Jade 2 Review (Headphone + Energizer System) 

"Honest reviews are beneficial to everyone", I can't agree more.

Its like a pretty woman with a bad personality. Sad face. Thanks for the honest review.

Been waiting for this! Thanks!

The key to a good review is the same as the key to a good speaker: transparency. I love the fact that for every review you reveal where you got the product. I, personally, think the most biased reviews are of products that the reviewer buys him or herself, for example. I also think that bias in a review is not the end of the world, as long as it is shared.

To me it seems like this Headphone has almost all of the bad sides of an electrostatic while lacking almost all of the technologies benefits

I'm just glad you didn't get electrocuted. ;)

Great review, thx for being honest too It would be cool if you could try the he500 at some point tho, I wonder how you would feel about those

I had these for a year and i loved the living crap out of them. Out of a stax amp and a kgsshv amp, i had no bass issue whatsoever and nothing was missing. Still to this date the most revealing, neutral, and natural headphone ive ever owned.

Dear Joshua, Many thanks for your generally awesome videos. I actually watched your review before listening to the Jade IIs. I was also aware of the criticism they had received from many quarters. Then I had a chance to hear them at a dealer's in Dubai. I compared them mostly to the Arya. Well, what can I say, yes the Arya is more balanced and certainly has more bass-heft- although not as much bass-clarity. However, I found the Jade to be so much more revealing, particularly in terms of instrumental texture. There was so much going on with plucked double bass, guitars, percussion, strings, brass, etc. that I fell in love, went ahead and bought them. I have never looked back since. The dealer also had me listen to the LCD4zs. He really loved those. For me, on the other hand, they sounded horribly muffled and opaque when compared to the Jade and the Arya. And that bass pressure they put out was almost sickening to me, particularly with today's overdone recordings. I suppose you had a gain issue because on all three dacs I have heard mine with, they were plenty loud. Anything beyond ten o'clock on the volume knob is unbearable. Perhaps Hifiman addressed the gain issue after some people complained. The gain might also be the reason you seem to have found them rather anemic and unengaging. Give them another try if you have the chance. Cheers brother

I think this headphone was designed with a very specific task in mind which is reproducing opera music and classical instrumental music. Thus the trade off in bass department and smoothed out treble range.

Great job as always! Hifiman/Drop Edition XX review any time soon? Really looking forward to it!

Great Review man, Negative reviews are more important than positive ones imo as well. One thing, there's some clicking sound in the background of this vid. I don't know if its the fans in your lights or something. Some background music might help to cover it up or something. Keep up the good work!

Definetly well put and great review. Dont hate hifiman, dont hate you, just seems like if they listen and improve they will have some great cans :)

Interesting, their new planars (Arya and HEKse) are some of the best headphones out there for their pricing (Arya being a great all rounder and HEKse having insane technical capability ... and being a great all rounder with a bit of EQ) ... I really hope they get to the same quality with all of their products.

The 2049 soundtrack is a great test for headphones to handle bass. Period. I find a lot of Hi-Fi man cans crack under pressure. I know what you mean, Josh.

Very good review When can you review the verum one ?

Sounds like we needs Jade 3 ASAP.

Evaluated Arya vs Jade II with Moon 230 HAD DAC today (jan '20) so I could use the same DAC connected to both at the same time. Short story: Jade II is much better where I count in the midrange and highs, connection from listener with the singer, really no contest! Yes Jade II has a rolloff but the tradeoff is just worth it. Listened to the mentioned 2049 track and there was no "rattles" or anything, so BS at this point in time (jan '20) atleast. I will definately buy the Jade II system now and I'm upgrading from Hifiman Edition X. - Trust your own ears, they are there for a purpose. :)

More stax reviews please, l300 right now!

I hope they come out with Jade 3 and fix the bass issue because I love electrostatic speakers like my martin logans. it sucks there aren't a lot of electrostatic headphones.

During Canjam NYC, Fang, the CEO and founder of Hifiman told me a few things 1. This headband used in Sundara and Jade 2 was designed for bluetooth headphones - i.e. the Ananda BT wireless 2. r2r2000 was initially designed as a Bluetooth receiver/USB dac, instead of a DAP 3. Hifiman has a few new technologies in their warehouse to strike competitors anytime 4. There are founders who have lost control of their companies by draining cash to compete with Hifiman 5. Improve the overall build quality by 5% may translate to 20% or more expense Fang and Hifiman's philosophy is pretty obvious, no matter you like it or not

Annnnnnnd subbed!

Hope you review the HiFiman Ananda.

Hey Joshua, does the strange distortion when playing very low bass notes occur on all tracks with intense bass? I ask only because my CD rip of the Blade Runner 2049 soundtrack has noticeable clipping artifacts that sound like how you describe. Looks like someone messed up the mastering for the CD version. The MP3 downloaded version does not have this issue.

Just a couple of questions Joshua. Did Hifiman respond to your observations and what did they say. I think it would be helpful in your reviews to cite these at least in the notes. Second you mentioned that the low frequency drops off at I believe you said 90 Hz. How did you come to know the notes being played were in fact 90 Hz? I would have expected roll off to be much lower in frequency with electrostatics. One of the lowest playable notes in classical music for instance is low b flat which I believe around 29 Hz. It might be helpful to include pieces of music with known low frequencies as a measure of how well these are reproduced.

Are your thoughts on the sound based upon the STAX amp,or the stock amp? I just tested the 2049 file,and yeah I had to turn it down. That opening drum sounds super distorted,but got better after that.

Yo your link to the DX7s always takes me to the remote for it FYI. It's like that on every video...

I kinda dont like the idea of putting 500V signal on my ears, both sides of my head lol... Build by chifiman

would be cool if you got a chance to review a pair of Mr Speakers VOCE. they are supposed to have decent bass.

