JVC Marshmallows. Mini review.





Okay folks, I'm going to keep this short simple and crisp. But before I start , certain points you should read :-

1) No, Gautam did not pay me 50 bucks to do this review.
2) No, I am not gay, the pink phones are for my girlfriend.
3) What I am going to say is my opinion, the constitution guarantees me that. :rofl:

Got these from pristine note, a bout 3 days back. With about 4 different invoices and a warranty card and delivered in two days flat !

Accessories - Just an extra pair of foam tips nothing else, I think these are an open box deal or something. Nevertheless, after I heard them , I couldnt care less about any other thing.

Build Quality : Wow, you're actually reading ?! :p Okay here goes, pretty darn lightweight since they're made of plastic. Somebody mentioned the cable is short, I personally feel it is not so for those using it with a PMP or laptop. The cable is standard pvc types, not too fragile not too sturdy, just perfect for the half grand. However for those amazing vibrant colours , these are going to give your skullcandies a kick.

Sound : These small dudes are fantabulous ! I mean I plugged them in expecting something on the lines of a PL 11 or a less bassy/boomy version of the beloved EP 630. But I was blown away and I am not exagerating, okay maybe I am cause they were for 500 bucks :p, but on a serious (pristine) note :p , the bass on these is GOOD ! The bass goes deep, creates the vibration/thump I enjoy in my music. The first track I heard was an uplugged cover of Time of your life, sounded nice. The "A" and "E" strings from the guitar sounded brilliant . The vocals are decent, not really a stand out but neither a put down. Next track , Beautifull by Eminem, this song has an intro in the begining , with just male vocals, after about 20 seconds the music enters with a thud, that is when I started judging them and bass was really awesome. Not the boomy, lifeless , hollow kinds but the deep , punchy kinds. A little slow I think but then I dont expect half as much for something at that price. The highs are not laid back , if you enjoy only and only highs , rather save up for the Pl 30 , but if you want clear/non shrill highs with good bass quantity, these are your thing. I PERSONALLY think the bass was more than what was on my RE 2 , ofcourse the detailing is not close but then if you hear the JVCs alone, it is hard to find one sect/layer/strata of the song which they produce badly. My favourite part was the bass ,but I can not complain that the high/mids/vocals are not upto the mark. All in all , I am going to buy an IEM for about 8k very soon, but tommorow I am going to be paying up for my pair of the Marshmallows to tag them along when I have to stuff them in my pocket while travelling in the metro/or when Im scared of losing my stuff.

Recommended Over :-
1) PL 11/21
2) PL 30
3) Ep 630
4) Meelectronics M9
Ofcourse if you absolutely need a mic then look elsewhere.

Last but not the least , a big thank you to Pristine Note (Gautam) for bringing this outstanding product within the reach of this aweosme community.

Peace.
 
Click to expand...
Thanks for the review! I am glad that you liked them. A lot has been said about these headphones. Try and do a blind test on them, you may find that they are better than some of the more expensive earphones. Do not undermine these babies just because you have got them at a good price. :)

They offer an excellent passive noise reduction(oops I said it), I hope some of the members will talk about them on an actual loud environment. There are times when I use them as noise plugs when travelling :) without turning my PMP on! They are not analytical earphones, but they are extremely fun sounding.

There are also some mods available about them, it will be nice to see if some TE members talk about them.
 
Come on dude, you recommending it over a pl-30. Firstly, yes i do own the jvc and a pl-30 and dude where is the competition here, seriously.. Except for the price point, the pl-30 completely crushes the jvc.

The products gr8 for 550 bucks and gautam's done a gr8 job in getting then in at that price point.. Infact its one of the best sounding iem's in the 500 range and highly recommended, but Karan, lets not get carried away by the price////

Hey Gautam, not trying to be a spoiler here, love your range of products, but the iem does have its limitations and some folks do have a tight budget here, so they ought to know if there are other options out there...
 
