[TURBO]

After the storm, the calm prevail all around. Are just, me and my gadgets in the glowing darkness of my room? Yes we are.
There is a new audio companion, who enhances the algorithms of waves all thru out my senses on these late hours.
This amp deserves a review after a long and unpredicted ride from Maryland.
It just got here this afternoon, covered with a massive amount of bubble rap and accompanied by a nice letter from his creator.

Let’s start the review:

Specs:
PCB (M3 V1.0)
Aluminum chassis
Three channel active ground design
Virtual ground circuitry
MOSFET and Op amp biased to 110mA per channel
Socketed Op amp: AD843
Neutrick Headphone Jack
Cardas CTFA RCA Jacks
Wima and Vishay/ Roderstein film caps
Vishay Dale resistors
Reverse power protection
Gain switch (2 and 9)
STEPS Power Supply (24v)

Gear:
Emu1212m > M3 > HD600

Design:
How it looks, well it looks like a 777 black box. This amp is designed to be stationary by all means. It is huge.
The blue power button lit like a dot in a deep state of trust, richness and perhaps, a touch of superiority.
Inside the Aluminum black case, the M³ circuit board resides. This later, induces heat, so it feels warm; all the opposite to the STEPS Power Supply.

Sound scheme:
Music from all around the world and encoded to Flac 0, especially for a guy super like me.

Sound stage:
It’s wide, silky, accurate and profound. All instruments shine in their own reflection and bounce all around my neurological points.

Sound Quality:
It relays all imperfections induced by the label record engineers when they were thinking to become one.
Music sounds natural, relaxed and not harsh.

High freqs:
Highs sound accurate. It presents nothing more or nothing less. Just, what it was meant to be output, in direct proportion to what is fed.

Mid freqs:
Oh the mids. We all dream about the mids, so they become a dream. This amp presents the mids a la Senheisser. They flow inside the music with a dedicated amplitude where only the ones sited in the laps of the gods are able to listen.

Low freqs:
It is full and controlled. It brings my bass head back to life. The bass spanks you like a child in a thunder storm while expecting the wind of change.

Conclusions:
This amp is for spending a great amount of time listening to music. Love the op amp signature; enhanced by the designers of the M3 circuit board and brought to life by it’s creator Stephen. Is been a privilege to have your attention.

Some photos:

M3 + SR-71 + SR-225. For size reference. It's huge!

 

[ekwinix]

Argh! I can't wait for my M3 to come now.

What kind of music have you listened to on it?? Any rock-and-roll?? Is the amp engaging with rock?

 

[markmaxx]

Nice review! I have listened to this amp at 2 different meets and think you are right on from my ears. Also your review of Steven is right on, a great guy who builds great amps.

 

[Runningwater]

Nice review. I was thinkging to buy a M3 from stephen as well. But currently I need a better DAC first.....

 

[TURBO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekwinix Argh! I can't wait for my M3 to come now. What kind of music have you listened to on it?? Any rock-and-roll?? Is the amp engaging with rock?

From acid rock to merengue. I think all the genres are covered under this range. The M3 it's definatelly more fun to listen than the SR-71 (to me); and let me tell you, the SR-71 is a very fun amp. I think, that besides the M3 circuit board, the op-amp used (AD843) have to do a lot with the sound signature. Yes, I finally found a stationary home amp that sounds better than the SR-71 (to me).That's what I was looking for. If the SR-71 would have a AC jack and 1/4 ouput jack, I would never look for anything else. Love my SR-71. Now I am a happy camper. I wont have to stop listening to music because the fr....g amp ran out of battery and I have to wait until the weekend to buy batteries.

 

[Teerawit]

Congratulations on the M3. how does it compare to the gilmore lite?

 

[TURBO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit Congratulations on the M3. how does it compare to the gilmore lite?

