reels from @iemsandmusic
PHYSICAL ASPECTS:
Construction: The JT1 has a more modern design, with a metal arch that strongly reminds of Meze headphones. The quality of the JT1 materials is very good, the malleability of the product is also very good, and I found it to be a lightweight headphone (if compared to the 400SE for example).
Something that intrigued me was the headphone not being open… even though it has an external grid that is all hollow and you feel the sound coming out there, FiiO describes the product as closed. Here I don’t have enough experience to affirm anything, and indeed the JT1 isn’t open like a Sennheiser HD600 or the Hifiman HE400SE.
Headband: The detail of the headband is that it has an adjustment system through “elastics” (wires), so here you don’t have size levels, but a variable adjustment according to the size of your head. Perhaps the only point to be criticized in the construction of the JT1 are these wires… but not that the system doesn’t work well, on the contrary, it works very well, the question is the durability of these wires, I found them very thin. In my tests here everything was Ok, but I can’t guarantee for a distant future.
The Pads are removable and I found it very easy to remove and put on. They can also rotate according to your fitting needs, I found this to be a very positive point. The pads have good quality, they are very comfortable, very soft, the material is like a synthetic leather. Now, I think the 400SE pads are of a slightly better quality, although the 400SE has almost double the price of the JT1 (official price). The internal space of the pads I thought could have a little more space, or maybe I’m taking as a parameter the 400SE pads that are very open.
Cable. The cable is made of Paracord (nylon). I found it to be a very good cable, very robust, resistant, easy to roll up to store. The plug connectors for fitting in the headphone are 3.5mm TRS and the main plug is also 3.5mm TRRS. Now, the points that I didn’t find so positive were: first I found the cable to be heavy, in fact I think it could be thinner and lighter (it weighs 51g), for example, in the 400SE I use a balanced 4.4mm OpenHeart cable that weighs 35g. Second is that: the JT1 cable presented microphony, and it also keeps a little memory (undulation). Saying that I still prefer Paracord cables than rubberized type cables, I think the durability of the Paracord is greater, I’ve had headphones in the past that the rubberized cables simply dried out and broke.
Microphone: The JT1 cable comes with a built-in microphone. The quality of the audio that the JT1 mic captured was excellent, much better quality than these TWSs that I have been testing. For me it was like from water to wine, I could hear my voice with a lot of definition, clean and transparent audio, without noise. The sensitivity of the mic is so great that it captures the microphony of the cable, and the sound goes straight to the recording, so, here is the observation that if you keep bumping the cable while using the mic, it won’t be very good. In conjunction with the mic, we have a control button with the following commands: press 1x is play/pause, press 2x is advance the track, press and hold is call the voice assistant.
Fit and comfort: Here I found a very positive point of the headphone, the Clamping (or force/pressure) of the JT1 I found perfect, I didn’t feel pressure, the headphone fits super well on my head. As I said in the construction paragraph, the headphone is very malleable, I think it doesn’t exert pressure against the head. This is partly subjective too, my head is small.
Accessories: The JT1 comes with a 3.5mm female to 6.35mm male adapter. It also comes with a velvety bag to store the headphone. The cable comes with a rubberized strap to keep it from getting loose.
SOUND ASPECTS:
Something that intrigued me was the headphone not being open… even though it has an external grid that is all hollow and you feel the sound coming out there, FiiO describes the product as closed. Here I don’t have enough experience to affirm anything, and indeed the JT1 isn’t open like a Sennheiser HD600 or the Hifiman HE400SE.
Headband: The detail of the headband is that it has an adjustment system through “elastics” (wires), so here you don’t have size levels, but a variable adjustment according to the size of your head. Perhaps the only point to be criticized in the construction of the JT1 are these wires… but not that the system doesn’t work well, on the contrary, it works very well, the question is the durability of these wires, I found them very thin. In my tests here everything was Ok, but I can’t guarantee for a distant future.
The Pads are removable and I found it very easy to remove and put on. They can also rotate according to your fitting needs, I found this to be a very positive point. The pads have good quality, they are very comfortable, very soft, the material is like a synthetic leather. Now, I think the 400SE pads are of a slightly better quality, although the 400SE has almost double the price of the JT1 (official price). The internal space of the pads I thought could have a little more space, or maybe I’m taking as a parameter the 400SE pads that are very open.
Cable. The cable is made of Paracord (nylon). I found it to be a very good cable, very robust, resistant, easy to roll up to store. The plug connectors for fitting in the headphone are 3.5mm TRS and the main plug is also 3.5mm TRRS. Now, the points that I didn’t find so positive were: first I found the cable to be heavy, in fact I think it could be thinner and lighter (it weighs 51g), for example, in the 400SE I use a balanced 4.4mm OpenHeart cable that weighs 35g. Second is that: the JT1 cable presented microphony, and it also keeps a little memory (undulation). Saying that I still prefer Paracord cables than rubberized type cables, I think the durability of the Paracord is greater, I’ve had headphones in the past that the rubberized cables simply dried out and broke.
