[PinkFloyd]

By pure chance I found myself in a Hi-Fi shop today and had a good old listen to the Musical Fidelity X-Can V3 amp. To cut a long, boring, story short....... I bought it

I wasn't too keen on the V3 when it first came out but recent dabblings with a V2 has definitely ignited the "X-Can" spark! There was no way I was leaving that shop without the V3.... no way!

Well, she's home with me burning in now and I'm very happy with the sound and the build quality of the V3.... ALPS RK27 potentiometer, fancy knob and lovely solid enclosure..... looks well worth the money indeed.

Had a quick peek under the bonnet and she looks highly tweakable, there's "plenty" of space to fit large capacitors and other goodies so it looks like I've got a lot to keep me occupied over the winter months. Probably first to go will be the Philips JAN 6922 valves shortly followed by a cap replacement but that won't be until I've listened to the amp in its stock guise for a while....... sounds absolutely superb so far with only 3 hours on it

It really is great to go "commercial" again! Kit amps are fine but it's great not having to drill holes and faff about soldering wires etc. It's excellent when it's handed to you on a plate all finished and ready to go..... all you have to do is plug the 'phones in and listen.... even better when the amp sounds as good as the V3 does and looks great into the bargain!

I'll give the V3 a good few weeks and will then do a write up on it...... off now to enjoy the music

 

[Madcat05]

Looks good Mike. I'll be interested in reading your impressions on the amp, as I've been reading your thread on your V2 mods.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madcat05 Looks good Mike. I'll be interested in reading your impressions on the amp, as I've been reading your thread on your V2 mods.

Yeh, the sonic signature is very like the V2 and the only real differences I can see between the V2 and V3 is an increase in capacitance, an ALPS RK27 pot and a new enclosure... the rest of it is pretty much business as usual with the same JAN philips 6922 valves... even the specs are identical.

It's way too soon to start messing about inside with different valves etc. and it's good to just listen to the "stock" V3 for a while and get a feel of the sound before going under the bonnet (if I go under the bonnet). I say that today and really hope that I can hold out and just take the amp for what it is and leave it alone but, if the past is anything to go by, I'll probably be in at it with a soldering iron by the weekend

No joke, I've always had this insatiable urge to go under the bonnet and mess about with things and have never really enjoyed the "newness" of anything which is a shame really..... I'll do my best just to listen to the amp and enjoy it and to heck with swapping the capacitors just for the sake of it.... I still can't believe the first thing I did when I took it out of the box was strip it down

..... That's just not right

Anyways.... off to have a listen to it and will resist the temptation to unscrew it again

 

[mysticaldodo]

Just as you got yours, I came home yesterday from collegge to find a burning smell coming from mine.

Opened it and found the parts of the board scorched near resistors and one voltage regulator. One of the resistors completely burned out and the smell of soldering iron was strong. I still dunno why it happened.

It still works I think but I'm taking it back to my technician just to play safe

Anyway, the sound will improve greatly once the caps are changed. Still a bit harsh sounding but very airy and somewhat forward sounding

I find that adding a custom made PSU made no noticable difference though

 

[jpelg]

Which headphones are you using with it?

 

[insomniac]

Add me to the list of those impressed by the X-Can v3. It was never really on my radar, due in no small part to its rep of mediocrity around these forums. But I was in a local hi-fi shop where they had the entire Grado line to demo in-store. The amp they had driving them was the X-Can v3. The amp was an afterthought at the time as I was eager to try the RS-1, but to make a long story short, a month later, I purchased the X-Can v3.

 

[allenf]

Very very nice!
This review has got me wondering...
http://www.onhifi.com/product/musica...ty_xcan_v3.htm

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mysticaldodo Just as you got yours, I came home yesterday from college to find a burning smell coming from mine. Opened it and found the parts of the board scorched near resistors and one voltage regulator. One of the resistors completely burned out and the smell of soldering iron was strong. I still dunno why it happened.

any pics? Are you using a third party PSU?


