[Skylab]

Got a notice that my Supermacro V6 is on it's way to me! I won't get it until I get back from a trip next Friday, but I am psyched! I will post a comparison to my Porta Corda mkIII when I get it. Looking forward to it.

 

[BRBJackson]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab I will post a comparison to my Porta Corda mkIII when I get it.

I look forward to reading that comparison.

 

[spinali]

I just got my Supermacro delivery notice - and it could come Tuesday. Will post reactions once my blood pressure goes down.

Where's my oral nitro?

 

[Afrikane]

Got my Supermacro 3 V6 yesterday. Intial impressions are very favourable. Nano_Pocketdock_SM3V_UM2's is bliss, later I will try with my pair of ER4P's.

 

[Skylab]

Got my SuperMacro V6. So far it sounds excellent, listened to it only for a few hours, now I am breaking it in. But I can already tell that it sounds good, and having both bass boost and cross-feed almost certainly mean it will become my main portable amp.

I was surprised how small it is. Amazing.

 

[alanz]

I've got a SuperMacro3 v3 on my desk, and now carry a SuperMicro3 with an iPod nano. Talk about a tiny combination!

Photos and notes are on my web site:

http://www.zenreich.com/ZenWeb/audio/supermicro3.htm

 

[gshan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alanz I've got a SuperMacro3 v3 on my desk, and now carry a SuperMicro3 with an iPod nano. Talk about a tiny combination! Photos and notes are on my web site: http://www.zenreich.com/ZenWeb/audio/supermicro3.htm

The pink color works out great. I didn't know it was so much clearer than the green and blue. Much cooler when you can easily see the guts.

Xin did mention working on more alternative cases for the SMicro-3. I wonder what he'll come up with. It'd be nice for sure to have a harder case, but at least he offers case replacement on order page.

 

[digitalcat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gshan The pink color works out great. I didn't know it was so much clearer than the green and blue. Much cooler when you can easily see the guts. Xin did mention working on more alternative cases for the SMicro-3. I wonder what he'll come up with. It'd be nice for sure to have a harder case, but at least he offers case replacement on order page.

I don't think the current supermicro case is as fragile as it looks, sometimes it's really hard to crush those small plastic cases.

 

[alanz]

I don't think the acrylic crystal cases are fragile at all.

I might prefer something with eased edges. And unlike some, I really don't need/want to see the circuitry.

However, these are trivial nits. The sound quality of this little amp has impressed me.

 

[goto2003]

Nice pictures, Alanz. Xin's still making the case by his hand, which doesn't seem to be professional at all. But the sound is really in its own league. Hard to beat.

 

[Skylab]

Well, it's now really broken in, and I have used it quite a bit. And overall, I am very pleased. I have some thoughts, and some comparisons to the Meier Audio Porta Corda MkIII

> Transparency: It seems fairly transparent. If anything the Meier may be just a bit more transparent, but it's close. No one would fault either amp here. Overall sound quality of the Xin is quite high, but really not better than the Meier. Both are very good sounding, very low noise portable amps.

> Power: It provides enough drive for any of my headphones, and then some

> Convenience: It's really quite small, very durable in it's metal case, and nice enough looking. The Pot has a very good feel to it.

> Crossfeed: I prefer the Meier's crossfeed, but not by a lot. The Meier creates a more open, wide soundstage than the Xin does when using crossfeed on both. But few would complain about either, and of course, they can both be defeated.

> Bass boost: This is THE reason that the Xin is going to replace the Meier in my portable kit. The bass boost is very well impemented, ONLY bossts the bass (the bass boost on the Xenos 3HA has too much impact on the mids for me), and is good in it's quantity. The impact it has on my HD-25-1's is awesome, and it actually made Beyer DT880's listenable for me. Of course it can be defeated, for when I use my Super-fi 5EB's with it.

I also like that it has a built in batter recharger, something EVERY portable amp should have.

So, all in all, it's a very nice amp. I would say, though, that if you don't ever want bass boost, the Meier, at $210, is a significantly better value than the SM3 V6 at $350, and is more or less the sonic equal of the Xin (better in some ways, not quite as good in others). Both sound quite a bit better, to my ears, than the noisier and far less transparent Headroom Total Airhead. I am keeping both the Meier and the Xin.

 

[sxr71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab Well, it's now really broken in, and I have used it quite a bit. And overall, I am very pleased. I have some thoughts, and some comparisons to the Meier Audio Porta Corda MkIII > Transparency: It seems fairly transparent. If anything the Meier may be just a bit more transparent, but it's close. No one would fault either amp here. Overall sound quality of the Xin is quite high, but really not better than the Meier. Both are very good sounding, very low noise portable amps. > Power: It provides enough drive for any of my headphones, and then some > Convenience: It's really quite small, very durable in it's metal case, and nice enough looking. The Pot has a very good feel to it. > Crossfeed: I prefer the Meier's crossfeed, but not by a lot. The Meier creates a more open, wide soundstage than the Xin does when using crossfeed on both. But few would complain about either, and of course, they can both be defeated. > Bass boost: This is THE reason that the Xin is going to replace the Meier in my portable kit. The bass boost is very well impemented, ONLY bossts the bass (the bass boost on the Xenos 3HA has too much impact on the mids for me), and is good in it's quantity. The impact it has on my HD-25-1's is awesome, and it actually made Beyer DT880's listenable for me. Of course it can be defeated, for when I use my Super-fi 5EB's with it. I also like that it has a built in batter recharger, something EVERY portable amp should have. So, all in all, it's a very nice amp. I would say, though, that if you don't ever want bass boost, the Meier, at $210, is a significantly better value than the SM3 V6 at $350, and is more or less the sonic equal of the Xin (better in some ways, not quite as good in others). Both sound quite a bit better, to my ears, than the noisier and far less transparent Headroom Total Airhead. I am keeping both the Meier and the Xin.

Good comparison. I kind of want to hear the Porta Corda III now, as I didn't think sound could get any more transparent.


I know this is sort of off-topic but how has the Red Wine mod worked out for you?

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

I know this is sort of off-topic but how has the Red Wine mod worked out for you?

Very very well. An easily noticible improvement. Well worth the money. Since I only use my iPod with some sort of amp, it was a no-brainer.

 

[sxr71]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skylab Very very well. An easily noticible improvement. Well worth the money. Since I only use my iPod with some sort of amp, it was a no-brainer.

I was afraid of that.

I guess since I'm dying for an 80GB iPod to keep up with my growing collection of lossless files I'll wait to get that first. I hope they can do the mod on these new slimmer iPods. Hopefully I'll have bigger cash reserves by then.

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sxr71 I was afraid of that. I guess since I'm dying for an 80GB iPod to keep up with my growing collection of lossless files I'll wait to get that first. I hope they can do the mod on these new slimmer iPods. Hopefully I'll have bigger cash reserves by then.

I also am not getting a new iPod until there is an 80 or 100 GB version. ESPECIALLY since I have the Red WInbe Audio mod, and he's not going to mod 5G's he's said...