[Andrea]

I've been listening to Gillian Welch, " Time (the Revelator) "


And the sound was magical...

 

[Andrea]

So natural, sweet, unobtrusively transparent. Clearly it's light years ahead of amps like, say, a AD8397 Go-Vibe 4 like the one I had.

 

[Andrea]

And please don't think that I were suggesting that it must sound better than the new Go-Vibe 5, as well. Just in case

 

[1117]

I think that if I got a second job, everything would go into portable amps. I don't know why, they all just look so enticing.

 

[vorlon1]

Are you liking it more than the XM3? Now that you've had both for awhile, what have you found different? Since they both use the same opamp, what construction differences do you think account for any differences.

Thanks.

 

[Andrea]

vorlon1,

Well, ehm, you know... the XM3 is prematurely gone... to a friend.

This alone accounts for the fact that the new Xenos is a little beauty. There was really nothing bad in the way the XM3 sounded, it was fine. But the Xenos has more aplomb, more sweetness, no less detail. It feels (even) more well rounded. The fact that I was overwhelmed with having all these amps around completes the picture.

What accounts for the (not dramatic, anyway) performance gap must be the fact that the Xenos relies on some more powerful output chips (and separate for both channels), and on a more capable virtual ground circuit supposedly improving low level resolution by reducing crosstalk distortion.

 

[vorlon1]

How would you compare the size of the soundstage each produces?

 

[Andrea]

I generally don't pay too much attention to that. I like a natural sense of space but (when it's reasonably there) I don't go much farther in listening for soundstage.

Yesterday the 0HA-REP impressed me also for giving you the feeling of being "there" on a few tracks of Gillian Welch's album that were recorded live. That's a good sign I believe. And the whole sonic picture remained 'broad' & 'stable' in louder and more complex passages, a proof of the amp's solid power supply stage. The XM3 also had a very nice sense of air, but it had somewhat less 'aplomb' as I name it..

 

[odmanca]

Vorlon1,

I'm also considering purchasing either (or both

) the XM3 and/or the Xenos. I guess it's not that surprising that Andrea finds the Xenos having more aplomb driving the 650, since it uses buffers with a much higher output current, I wonder if the difference is noticeable on cans that's easier to drive such as SA5k. But crossfeed and op amp rolling are the two additional, and important features the XM3 offers. I just received a reply from James of PD that 2107 or 2111 should work fine in XM3, do you mind sharing your experience/opinions on the quality of the crossfeed on the XM3? Thanks in advance.

 

[azncookiecutter]

How does the Xenos sound out of Grados? Looking to getting a nice home amp, and this looks pretty nice.

 

[vorlon1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by odmanca Vorlon1, do you mind sharing your experience/opinions on the quality of the crossfeed on the XM3? Thanks in advance.

The crossfeed lowers the volume quite a bit, and I am not enough of a fan of crossfeed to bother tuning it with the adjustment on the back which requires a small screwdriver. Without adjusting it, it doesn't sound so great. The crossfeed on the Headroom micro is better, but the best one to my ears is on the Corda Headfive.

 

[odmanca]

Thanks for the info, vorlon1. Have a great weekend, or what's left of it.

 

[mrarroyo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vorlon1 The crossfeed lowers the volume quite a bit, and I am not enough of a fan of crossfeed to bother tuning it with the adjustment on the back which requires a small screwdriver. Without adjusting it, it doesn't sound so great. The crossfeed on the Headroom micro is better, but the best one to my ears is on the Corda Headfive.

I always wondered why the drop in volume but never figured it out. I am so tempted to get the OHA-REP but with a Supermacro 4 and a Go-Vibe 5 on the way it seems overkill. Decisions, decissions,...