Stumptown showdown

[dBel84]

Just got back from meeting up with everyone, had a great time and thanks to Andrew for supporting the event. His new maximo i590 were the best of the affordable iem's , a humble servant in the shadow of the JH13 but can stand its own anytime.

Tons of top end gear to enjoy and good to share time with old acquaintances.

A scrambled slide show to tease, more later ..dB

[dBel84]

Audio Gear:

Sources:

Parasound DAC-1100H/D

Assemblage DAC 2.0

Sonic Frontiers Trans DAC

Yamaha SACD player

Alesis I02 USB dac/Midi interface

Ipod 5th gen

Sony DVPCX995V 400 DVD/CD/SACD

Sony SCD-CE595

FireWire 410

Dac 707USB

EeePC+Pico DAC/Amp

Pico DAC

Uber modded RAM transport and DAC

Exemplar 2900

Denon DVD- 5000

Amplifiers:

Stax SR-717

Stax SR M1-MK2

Cavalli Audio EHHA (x2)

Cavalli Audio Stacker + Stacker II

Cavalli Audio CTH (x4)

Cavalli Audio SOHA 2

Indeed tube amp

Fiio E-3,E-5

Woo WA6SE

Two prototype amps by tevian

Doge

AV123 x-head ver.2

TTVJ Portable hybrid amplifier

Headphones:

JH Audio JH-13 Pro

JH Audio JH10x3

Stax O2

AKG K1000

ATH-M50

Stax SR-001 portables

Fostex T50V1

Wharfedale ID-1

Wharfedale ID-2

Fostex T10

DIY SFI Pickering

DIY SFi KingPickering

DIY SFI Smegma pucks

DIY SFI megma pucks with extenders

Yamaha HP-3

Yamaha HP-50 (x2)

Yamaha YH-100

Yamaha YH-100 woody

Yamaha YHD-2

Fostex T-50RP

Audeze LCD-1

Maximo -iM590

Leak 3000

Koss ESP-950

DIY SFI Smegma pucks

Pioneer SE-305 (Vintage 70's, with Denon 2K Drivers and Dynamat)

Senn HD202

Milian Acoustic SVT

UE SF5 Pro

JVC HA FX500

Signet TK33 electrets

Grado SR-125

Grado SR-60

Grado HF-2 (maybe)

Sennheiser HD580

Sennheiser HD600

Denon D-7000

Sony MDR-V6

Alessandro MS-1

HD600 and HD580

Denon D2000

I have modded the list but this was MORE or LESS it.

[dBel84]

Impressions:

Great food

Very glad to have finally got to hear the JH13

So it is good? no question; is it OTT good , no. It scales well with amplification and source and is pretty stellar out of a DAP. It will not replace full size headphones imo. The universals are a little cumbersome, i would believe the customs would take care of that and improve sq a little further. My surprise was how close the JH10 sounds to the 13 while the 11 was totally off for me - tuned to the dark side.

I loved the WA6SE with the sophia princess 5U4G , just a very cool amp and shows Jack's attention to detail and passion for what he does. It was a perfect match for the ampless D7000 which I initially didn't take to amped from the little TTVJ Millett.

Being a meet in my backyard, there was no shortage of Orthos and thanks to luvdunhill, we had the almighty T50v1 grace our meet. To quote Brian "it's just not right" referring to the fact that it shouldn't be allowed to sound so damn good.

I will openly admit o being biased towards the orthos and not even the JH13 was enough to draw my allegiance. One of the more interesting sub themes was the O2 vs ESP950 fracas. They both have strong points but for the price point, the ESP950 is a serious bargain in the ES world.

Opinions were drawn over the DAC shootout with my preference going to the assemblage DAC2 over the ultraclocked, silver wound RAM citydac.

I thought that it would be the perfect place to unveil the new uber stacker ii but the power must have been all over the place as it kept tripping - it has been rock solid for the past 2 weeks and Alex agreed to allow me to show it off , I would have liked to please all the folk who wanted to get to hear it but the stars did not align.

Pics:

What else?

The Maximo IM590 - I know Andrew sponsored the gig and one would expect some payback or loyalty but for those of you who know me, if i don't like something I usually don't have much to say. I compared this iem to some of the lower end iems turbos, .... i forget their names but there was only one other that was tuned to anything near to what I prefer. Andrew has spent a fair number of years in the recording industry and has a good ear, this I respect after spending some time with his iems. They are not the be all and end all but for their meagre cost of $60 - serious contenders for people like me who tend to leave things on public transport.

I did get to hear the HF2 - they're grado's , who woulda thunk.

I know I am forgetting to mention a ton of folk and tidbits but I went to hang out with the people and had fun listening to some of the gear.

..dB

[dBel84]

I guess I screwed this one up, if mods would be so kind as to move this thread over here ..... am I past it?

..dB

[Trav]

Bro incredible review! Most comprehensive. IYO how do the 13's stack up to the sr 001? I'm running them off my Shanling MC 30. Thanks, Trav

[HeadphoneAddict]

Nice impressions post. Sounds like you guys had fun. I enjoy the Maximo as an inexpensive iPhone IEM worth the price they are asking ($63 on Amazon for the iPhone version). In my case I think they are a little Grado-like sounding vs the Nuforce that are a little more of an HD600-like sound (not on the same performance level, but rather I', talking about the sound signature). The Maximo seem to be a more energetic "get off your butt" sound vs a more "laid back and vegetate" sound.