Well, people's opinions will always differ. But this is my experience so far, mainly from CanJam.bennysachdev said:I beg to defer about the Hp vs Customs part.
I spent around 40 minutes with a HD800, another forty with the T1. The setup was in the Summit-Fi room, which was pretty empty, as most of the traffic was at the JHA booth, and the LCD-2/Cavalli Audio booth.
I managed to spend around 25 minutes with the JH16 as well as JH13.
The T1/HD800 setup was majestic (as well as a wallet demolisher). It was powered by a Phonitor(or Auditor, one of the two) which was being fed by a Ayre Q9. The total setup was around $4000. Mighty load on the wallet.
The JH13 was solely driven by the iPad, and the JH16 through the JH-3A prototype.
My most enjoyable music was from the JH16. (surprise, surprise.)
And keep in mind I listened to the same set of songs, many of them in my favorites playlist.
The HD800 had surreal soundstage, excellent precision, while the T1 was warm like. Both had equal frequency response, in fact it was not easy choosing between the two. But if I had to choose, I would choose the JH13/JH16 anyday. Here is why. (keep in mind they were universal mold.. but Jerry used special tips to adjust to the ears, and he personally oversaw the fit.. so I suppose I had the best fit you could get).
I'm not going to include price in comparison.
The customs didn't have as good soundstage, but their instrument separation and placement was as good. But they were more intimate, more enjoyable. They had excellent bass, the sound signature was nothing like I've ever heard, just surreal. The music was as detailed as the headphones, that too with an iPad as a source, especially when comparing to such a high end rig. My JH5's are close to the setup I had with my DT880's, and when you consider the monetary difference between the two setups, as well as portability, it's very hard to not consider customs when upgrading.
The only place in which the headphones beat customs is in the vast sound stage, when amplified properly.
In fact you'll find many people preferring JH13 over HD800, the amount of people at CanJam that preferred customs was what made me look into them. I mean, I also thought the JH13/JH16 hype was overrated, that was till I heard them. Its unbelievable.
Previously I was a total headphone guy, I didn't like any IEM's of any sort, if you look at my audio list, you'll see that I've owned many mid-fi headphones from K701, to Grado HF2, to AT W1000, to DT880's, but only one mid-fi IEM, (the CK10), and then the RE0 and RE-ZERO's and now the JH5. High end customs are in another world altogether when comparing with Universal's, they're in the same world as high end headphones, barring the top rare lines such as Stax and Qualia's and L3000 and O2's. (many of which are no longer in production).
And when you finally look at the total price you spend, the choice becomes even more clear, for me atleast.
According to me, below $800, nothing beats headphones at all. The HD650's, DT880's, markl D5000 and some of the ortho's as well are just awesome, VERY close to the high ends such as T1 and HD800, but customs as well as universal's are not close. But when you go above the $800-$900 bracket, the customs like the ES5, JH13/16 ( I've only heard these three, so can't speak for others ) are as good as high end headphones. You'll find many other people, especially those who've owned both setups will echo the same sentiment.
In the end, audio is HIGHLY subjective, you'll also find people who don't believe the same.