Microphone: The JT1 cable comes with a built-in microphone. The quality of the audio that the JT1 mic captured was excellent, much better quality than these TWSs that I have been testing. For me it was like from water to wine, I could hear my voice with a lot of definition, clean and transparent audio, without noise. The sensitivity of the mic is so great that it captures the microphony of the cable, and the sound goes straight to the recording, so, here is the observation that if you keep bumping the cable while using the mic, it won’t be very good. In conjunction with the mic, we have a control button with the following commands: press 1x is play/pause, press 2x is advance the track, press and hold is call the voice assistant.
Fit and comfort: Here I found a very positive point of the headphone, the Clamping (or force/pressure) of the JT1 I found perfect, I didn’t feel pressure, the headphone fits super well on my head. As I said in the construction paragraph, the headphone is very malleable, I think it doesn’t exert pressure against the head. This is partly subjective too, my head is small.
Accessories: The JT1 comes with a 3.5mm female to 6.35mm male adapter. It also comes with a velvety bag to store the headphone. The cable comes with a rubberized strap to keep it from getting loose.
SOUND ASPECTS:
When I started listening to the JT1, the first thing that came to mind was: very similar to the sound of Truthear Nova (tonally speaking). Of course, it just reminded me, because they aren’t the same. The point here is, there’s a similarity because you hear the bass and the upper-mids highlighted, although I still think the upper-mids of Nova are a bit more forward. My headphone parameter so far is the Hifiman HE400SE, but since I haven’t evaluated it yet, I won’t make a comparison between them. What I can allude to so far is that, the JT1 has a proposal closer to the Harman target, while the 400SE would be more neutral-analytical.
The sound of the FiiO JT1 is more geared towards fun, the sound is warm, it generates a softer, cozy, fatigue-free sound. I don’t put the JT1 as energetic because it has more relaxed/linear treble, so I wouldn’t say it’s a V-Shape headphone.
Bass:
The sound of the FiiO JT1 is more geared towards fun, the sound is warm, it generates a softer, cozy, fatigue-free sound. I don’t put the JT1 as energetic because it has more relaxed/linear treble, so I wouldn’t say it’s a V-Shape headphone.
Bass:
Quantitative: There’s no doubt that the JT1 is a headphone where the bass is the most prominent part of the headphone’s sound. Guaranteed presence, I think they are moderate to high bass. I think people who like bass will like the JT1, even bassheads will be happy with what is here. I recommend the JT1 for those looking to listen to genres that need more quantity in the bass, like EDM, Hip-Hop, POP, or even Metal or more contemporary Rocks. Sub-bass is very present, and mid-bass too, now, I think the sub-bass appears more in the presentation, the sound can reach very underground notes. I didn’t feel roll-off, the extension is good.
Qualitative: They are strong, massive bass, they have weight, they have “ground”, they fill the presentation. They are bass that make the sound warmer, more “cozy”, softer. Fortunately, they are bass that don’t invade the mids, but they take up quite a bit of space in a general context. They have good definition, but they aren’t the last drop in detail, in some circumstances they give the feeling that they could have more resolution and speed. They have texture and physicality. The impact is strong and has a more expansive characteristic, that is, they are fuller, looser bass, instead of being delineated and tight bass. Here it is inevitable not to mention the Hifiman HE400SE, which has cleaner and more detailed bass, but it doesn’t have the same activity in the sub-bass region that the JT1 has. So, the JT1 ends up having bass that seek fun, relaxation, for songs that you won’t be analyzing detail by detail.
Mids:
Qualitative: They are strong, massive bass, they have weight, they have “ground”, they fill the presentation. They are bass that make the sound warmer, more “cozy”, softer. Fortunately, they are bass that don’t invade the mids, but they take up quite a bit of space in a general context. They have good definition, but they aren’t the last drop in detail, in some circumstances they give the feeling that they could have more resolution and speed. They have texture and physicality. The impact is strong and has a more expansive characteristic, that is, they are fuller, looser bass, instead of being delineated and tight bass. Here it is inevitable not to mention the Hifiman HE400SE, which has cleaner and more detailed bass, but it doesn’t have the same activity in the sub-bass region that the JT1 has. So, the JT1 ends up having bass that seek fun, relaxation, for songs that you won’t be analyzing detail by detail.
Mids:
Quantitative and qualitative: Positive point for the JT1. Even though it is a bass headphone, the mids manage to have a nice projection. The upper-mids region manages to deliver a frontality to the sound, but I wouldn’t say it is essentially “forward”, exactly because the upper-mids don’t sound aggressive or hard, on the contrary, they have an ideal measure to neither sound recessed nor too forward. The mids have good transparency and definition, although they aren’t the last drop in detail, but for the price of the headphone, there’s nothing to question. Voices, guitars, pianos have a more “natural” timbre.
Voices: Both types of voices were good on the JT1. The headphone can extract warmth and texture from lower voices, and it can also have an interesting performance with higher timbre voices. Of course, being a headphone with a relaxing proposal, it makes the higher timbre voices not have the best possible performance, but from what I listened here, it still manages to deliver something very satisfactory.
Treble:
Voices: Both types of voices were good on the JT1. The headphone can extract warmth and texture from lower voices, and it can also have an interesting performance with higher timbre voices. Of course, being a headphone with a relaxing proposal, it makes the higher timbre voices not have the best possible performance, but from what I listened here, it still manages to deliver something very satisfactory.
