Hello guys -
here's to hoping you'll read this sooner than later, because this total fluke combination is going extinct. So I have stumbled on a setup for the Maximo IM-590 that has really good synergy... I will tell you about that soon but let me tell you about my experience from the get-go:
After putting on the IM-590 with the pre-installed stock tips I was actually a bit surprised at how realistic these sound for an in-ear 'phone. After trying all 3 pairs of the tips mine came with I noticed only a bit of difference, mainly that the larger ones provide more bass. Feeling there was more to be had out of these 'tiny babies', I tried on another silicon tip from a generic no-name earbud that happened to fit. Given that these tips were fatter and shorter, they were able to insert further and seal better; giving me a much better sense of sonic detail in all the frequencies; bass included.
Then, just randomly trying 'dumb luck', I plugged in my little old Fiio E5 matchbox-size earphone amp... ANOTHER WOW! The whole sense of clarity improved: the dynamics of the whole sound; the bass was punchier just right and the treble was a lot more natural & organic too. And I'm not talking about bloated treble, but fairly well detailed & textured treble!
So here you have it, I stumbled on the fact that the IM-590 earphones + Fiio E5 + cell phone music player have good synergy! ... Uh, what? you may be thinking why did I add a "stupid cell phone" to a head-fi discussion? The answer is simple: SYNERGY!
After trying several other combinations (590's directy to PC, 590's directly to cell, 590's directly to bigger headphone amp, 590's to PC via the Fiio E5) - I came to conclude that the IM-590's (at least so far) shine their best connected to a standard cell phone or everyday MP3 (hopefully FLAC) player, with the Fiio E5 in between; probably because the portable players have a lower current level or something.
Feeling there was still more to be had from these IM-590's, I gave a go at some Comply S-200 tips. My former observation had been that
silicon tips are impractical in general due to the fact that they achieve a more or less "perfect seal", so air cannot breathe from the motion of the drivers of the earphones which was probably why the bass sounded so one-note and artificial, and a generally congested sound layering using the stock (or any) silicon tips... Onto the S-200 tips: It did everything I has hoping for: The bass was brought to life with a bit more range / multi-note ability & just a tad louder, and the midrange & treble retained their detail, if not even a bit more textured & detailed yet... leaving you with a fairly well organic, lifelike & textured presentation. And for the Comply tips, these earphones are compatible with any of the 200 series, but I chose the mediom S-200 due to their moderate isolation and medium size, as to hopefully not overdue the bass or the noise isolation that comes with being tooo thick. And these are sold at most RadioShack's too.
The only downfalls are: they need to EQ'ing (I boosted the bass frequencies under 125hz by about 2db and the treble around 1db at 16khz), the need for deep insertion (I'm sure all you in-ear fans know the importance of inserting deep enough to take advantage of the 'phones potential yet not deep enough to harm yourself, LOL), and finally that these earphones have 0 soundstage. Granted they sound well refined and detailed for an in-ear, but
in-ears are basically incapable of reproducing a lifelike soundstage due to their limiting size. (correct me if I'm wrong; I'm more of a full size big headphone kind of guy). These are the same drawbacks inherent with all in-ears anyway.
The bottom line: SCOUR THE NET TO GET THE IM-590 AND FIIO E(X)
while you still can because these are both discontinued yet floating around new/used. Oh, why did I say E(X)? Well because the Fiio E5 is discontinued so you may want to try the Fiio E6 instead which looks pretty similar (but don't quote me on it having all the same current properties). This is a worthy earphone combo with lifelike sound and good synergy!! Take it from me: I gave up on in-ear 'phones about 7 years ago thinking that it's impossible to reproduce the whole frequency spectrum with tiny earphones; but this is starting to change my mind.
). plz reply fast guys. my friend's leaving today
