The 4 is so good, its easy to hear this most basic and easy tweak- Take out all the buffers, opamp and coat the contact legs with a contact enhancer like Caig Deoxit Gold. Also with the little gold pins that hold the top and bottom main circuit boards together. Interconnect and phone plugs...

Forgot-you can order the 4 with the four switches option which includes high and low impedance switching!

Yes, Sidewinder, you need to have some adjustability for low and high level recordings and even though I didn't hear distortion at 2-3:00 with my amp you don't want to get the volume so high that it gets near distortion levels.

...close to 200 hrs. of burn-in, and the SM has become more transparent up and down the range including the Bass. It doesn't seem like its going to change much from here. Sounds excellent! I thought yesterday that the highs may have sounded somewhat repressed but I had a rough day and it may...

marroyo: Yeah, I agree the old knob is easier to grab by a long shot, but I had problems with it moving too easily in my bag. One trade-off and pref for another, I guess. tnmike: I will take my 4s's to work today and have a run down for you later

There are pics and more info here: http://www.fixup.net/talk/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=4

John: Outside dimensions are: Lenght- 3 7/8" from the tip of the knob to the back of the thumbscrews Width- from the the outside edges of the thumbscrews in the back- 2 1/4" Depth- 15/16" Any SM should easily fit in a Gigabag- Congrats on your new purchase , be interested in hearing what...

I miss hanging out with you, Nanahachi, had a chance to come down to the Palisades, but business got in the way. Are you ever up? I will do some shots with the Leaf back if I can figure out how to post photos here. I was going to take some for Xin anyway. Still can't do it well after all this...

Last Tuesday I received a nice package in the mail. It seems I have received one of the first production SuperMacro 4's from my friend and amp builder Xin Feng. As one who has heard just about every version of Xin's amps since the very first ones; the ex-rocket scientist has cooked up his...

Xanth: Excellent work! I would also add that the SuperMono (prototype I have) powers and sounds great with Senns.

All! My contractors have been putting on the afterburners getting the new place ready. I will be moving out of the loft at the cookie factory around the beginning of Nov. I must withdraw my participation in this meet. Sorry about that, but maybe I can host another time at the new place...

b-man: Sorry I don't. rider: Bottom line: Enjoy enjoy enjoy

Ken, rider: Maybe I can get with blessingx in the near future and do a new comparison with his SR-71 and his version of the SM. He has the one with the "features" package with the 4 switches, don't know which caps. Rbx has been quite busy with a new job, though, so I can't say when. The...

Hi All: I have been comparing two of the basic versions of the SuperMono this week. One with the "big" power caps and one with smaller caps. There is quite a difference in the sound quality. The differences are not subtle, and readily apparent. In short, the amp with the big caps is more...

Guys: The no frills version is the maxed out version. It is generally accepted thinking that the less the sound is processed, the cleaner, clearer it can be.

jink: The stacked buffers in the SuperMono have the effect of slightly warming the sound and allows for more Bass slam. The higher the stack the more slam with diminishing returns. The x3 stack seem just about right as drums, low synth, organs, etc. sound just about right.

What more can be said?

Newguy: Xin is upgrading the SuperMicro, although the size will be the same. Compared to your SR-71, the old SuperMicro will sound less full and on the faster, lighter and brighter side.

Component video out is excellent on the 963sa but can't compare with the resolution of some of the newer upsampling DVI players such as the Bravo D-2 from vinc.com Doesn't sound as good as the Philips though, but quite good nonetheless.

The trouble with hosting is that you don't get to listen to as many things as you would like and for as long. Thanks for all the detailed impressions from everyone, helps me get a listenlist ready for the next time we meet. The pay back in my case was that people left stuff here. Especially...

I hear you ,Mike, about the 637's and understand your concerns, if you're ever around it may be fun to do the PPA to SM comparison as well. Surprise coming from Xin; he won't say what though! Fun, generous guy.

M: Not ruling out assymmetry. (637&627?) But the 637's are satisfying enough by themselves so no need for me to mess with it. For kicks, I did try a AD8610 with OPA637 and the sound sigs are too far apart. Didn't work. Would you be interested in trying out my 637's in your PPA? I would like to...

Thanks, Joey. I always try to write in a way so I may understand myself. Mike: I have not heard the 627's, but Xin thought the 637's sounded better than 627's in the SM. Maybe the 627's sound better than 637's in the XP-7. Must be an electronic thing.

Nice job! RBx, although I would tend to disagree with your findings Our units are slightly different.

Thanks, Ray, I will try the 627 soon. The 9.6v Plainviews with the 637's in the XP-7 only gave me about 4 good hours, but would play around 6. With a set of Powerex rechargeables in the SuperMono goes for about 8 hours. Probably double for alkalines in all cases. P.S.: I keep forgetting: This...