Could it be you received bad (broken) headphone? The fact Hifiman made amp to with them isn't doing it justice and present cracklin sound is worrying. Now, I don't own their products, but I like your objective approach. Did consult you tho on 58x before I pulled the trigger, so big thx.

Good review man! Wonder how monoprice's electrostatic compare?

hi, could you do more IEM reviews, I'm more into IEMs than headphones, possibly the FiiO FH5 or the Campfire Andromeda,

5:40 wait what? Even with the Koss electrostats, you can't hear some bass notes?! Wow, so much for the Massdrop " -5db @ 10hz " graph.

listened to them at canjam, was disappointed. Still would go with STAX l300 limited or l700s. If you have the coin, Abyss can't be beat.

its basically the of colors on the common fly

Would you choose the 95x over the Jade 2 at the same price?

I falling in love You're amazing

Can you test the Bravura?

at 7:09 what program is that?

Joshua - great review! Quick question: does the Stax 353 energizer you've used fix the sound issues? I am specifically referring to the absent low-bass, and the weird scary noise that make it sound like the headphones are being destroyed?

Better off getting something like the Hive X electrostat headphone! And there only like 500-600 dollars. And they actually have good bass unlike most every other electrostatic headphone.

6:50 😬 Is that the sound of the diaphragm hitting the stators? That cannot be good for the amp or the cans...

I disagree with the lowend being an inherent 'weakness' for electrostats. You just need the right amp to be able to fully drive the low end to the potential they can (which is not through a STAX amp/driver in my experience), the pads sealed to housing/frame for proper full extension, and use a little bit of EQ with low shelf filter to reinforce the subbass impact. My modded SR-L300 Limiteds (L700 pads & headband and Fun-Tack 'sealed' pads) have some of the best low end I've yet heard in a headphone for my taste (next to the SR-007 Mk2 then SR-404 Limited) with better subbass than my Argon Mk3. My Mk3 Argons have the ZMF lambskin pads and are driven from Gustard X20U DAC/Gustard H10 amp (designed specifically around powering planars) and my modded L300 Limiteds are driven from an RME ADI-2 DAC/NAD C275BEE stereo amp/Mjolnir Audio SRD-7 e-stat transformer rig. I prefer the low end of L300 Limiteds over both the Argon Mk3 and TH-X00 Purplehearts, better extension than either, subbass impact right in line with the Argons with slightly more midbass punch, and that unrivaled electrostatic clarity/speed/precision/detail (save for the RAAL SR1a apparently...)

How does it compare to ports pros

Excellent review. Hifiman headphones have the most inconsistent sound and build quality between releases among all the high-end brands. See if you can get a STAX SR-007 (mk1 or modified mk2 only!) with a KGSSHV or Blue Hawaii amplifier. Still the best, most complete headphone sound experience out there. Even the lowest bass is all there. Cheers

God damn that cable looks sexy

Don’t care for these headphones. I do agree with you on the bass notes. Ended up listening to a friends pair. He and I both disliked the crinkling, and vocals.

Legit based on what you said my Ve Monk Plus 4th Gen probably sounds much better 😅 Yikes To be fair, Monk Plus (4th gen) are just baby HD58X anyways so they sound great for the price (and very pleasing in General)

I heard about these.

A headphone "that" expensive should not be missing such a large frequency band, imo. Maybe the shallow earpads they used are cutting off the low-bass.

Mr. Valour, if one wants you ship you a pair of headphones for you to review, is that something you do, how would one begin that conversation?

Is it better than Arya?

Please review Neumann NDH20....

If I will be getting the SHP9500 should I buy a amp and dac combo or just a dac since it is not that power hungry?

I'd much rather know where it falls short. Everyone can rave about how a 1000$ headphone is great. That is to be expected at that price level.

Wow, I get that these headphones are a different kind.. But even my v-moda m-100s have a frequency responce of 5hz-30,000hz. And theyre only $250. Best headphones ive ever experienced.

Good review. Didn't these shock someone's ear and cause temporary hearing loss? Hard pass 😅

I'm sure you're for sale! I'm also sure it would take a fair bit more than just letting you borrow a review headphone set. I'm for sale too, by the way, but I'm not cheap either. 😏

2049 destroys many headphones when volume is turned up - GH50 from Kennerton JM Edition doesnt and any XTC wont

As soon as you started saying how you wanted to talk about things "unbiased", I knew there was something wrong with it. But damn, kinda disappointing. The headphones look far nicer than Stax and I love the green shine. But for $1300, I'm not sure I can really drop in and try it unless I really wanted to hear that "holographic" imaging.

I’ve been happy with electrostatic speakers, but I can solve their deep bass weakness with subwoofers. Guess you need to wear subwoofer phones on top of these!

Instructions unclear. Headphone bought.

Honesty pays off in the long term? The fact that people have to say it at all is sad to some extent.

Some channel named k1 Izk is taking your videos and re uploading them to RU-vid.. just seen he did it for your lcd 3 review. If anyone else sees this please report this guy

Okay wtf is that background noise? A weird sound, not static but like, something

Tbh... You should order them again, i think you got some bad ones. I heared anandas, hd800s hd820 and the Jade ( with stax AMP) i think Jade II ist the best headphone under all i listened above. They are my fav. At Performance. Really cant understand your Review. I dont own them so im def. not personally offended. Just dont get your opinion at all.

What the fuck is making that subtle racket in the backround of this recording? it sounds like shockwaves running through a table that is rubbing up against a painted wall creating this dry squeaking, is that makes any sense... ? It's not coming from my room, i checked, can only hear it when i play the video, lol...