- Excellent reference-level audio performance with exceptional high frequency clarity and adjustable bass response.
- Secure in-ear fit also blocks out plenty of ambient room noise.
- Prohibitively expensive.
- No inline remote for mobile devices.
JH Audio Roxanne Specs
|Active Noise Cancellation
Jerry Harvey, who founded Ultimate Ears (eventually purchased by Logitech) and then went on to found JH Audio, has been crafting excellent custom-molded in-canal earphones and stage monitors for nearly twenty years. And this time he might have outdone himself. I find myself looking at the JH Audio Roxanne earpieces and wondering: How is there room in these earphones for 24 drivers? Each channel has four low, four mid, and four high frequency drivers with an integrated three-way crossover system. They start at a staggerng $1745 and deliver an audio experience that few earphones, even custom monitors, can approach. But JH Audio goes one step further in the custom realm, allowing you to fine-tune bass response to your personal tastes using an inline cable control. If you're a touring musician, a studio musician, or a serious music lover looking for custom-molded in-ear excellence, the Roxanne will not disappoint, and easily win our Editors' Choice award.
Part of the customization process for JH Audio products is the ability to choose from various colors and designs. We opted for a simple black earpiece and cable combo, but you have a bevy of design options from which to pick, some of which will add to the overall cost. Speaking of cost, you'll also need to have your ear impressions made by an audiologist, and the cost of this visit will vary depending on your location and doctor, and probably run anywhere from $45-$115.
Most audiologists should be able to cooperate with JH Audio to make it happen. If you live in a large city, chances are there's an audiologist who has a working relationship with JH Audio (in New York City, for instance, we can highly recommend Dr. Julie Glick of Musicians Hearing Solutions). Getting impressions done can be a strange and interesting experience or something you'll be thrilled to be finished with, but the process is fairly quick and (typically) pain-free. The audiologist then sends your impressions to JH Audio. Not everyone will love the feel of custom in-ear monitors at first—they enter the canal and seal it off far more securely than non-custom earphones do. But they are safe, and the fit is something you get used to—it's entirely possible to forget you have them in until you realize you can't hear anyone around you (more on this in a moment).
As mentioned earlier, the Roxanne earphones ($1,699.00 at Amazon) boast a mind-boggling 24 total balanced armature drivers, 12 per each ear. The proprietary mini quad drivers are referred to by JH Audio as "SoundriVe," and the quad low drivers, quad mid drivers, and quad high drivers utilize an integrated three-way crossover system. JH Audio claims a frequency range of 10Hz-23kHz, and the bass response can be varied if you choose to adjust the default settings on the inline control (it needs to be adjusted with an included screwdriver). The earphones have an impedance of 15 Ohms.
If there's one gripe about the default cable the earphones ship with, it's the connection. The 3.5mm connector is wide enough that it will have issues making full contact with the headphone jack on mobile devices in certain protective cases. However, the primary use of these earphones is more for the stage and studio, so concerns like this are somewhat secondary. On the other end of the earphones, the braided cable (from Moon Audio) connects with the earpieces via four-pin connections and machined aluminum locking collars—in other words, the cable won't come loose accidentally. While you can choose between a 64- or 48-inch cable in either black or clear, you can't add an inline remote control for mobile devices. JH Audio does make a cable with inline phone controls, but it's not compatible with the Roxanne.
One of the fringe benefits of the custom-molded design is that it blocks out surrounding noise better than any active noise cancellation you'll ever try, including Bose's excellent QuietComfort series. Wearing the earphones is like wearing a custom earplug—when you're not listening to music, you will have silence. This serves as a caveat, as well—you'll need to remove the earpieces, or at least one, in order to verbally communicate with anyone (which isn't true of most active noise-canceling earphones and headphones). If this sounds less than ideal for you, you can opt for the ambient vent, which lets in some outside noise (for $60 extra).
The earphones ship with a carbon fiber and aircraft aluminum carrying case, which houses them and all included accessories. There's a small drawstring pouch for easy quick storage, as well as an earwax cleaning tool (gross, but necessary—the earpieces will need to be kept clean to function and fit properly), and a small screwdriver for adjusting the bass response on the inline cable. You also get a set of Comply Soft Wraps—these self adhesive strips create an even stronger seal (which is hard to imagine at first), and onstage musicians who move around a lot or play in seriously loud environments might want to experiment with them. Surprisingly, there's no 0.25-inch headphone jack adapter, but that's a problem easily and affordably remedied should you need one.
