Yes it is a nice package. The sound is open and dynamic and the bass is solid and controlled but there is that illusive quality of the Micro, the imaging, detail and "alive" feeling.
I was listening to the Micro in the metal case with a 1000uF cap and decided to take out the 1000 and put in the 12,000 I had gotten from Xin and the change was both noticable in the highs, as more pure and the bass line, which is solid and dynamic. The mids are smooth and liquid. I am listening to Beethoven's 9th and for headphone setup, it is portrayed with great clarity and dynamic range with just the right touch of airiness and blackness between notes. Some of the sound is hard to describe as it seems to be the nature of this topology, but natural comes to mind.
One thing I do notice is that this amp does not hide anything. I have listened to a couple of different recordings and I was hearing some distortion. I thought, oh no, this circuit isn't right and then switched to a couple of different amps and upped the sound level as they were not resolving this and then there it was but the Ref was able to resolve the recording distortion, which was very small, at a lower volume but it was not the amp circuit with distortion but the recording. So the amp is extremely resolving but totally musical.