Treble:
Quantitative: I think the treble of the JT1 are moderate… of course, if you compare with the bass and with the upper-mids, certainly the treble are at a lower level, but in the presentation they sound linear. Great headphone for those who are sensitive to treble, you will hardly hear anything out of the ordinary, unless the recording is bad, then it isn’t the headphone’s fault. I felt that the JT1 has a slight roll-off in the higher treble, although the extension was not impaired. Being a warmer and more relaxed headphone, the JT1 is not my style to listen to genres like Jazz and classical music, because I look for a bright and more analytical sound for these (it’s subjective).
Qualitative: They are smooth treble, versatile, linear, controlled, don’t present coloration, nor peaks. Treble 100% free from causing hearing fatigue. I didn’t feel stridency, harshness, piercing, or sibilance. The sparkle has a more polished characteristic, although it doesn’t sound completely off. For my taste, I think it could have a little more detail and airy, just as I already noticed in the Hifiman HE400SE. On the JT1, drum cymbals are very natural. Hi-hats are smooth, without harshness. Chime brings a polished shine, free from stridency.
Soundstage: The soundstage sensation I found good. As I come from IEMs, it’s evident that I felt more spaciousness in the sound with the headphone, but I confess that I expected even more, probably because the JT1 has slightly more highlighted upper-mids, this makes the presentation sound closer. Still, in my perception, the sound develops very well in depth and width, only in height that I think isn’t so good.
Imaging: The instrumental separation I found good. The stereo image is very good. It’s possible to hear the instruments playing with good space between them. Another good characteristic is to hear the instruments projecting in different places in the presentation (the separation can vary according to the recording).
Amplification: I used the FiiO KA11 and the FiiO M11S to do this review. In my understanding, the JT1 is an easy-to-play headphone, it doesn’t require extra amplification. The KA11 itself did the job, and still had some left, with 10 levels of Android volume, the JT1 was already loud enough, the bass 100% correct. In the 3.5mm output of the M11S the same thing, with 80-85 steps of the 120 available (and high gain mode), the sound was already of good size. I also did a test with the 4.4mm balanced cable and I found that it didn’t change much, the 3.5mm is already necessary for the headphone to play correctly. Is it possible that you play the JT1 with an adapter or directly from the smartphone? I would say yes, but I always recommend having at least a quality dongle at your disposal. Note that with a KA11 you lose the functionality of the JT1 microphone, since the KA11 doesn’t support microphone, but apart from that detail, it’s the dongle that I recommend at the moment.
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Qualitative: They are smooth treble, versatile, linear, controlled, don’t present coloration, nor peaks. Treble 100% free from causing hearing fatigue. I didn’t feel stridency, harshness, piercing, or sibilance. The sparkle has a more polished characteristic, although it doesn’t sound completely off. For my taste, I think it could have a little more detail and airy, just as I already noticed in the Hifiman HE400SE. On the JT1, drum cymbals are very natural. Hi-hats are smooth, without harshness. Chime brings a polished shine, free from stridency.
Soundstage: The soundstage sensation I found good. As I come from IEMs, it’s evident that I felt more spaciousness in the sound with the headphone, but I confess that I expected even more, probably because the JT1 has slightly more highlighted upper-mids, this makes the presentation sound closer. Still, in my perception, the sound develops very well in depth and width, only in height that I think isn’t so good.
Imaging: The instrumental separation I found good. The stereo image is very good. It’s possible to hear the instruments playing with good space between them. Another good characteristic is to hear the instruments projecting in different places in the presentation (the separation can vary according to the recording).
Amplification: I used the FiiO KA11 and the FiiO M11S to do this review. In my understanding, the JT1 is an easy-to-play headphone, it doesn’t require extra amplification. The KA11 itself did the job, and still had some left, with 10 levels of Android volume, the JT1 was already loud enough, the bass 100% correct. In the 3.5mm output of the M11S the same thing, with 80-85 steps of the 120 available (and high gain mode), the sound was already of good size. I also did a test with the 4.4mm balanced cable and I found that it didn’t change much, the 3.5mm is already necessary for the headphone to play correctly. Is it possible that you play the JT1 with an adapter or directly from the smartphone? I would say yes, but I always recommend having at least a quality dongle at your disposal. Note that with a KA11 you lose the functionality of the JT1 microphone, since the KA11 doesn’t support microphone, but apart from that detail, it’s the dongle that I recommend at the moment.
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genclaymore
Headphoneus Supremus
Pros: Light Weight
Easy To drive
In line Mic /w Mute button
Bass
Removable Earpads mount and cable
Comes with carry Pouch
Easy To drive
In line Mic /w Mute button
Bass
Removable Earpads mount and cable
Comes with carry Pouch
Cons: Might be too boomy for some people
I had my sights set on the Fiio JT1 for a while now, I was curious about what it could do at it’s price point. After a long wait, I finally got my hands on one, But lets start with the review.
