HiFi Blog: digital audio goodness

Another entry in the category of cheap in-ear-monitors, a market dominated by Sony’s MDR EX-71SL (white: $30—silver: $40), this time from JVC. What stands out when reading the press release (in Japanese) [via] about the HP-FX77 is the frequency range they’re claiming for it; an amazing -but let’s-get-real- 5Hz-25kHz. (The EX-71SL falls into the same hyperbole trap claiming a range of 6Hz-23kHz. For more realistic specs, you’ll have to refer to something like the ER6i -Etymotics’ lowest budget IEMs costing 3x the HP-FX77’s- with a frequency response ranging from 50Hz to 16kHz.)

Anyway, back to the HP-FX77: featuring neodymium units, the phones’ sensitivity is rated at 95dB/1mW—couldn’t find any word on the impedance though. Available in three colours (white/black/silver), comes with three sizes of eartip sleeves (small/medium/large) to ensure fitting proper fitting to your ears. The ear piece’s diameter is 8.5mm. The 80cm long cord ends with a gold-plated 3.5mm jack (there’s a detachable 70cm extension cord in case you want to further distance yourself from the source). The phones, minus the extension cords, weigh 4 grams.

Our Japanese friends should start enjoying the HP-FX77 come February 1st. Price should something in the $35 area. We’ll be keeping an eye on them for when they show up on AudioCubes, and if any reviews pop up, we’ll post here—interested to see what these cheap in-ear-monitors can do, and how well they compare against to the aforementioned MDR-EX71SL’s from Sony.