Interesting how close their frequency response is and yet they sound very different, mostly in the midrange. Yamaha wins in clarity but to my ears, the JBL have got more bass impact.
Having heard both IRL, I would advise any Yamaha buyer to listen in person before buying, because I found the Yamaha tweeter to be shrill and harsh. YMMV, but be aware. I will say the 8" Yamaha is a much better package than their 5" though, the 5" seemed to lack low end while the 8" just added it to a strong mid-high without unbalancing the presentation.
This i totally agree to. Also i find the Yamaha to sound shrill & harsh. Mind you: i love the way this channel is giving as accurate as possible impressions of how monitors compare, especially now during the pandemic, but in real life the speakers sound very different than can be heard this way. It's imperative to listen to monitors in person with music you thoroughly know.
The Yamahas seem to beat the JBL’s in these comparisons (JBL is much better in the Jazz Cajon track) the mids in the Metalhead track very different, Yamaha matches the source. But the upper coloration audible in the jazz track is why I prefer the 308 JBL’s when A/B’ing in person - the warmth is less fatiguing when working in front of them a long time, and I still feel like I can hear everything well. I think I liked the JBLs on the violin too. More air in the Yamahas, the reverbs in the more electro stuff sounds better. The Yamahas also emphasize the compressor breathing on that last track more, which is interesting. They may be more responsive to dynamics than the JBLs Great demo. I’m listening via Bluetooth to an Onkyo 2.0 to Klipsch KG4 in my untreated living room.
Great comparison! I was all ready to order the JBL 308P based on your earlier videos of the JBL 305P and 306P. Although the 308's goes deeper than the other two it sounds like an entirely different speaker. So much so it made me wonder if something was wrong with it????
I love this channel, but I think there's something wrong with the recording of the JBLs. The Yamaha have a lot of clarity in the mids, it's true, but the JBL also have a lot of presence in the mid-highs. They don't as muffled as they seem here. I hope you can re-do this comparison.
I felt the same. I've had the 305P for a few years and am quite familiar with their sound, and it's hard to imagine the 308's being this starkly different in sound. Interesting.
@@wicasawakan9207 I have the 308p as well. I never regretted it because it was dirty cheap, and it actually has amazing stereo image, but the muffled FR is something I notice in my place as well. Sonarworks worked amazingly for fixing the frequency response in mine though. I'm also keeping them.
It would be amazing if you eventually performed some reproducible *side-to-side motion of the listener position* in these recordings. I believe that would provide a much more immersive sense of how the speakers sound in-room, as well as providing important clues about directivity characteristics. Imagine a collaboration with some of the mechanical geniuses on RU-vid to build a machine that would quietly move the recording gear side to side... Just try moving it around by hand first to see if it's worthwhile!
scooped upper mid imho is better. That's where your leads/vocals need to stand out and yamaha already gives you the pressence there making your mix sound flat on other systems.
@@srfrover that's not untrue but vocals is 1 element of let's say at least 10 elements in a single production song/track. You may feel satisfied with the vocals but the whole track's tonal balance is basically off (from my experience) if I did the whole mix/mastering on the yamahas. JBLs are much more useful to me. If I need to hear the very nuanced details, I use headphones, I don't want the yamahas to confuse me.
@@srfrover maybe it's all to each their own. But the yamahas can be so harsh that yes it may sound accurate but you lose the magic within the 2nd or 3rd listen where your ears can hear false perceptions. It may be a topic of psychoacoustics which I think the JBL have done a lot better. Anyways, it also depends on what kind of music you're doing. Yamahas are absolutely great for most things but not for bass/hats heavy dance tracks that requires robust mixdown and mastering.
If you look at the frequency graph, there is a dip at 1.4 kg. This being heard quite clearly in your video. There is a hollow effect in the mids. That could be a problem because you will compensating for that dip, and your mix will sound too "mid forward".
HS8's do sound better but there is a $179.00 price difference. You can almost buy 4 JBL's for that price. If you're mixing then go with Yamaha. If your just listening then go with the JBL's and EQ to taste.
I have used Jbl 308p...they Produce a Hissing sound which u can Notice when working in a Sound proof Area and using them as near field Monitors... I did check with the Company, that Hissing sound is found in all Jbl 305,306 and 308s apparently a Flow in the product, which is very irritating especially to the music producers...I wonder why no reviewer is Mentioning it especially when it is absolute deal breaker...
Goes to show you can’t judge speakers based on RU-vid videos. So many people commenting how the Yamahas sound more accurate but measurements clearly show the Yamahas are outclassed by the JBL speakers.
El sonido del Jbl esta mas plano a la hora de reproducir la cancion..el Yamaha suena mas a trompeta..el Jbl da en general mas frecuencias de medío graves y el Yamaha de medio agudos...si tienes los oídos sucios sin limpiar te aconsejo los Yamaha que dan mas brillo..los dos son fiables al sonido a la hora de componer...La solución esta encambiar un altavoz a cada uno ponerle el grave al Yamaha y el twiter agudo al JBL....bien animo con todas las cosas y vayamos todos con alegrías...
You mention tone controls being at neutral, is that on the speakers only? Are the speakers fed straight from a DAC or is anything being done upstream, like your favorite EQ setting for the room, or something like Dirac?