When you open up the box, you will see Inside the headphones, 6.3mm adapter and the removable cable which feels like its decent quality. The connector for both L and R is 3.5mm and is color coded for which side goes where. Blue goes to the L and red goes to the R., the other end of the stock cable uses a trrs 3.5mm end which is for the in line mic. On the right side connector, is the mic which has a mute button, that allows you to disable the mic or turn it back on.
The Headphone has auto adjust meaning it adjust to your head as soon you put it on, while I found this to be less hassle to manually set the size. The headband has a very thin padding, I found it to be light on my head, but I still rather there was a little bit more padding on top. Same for the ear-pads, they’re not thick enough for me since I a glasses wear.
Lucky the ear-pads can be removed by twisting the pads to remove the attachment from the cups. On the top the headphones are held together by an Aluminum foil design. To me it feels kinda cheap and but it’s decent enough. Which you can put them in a different ear-pad and then twist the attachment and the pads on til they snap in place. After doing so I no longer had any issues with wearing the headphones due to putting on thicker ear-pads. The stock ear-pads are 100MM, I found that my oval 110mm ear-pads worked with the ear pad mount without an issue. The attachment makes it real easy to swap pads.
The headphones may look open back due to the rear of the cups, but in reality they are closed back headphones. While wearing I didn't have a issue with getting a seal. And it was very light on my head.
Mic wise it works very well, better then I thought it would work. A friend who I tested the mic with didn’t have any issues with hearing me, there wasn’t any static and the sound was clear.
Now on to how it sounds, the first thing you notice is the bass, its boomy. I found my self enjoying it in a lot of DnB, EDM and other songs. I don’t really have an issue with the bass.
Theirs no brightness here as its smooth at the same time I didn’t have an issue with details, they didn’t stand out. To my ears voices come off as being directly in front of me, all up in my face, while still being outside my head. While the sound stage feels like its wider on the L and R sides of my head, then it is in comparison to the front of me. Gaming and movie watching shared the same results.
Overall there really isn’t any major issues that bother me with the JT1, aside from the voices coming off as too close to my face. As I prefer the vocal to be bit more further away from me in front. Other then that I found my self liking the JT1.
When you open up the box, you will see Inside the headphones, 6.3mm adapter and the removable cable which feels like its decent quality. The connector for both L and R is 3.5mm and is color coded for which side goes where. Blue goes to the L and red goes to the R., the other end of the stock cable uses a trrs 3.5mm end which is for the in line mic. On the right side connector, is the mic which has a mute button, that allows you to disable the mic or turn it back on.
The Headphone has auto adjust meaning it adjust to your head as soon you put it on, while I found this to be less hassle to manually set the size. The headband has a very thin padding, I found it to be light on my head, but I still rather there was a little bit more padding on top. Same for the ear-pads, they’re not thick enough for me since I a glasses wear.
Lucky the ear-pads can be removed by twisting the pads to remove the attachment from the cups. On the top the headphones are held together by an Aluminum foil design. To me it feels kinda cheap and but it’s decent enough. Which you can put them in a different ear-pad and then twist the attachment and the pads on til they snap in place. After doing so I no longer had any issues with wearing the headphones due to putting on thicker ear-pads. The stock ear-pads are 100MM, I found that my oval 110mm ear-pads worked with the ear pad mount without an issue. The attachment makes it real easy to swap pads.
The headphones may look open back due to the rear of the cups, but in reality they are closed back headphones. While wearing I didn't have a issue with getting a seal. And it was very light on my head.
Mic wise it works very well, better then I thought it would work. A friend who I tested the mic with didn’t have any issues with hearing me, there wasn’t any static and the sound was clear.
Now on to how it sounds, the first thing you notice is the bass, its boomy. I found my self enjoying it in a lot of DnB, EDM and other songs. I don’t really have an issue with the bass.
Theirs no brightness here as its smooth at the same time I didn’t have an issue with details, they didn’t stand out. To my ears voices come off as being directly in front of me, all up in my face, while still being outside my head. While the sound stage feels like its wider on the L and R sides of my head, then it is in comparison to the front of me. Gaming and movie watching shared the same results.
Overall there really isn’t any major issues that bother me with the JT1, aside from the voices coming off as too close to my face. As I prefer the vocal to be bit more further away from me in front. Other then that I found my self liking the JT1.
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GREQ
Headphoneus Supremus
Pros: • Lightweight
• Solid build, no rattling or squeaking
• Very soft ear pads
• Cable build quality
• Suspension headphone = very comfortable
• Solid build, no rattling or squeaking
• Very soft ear pads
• Cable build quality
• Suspension headphone = very comfortable
Cons: • Cable fabric sheath transmits more friction noise than other cables
• No ear cup swivel
• Microphone – it is what it is
• Tuning not for everyone
• No ear cup swivel
• Microphone – it is what it is
• Tuning not for everyone
Disclaimer
FiiO offered me this headphone in exchange for my opinion.
YouTube version of this review, in case you don't like reading.
Build, Aesthetics and Ergonomics
The first thing that should be obvious when picking it up, is the weight.
At 303 grams (353g with the cable – measured on my home scale) it feels lightweight for a full size headphone, especially one with obviously many metal parts.
