Seems to be the OEM version of the JTS IE-6 distributed by Thomann under their own "the t.bone" branding, and was more than one third cheaper than the original when I bought it (back then it was a quite low price for a dual-BA, two-way in-ear, however nowadays there's some more competition in this price range).
Comes with a decent case as well as three pairs of differently sized silicone tips.
Nice detail: cables inside the translucent shells act as additional side indicators.
Comes with a decent case as well as three pairs of differently sized silicone tips.
Nice detail: cables inside the translucent shells act as additional side indicators.
Cable not replaceable, material almost exactly the same as the one that came with my Shure SE846.
Sound:
I'm using low impedance sources as well as the largest included silicone tips.
Tonality:
Clearly punchy-bassy, dark and somewhat warm tendencies. The highs do come back though, however without a peak (don't overshoot above zero).
The upper midbass, upper bass and lower fundamental range are elevated by around 8 dB for diffuse-field standards, with the sub-bass showing somewhat less quantity (so it's a very Westone-like midbass-upper bass-fundamentral range hump), so it is a rather punch-driven bass signature with some warmth.
The central mids show a slight lift that brings vocals just a little closer in the mix.
The midrange timbre is on the somewhat warmer side in the lower mids, quite comparable to my Westone W4R.
The area of the upper mids and presence area around 3 kHz is in the background, giving voices a somewhat darker timbre.
The middle highs at 5 kHz are clearly recessed, something that can be found on my W4R, Shure SE846 and the Audiofly AF1120 as well. Therefore there's not that much treble information; the highs are quite dark, and voices lack overtone clarity and many instruments sound somewhat muffled - the highs are just too polite in the lower and middle treble.
One can basically say that the area above 2 kHz and below 7 kHz is audibly in the background, and should be at least around 12 dB more present in the area of around 5 kHz.
The level comes back around 7 and 8 kHz but remains sill just a little below zero, so it's no added clarity or sparkle or whatsoever, just a move to save the tuning by adding some quantity in this area so that cymbals aren't too muffled and so that the whole tuning is not entirely dark (without this "saving move", the highs would be pretty much entirely missing).
Due to the tuning, the mids can sound rather muffled at times (especially with high, bright voices; no real problem with most male voices, though).
Super treble extension is quite poor; there's basically nothing above 10 kHz (which is still one kHz better treble extension than the Shure SE425...), so no subtle high overtone sparkle or glare.
- - -
More like a monitoring headphones for bassists and probably also drummers than a consumer product (except for those people who want a polite, dark treble response especially in the area between 2 kHz and 7 kHz). For recreational music listening, it sounds, in my opinion, just a bit too muffled and woolly - but seems to be tuned perfectly as a bassist's and probably also drummer's stage monitor (given its alleged OEM company's (JTS) and distributor's (Thomann) roots and and positioning on the market (Thomann's "the t.bone" line and JTS as a whole company), I think it's quite clear that it was designed as a musician's monitoring in-ear).
Resolution:
The in-ear resolves well - it's on the same level as my Shure SE425 that I paid more money for than for my EP-7, and it's actually even a bit above the Shure in terms of note separation.
Nonetheless, because of the tuning with the recessed lower and middle treble as well as woolly-warm lows, the treble and high midrange information is reproduced in a way that appears quite muffled and lacking.
Equalising the sound signature to that of the Shure, the EP-7 would be even ahead of the Shure in terms of resolution.
So yeah, it is a capable in-ear that is held back by its tuning (but comes from a time when there were many more purely musicians-oriented multi-BA in-ears with a rather "weird" sound signature designed for certain musicians' specific tonal needs than there are now (in relation to multi-BA in-ears designed for recreational listening), so it was probably never designed as an in-ear for recreational listening in the first place anyway).
High speech intelligibility.
The lows show excellent control. Their character is a bit softer and more "dynamic" compared to the tighter, quicker SE425 lows, nonetheless the EP-7 is still fairly tight and quick, even though it softens a little more towards the sub-bass. It's a fairly typical response for the large BA woofer, and it's not the slowest/softest BA implementation of it. Precise, but dynamic - that's what it is.
Soundstage:
Superior to that of the SE425 and larger but ultimately nothing really special (it is, though, for a comparatively inexpensive multi-BA in-ear, but it's not even close to the stage of my InEar StageDiver SD-2 or Pai Audio MR3 in terms of size and openness - it's somewhere between my Shure SE425 and Fischer Amps FA-3E in terms of dimensions, and closer to the latter than the former).
Ultimately on the smaller to average side of size. Appears quite circular though.