The YAMAHAs appear to sound a lot closer to the source material, but for literally TWICE the price I certainly hope they would. My big question is this: if the Yamahas are their usual traditional bright as heck then you might get fatigued by that and end up making mixes that are duller in the upper mids and would end up sounding like what we heard on the JBLs here. HOWEVER, if you mixed on the JBLs and you didn’t experience upper mid range fatigue, then your mixes would end up sounding like the YAMAHAs here… AND like all the source recordings. Hmmmm…isn’t it interesting the way THAT works out? (This is the basics of studio monitoring. 👍😘👍)
let me answer shortly.... I have JBL LSR305 from 4 years now and I started mixing well only 1 year ago when I started not boosting things and getting used to not hearing things (😂)... The problem of these monitors are not just the frequencies but the fact that they sound inconsistent and light on the mids and highs so you will also boost a lot of volume in compression to hear things well on these monitors. After these 4 painful years I switched to Hs8 and I will gladly be more fatigued while mixing to sound good everywhere else 🙂
In the end it's not the on-axis response that matters, but how uniform the off-axis respons is. If the off-axis response is uniform, then you can EQ the on-axis response so that it's completely flat. If the speaker doesn't behave itself off-axis however, then you're screwed.
My question is, do they have ambient noise when no signal is present? I currently own a pair of HS8's, I used them in my studio for a couple of years, then decided to go a different direction, ultimately I put them in my living room to watch TV and play games, with a Rokit 10 Sub. The Wow factor is impressive! The sub has to be turned way down unless I'm home alone, just sayin'. The HS8's have a signal noise that is annoying even with my Monster Power stage 2 HTS3600 MKII. I'm curious if the JBL's do that as well? There is a lot of noise in electricity that is different in different localities, I also wonder if MP is full of crap.
Interesting how much more pronounced the mids are on the Yamaha versus the JBLs. Fanscinating as well, how music that was devoid of overly pronounced mids, sounded much more similar between them. When a pronounced mid range came into play, with other styles of music the difference was striking. For me, winner on sound = Yamaha. Winner on budget?? Hard to say, as the JBL's are quite a bit cheaper out where I am.
@@RockCity1111 Yes i agree with you JBL got that real world glued sound without popping i love that too 🙂 and i've heard that the previous version was better than the newer ones 🤔 finally it all comes to the personal preference 🙂 Hs8 is unforgiving 😶 but throws the truth
Hs8 little too harsh & high mids too loud, 308 high mids too low but sound more natural, especially voice. Both are best low budget for audiomonitoring in my opinion.
No way man. I had em both jbl have decent mids for tech and electronic very close to yams and also have better less fatique feel to the ear over time. Smth is wrong with yours.
I heard these face to face and the Yam’s smoke them. I like the jbl for a budget start up, but overall my choice is hs8. If you have the money Focal Aloha 80’s
Don't get me wrong I am a big fan of my LSR305p's but the Yamaha hands down gets this one between the two for the 8inch battle. Not a fan of the LSR308's, I'd take my 305p's over them all day every day as well
The yamahas sounds better when compared cause its brighter and the upper mids are pushed, so it sounds more exciting. But the JBLs actually have a flatter frequency response.
I am at Brazil, hier the pair of JBL 308 is USD 200,00 less then Yahama HS8, this is a significant price difference. I had heard it twice, with Sennheiser HD 650 and AKG K270 and Yamaha sound a littler better, but the price differece is a big factor.
How to control volumes of two JBL 305P MKIIs simultaneously without a discrete audio interface? I know that the rising UP/ lowering DOWN the computer system volume isn't the best practice at all... Because, it degrades the audio signal-to-noise ratio and the sound lost its details... So, what is the proper solution?
Both are best ...this is all are depends on your ears and work ...bcz jbl is also the oldest company ...and trustfully company ... even jbl is cheapest on similar of yamha.... yamha is great ...but if jbl company is made this speaker they are also good
is there any chance you can get the presonus R65's for the test? They are selling great at Thomann at the moment because of the discount in price and I think from my personal experience they are on par with speakers twice the price such as the ADams a7x. Would be great if you can get a hand on those. Long time viewer of the channel, gj!
I’m looking at both of these for home use… A lot of listening, and probably not much mixing. It’s really interesting switching back-and-forth. From the Yamaha to the JBL, the JBL sounds dark, but then you get used to it, and it sounds really smooth. From the JBL to the Yamaha, the Yamaha sounds brash… But then you get that used to it. When I listen to both of those at the store today, I didn’t hear quite that much difference.
JBL got the tweeter wrong on this one....shame, as forunder half the cost of the HS8s, they'd be a great bargain... plus a side or down port rather than a rear port at the top, above all the electronics, must have meant compromises...
ugh these JBLs are terrible! I just saw some of these on sale at guitar center for $200 / speaker and based upon this sound recording I would say they aren't even worth that. I'd much rather spend ~ $700 on the HS8s than $400 on the 308ps.... I think you would be better off going Adam T7V for $500 / pair as that is quite a great value.
Listening on Senn HD800. I like my headphones more than either sets of speakers. Think I'll save the cash on monitors and waste it on another synth, and stick with headphones. Better for night owls such as myself.