The weight may give some the impression that it is not constructed well, or lacks quality,
but the reality is far from it.
The tolerances are low and the parts are simple, but well thought out.
There are no parts that feel loose, rattly or squeaky.
The headband suspension strap has a light but persistent elastic pull that does not apply pressure that is too strong or too weak.
You never feel like the headphone is trying to climb up your head or sag down from it's own weight.
The head-clamping force feels about the same. Just a good middle ground.
The only part of the headband that may cause any concern is the complete lack of a swivel.
Since there is no rotation, I think it's impossible to guarantee that it will comfortably fit every head out there.
If like me, you find that these headphones comfortable, you will likely be able to wear them all day.
Moving on to the finer details there are also 2 small hard foam buffers to stop the cups from noisily hitting the headband metal.
In practice though this is more functional in protecting the cups cosmetics from mechanical damage.
The cups are very light and have a bit of a ring to them if tapped, so obviously they’re not perfect.
Ideally you want your best headphones to be acoustically dead aside from the drivers, but I really think that's not something most people should care about at this price point.
At a glance the cups appear to be open back, as there is an open grill pattern, but these are actually closed-back headphones; more on that later.
So, aside from the 5 pieces of text, these headphones are structurally symmetrical.
The ear pads appear to be made of the same protein leather material that covers the suspension strap and also contains very light foam which is extremely light and springy.
This was very likely a design choice to make up for the lack of cup rotation, and as such there should be no problems getting a good bass seal.
I don’t wear glasses, so I won’t comment further on that.
As a side note, I should mention that I tried rolling a bunch of other ear pads on the JT1, and I found that it was largely forgiving, without deviating too far away from the original sound with most pads of similar size and material
So it should be relatively easy to find 10cm diameter replacement pads for this headphone in the future, for improved comfort reasons or to replace worn out pads.
The cable is about 1.5 meters long, has a y-split and is completely sheathed in synthetic fabric.
All plugs are 3.5mm stereo TRS type, with the main plug being a TRRS type for the microphone.
If your device does not support a TRRS microphone plug, you will have to purchase a splitter adpater to separate the headphone and microphone input, as no adapter is provided.
This isn’t a big negative point as they’re cheap so it won't be a deal breaker for most people, but they’re cheap, so FiiO could have also supplied one.
The plugs all have good looking metal housings and a very short rubber strain relief.
Either way, it should be very easy to find replacement cables or make your own.
I'm usually not a fan of fabric sheathed cables, as they are more prone to transferring friction noise and these are no exception.
Head movements will transfer more noise than average to the headphone.
One thing I am happy to see is that despite the fabric sheath, the cable remains very pliable and is, for example, much easier to bend than some fabric coated mouse cables I've used in the past, but it has still retained some shape memory from it's storage in the packaging which hasn’t fully correct itself over time.
I would have liked to see the cable shipped out in a coil rather than the more common, faster and easier back and forth wrapping method used on this cable.
Obviously FiiO is trying to keep costs low here, but it seems to be a fairly high quality cable for this price piont and I think this packing method is not ideal for this cable type.
Some nice touches are the colour coded blue and red plugs which match the blue and red colour code for left and right channels on the inside of the headband.
Also when plugged in correctly, the FiiO logo faces forward away from the wearer.
As for the microphone sound quality, I think it’s about average.
Not as bad as some bluetooth portable headphone mics, and better than the microphone on my 3 Euro MX500 earbud clone.
Overall the build quality is more than satisfactory, I just would have hoped for a more complete build with cup rotation.
For some people like myself, that won't be an issue.
For whatever reason, the depth of the pads combined with their extra soft foam allow me to wear these headphones for hours on end with no discomfort, so I can only assume that this will be the case for many others.
Now I’d like to suggest we take a look at the 50mm polyether ether ketone, polyurethane composite with aluminium foil coated drivers… but there's a piece of foam glued to the baffle, hiding it.
So let's just have a look inside the cups.
At the back of the drivers through the main vent we can see that the driver is indeed a shiny metallic colour as the aluminium foil suggests.
The cups have been sealed with what appears to be a thick piece of sticky-backed card.
I think we can safely assume that this headphone could well have been an open-back headphone in it's development stage but that changed at some point.
In any case, there is definitely some modding potential here, which is going to appeal to some.
I give both the build and ergonomics a well deserved 8 out of 10.
Sound
To get the easy stuff out of the way, the soundstage is good.
It's not huge, but its larger than average for a full sized closed-back.
There are sounds that appear to escape from the space in your head, from quite far to the left and right, but imaging isn't great. Sounds extend well from quite far left and right, but the image remains on a relatively thin plane that doesn't spread out in front of you.
For 3D gaming where positional cues are helpful, this isn't a bad choice, you could do a lot worse.
Positional audio is easy to pick up and understand, but it's not quite laser focused or highly accurate either.
The detail is really good. I can't complain about that at all.
I think some people would prefer a slightly stronger upper Treble presence to bring out a bit more perceived detail and air, but it's never too strong or piercing and doesn't sound grainy or rough, even when playing some infamously treble-forward recordings.
The Bass is the ‘party piece’ of this headphone.
It stands out as sounding bottomless, thunderous and potentially overpowering.
