{"id":134640,"date":"2021-08-04T05:50:50","date_gmt":"2021-08-04T04:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techweekmag.com\/?p=134640"},"modified":"2023-10-18T07:19:09","modified_gmt":"2023-10-18T06:19:09","slug":"jvc-ha-fw01-review-appealing-sonic-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/headphones\/jvc-ha-fw01-review-appealing-sonic-character\/","title":{"rendered":"JVC HA-FW01 : Appealing sonic character"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wood of the bodies gives the sound of musical instruments their characteristic features.\u00a0And what happens to the sound if this material is used in the manufacture of headphones?\u00a0It will be at least interesting, as we have seen again by testing the in-ear model with some elements made of wood.<\/p>\n

Wood as a material for the manufacture of acoustic systems constantly attracts the attention of their developers, and this is not surprising given the fact that from time immemorial musical instruments have been made from it.\u00a0And we, the listeners, during this time managed to fall in love and accept as canon precisely those timbres that are introduced into each note thanks to the resonances of their bodies.\u00a0But in the speakers, such phenomena are undesirable, since their task is the authenticity of the reproduction of the music recording, gag is not welcome here.\u00a0However, we see examples of wood – really, not made of MDF, chipboard or plywood and finished with natural veneer – speaker enclosures and even speaker cones, in the latter just JVC is strong.\u00a0According to their creators, they give the sound additional naturalness and harmony.<\/p>\n

Wood is also used in covering headphones, making beautiful cups out of them.\u00a0But JVC continues the tradition of its “wooden” emitters not only in models of this type, but also in inserts.\u00a0JVC HA-FW01\u00a0is one of them.<\/p>\n

It is based on 11mm speakers with a wooden dome.\u00a0Wood has special properties: the speed of sound propagation along the fibers is much higher than across them;\u00a0damping also depends on the direction of propagation.\u00a0Therefore, a membrane made of it is less prone to resonances, but it must be very thin.\u00a0For the manufacture of such parts, JVC has developed a special installation, and the thickness of the resulting diffusers is only 50 microns.<\/p>\n

The HA-FW01 also uses other wood elements: the outer shell of the cabinet, a stabilizer positioned to optimize backward scattering behind the speaker, and a plate placed over the neodymium magnet system to damp it.\u00a0These parts are made from the thinnest layers of specially made wood, which are pressed, being superimposed on each other at certain angles.<\/p>\n

In addition to wood, the HA-FW01 also uses stainless steel, brass – in particular, the base of the case is made of it – and aluminum.\u00a0Such a “metal harmonizer”, according to the idea of \u200b\u200bthe developers, should help to reduce vibrations of the component parts of the earbud and thereby ensure the purity of the sound.<\/p>\n

Another notable design element is the acoustic cleaner.\u00a0It is located directly in front of the tube, through which the sound is output to the outside, and provides scattering as well as attenuation of that part of the waves that “pollute” the music signal.<\/p>\n

All these parts are tiny – their design and manufacture require special care, as well as the use of high-precision equipment, so many of them are made in Japan itself (as mentioned on the website).\u00a0And judging by the packaging of the tested sample, it is all Made in Japan.<\/p>\n

Despite the hefty size for earbuds, JVC HA-FW01 is easy to install in your ears, hold firmly and does not create a feeling of annoying foreignness.\u00a0This is the result of special research with the involvement of many users, which allowed to create a balanced and comfortable configuration of the model, as well as to select materials that are pleasant to the touch.<\/p>\n

\"In-ear
\nThe set includes five pairs of tips of different sizes, they use the proprietary Spiral Dot technology: on the part that leads from the sound guide of the earmould to the ear canal, there are spiral recesses that scatter acoustic waves reflected on the wall.\u00a0Two more pairs are made of memory foam material<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Deep bass without sacrificing detail<\/h2>\n

The\u00a0JVC USA website\u00a0contains excerpts from an interview with Kimihiko Kitaiva, one of the company’s developers, where he provides a message to users and shares information on discussions about what character should be given to the sound of headphones, choosing between tonal balance and expressiveness.\u00a0In addition, the engineering team strove to provide him with individual characteristics.\u00a0As a result, the HA-FW01 has an emphasis on mid-bass;\u00a0at the same time, such properties as detail, dynamics, energy and elaboration are also fully inherent in them.\u00a0He advised to evaluate the sound of the model when playing records of large orchestras in order to pay tribute to the scale and three-dimensionality of the music scene.<\/p>\n

