[Sonic Defender]

Not sure, I owned the PM3 and loved them, currently own the WH1000XM3 and once you trim the bass back via equalization, in my case using the FIR EQ from ONKYO HF Player, it sounds bloody fantastic, IMO. Stock signature, absolutely the bass bloat is a major issue, but believe me, with some well thought out equalization the XM3 sounds fantastic.

 

[megabigeye]

This guy, asking the real questions.

The PM Driver tech was a big part of what kicked off the Panda project. When Oppo decided to close Oppo Digital, I was pretty disappointed. In a post "$250 D2000's on Amazon" world, the PM-3 was a huge boon to the community, so we saw a lot of reactions like the one you posted. I was super excited when Oppo Digital responded to our inquery. From there, our Product Development team started working on a 1:1 revival of the PM-3. But you know, it wouldn't be product development if the product didn't... develop? right? lol.

Anyway, shoot me a PM with a screenshot of your post and I'll add you to our loaner list if you're interested, appreciate your interest and early input : )

PM'd!

By the way, Panda is a great name. Was there a reason for choosing that name? Much more memorable than PM-3 or whatever alphanumeric name. Much more fun and likeable.

Also, is the Panda useable with a PM-3 balanced cable?

 

[stimuz]

Any plans for a less portable version?

 

[AlwaysForward]

So another DSP feature request: equal loudness curves, e.g. Fletcher Munson etc.

EQ is one thing but now that psychoacoustics are coming more to the forefront, I’d love to see progressive companies lead the charge.

Drop is literally in San Francisco. I could throw a rock at innovation here. While Drop didn’t start as a product company, it’d be great to see this platform pushed to its innovative limit.

For example: the Harman Target is designed for ~80db. The perception of the response at lower/higher volumes is not the same, even though it’s acoustically producing the same curve.

Lastly, I don’t think the competition is ANC headsets. The competition are sets that allow near full size performance on the go that prioritize sound first and foremost:
-Audeze Mobius
-Beyer Amiron Wireless
-Potentially ORA GrapheneQ* (on paper: Negative review is not encouraging)
-Sennheiser Momentum3

 

[megabigeye]

Ooh! I like the idea of an equal loudness curve. I don't use much EQ but the idea of being able to use this for lower listening volumes would be really, really nice. Granted, I think the PM-3 are already great for low volume listening.

 

[AlwaysForward]

Ooh! I like the idea of an equal loudness curve. I don't use much EQ but the idea of being able to use this for lower listening volumes would be really, really nice. Granted, I think the PM-3 are already great for low volume listening.

Totally. It may sound like blasphemy but Bose is my wireless headphones preference primarily because they clearly have done a great job tuning their curve and adding equal loudness on top. Little known secret but their equal loudness only seems to engage when volume is controlled via headphones, not the phone.

But yeah, when I’m working, I listen at lower volumes to increase focus. Other headsets encourage turning it up to get the full effect of the performance while the Bose allows me to really hear more details at say ~60db. I really wish more competition would adopt this and there’s a real opportunity for a platform like this to drive that conversation.

I am a believer that headphones like this with well designed DSP are the future.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Good DSP is a great idea, but it must ALWAYS be user selectable in all situations. Nothing worse than having decisions made for you, IMO.

 

[Koei]

They look quite bulky, I guess that all the electronics have to go somewhere. Here's me hoping for a non-wireless version.

 

[JM1979]

A modernized, improved, wireless PM-3 sounds incredible. I still regret selling my PM-3s in favor of IEMs for travel.

If there is space on a loaner tour list, I’d love to give them a try.

 

[WillBright]

So another DSP feature request: equal loudness curves, e.g. Fletcher Munson etc.

EQ is one thing but now that psychoacoustics are coming more to the forefront, I’d love to see progressive companies lead the charge.

Drop is literally in San Francisco. I could throw a rock at innovation here. While Drop didn’t start as a product company, it’d be great to see this platform pushed to its innovative limit.

For example: the Harman Target is designed for ~80db. The perception of the response at lower/higher volumes is not the same, even though it’s acoustically producing the same curve.

Lastly, I don’t think the competition is ANC headsets. The competition are sets that allow near full size performance on the go that prioritize sound first and foremost:
-Audeze Mobius
-Beyer Amiron Wireless
-Potentially ORA GrapheneQ* (on paper: Negative review is not encouraging)
-Sennheiser Momentum3

Loudness curves are pretty rad. Based on the interest shown so far, over 12,000 requests for Panda on Drop, we should be able to invest in EQ app development pretty quickly. We'll see how far we can push the DSP, but going beyond EQ is definitely interesting.

 

[WillBright]

They look quite bulky, I guess that all the electronics have to go somewhere. Here's me hoping for a non-wireless version.

From back of the earcup to the front of the pad, panda's about 5cm. Mobius is about 6cm, Bose NC700 is about 5cm, Sony is in that range. The cups aren't particularly bulky and the overall silhouette is nicely contained. More pics will be released soon.

 

[WillBright]

Any plans for a less portable version?

We don't have any plans around this at the moment, but DROP now owns all PM driver tech, which includes the PM-1 and PM-2 designs.

 

[Koei]

From back of the earcup to the front of the pad, panda's about 5cm. Mobius is about 6cm, Bose NC700 is about 5cm, Sony is in that range. The cups aren't particularly bulky and the overall silhouette is nicely contained. More pics will be released soon.

I just think wireless headphones are quite bulky in general for mobile use. I also have a small head so my PM-3's are big enough already. Don't know if I want that 25% size increase (PM-3's are 4 cm from back of the earcup to the front of the pad).

 

[Sonic Defender]

Loudness curves are pretty rad. Based on the interest shown so far, over 12,000 requests for Panda on Drop, we should be able to invest in EQ app development pretty quickly. We'll see how far we can push the DSP, but going beyond EQ is definitely interesting.

Please do consider making any implemented DSP user defeatable. It is really a sign of respect for the customer when you leave as many choices up to them as possible. But absolutely a solid parametric or FIR equalizer would be great. As someone who has been with the Bluetooth movement for quite sometime I can say that I am extremely excited by this project.

 

[WillBright]

Please do consider making any implemented DSP user defeatable. It is really a sign of respect for the customer when you leave as many choices up to them as possible. But absolutely a solid parametric or FIR equalizer would be great. As someone who has been with the Bluetooth movement for quite sometime I can say that I am extremely excited by this project.

Given our baseline is no DSP, you can safely expect any DSP options will be... optional.

Most BT headphones sound terrible without their default DSP enabled, but because we designed Panda to be a real acoustic platform, any DSP you decide to add is building on a foundation of strong acoustics, not stacking band-aids on band-aids.