There are moments where it can sound boomy and unpleasant, and unfortunately that is entirely dependent on the recording, so results can be a bit of a mixed bag, again depending on the music you personally listen to.
The Midrange and the general tuning of the headphone...
This is where things get complicated.
From an objective point of view these headphones are not perfect.
Of course no headphone in this price segment (or at any price) can make that claim either, but this headphone is something of an outlier.
Here’s a frequency response graph:
(measured with miniDSP EARS)
The main thing people should look for when reading these graphs is overall linearity, and a lack of significant peaks and dips.
But in my experience, this holds true for open-back headphones only, with a BIG asterisk.
When listening to a closed-back headphone, there are actually some tuning tricks that can be used to make the headphone sound more clear, improve the sense of space and the overall musical performance.
Let's compare this briefly with three other headphones.
(Fiio Jade Audio JT1)
Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro
SoundMagic HP100
Rockjaw Acero
The most significant and obvious thing I have to point out is the dip between 100-300hz.
Objectively this looks like a bad idea, so why are so many closed-back headphones tuned like this?
From all my listening experience, this is exactly where you want to put a dip especially if you have a raised bass shelf. Something all these headphones do have, albeit to varying degrees.
The reason being, a bass shelf with a gradual slope into the midrange will often sound thick, boomy and on the whole distasteful.
There are other headphones which try to use a dip in this way, like the Bowers and Wilkins P9 and Meze 99 Classics, but they both start their dips higher, over 300hz and 200hz respectively.
The former is a bloated boomy mess, while the latter just sounds a bit too thick depending on the genre and recording.
I think this is the reason headphones like the DT770 Pro are still modern classics and the Rockjaw Acero in it's day found a small cult following.
This is also the reason why I can't hate the JT1.
Looking at it's overall frequency response, it is clear these are far from neutral.
They are strongly coloured.
You could even go as far as describing these as having a W-shaped signature.
If we ignore the whole ‘roller-coaster’ and focus on the general curve, it's mostly a normal’ish heaphone with an extra strong bass shelf and a few lightly exaggerated frequencies; which is how most people who aren't objectivist, purist audiophiles will hear it.
(The dip around 4KHz is also exaggerated by the miniDSP EARS which notoriously dips around 4KHz with most closed-back headphone measurements.)
Also in the case of the particular location of all these peaks and dips, it gives the impression of a much larger sound than you would get from a more accurately neutrally tuned closed-back.
You could call this a kind of artificial soundstage or positive psychoacoustic effect.
So while objectively there is no way anyone should ever consider a headphone like this for recording or audio production, there is definitely a group of people out there who will find this sound profile exciting.
This tuning however does not lend itself to all genres.
Basically almost anything with an electronic beat will sound lively and fun.
The bass shelf can sound quite good with some metal and hardcore music, although I noticed moments where it edged extremely close to boomy territory that it was difficult to decide if I enjoyed it or not.
It could just be that I found it a bit overwhelming.
As tunings go, this one is undeniably extremely basshead oriented, and also slightly fatiguing.
I’m a fan of strong bass, but the sound pressure from the JT1 can reach fatiguing levels sometimes.
To be clear, I can't recommend this headphone to everyone.
The timbre is hyper exaggerated.
I found it especially difficult to enjoy this with some classical music where emotional and the accuracy of the timbre is essential to conveying the emotions of the performers and their instruments, but it did breath new life into some especially bad recordings, such as 1940's jazz recordings, so the same should hold true for most genres with notoriously questionable mastering decisions like Metallica's Master of Puppets album which is missing about 10 decibels in almost the entire bass region; the JT1 corrects a lot of those problems, but it's still not perfect.
From an objective point of view, I can only give this a 5 out of 10 (which is average to be fair), as detail and staging are both really good.
From a subjective point of view, it gets an 8 out of 10 from me, as I find the bass a little overwhelming, even at lower volumes, but there are many genres that can really get your head bopping.
My Conclusions
Aside from the microphone which is quite frankly a bit 'meh', this is a headphone you can actually listen to music with, a headphone that isn't made entirely of plastic and marketing promises and is not only a pleasure to listen to, but a pleasure to wear.
It's certainly a much better choice than pretty much all other so-called 'gaming headsets' under 100 euros.
As I mentioned previously, I can’t recommend it to everyone, but anyone who has heard and appreciates headphones like the JVC HA-DX1000, Rockjaw Acero or the Soundmagic HP100 and can handle a bit more 'flavour', the JT1s are worth more than a cursory audition.
In any case, I think it is easily the best budget basshead headphone available today, and can only improve with careful EQ.
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K
kanett
When clamp expand, does the tension gets stronger for big asian head? And is metal bendable?
GREQ
I can't comment since I do not have any Asian heads of any size, especially not in my basement, and definitely not preserved in jars of formaldehyde...
The metal is bendable...
The metal is bendable...