I am not getting carried away at all, I did not like the Pl30 at all. They have virtually non existent bass and the fit is extrememly bad. Again, I only talk about myself, but im sorry teh Pl 30 is no where near these.
 
in pl30 bass was lacking i had them a year ago.. will get to hear jvc on monday as i havent received...now my problem is after hearing westone 3 i dont know how much will i like the jvc:no:. In the gym jvc will come handy...
 
Considering that I have the Marshmallows and a PL-30 loaner, I'd have to disagree with your assessment, Karan. If it was just about bass response, then yes! JVC impresses me with it. I'd still put the PL-30s ahead.

But then, we all have a right to have our own SQ preference & opinion and you have stated yours :)
 
I would like to add my own personal views on JVC Marshmallow HA - FX34,

1.These IEMs have a very good bass response which is not too boomy(unlike Ep-630 so no overshadowing).

2.It lacks on trebel and Mids are okay(muddy) when compared to other IEMs in similar price range. Overall sound signature is in the lower-mid frequency range.

3.Build quality appears(need at least 1yr more to get a practical estimate) to be pretty good much better than Soundmagic products. But the hinge between the driver and wire looks questionable only EP-630 offers a better build.

4.These draw about 25-30% more current from your PMP when compared to PL-11 and about 20% more when compared to an EP-630. (compared using the volume levels on my Roxboxed Clip+ PL-11's -31 = JVC's -20)

5.Sound Isolation offered is a bit better than Soundmagic's PL-21 and PL-11 but not better than the sound isolation king EP-630. The 2-pairs of foam tips provided are again really good.

6.Styling is really good just like karan_n8 has mentioned before.

Overall impression is pretty positive as it costs just 500 bucks and all the other IEMs(PL-11, EP-630, PL-21 etc.) cost more than this.

Ok, guys after 8 hrs of proper burn-in these are sounding way more musical.

Looks like the cramer mod helps it to overcome the only weakness it has(mid and high freq) so I'll give it a try too after some time.

These require you to adjust you EQ to get more details in sound, this link may help you people with the frequency curve. Adjust your EQ to completely flatten the response curve and the pair will shine.
 
PERFECT VALUE FOR MONEY !!!

well the + points are covered by karan and aman .. the things missing from the marshmallow was (according to me) .. the wire is toooooooooooo short .. as a basss lover i found it was actually low than my expectations xD but i dont think theres any doubt about clearity and you wont get better iems for sure under 550 bucks
 
PristineNote said:
There are also some mods available about them, it will be nice to see if some TE members talk about them.
Click to expand...
Are you referring to Kramer's Mod for Marshmallow..??

Won't it void the warranty..??
 
Yes the Kramer mod . It was the audio enthusiast part of me speaking and it would actually void the warranty.The one's who really need the warranty should wait for 4 months and then try the mod .Or atleast wait till some brave soul tries them and posts his feedback here ;).
 
for me it did open up the high's n mids and more bass impact i would say..im totally on for the kramer mod!! i personally love the marshmallows.. what they offer @ the price point is awesome sound.. hell ive been to the tf10 n back and find these lil buggers always put a smile on my face... :)
 
^ +1 .When I heard your Marshmallows for the first time , I was completely blown away and thought they cost atleast 1200 bucks or something. .I can't say if I can rate them over PL-30 or others but I can easily say that SQ wise these are way beyond EP-630,PL-11 etc and maybe on par/better than most 1K, IEMs .

@Toxic , Were your marshmallows modded when I tried them ?
 
nope bro. i did the kramer mod after you heard them and added the re2 biflanges ..which has given them twice the awesomeness! :devil: will get them on the next meet provided u come to bandra haha
 
Come on dude, you recommending it over a pl-30. Firstly, yes i do own the jvc and a pl-30 and dude where is the competition here, seriously.. Except for the price point, the pl-30 completely crushes the jvc.

