The newest universal fit IEM to emerge from the collaboration between DAP player-maker Astell & Kern and custom earphone-maker JH Audio will cost $349 and builds on the momentum of the Siren Series. The Siren lineup features a wide arrangement of price points based on the names of famous female song characters, of which the newest Billie Jean ($349) is the least expensive offering. The new piece will rest just under the previous entry level contender the Michelle ($399) and Michelle Limited ($399).
This does follow the current flow of many other IEM manufacturers that wish to bring some of the high end brands down to a more everyday level of consumption for the masses. The Billie Jean features two balanced armature drivers and Jerry Harvey’s proprietary technologies include the Freqphase Time | Wave Waveguide. According to the site the new BA’s used are also proprietary to JH and not an off-the-shelf Knowles design that is fairly prevalent with many IEM makers in this space.
Also important to comfort, the size of the actual housing has been reduced by 30% over the Michelle Limited, a smaller piece generally offers less drag or pull on the ear canal. Billie Jean utilizes the more standard 2 pin connection for IEMs and includes a silver-plated copper wire wrapped around Kevlar, intended to maximize both durability and sound quality.
Check the AK site for preorders, shipping projected to start in May of this year. More images and full press release after the jump.
“New High-End IEM Billie Jean
n Latest Collaboration with Jerry Harvey Audio, the world-best IEM company
n Reasonably priced High-End Earphone
n 30% smaller than Michelle Limited – better fitting on ears
n Dual BA drivers, covers the full range of music with perfectly balanced sound
Astell&Kern has just launched its newest In-Ear-Monitor (IEM) model, Billie Jean, at the 2018 Fujiya AVIC Spring Headphone Festival in Tokyo, Japan.
Billie Jean is the latest collaboration between Astell&Kern and Jerry Harvey Audio and builds on the previous high-end IEM collaboration models introduced before. The lower retail price of $349 USD makes the high-performance Billie Jean IEM even more accessible and available to music fans. Billie Jean combines the patented technologies from Jerry Harvey Audio with the world-best quality production of Astell&Kern to produce another new IEM with great sound and quality build.
The Dual BA drivers have been carefully tuned with the patented technologies of Jerry Harvey Audio including Freqphase™ and Time | Phase Waveguide(1). Jerry Harvey, an audio engineer himself, brings the full range of dynamic sound from high to low range in this new IEM. A new Acoustic Chamber Sound Bore opens up the higher notes and lets them shine even more by controlling the air movement volume in the ear pieces. This also prevents any artifacts in the sound production.
The earpieces in Billie Jean are about 30% smaller in size than the Michelle Limited. Extensive studies have been conducted to explore the different shapes and sizes of ear carnal of users in a range of different ages. The result is a smaller shell that fits more comfortable and is stable in the ear.
The included cable is made of a mix of Kevlar and Tinsel wire for better sound and durability in day-to-day use. A L-shaped plug also prevents any short or weak connection issue.
Billie Jean is $349 USD and starts shipping in May 2018.
(1) Freqphase creates the world’s first phase coherent earphone by delivering the low, mid and high frequencies to your ear at the same time.
Specifications
Product Name
Billie Jean
Type
Universal fit IEM (In Ear Monitor)
Driver Unit
2way 2Drivers (High, Full Range(Mid& Low)), 2BA per side
Impedance
18ohm
Noise Isolation
-26dB
Sound Technology
Freqphase™ time | Phase Waveguide / New Sound Bore
Components
3.5mm Unbalanced Cable,
3size of Silicon Ear tips (S, M, L)
Carrying Case”
