Preamble:
Since there are crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter or Indiegogo, private persons as well as companies have the ability to realise their ideas and products with the financial help and support of the community.
Through this, many interesting concepts have been formed, like for example Echobox Audio who I also support and backed for their DAP, just as I recently reported on my German site (
http://kopfhoerer-lounge.blogspot.de/2015/12/Echobox.html).
A new company in the audio business that has really started from zero with their Jelly Galaxy in-ears crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo in the beginning of this year is Joinhandmade. With the Jelly Doux in-ears (
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/jelly-doux-redefining-handcraft-earphones/x/12951541#/,
https://www.joinhandmade.com/vi-vn/Jelly-Doux.html), the Vietnamese company has introduced their second crowdfunded product.
Joinhandmade’s goal is to create fancy, customisable and well-built products that are (according to their statement) also supposed to fit people with really small ears (like for example Asian females and children).
More than 80% of the production process is handmade and takes at least 48 hours, according to Joinhandmade. An edgeless unibody design with sublime build quality is the company’s main goal and design philosophy.
Besides the regular version of the Jelly Doux (retail price after the campaign: ~ $35) which is available in 12 colours and two different cables, there is also a “Vogue Edition” (retail price after the campaign: ~ $55) which offers additional colours, cables and even more refined custom individualisation and colour options for every single piece (in-ear bodies, y-split, remote control, 3.5 mm plug) and the remote can be individualised with a custom text (up to 12 letters).
After Joinhandmade’s Lam Cam Duong contacted me and asked if I was interested in checking out their in-ears, I accepted after some initial hesitation.
Just as usual, my review reflects my actual thoughts and opinion on the product.
Technical Specifications:
Drivers: 8 mm, dynamic
handmade
Delivery Content:
My evaluation sample arrived in the Jelly Galaxy’s brown cardboard box; the packaging of the Jelly Doux’s retail version as well its included accessories may and will vary.
Included was a really nice, handcrafted carrying case (more about that further below) as well as three valuable, sturdy thick silicone tips.
Here, I also want to give out a huge thanks to the German Customs Clearance who
raped blemished the package, just like back then with my iBasso DX90 (this sentence might contain cynicism). Seriously, one can be a little more careful when opening the box and losing or destroying included things either on purpose or accidentally (just like the DX90’s warranty card and black sleeve) is not the way to go.
Looks, Feels, Build Quality:
Not much surprising, the in-ears’ bodies, y-split as well as the 3.5 mm connector are valuable, well-made and contain many small metallic particles in their nicely polished surface. The left side has got Joinhandmade’s signature feature, a white hand which is also there to identify the left side.
The remote control with three buttons (which does not follow the Apple Layout) is halfway made of the same valuable plastic composite, but the side with the buttons is covered with coloured cloth that does not appear valuable at all.
The cable is also something that does not really fit to the nice finish: it doesn’t only lack any strain relief, but also feels cheap and its coating is far away from the DUNU Titan 1’s really good fabric coating and seems rather as cheap as the Awei ES-Q5’s cable. A standard rubber cable would likely have been the better solution, honestly. At least, that cable is quite flexible but lacks a chin-slider.
The carrying case is a small highlight for me: it is very sturdily made, consists of the same valuable plastic composite with metallic particles and has got holders for all of the excellent ear-tips. Solely the short threads are a bit loose, wherefore the lid may unscrew unintentionally – longer, “real” threads would have been better suiting.
The in-ear bodies themselves are valuable, the cable (which might also fray over time) unfortunately isn’t.
Comfort, Isolation:
The housings are really small, wherefore the promise that the in-ears also fit “Asian females and children” will most likely hold true.
The silicone-tips are thick-walled, flexible and really comfortable, wherefore they are something that really helps with the excellent fit.
Well, there is at least one benefit of the cable’s cloth coating: even with the “classical” wearing style (cable straight down), microphonics are barely present.
Isolation is really good and clearly better than upper mediocrity, but a slice below fully closed in-ears.
Sound:
For listening, my main devices were the iBasso DX90 as well as my iPhone 4 that was jailbroken optimised for music playback. Music was mostly stored in FLAC and WAV format.
