bobjew
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2002
- Posts
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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 masterpiece. That's an exaggeration, of course, because he is sure to still have more amps and electronic trickery up his sleeves, but this is his very best now and sometimes I truly feel that way when the goosebumps surface.
The amp has been playing almost constantly since last Tuesday and now has over 100 hours burn-in. It sounds great in stock form. Mine came with Buf 634 buffers in Hi C mode with an OPA 2134 opamp.
I felt no need to change anything about this arrangement. The soundstage is big precise and layered, Bass is powerful, fast, deep and tight, slightly forward with a sweet midrange, and sweet sweet highs. Temperature tends toward warm and sunny.
Flashback to notes last Tuesday and beyond...
The 4 is excellent right out of the bag. Soundstaging and detail retreival is striking but rather opaque.
Hours 4-5- SM4 begins to loosen
Hour 60- A light glaze of brightness covers the sound scape. The soundstage comes forward and sibilence can go white at this point.
Another day or so- the brightness starts to give way to transparency and greater detailing.
90-100 Hours- the brightness is gone, sibilance sounds like it should, microdetail, air and ambience abounds.
Today...
Listening to the great Indian Jazz percussion master Trilok Gurtu "The Beat of Love", just about any cut Bass is fantastic, no need for stacked buffers here.
Hiromi- "Another Mind" incredible piano playing reproduced with realism and power.
The Elysian Fields "Queen of the Meadow", Hearts are Open Graves, excellent separation and resolution. TEF can get mushy and blobby sounding very much like The Cocteau Twins.
Diana Krall-"Girl in the Other Room" excellent sibilance control- DK can get hissy fast.
Aethetically, the front of the 4 has a new type volume knob, front allen screws, power on/off switch. Mine didn't come with the four switches option as I don't need those functions.
The new power switch is really cool, I thought because it lights and blinks different colors to indicate power, and all the different battery charge modes. The only problem with this light over the previous straight blue LED on the SM3's is that its difficult to see in sunlight, even inside a bag. The new volume knob is excellent inside a bag because its shorter and smoother so less likely to auto-move if it brushes up to something inside there. It did with the v3. It's amazing how flexible and movable a portable system can get. The new screws on the front are neater, more minimal and doesn't remind me of bicycle toe clip screws.
Besides the way this thing sounds, open up the 4 and this is where the real art lies, a real exercise in form follows function. The worksmanship is really jewel like with all those tiny components perfectly soldered onto the immaculately laid out traces and tiny boards. It all looks like a miniature city seen from a aerial view.
Another neat new design feature is the battery guides which are now integrated onto the main circuit boards and fit into slots in the case for pleasant and precise battery insertion. The battery contact springs are also redesigned to create more intimate contact with the batteries which I am glad for because I have had battery problems on previous verions. The only "rough" spot left I can see are the copper contacts on the back of the rear battery panel as they still look too "hand-made" for want of a better expression. They work fine though. Oh, since the back panel hardly ever needs to be removed anyway, maybe a pair of those screws from the front panel can be substituted for the thumbscrews in back. I think it may look cleaner.
For this write up the SuperMacro 4 was connected by a modded Headphile Black Diamond (modified for portable use) interconnect to a Vinnie Rossi I-modded 60gb Ipod out to Sensaphonics IEM's.
Nothing better than taking a walk these days!
Bob
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 masterpiece. That's an exaggeration, of course, because he is sure to still have more amps and electronic trickery up his sleeves, but this is his very best now and sometimes I truly feel that way when the goosebumps surface.
The amp has been playing almost constantly since last Tuesday and now has over 100 hours burn-in. It sounds great in stock form. Mine came with Buf 634 buffers in Hi C mode with an OPA 2134 opamp.
I felt no need to change anything about this arrangement. The soundstage is big precise and layered, Bass is powerful, fast, deep and tight, slightly forward with a sweet midrange, and sweet sweet highs. Temperature tends toward warm and sunny.
Flashback to notes last Tuesday and beyond...
The 4 is excellent right out of the bag. Soundstaging and detail retreival is striking but rather opaque.
Hours 4-5- SM4 begins to loosen
Hour 60- A light glaze of brightness covers the sound scape. The soundstage comes forward and sibilence can go white at this point.
Another day or so- the brightness starts to give way to transparency and greater detailing.
90-100 Hours- the brightness is gone, sibilance sounds like it should, microdetail, air and ambience abounds.
Today...
Listening to the great Indian Jazz percussion master Trilok Gurtu "The Beat of Love", just about any cut Bass is fantastic, no need for stacked buffers here.
Hiromi- "Another Mind" incredible piano playing reproduced with realism and power.
The Elysian Fields "Queen of the Meadow", Hearts are Open Graves, excellent separation and resolution. TEF can get mushy and blobby sounding very much like The Cocteau Twins.
Diana Krall-"Girl in the Other Room" excellent sibilance control- DK can get hissy fast.
Aethetically, the front of the 4 has a new type volume knob, front allen screws, power on/off switch. Mine didn't come with the four switches option as I don't need those functions.
The new power switch is really cool, I thought because it lights and blinks different colors to indicate power, and all the different battery charge modes. The only problem with this light over the previous straight blue LED on the SM3's is that its difficult to see in sunlight, even inside a bag. The new volume knob is excellent inside a bag because its shorter and smoother so less likely to auto-move if it brushes up to something inside there. It did with the v3. It's amazing how flexible and movable a portable system can get. The new screws on the front are neater, more minimal and doesn't remind me of bicycle toe clip screws.
Besides the way this thing sounds, open up the 4 and this is where the real art lies, a real exercise in form follows function. The worksmanship is really jewel like with all those tiny components perfectly soldered onto the immaculately laid out traces and tiny boards. It all looks like a miniature city seen from a aerial view.
Another neat new design feature is the battery guides which are now integrated onto the main circuit boards and fit into slots in the case for pleasant and precise battery insertion. The battery contact springs are also redesigned to create more intimate contact with the batteries which I am glad for because I have had battery problems on previous verions. The only "rough" spot left I can see are the copper contacts on the back of the rear battery panel as they still look too "hand-made" for want of a better expression. They work fine though. Oh, since the back panel hardly ever needs to be removed anyway, maybe a pair of those screws from the front panel can be substituted for the thumbscrews in back. I think it may look cleaner.
For this write up the SuperMacro 4 was connected by a modded Headphile Black Diamond (modified for portable use) interconnect to a Vinnie Rossi I-modded 60gb Ipod out to Sensaphonics IEM's.
Nothing better than taking a walk these days!
Bob