Therefore, we felt that it is worth starting auditioning with\u00a0“Journey through the Orchestra for Youth”<\/em>B. Britten.\u00a0This educational piece begins with a cheerful roll call of mid-frequency instruments – flutes and violins.\u00a0They chirp sweetly on a spacious stage, their voices are detailed and rich.\u00a0Then other instruments are gradually added to them and in every way they re-sing the theme from Purcell.\u00a0The introduction of cellos and especially double basses is quite noticeable: thick, voluminous low frequencies draw attention to the right side of the stage, but the integrity of the picture does not suffer from this.\u00a0And when it comes to the big drum, the beats just vibrate your head.\u00a0These headphones are also favored by the largest brass, making their parts more noticeable.\u00a0But the rest of the members of the orchestra do not get lost in this host, including graceful harps and sonorous, crumbly percussion.\u00a0In the final fugue, they all merge into a powerful,<\/p>\n

With JVC HA-FW01,\u00a0B. Britten’s\u00a0Four Sea Interludes<\/em>\u00a0are expressively performed in a new way\u00a0.\u00a0In the\u00a0Moonlight<\/em>\u00a0suite, the\u00a0richer bass of cellos and double basses conjures up an endless but somewhat frightening picture of the water surface in the night, scattering moonlight, which is acoustically transmitted by percussion, flutes and other small-caliber brass.\u00a0The next\u00a0Storm<\/em>\u00a0is delivered very expressively – powerfully, swiftly – and the weighty, elastic beats of the drums through the head pass through the entire body.\u00a0Impressive.<\/p>\n

The headphones are remarkably good at transferring vocals, for example, by A. Netrebko from the\u00a0Semper Libera<\/em>\u00a0album\u00a0.\u00a0It is full, voluminous, superbly articulated and expressive;\u00a0sonorous, but lukewarm.\u00a0And the orchestral accompaniment with somewhat unusually convex lows, like velvet, frames it.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Sweet the Sting by<\/em>\u00a0Tori Amos, a pulsating, viscous and deeply sinking bass line does not obscure her singing, but adds drive and emphasizes a peculiar voice.<\/p>\n

Jazz should also be recorded as asset HA-FW01.\u00a0Anything of this genre, for example,\u00a0Take Five<\/em>\u00a0by Dave Brubeck’s quartet, sound rhythmically, orderly, energetically, with an accurate, timbre rich and legible presentation of each of the instruments, but the contrabass turns out to be more weighty than with other headphones.<\/p>\n

And, finally, rock of varying severity.\u00a0The song\u00a0Highway Star<\/em>\u00a0by Deep Purple is fast-paced, rhythmic, vocals are focused, legible, the stage is large-scale and filled with sounds to the brim.\u00a0And the superslitter\u00a0Smoke on the Water<\/em>\u00a0seemed to be waiting for its performer in the person of these “wooden” JVC earbuds to please with a mighty bass rhythm.\u00a0This is really cool.<\/p>\n

The addition of bass adds a groovy drive to the compositions of the Muse group, for example,\u00a0Knights of Cydonia.\u00a0<\/em>It begins with the distant neighing of horses, and then captures with a dashing rhythm of a cavalry charge.\u00a0The vastness of the overhead space is striking, with ample room for instruments and acoustic effects;\u00a0vocals are legible and perfectly focused.\u00a0And, of course, this whole multi-faceted design is based on a solid woofer foundation.\u00a0Bass aficionados using portable music players or headphone amplifiers can turn them on with a Bass + switch or the like that many have.\u00a0Us with Oppo HA-2 and\u00a0iFi Micro iDSD Signature, with the participation of which the testing was carried out, it seemed superfluous – for our taste.\u00a0With the first of the mentioned amplifiers, the sound turned out to be a little more elaborate – apparently, the effect of the device’s slight emphasis on HF affected.\u00a0With the second – more dense.<\/p>\n

\"In-ear
\nThe earbuds are supplied with a detachable cable (it is not recommended to disconnect it often) with a length of 1.2 m with MMCX connectors on one end and a minijack on the other.\u00a0Left and right radiators have independent grounding conductors to reduce crosstalk and improve overall noise immunity;\u00a0and the fabric braid prevents mechanical damage<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

The JVC HA-FW01 has a very appealing sonic character.\u00a0Despite the accentuated middle bass (or thanks to it), they can “sink into the soul” of many music lovers, and even fans of hard rock and similar genres can recommend them strongly.\u00a0They have a sturdy construction, smart looks and a secure fit, and long listening sessions don’t tire.\u00a0We advise you to take a closer look at this interesting model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wood of the bodies gives the sound of musical instruments their characteristic features.\u00a0And what happens to the sound if this material is used in the manufacture of headphones?\u00a0It will be at least interesting, as we have seen again by testing the in-ear model with some elements made of wood. Wood as a material for […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10404,"featured_media":134644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640],"tags":[778],"class_list":{"0":"post-134640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headphones","8":"tag-reviews"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}