Sha1rholder
New Head-Fier
Pros: high-quality sound at such a price
natural soundstage and good imaging
very comfortable and light-weight
surprisingly cheap (399 Chinese Yuan in China)
excellent after-sales service and build quality (in China at least)
natural soundstage and good imaging
very comfortable and light-weight
surprisingly cheap (399 Chinese Yuan in China)
excellent after-sales service and build quality (in China at least)
Cons: ear cups detach easily (design mistake)
Basic info:
- Over-ear
- Closed-back
- Dynamic
- 32 Ω
- 103 dB/Vrms
- 300 g (without cable)
- Double 3.5 mm
- ¥ 399 $ 79.99
(The following text is translated from Chinese to English by GPT-4, so might be a little bit weird)
After trying the FiiO FT3, I've become quite fond of the FiiO brand. I've been searching for JT1 on a Chinese online second-hand market Xianyu 闲鱼 for several days after JT1 was launched, but to no avail. So, I took the unusual step of buying a brand-new JT1 for review (you should know, as a poor student, I usually only buy second-hand headphones, so this was quite a painful expense). I didn't have high expectations for these full-sized headphones at this price point, but after trying them on,
Wow!
Just Wow!
No wonder no one is selling them on the second-hand market, they're too good.
I don't know how to describe their perfection, especially at this price point that few venture into. The FiiO JT1 provides budget-conscious users with a true high-quality closed-back HiFi headphone solution at a very low profit margin. The JT1's tri-frequency response is still Harman-like (seen as bass-leaning or V-shape tuning by audiophiles), with a very intense bass (not like Sony's "bass head" sensation where the bass is loud but muddled), and the treble doesn't have any harsh sibilance.
Additionally, the wide soundstage of the JT1 makes you forget that these are closed-back headphones (just listen to the intro of Hotel California and you'll understand, I'm not exaggerating, this is not the soundstage you'd expect from closed-back headphones). On the other hand, the very weak stethoscope effect results in very low body noise reflection, and when you talk while wearing the headphones, your own voice isn't amplified 10 times (unlike ATH-M50x). All in all, the "natural feel" of these closed-back headphones is almost akin to that of open-back ones, a feeling that even the $930 ZMF Atticus can't provide.
Among Chinese HiFi brands, FiiO's after-sales service, quality control, and craftsmanship are second to none. If I didn't know the price of these headphones beforehand, I would price them around ¥1000 based on their appearance, craftsmanship, and sound. But FiiO, apparently "lacking confidence" in their product (jokingly), set the price quite low. Even with many metal components in its key structures, the weight of these headphones is kept at a very comfortable level, and the comfort of wearing them is also quite good due to the design of the headband. In summary, due to its good sound quality, tuning that suits my taste, and low-impedance and high-sensitivity characteristics, it has become my new favorite portable headphones after I sold my dt700prox.
The only downside of these headphones might be the easily detachable ear cups. The ear cups of these headphones feature a quick-release design and the inner surface is non-circular. They can be removed by rotating to a certain angle. However, the rotation resistance of the ear cups is too low, and some ear cups tend to detach when rotated to the angle that fits the ears. Although it's a minor issue in daily use, the occasional falling off of the ear cups due to the design flaw is indeed annoying.
Additionally, it's worth mentioning that the earphones come with a very lightweight cable that includes a microphone, which is very convenient. In China, posting a review of the JT1 online can also earn you a complimentary 4.4mm balanced cable (Though I don't give sh1t. I have a lot of cables).
Suitable for: Everyone
Not suitable for: No one
Rating:
A new benchmark for entry-level closed-back headphoneshttps://www.jadeaudio.com/J1
hokagoteatimereviews
Great review!! No worries about your English 
Yes they are quite good for a budget headphone. But I did see that quite a few dont like it.
Yes they are quite good for a budget headphone. But I did see that quite a few dont like it.
Root Command
I agree with the 5-star rating. At this price they are nothing short of phenomenal. Extremely comfortable, very ergonomic and user-friendly. Their sound is pretty open for closed-back cans, the timbre is quite natural. Overall they sound quite clear and detailed. They are also laid-back and pleasant, I can listen to them for hours without fatigue. I can't say that about many closed-back headphones. For instance, the Sennheiser HD280s and HD300s are very fatiguing after an hour or so.
hokagoteatimereviews
New Head-Fier
Pros: 1. The budget price of $69
2. Very comfortable to wear
3. Pretty good mic quality for video calls and gaming
4. A pleasing sound signature
5. The supplied cable is very nice
2. Very comfortable to wear
3. Pretty good mic quality for video calls and gaming
4. A pleasing sound signature
5. The supplied cable is very nice
Cons: 1. Although there is plenty of bass i do feel that the bass isnt that tactile or punchy sometimes
2. The upper mids could be a bit spicy at higher volumes for some
3. The budget build quality? But thats expected for the price.
2. The upper mids could be a bit spicy at higher volumes for some
3. The budget build quality? But thats expected for the price.
Introduction:-
Hey guys, welcome to my channel. Today I will be reviewing the Fiio Jade Audio JT1. Jade audio is sub brand of fiio which makes budget versions of the stuff Fiio has and they are quite good at it, previously I had looked at the Jade Audio JW1 on my channel and it was quite good and I use it daily when needed.