The imaging (placement, separation, layering) is fairly precise, however not at the same level as that of my Fischer Amps FA-3E or Pai Audio MR3 (it doesn't have to at this price point anyway).
Conclusion:
Really convincing technical performance for the price but the tonality is definitely rather meant for a musician to monitor his playing instead of recreational music listening (I'm sure it would be a good bassist's or drummer's monitor).
Sound:
I'm using low impedance sources as well as the largest included silicone tips.
Tonality:
Clearly punchy-bassy, dark and somewhat warm tendencies. The highs do come back though, however without a peak (don't overshoot above zero).
The upper midbass, upper bass and lower fundamental range are elevated by around 8 dB for diffuse-field standards, with the sub-bass showing somewhat less quantity (so it's a very Westone-like midbass-upper bass-fundamentral range hump), so it is a rather punch-driven bass signature with some warmth.
The central mids show a slight lift that brings vocals just a little closer in the mix.
The midrange timbre is on the somewhat warmer side in the lower mids, quite comparable to my Westone W4R.
The area of the upper mids and presence area around 3 kHz is in the background, giving voices a somewhat darker timbre.
The middle highs at 5 kHz are clearly recessed, something that can be found on my W4R, Shure SE846 and the Audiofly AF1120 as well. Therefore there's not that much treble information; the highs are quite dark, and voices lack overtone clarity and many instruments sound somewhat muffled - the highs are just too polite in the lower and middle treble.
One can basically say that the area above 2 kHz and below 7 kHz is audibly in the background, and should be at least around 12 dB more present in the area of around 5 kHz.
The level comes back around 7 and 8 kHz but remains sill just a little below zero, so it's no added clarity or sparkle or whatsoever, just a move to save the tuning by adding some quantity in this area so that cymbals aren't too muffled and so that the whole tuning is not entirely dark (without this "saving move", the highs would be pretty much entirely missing).
Due to the tuning, the mids can sound rather muffled at times (especially with high, bright voices; no real problem with most male voices, though).
Super treble extension is quite poor; there's basically nothing above 10 kHz (which is still one kHz better treble extension than the Shure SE425...), so no subtle high overtone sparkle or glare.
- - -
More like a monitoring headphones for bassists and probably also drummers than a consumer product (except for those people who want a polite, dark treble response especially in the area between 2 kHz and 7 kHz). For recreational music listening, it sounds, in my opinion, just a bit too muffled and woolly - but seems to be tuned perfectly as a bassist's and probably also drummer's stage monitor (given its alleged OEM company's (JTS) and distributor's (Thomann) roots and and positioning on the market (Thomann's "the t.bone" line and JTS as a whole company), I think it's quite clear that it was designed as a musician's monitoring in-ear).
Resolution:
The in-ear resolves well - it's on the same level as my Shure SE425 that I paid more money for than for my EP-7, and it's actually even a bit above the Shure in terms of note separation.
Nonetheless, because of the tuning with the recessed lower and middle treble as well as woolly-warm lows, the treble and high midrange information is reproduced in a way that appears quite muffled and lacking.
Equalising the sound signature to that of the Shure, the EP-7 would be even ahead of the Shure in terms of resolution.
So yeah, it is a capable in-ear that is held back by its tuning (but comes from a time when there were many more purely musicians-oriented multi-BA in-ears with a rather "weird" sound signature designed for certain musicians' specific tonal needs than there are now (in relation to multi-BA in-ears designed for recreational listening), so it was probably never designed as an in-ear for recreational listening in the first place anyway).
High speech intelligibility.
The lows show excellent control. Their character is a bit softer and more "dynamic" compared to the tighter, quicker SE425 lows, nonetheless the EP-7 is still fairly tight and quick, even though it softens a little more towards the sub-bass. It's a fairly typical response for the large BA woofer, and it's not the slowest/softest BA implementation of it. Precise, but dynamic - that's what it is.
Soundstage:
Superior to that of the SE425 and larger but ultimately nothing really special (it is, though, for a comparatively inexpensive multi-BA in-ear, but it's not even close to the stage of my InEar StageDiver SD-2 or Pai Audio MR3 in terms of size and openness - it's somewhere between my Shure SE425 and Fischer Amps FA-3E in terms of dimensions, and closer to the latter than the former).
Ultimately on the smaller to average side of size. Appears quite circular though.
The imaging (placement, separation, layering) is fairly precise, however not at the same level as that of my Fischer Amps FA-3E or Pai Audio MR3 (it doesn't have to at this price point anyway).
Conclusion:
Really convincing technical performance for the price but the tonality is definitely rather meant for a musician to monitor his playing instead of recreational music listening (I'm sure it would be a good bassist's or drummer's monitor).