You may find serial numbers on the driver rather than something like JH-XX or JH-XXXX, but even these serial numbers are custom to JH Audio.

OK lets think this trhough… the one set of DTECs used by JH that have JH SN#/serial numbers, very well could be this “super fast” driver, (I would guess used for the bass response) and then the commonly found DTEC driver would be used for the mids and then the TWFK would be used for the high frequencies.

The only reason I could think one would desire to have proprietary drivers created would be to increase bass, or get impedance levels correct so a certain combination of drivers can be used. Bass has always been a challenge for BA drivers, and getting impedances “just right” when combining BA drivers is a challenge. (There is another reason, & it is really not a matter of having custom BA drivers being built to spec. BA manufacturers, in order to protect their client’s/account holder’s interest’s will allocate special model numbers to their client’s products. But ultimately the product interiorly is the same as other products offered to all their account holders. This, in theory, will protect their cleint from any “reverse engineering.” done by potential competitors.)

Without really knowing (only JH and Knowles knows the truth) I would guess JH had one proprietary DTEC made, which would be cost effective rather than having all the BA drivers being built to his specs. If this is a correct assumption, it was a wise move on his part.

But it is just a guess.

I do not think your post “stinks of hype” my post was not intended to be an insult, I just wanted to add some clarity to the picture. I apologize if my post made you feel as though I was trying riducule you.

I do not need a pair of JH “to understand.” I have a pretty intimate knowledge of BA drivers, their abilities and their limitations…. it is part of my job to know this. I have already had a pair of JH13 under the microsope.

My only real worry about the product is the fact that the TWFK driver is mounted directly in UV material. (plastic) The problem with this is that BA drivers are acceptable to shock damage.

Most IEMs have their drivers in a “floating” position inside the IEM shell. The sound tube acts as a shock absorber, adding some dampening protection to the BA drivers.

With the JH13 the TWFK does not have this luxury, because of how it is mounted in the shell, any shock to the shell will be sent directly to the TWFK. Essentially there is no shock dampening/protection for the TWFK BA driver.

Will this decrease the life of the TWFK? One would expect so, and only time will tell. But it would be wise to treat them with “extra” care and try your best not to drop them. (Hard for me to do, I often drop my IEMs)

Enjoy your tunes;

Signed

Audiologist, AuD. ccc-a

Not being an expert on this stuff, I was careful not to label my post a “review.” Rather, it’s just meant to be my personal reflection on these earphones.

I am pretty sure that Jerry has stated before that his drivers were custom made, and are more than twice as fast as any of the competition. Perhaps not all of the drivers, but at least some must be as I do remember this coming up.

Anyway, I cannot really refute your points as I am not really an authority on this stuff.

The things I said in this post are based on … at least things people claim Jerry has said. :) Jude (Head-Fi founder) is a friend of mine, and he has also relayed many of these factiods to me also. (He has had direct contact with Jerry, and I trust him.)

And while my post may stink of hype, maybe you’d better try a pair of JH13′s yourself. Then you’d understand. ;)

“…but these balanced armatures used were custom made to Jerry’s specifications for the JH13 exclusively, and they are over twice as fast as any other, at least commonly found, balanced armature…”

If any one was to take the time (I did) and closely scrutinize the BA drivers in the JH13 you will find that the JH13 has 2 sets of Knowles DTEC drivers and one set of TWFK drivers. One set of the DTEC drivers does not have proprietary “JH XXXX” serial/model numbers, while the remaining drivers (one set of DTEC and set of TWFK knowles drivers) have common Knowles model numbers imprinted on the drivers.

What this means is that the all drivers are not proprietary, so this concept of highly developed “speed of light” drivers is hog wash.

Further, the high frequency driver used in the JH13 is a common Knowles TWFK, and the freq range is reportedly 20K Hz. If one was to take the time, (I have) and researched the drivers that Knowles has to offer, one would discover that the WBFK, has the widest frequency range out of all the Knowles drivers, with a peak freq at about 7kHz. I seriously doubt the JH13pro has a realistic range of 20K Hz

While I do not doubt they sound good, lets remove the hype,

Signed,

Audiologist, AuD ccc-a

They sound lovely, but are much much more properly driven from a dedicated amplifier.