The M3 has wider sound stage. AD843 is well known for the bass resolution, so the bass sounds more extended;to the point of touching the edges of your inner sentiments. The Lite is more neutral and sometimes get a little uncomfortable on the highs. Both amps are dead silent but yes, the M3 is definitely more fun (from memory) than the Lite also. To put it in a simple sound perspective, the lite sounds like the er-6i and the M3 sounds like the E3C (this perspective is for the people that heard both of these canal phones).

 

[TURBO]

A big UPDATE!
I rolled up to AD8610 to test it, since I didn’t know how it sounds. Guess what. FORGET AD8610!. The opamp is the AD843. The sound from the AD8610 was thin and weak. I put the AD843 back immediately. The AD843 is another animal. The M3 is another beast with the AD843!!!. The problem with the AD843 is that requires more voltage to sound best. Just make sure you are supplying from 24v up!. This tip is for all the people that have this or other amps which can roll up, just try the AD843, the sound is full and powerful in all aspects!, like it was described in my review. Hope this tip make happy some folks here. The world is yours!!!!. Thanks.

 

[ekwinix]

How do the SR-225's match up with the M3 ?

How would you compare the M3 to the stealth?

Any chance of a follow up review now that the amp has settled in?

 

[TURBO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekwinix How do the SR-225's match up with the M3 ?

It matches just beautifully. The amp has two gains switch (low=2, high=9), I use it in high gain; if AD843 are used with high impedance phones (hd600) and low, if the AD8610 are used with low impedance phones (SR-225). I never heard the SR-225 sounding this good. What is interesting is that the phones are not harsh anymore and bass is very extended and controlled.

I noticed, if AD843 are used with the high gain switch on, there is some DC offset (click) when the amp is turned on. That doesn’t happen using the AD8610. I think, is because of the high gain. In low gain, the amp is fine.

In high gain, the AD843 (sounds best) apparently; it passes too much current to the phones and you can hear a big click, when they are turned on, so I switched to AD8610 and now everything is perfect.

I am waiting for my already ordered OPA627.

 

[TURBO]

Since the AD843 has the DC offset problem in my amp when using high gain, is out of the question. (I do prefer these ones)

After testing the AD8610 against the OPA627, the winner is, by all means the AD8610!!.

The detail of this opamp (AD8610) is awesome. The bass is tight and is the grooviest. Very fun amp and opamp all together.

The OPA627 sounds very natural, very precise, to the point that music wasn’t fun anymore, just there. The sound stage is wider than any opamp but I just get bored of listening to music with these opamps. As soon as I put the AD8610, my ears and my soul start partying again. The AD8610 are like having a punk party in my head.

Finally, I have the kind of detail, sound and fun I like. Thanks Thrice for sending me those.

 

[dmb367]

OMG I can't wait any longer! Wheres mine!!

 

[TURBO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmb367 OMG I can't wait any longer! Wheres mine!!

Je, je. Music won’t ever be the same after this amp. Not even the SR-71 / Gilmore Lite gets close to this one, sound wise.
Few weeks ago, I read a thread where the author said that the best thing to do is to listen to bad equipments, that way you won’t ever notice or be aware of what you were missing. THAT'S TRUE.

 

[dmb367]

I'm really glad I changed my opa to the AD843 also.. so is it really tube-like??

I won't know - never heard tubes!

 

[TURBO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dmb367 I'm really glad I changed my opa to the AD843 also.. so is it really tube-like?? I won't know - never heard tubes!

I am not a fan of things of the past. (please, tube fans don’t get offended, I m kidding). How come I will have a coffee maker between my legs? That's crazy, specially here in Florida. Tube amps are made to be in an open location. I use my amp with my PC. But yes the sound is the closest to tube amps (warm, laid back, etc), you can find. Sound is so full, in all aspects. You will be impressed. The only problem is that, you will want to have it in a high gain mode and there is a dc offset (click) when you turn it on (bothers me a lot). In high gain the AD843 sounds a lot better.