The products gr8 for 550 bucks and gautam's done a gr8 job in getting then in at that price point.. Infact its one of the best sounding iem's in the 500 range and highly recommended, but Karan, lets not get carried away by the price////

Hey Gautam, not trying to be a spoiler here, love your range of products, but the iem does have its limitations and some folks do have a tight budget here, so they ought to know if there are other options out there...
Click to expand...
No I do not think that you are being spoiler here. I am a distributor here, I would not like to comment on the product (it will not be fair). However, the fact remains no one has the final word here, including me, you, karan or anybody.

Sound is a matter of personal choice, so is sound signature or quality. If someone has felt the product superior to something, so be it. There is no point vehemently denying, because someone doesnt share your thoughts. PL 30 (I have not heard) may be good, so are others. However its a matter of personal choice. No, I am not offended by your thoughts.

I listen to a different genres of music. There are times, when I choose different models (IEM or headphones), when I change to different type of music.

My whole point was JVC's were more fun sounding rather than analytical. At that price point, headphones have their limitation. Anyways 90% of the music revolves around mids and bass.
Do not take my word for it, you will see lot of people rate them above some expensive earphones. Someone, in one of the threads called them harsh with treble, he has his own opinion. Again, your thoughts about people bought them because they are cheap, seems a bit opinionated!

This is not the thread for world best sounding headphones/earphones.

Let the river choose its own path.
 
Yea, I mean for somebody who enjoys bass would obviously find the PL 30 not suited for him , but somebody who puts treble/highs before the bass response would like the Pl 30. Anyhow, I just gave in my inputs, to each , his own :)
 
^^^

Think i should have been a lil more specific in my comment. It was regarding the suggestion made by the op recommending 1 product over the other.. I think that's not fair considering this is a review and listed now on the front page of the site..

The whole purpose of a review is to strictly highlight a product, pros/cons, not draw comparisons. For that there is an audio section or if someone does ask for an opinion on this thread, then i guess one is free to express their views. I am perfectly ok if the section mod thinks i am wrong here, ill happily delete my post.. But till then, i don't think anyone who posts a review should comment over other products based on his/her personal opinion.

Comparison of a JVC Marsh with a JVC xyz is totally fine like how generally a pl-30 is compared to a pl-21 or a re-0 with an re-1...
 
^ There is nothing wrong in including comparisons in a review .I for one infact do not really give weight-age to IEM/audio reviewers who can't include comparisons in their reviews. Cause in such cases you really have no clue what their benchmark was and how good the product is when they say its good :P .All you need to keep in mind is reviews especially the ones of IEMs,audio products which are done without any scientific performance benchmarks are purely subjective.In such cases its always good to stick to reviews of a person who's impressions match that of yours and after the purchase you felt that the review was pretty much perfect ;).

Just for an example , earlier I used to follow ClieOS reviews a lot but after a few reviews I realized he always avoided comparisons and some of his impressions were poles apart from mine . Similarly

| Joker | 's and Marks every review on head-fi is perfectly matching my impressions :P .
 
i think what he means to say is that a review must highlight the

How the treble is ( it can have comparisons like A's treble sis more a tad more forward and aggressive than B but in now as as extended as B . )

Bass/mids/soundstage/speed /etc.

the signature preference of the reviewer should not come in the review( like ..i like B a lot more because i dont like treble :P )

Karan : am not judging the review , i like the way its written.

just am explaining what edge here wants to say ( that also what i have understood of his words :P))
 
^^^

Yup strategy, spot on... Just out rightly saying abc is better than xyz is not right.

For eg: in a review i guess its ok to mention that m2 has more bass than m3 or m2 has better bass than an s4 or vice versa, but just because one has a preference for a certain SS, its not right to mention in a review that choose an m2 over an s4 or vice versa.

@ Faheem - ur right buddy, a comparison is needed and more so in case of products which can only be compared based on personal preferences, but like strategy mentioned, you compare the highlights(bass treble fit design etc) of a product between a similar class or any other class product (like m2's clarity is equivalent to a 100$ monster turbine), but not something like jvc is good, avoid pl-30 cause they don't fit me well and have no bass.

@ Karan - Nothing personal mate, PEACE
 
Back
Top