The bass level on the inline cable compartment was set to maximum when I received it, so I decided to get a sense of the audio in this mode. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the earphones deliver powerful, thumping bass response that at top (extremely unsafe) volume levels doesn't distort in the slightest. At safe, more moderate levels, the bass is still powerful, robust, and has serious depth, but anyone seeking the overly boosted mega-bass sound of many of today's earphones will be disappointed (but you can find that sound for far less money). This is a reference-style pair of earphones and even with the bass dialed up to maximum, it's not going to deliver insane subwoofer thunder. It should also be noted that the Roxanne can deliver a satisfying audio experience at lower volume levels than most earphones because they create such a strong seal and eliminate so much competing outside noise.
Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, gives us a better idea of the Roxanne's overall sound signature. The drums on this track can sound overly thunderous on heavily bass-boosted systems and thin when drivers don't deliver enough in the lows. With the bass levels at max, the Roxanne's drivers deliver a lovely, round bass response that lends the drums some added body while Callahan's baritone vocals get a lovely low-mids presence. The boosted bass mode takes away from the crisp high-mid and high frequency response the earphones are able to deliver, though—dialing it back even 15 percent goes a long way toward bringing out some of the high frequency clarity. With the bass settings at the halfway point, the treble takes center stage and the bass can sound far lighter. The instruction manual tells you that each ear's dial can move from 12 o'clock (lowest bass) to 5 o'clock (highest bass), and that the ideal setting is in the 1-4 o'clock range, At around 4 o'clock, the bass seemed best balanced with the high-mids and highs—the vocals had more crisp edge to them, as did the guitar strumming, while the drums still packed a robust punch.
With the bass dials set at 4 o'clock on Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop gets a perfect high-mid presence to retain its sharp attack and pierce through the layers of the mix. The loop's sustain has a solid thump to it in the lows, but nothing overwhelming, and the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are also delivered with some restraint—there's bass depth there, for certain, but it's not pushed to the forefront and it doesn't stand out in the mix. The stage is ceded to the vocal performances—we hear both rappers and Frank Ocean's vocal performances clearly and precisely, while the vinyl crackle in the background is given the ideal amount of space. Sometimes, exceptionally bright earphones push this crackle to the forefront of the mix, as if it's a main feature; here, we notice the crackle's subtle existence in the moments between vocal performances.
Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, sound phenomenal through the Roxanne in most modes, though I preferred the 4 o'clock setting here, as well. The bass depth is near perfect, while the higher register strings, brass, and vocals retain most of the bright presence, even if the high-mids feel less crisp. This is a critical-listening sound signature—no real added bass depth where it isn't intended, and no overly sculpted highs. It's not what most earphones sound like these days, but it's an invaluable tool for musicians on stage and in studios, as well as sound engineers looking for an in-ear reference pair.
If there's one knock on the bass adjustment compartment, it's that it lacks detented click stops, it's just two dials, so precise ear-to-ear equal levels can only be guaranteed at the top or lowest bass levels—otherwise you're eyeballing it (on very tiny dials) and listening closely for any perceived imbalance. This is nitpicking, of course, but it would be nice to have set, equal ear-to-ear levels for the lows.
The JH Audio Roxanne earphones sound absolutely fantastic across all genres. It's possible to take these drivers to a very flat, thin sounding place, which can actually be useful in the studio and in other reference scenarios, but the most musical, best-sounding response for me happened with the bass setting turned up a bit. Those seeking booming bass are once again advised that the lows here are robust and capable, but not boosted to gonzo levels like on so many current earphones and headphones on the market. The Roxanne is above all a tool for musicians, engineers, and music lovers to achieve the ideal clarity and balance from their in-ear listening experience.
For less money (though still quite a lot), the JH Audio JH16 Pro delivers a similarly well-balanced, clear experience, but utilizes a different array of drivers and lacks adjustable bass response. The Logitech Ultimate Ears In-Ear Reference Monitors and JH Audio JH13 Pro are also two solid, more affordable options in the custom in-ear monitor realm. Musicians and engineers on a budget can still get quite a bit of value out of the Ultimate Ears UE 5 Pro Custom In-Ear Monitors ($499.00 at Ultimate Ears) , though audio performance is not on the same level as the other pairs we discuss here. The clarity in the high-mids and highs through the Roxanne is astounding, while the bass response is treated with respect. That is worthy of our Editors' Choice for custom in-ear monitors.
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