[NZheadcase]

Very devious @goldendarko. Me likey. lol!

 

[Subatomic]

  PM3 and Alpha Dog
 
 

Cheers for the review mate. It's pretty much exactly what i've been after. Been looking at solutions for a work setup, since after a few hours IEMs can get pretty uncomfortable, and it's not very obvious that i've got earphones in. Pondered about just bringing my Mad Dog Pros in, but they look ridiculous on my head. PM3s sound like a great option now.
 
WIll have to get a DAC/Amp though, so not sure if I just go and get an O2/AudioGD/Schiit stack, or what. Something that doesn't require drivers, I guess The HA2 looks nice, and can double as a portable dac/amp, but doesn't seem like it has enough power, from the specs, to fully drive Planars? Especially if it will live on my work desk 95% of its life?

 

[NZheadcase]

  Cheers for the review mate. It's pretty much exactly what i've been after. Been looking at solutions for a work setup, since after a few hours IEMs can get pretty uncomfortable, and it's not very obvious that i've got earphones in. Pondered about just bringing my Mad Dog Pros in, but they look ridiculous on my head. PM3s sound like a great option now.
 
WIll have to get a DAC/Amp though, so not sure if I just go and get an O2/AudioGD/Schiit stack, or what. Something that doesn't require drivers, I guess The HA2 looks nice, and can double as a portable dac/amp, but doesn't seem like it has enough power, from the specs, to fully drive Planars? Especially if it will live on my work desk 95% of its life?

 
Glad you enjoyed it.
 
The PM3 is very easy to drive. The HA 2 does a really great job. Good synergy there. Even a FiiO E17 is sufficient for office enjoyment.

 

[MattTCG]

@NZheadcase...thanks so much for the review. I enjoyed reading it and found it enlightening and brought me answers to key questions that were keeping me from buying the pm-3.
 
One rebuttal/question if I may. You state the bass on the pm-3 is better than AD. I do want to believe this but it seems somewhat of a lofty expectation. I've been around the AD (and Prime) for quite some time. They do both visceral impact and texture of bass impressively well. Yet you seem to claim that the pm-3 beats the AD bass hands down. Can this be true? 

 (please say yes) (please say yes) (please say yes)...
 

 

[NZheadcase]

I've often wondered myself if there is something wrong with my pair of ADs. I made a rather crude mod that improves the clamp of the AD to improve the bass. I pump up the bass boost on the M8, and yet it seems to not deliver the bass that I want consistently. It is there, but not as pronounced. The PM3's bass, in my experience is more present, impactful, and natural in timbre than the AD that I have. It has, to my ears, the more enjoyable bass presentation.

I suspect it is also track dependent. There are some tracks where the bass on my ADs is excellent. As stated in one post i made above, there are still tracks where AD far outshines the PM3.

Please note that I have not tried another pair nor messed around with the bass boost screw on the ADs.

Hope this helps. Please do try to audition it as you well know, absolute truth in our hobby extends only to the person wearing the headphones.

 

[reddog]

@NZheadcase
...thanks so much for the review. I enjoyed reading it and found it enlightening and brought me answers to key questions that were keeping me from buying the pm-3.

One rebuttal/question if I may. You state the bass on the pm-3 is better than AD. I do want to believe this but it seems somewhat of a lofty expectation. I've been around the AD (and Prime) for quite some time. They do both visceral impact and texture of bass impressively well. Yet you seem to claim that the pm-3 beats the AD bass hands down. Can this be true? :blink:  (please say yes) (please say yes) (please say yes)...

+1 Well said.

 

[Subatomic]

   
Glad you enjoyed it.
 
The PM3 is very easy to drive. The HA 2 does a really great job. Good synergy there. Even a FiiO E17 is sufficient for office enjoyment.

Interesting about the HA2. It does look nice, but pretty $$$. Would end up being a ~$1000AUD setup, ouch! I'm in no doubts that for an office environment you really don't need that much power (especially for an apparently efficient can like the PM3). Figured if i'm going to spend that much, you may as well get a desktop setup like the M&M Schiit stack? Does the HA2 need drivers? That's my only requirement, since work won't let me install anything haha. Needs to be natively supported in W7.
 
Pretty dam keen on the PM3 now, I must say.

 

[NZheadcase]

For Win7 I believe you will need drivers for the HA2. The FiiO amps don't to my knowledge, need drivers in win7. You can enjoy it from your phone, but will defo inprove with better gear.

No joy on those office machine hp outs though. Especially on those compaq or hewlett packard heaphone outs.

 

[Subatomic]

For Win7 I believe you will need drivers for the HA2. The FiiO amps don't to my knowledge, need drivers in win7. You can enjoy it from your phone, but will defo inprove with better gear.

No joy on those office machine hp outs though. Especially on those compaq or hewlett packard heaphone outs.

Hrm bummer, the search continues for a work dac/amp then. Yea, the Dell I have at work has awful EMI on the audio out
 
Out of interest, what did the PM3 end up costing you down in kiwi land? 

 

[musicman59]

  yes, that is true. however, oppo decided not to release an official balanced cable for them. makes sense as I don't see how a balanced set-up would help these considering how efficient they already are.
 
edit: please NOTE the recessed input on the L earcup. will need to make sure your 3.5 jack can fit there if you go custom cable route.

I know, that's why it is going to be hard to find one connector that would work.

 

[musicman59]

If you plan to use balanced cables with the PM-3 for some reason, you might want to confirm with OPPO about the proper wiring.

Usually
TRS = L R Gnd
TRRS = L+ R+ L- R-

I believe.

Yea, thats why I am planning to confirm this with open at CanJam next week.

 

[reddog]

Arg going to get these cans, if they sound as good as alpha dogs and are portable, then I will need them for sure. Thanks for your keen review/ comparisons.

 

[reddog]

The wife is always right mate.

It is also the reason why despite glowing reviews, I steered clear of the Viso HP50. Gorgeous cups and beautiful finish - awkward on the head. Call me shallow, I don't mind. If it can look good while sounding good, count me in. 

Well said. I have been considering getting the Sennheiser Momentum 2's because they look very nice. However the pm-3's are orthodynamic and portable and look nice too, thus they get my money.

 

[YtseJamer]

Can someone tell me how are the PM-3 with Rock and Metal music ?
 
Do they have enough bite with distorted electric guitars ?

 

[Maelob]

@NZheadcase
...thanks so much for the review. I enjoyed reading it and found it enlightening and brought me answers to key questions that were keeping me from buying the pm-3.

One rebuttal/question if I may. You state the bass on the pm-3 is better than AD. I do want to believe this but it seems somewhat of a lofty expectation. I've been around the AD (and Prime) for quite some time. They do both visceral impact and texture of bass impressively well. Yet you seem to claim that the pm-3 beats the AD bass hands down. Can this be true? :blink:  (please say yes) (please say yes) (please say yes)...

i believe the AD have better bass in my opinion. little more slam but it may be due to a little thicker sound. i prefer AD bass for sure