The JT1 is a cheap headphone which retails for around $69
but can already be found on sale for around $45-55.I have also shared a video version of the review at YouTube any support there in form of a view, A like or A subscribe is greatly appreciated. But if you so wish to read the written version you can read this.
I am not a headphone person, I generally wear iems and review iems. So this will be a new venture for me. But I am quite interested in this so I will try my best.
Would like to say a big thanks to Fiio for sending me this review unit, all the thoughts and opinions you are about to hear are my own.
You can buy them here (Unaffiliated link) :-
Amazon US :- https://www.amazon.com/FiiO-JT1-Professional-Headphones-Microphone/dp/B0CLZRWF8H
Aliexpress :- https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805990654609.html
I will be as usual following my bullet style format for better readability for those who are dyslexic and in general find it hard to read long paragraphs. I follow this guide in general from the British Dyslexia Association.
Build Quality, Comfort and Accessories:-
- The headphone shells are made out of abs plastic, and the headbands is made of stainless steel
- The earpads are removable if I rotate them counter-clockwise.
- The headband is stretchy
- The cable is really good! It is braided and it also has a mic, so it can be used for your video call and other stuff.
- Mic sample available on my youtube video
- The earcups spin 180 degrees
- it comes with a thing draw string suede pouch, good for carrying around although wont offer any protections
- They are very comfortable for me and I can wear them for long hours without any issues
- Although I my ears touch the inside of the earcups, would have been nice if the earpads were a bit thick
- They headphones don’t fold and they are quite uncomfortable to wear around the neck when I take them off.
- Although I sweat a lot when wearing headphones these were surprisingly better and they breathe very well.
- They use a 50mm Dynamic Driver
Sound Impressions:-
- These follow the Over the ear harman ear target to the T, but while having a hearty scoop of mids.
- If I had to classify I had to say they are V-Shaped but with some caveats which I will speak about soon
- Although they are easy to drive, but they definitely benefit form more power and they sound really good when they are pushed.
- I used the Fiio BTR5, Muse HIFI M4, Hiby FC6, Hiby M300, Razer USB C dongle dac, My smartphone with headphone jack and my laptop’s headphone jack.
- In my opinion these pair very well with a warmer pair of DAC like the hiby FC6, it gives the overall sound a bit of a body and everything open up a bit.
Bass-
- Well they have good bass, I would say the quantity of the bass is sufficient for most. But the issue I have with the bass is dullness and bluntness of the bass
- When listening to songs like Dernier Danse by Indila, Waltz by sunny or Hollow 16 bit remix by Bjork. I am perfectly with the quantity of the bass, but they are blunt and dull. This can be fixed with a bit of an EQ and it does but don’t go too crazy with eq in the bass region as it can distort if you push it too far.
- Talking about the mid-bass I would say it is ok nothing too special, honestly that is what saves it for me imo.
- Instruments sound surpsingly ok here. For example when listening Galactic Funk and Looking up they instruments comes across quite good but they lack that refine-ness I would want. The bass is heard quite nicely but the minora mukaiya’s keybaord takes a back seat here. But again these are a very cheap pair of headphones so all this could be seen as something ok for the price and I am overtly critical for something so cheap.
Mids-
- The mids are surpisngly good!
- Male vocals even though it has that big dip, sounds very natural and quite good. Although some male vocals like chris cornell and bill withers sounds a bit laid back when that shouldn’t be the case for them.
- Female vocals is where I can see majority of the people seeing issue as in most female vocals if the volume is louder than average say above 40% they get piercy and the naturalness of the female vocals fades away. For example when listening to Hako Yamasaki’s Ano yumi ni or Sumire Uesaka’s Happy Ending Princess (The opening of anime “Tearmoon eikoku Monogatari “) it becomes unbearable for me and this is coming from someone who is fine with shouty upper mids. So I would have to listen to it at a low volume for me to avoid this.
- Again for the price I would say these are ok and this could be avoided if I listen to at average volume.
Treble -
- I would say the treble is quite ok overall, although could be a bit dark for some.
- The treble extension is quite ok too nothing great.
- A more smoother treble would have been bit better and balanced the sound a bit well.
Technicalities:-
They are quite ok here too and for the price I have nothing to complain too
Soundstage:-
I was a bit surprised here, as for a headphone I would expect it to be quite wider but they were very average. Again I know these are budget headphones and these are on par for that.
Imaging :-
The imaging is really good
Gaming Test:-
Talking about imaging these are really good and I think they work out quite well for the games. When palying FPS I can stay aware of my surroundings and also I can make sense of the footsteps quite well as to where they are coming from. Although the layering of the sound is pretty one dimensional and quite average.
Recommendation:-
- Do I recommend these for the price of $69? yes they are quite fun sounding and great for low volume listening. But beware of the female vocals when listening to high volumes as that could get too much sometimes.
- These are really good for gaming and everyday casual use, also the inline mic is a great addition
- Some might find the treble a bit dark
- If you get them on sale these are even good.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask me and also if you have any issues regarding this format of review please do comment I will try to mend it. Also sorry to those who are used to reading long paragraphs of review in headfi. I hope my review was upto the mark, I appreciate any feedback.
Again a big thanks to Fiio for making this review possible.
Have a great day ahead
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