Were you able to try the Stepdance with the HE-5LE? They seem to be a difficult headphone to pair with a portable amp due to their power requirements. Stepdance up to the task?
When I had the two prototype Stepdances here for a quick listen a few months ago, one of them really struck a chord with me and would be a tier 1 amp for me as well. When I spoke to Jan he agreed with me on which version should go into production, and it looks like it will be a hit. I think it was actually a little more natural sounding than a balanced Protector which has a little coloration in the upper mids, although I still really like my balanced Protector for HD600, HE-5 and JH13Pro. And it had loads of power for full size cans.
I do wish it had the crossfeed, but when I do use my 3MOVE or Headfive I only use the crossfeed about 25% of the time anyway. So, what hadphones did you use with the Stepdance, and did you try any IEM with it?
@ Roscoeiii: I did not try that pairing (too many headphones, too little time). Many of you may not be aware that I use an SPL meter to do precise level-matching for all my comparisons, which takes quite a bit of effort, so I do not tend to try every amp with every headphone
That said, since you asked, I will try to try that shortly.
@ HA: Thanks Larry! I felt the same way you did about the prototypes (and for clarity, the version I have now is not the prototype, but an early production unit). I actually listed the headphones I used above - no IEM's, sorry - I don't own any
A nice touch is that Jan include free shipping anywhere in the world. (For someone like me living in Asia, it makes a big difference compared with products that I have bought from other vendors.)
I was loaned the Stepdance for a month a while back, and mostly use IEMs. I have a set of TF10s and SF5s, and used both. My son has a pair of Shure 210s (or something like that). The happiest day of my summer was when Skylab said I could keep the Stepdance for another week. The saddest day was when I had to return it. As for Skylab's review, I agree and was blown away by the sound from this unit. As for sound from the unit, I listened to female artists as the sound was so good I was doing something I never like to do, repeat a song (immediately). Great review Skylab and thanks for letting have such an experience.
Thanks for the review. Got a question related to battery play time. Does the amp have a low current/high current mode? Do you have some estimate as to how many hours the battery lasted?
There are gain settings in the Stepdance, but I am not sure how they effect consumption. And no, I have not really tried to estimate battery life exactly, no.
Rob I have a suggestion, how about adding the name of the last amp you reviewed to the end of the thread title. Maybe add "Latest amp reviewed:<amp name>"
This thread is bumped up many times a week and it is harder for people to know if there is a new review or just the regular back and forth posting between members. Adding the recently reviewed amp name in the title will give members a heads up on the most current amp reviewed. Just a suggestion. Thanks for the review!
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