Quote:

Originally Posted by mysticaldodo Anyway, the sound will improve greatly once the caps are changed. Still a bit harsh sounding but very airy and somewhat forward sounding I find that adding a custom made PSU made no noticable difference though

Yeh, the caps make a huge improvement (as does changing valves but try telling Anthony Michaelson that!) I'll probably swap out the stock 2200uF and 1000uF caps for 3300uF across the board, that'll open things out a bit and give a bit more extension to the bass...... got a nice box of Russian 6N23P-EV valves today so I'll roll a couple of them in too.... they work wonders in the V2 so, considering the V3 is almost identical, they should work wonders in the V2 also.


Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg Which headphones are you using with it?

Primarily Sennheiser HD-600 & AKG K-501

Quote:

Originally Posted by allenf Very very nice! This review has got me wondering... http://www.onhifi.com/product/musica...ty_xcan_v3.htm

Heh, that's so so typical of Anthony Michaelson! "tube rolling is all BS" etc. etc. that's his way of justifying using cheap components and his "all components sound the same" philosophy is great as far as he's concerned... means he can use the cheapest of the cheap and claim it all sounds the same.... well, Mr. Michaelson...... it doesn't and a change of caps and valves makes a night and day improvement to your amps.... those JAN Philips valves may be very reliable but they quite frankly sound like turd

Mine has been playing away for 24 hours now and it sounds great.... a little bit screechy and shrill on some complex passages but that's just the signature of the Philips 6922's shining through, I'll replace them with the russian 6N23P-EV's at the weekend and that should improve things pretty dramatically. On a purely cosmetic note....... I just love that knob

 

[allenf]

Looking forward to further impressions/write up from you PF

 

[mysticaldodo]

Post Mortem:-

Scorched resistors x2

The board is burnt. Is this a power regulator?

The back, notice the burnt areas?

Full view autopsy

The thing is still working. The solder smell is still there. The sound signature has changed somewhat....not sure how. I think its more constricted??? the bass sounds more tight? Maybe the solder smell is getting to me.

 

[mysticaldodo]

The XCan 3 is somewhat difficult to keep clean with the side etches and all. I'm using a custom made PSU which doesn't get hot unlike the walmart supply it originally came with. Now I only play it when the air conditioner is on. No more taking chances what with the tropical weather here.

PS. Pink Floyd, how does the Graham Slee Solo compare with the XCan 3 Stock or your XCan2? I'm thinking of getting a SS alternative to drive my Grados and maybe other cans.

 

[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mysticaldodo

That doesn't look good.... not good at all

Apart from the burnt transistors and resistors you are also missing two capacitors C211 & C111... I've no idea why they're not there but they should be. Get that back to the guy ASAP for repair and ask him "why" he has removed C211 & C111.... it also looks like he's swapped out some of the diodes.

 

[mysticaldodo]

I couldn't afford a 4 cap upgrade. I kinda forgot the explanation but supposedly the 2 caps would subtitute for 4. They (2 caps) are not the same configuration as the 4 caps of course. I still have the original Jamicoms, but I forgot which ones are and can't compare the specs but the 2 caps are suppose to be double the original 4 caps for something. My electronics is bad!

The thing worked fine actually for a few months. I only added the customer made PSU last month so maybe thats the culprit? To be honest, I don't think it ran any warmer compared to the Walmart supply. Anyway its mom's fault. She turned off the fan and for some reason pile a big stack of TIMES mag on the XCan while its still warming up in wholesome tropical weather. I've let it run for a week with the fan turned on with the cap upgrades and there was no problem.
I can.

 

[Bosch]

Pink Floyd I know what you mean about that volume dial. When I tried out the X-Can in a local shop, turning that knob was like I was trying to work the dial on a safe to crack it.

By the way, the WNA II arrived today. Wow, it does like low impedance headphones.

Can't wait to upgrade that PSU.

 

[Sugano-san]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PinkFloyd Yeh, the sonic signature is very like the V2 and the only real differences I can see between the V2 and V3 is an increase in capacitance, an ALPS RK27 pot and a new enclosure... the rest of it is pretty much business as usual with the same JAN philips 6922 valves... even the specs are identical.[...]

But doesn't it need a different PSU? The V2 needed 12VAC, whereeas the V3 needs 24VAC, IIRC. Agree? Couldn't that imply that some of the basic characteristics of the circuit may have changed, too?