Just in case, the in-ears were burnt in before listening.
Tonality:
Beforehand, the sound is obviously consumer-oriented, but quite well made.
The in-ears are clearly bass-heavy, like most models in this price range.
Mid- and sub-bass feature the strongest emphasis with about 15 dB; upper bass and lower ground-tone are also quite strongly emphasised, but audibly somewhat less. From 100 Hz up, level starts evenly decreasing in my ears up to 500 Hz where a normal level is being reached. As a result of the strong bass emphasis, it is not much surprising that the middle ground-tone is emphasised as well (that’s unavoidable with such a hefty sub- and mid-bass emphasis), but of much lesser amount than with most other bass-heavy in-ears. Thus, sound gains some richness, but doesn’t become unnecessarily phat or thick and lacks boominess in the ground-tone.
The area around the mids is very clean and tonally correct in my ears, which is really nice to see (/hear) at this low price point. The presence area is not really recessed in my ears.
The following treble is only little in the background and very even. The small emphasises which are however still below ground-level at 3, 5 and 9 kHz are very broad-banded and therefore not obtrusive. Super treble extension is good.
With songs that concentrate on sub-bass, there is a fair amount of “cellar rumble”; despite the bass-heavy emphasis, it is well made and evenly matches the overall sound: the Jelly Doux lack the typical ground-tone bloat many bass-heavy headphones have. As a result, mids aren’t unnecessarily thick or warm.
Mids are surprisingly correct and treble is a bit more on the gentle side, but very even, wherefore it appears natural and lacks any metallic or veiled tendency.
Tonally, the Jelly Doux goes a bit into the direction of the Zero Audio Carbo Tenore and has got its main bass emphasis on the sub- and mid-bass. Though, this emphasis is even a bit stronger on the Jelly Doux. In the mids and highs, I find the Jelly Doux somewhat better tuned than the Carbo Tenore which is a bit peaky in the (especially midle) treble.
Here is a frequency response out of my IEC 711-like pseudo-calibrated Vibro Veritas with applied diffuse-field target:
This graph also matches what I hear for most parts.
Resolution:
For the price, overall resolution is on an appropriate level and isn’t any worse than other similarly priced models like the Carbo Tenore, despite the hand-crafted bodies. Though, one shouldn’t expect much more than a $35-level resolution.
As the bass (especially in its lower regions) is strongly emphasised, it somewhat strains the drivers and makes the lows appear a bit soft and slow, but not blunt or uncontrolled. Still, for the price, the bass is more than okay and retains a good control even with fast and complex music.
Although voices are away from sounding like behind a curtain, this area of the mids could be more detailed.
Treble sounds natural, even and quite well differentiated, although upper treble sparkling could have a bit more differentiation.
But as I said, for the price, detail retrieval is spot-on, though not much more, but fortunately also not any less.
Soundstage:
The imaginary soundstage is about average in terms of dimensions, but appears “round” and has a really good depth-to-width-ratio.
For the price, instrument separation in the sound-field is very precise and layering is decent as well.
Conclusion:
Sonically, the Jelly Doux are definitely worth the asked price, but no uber-value secret insider’s tip. Tonality is quite bass-heavy, but at the same time well done: the emphasis concentrates mainly on the mid- and sub-bass and doesn’t have too much unnecessary ground-tone bloom, as the emphasis stops at around 500 Hz and doesn’t really add thickness to voices. Positively, voices are also not too overshadowed and appear tonally correct. Mids as well as highs are very even and lack any dips or steep peaks, what I really appreciate. For the asked price, overall control is good; soundstage is not larger than average, but convincing and has got a really balanced ratio between width and depth.
Sonically, there is nothing much to criticise (keeping the price in mind) – the bass could be a bit faster and the mids slightly better resolving, but that was it. The IEM bodies themselves are very well finished and built, but the cable is annoying and doesn’t fit in: it doesn’t match the valuable bodies, has no strain relief at all and the in-line remote control feels cheap either. Yes, the cable lowers the overall rating and impression, but at least the in-ears offer solid value for the money and really nice and hand-crafted bodies.
My overall rating of the Jelly Doux is still good 3.75 out of 5 possible stars but could have been even better with a more appropriate cable.