[Allanmarcus]

  Amazing how different people react to the same product.  I loved the PM-3s, the look and feel, the fit, the sound were worth way more than $400.  I am definitely going to buy a pair at the end of the summer.
 
When I first read the post by @mistersprinkles I figured they were a paid troll for some company that's getting their backside cleaned by Oppo who is selling a ton of these PM-3s.  The stellar reviews by all serious mags and blogs has got to be helping them.  Oppo has clearly demonstrated that electrostatic cans don't have to cost an arm and a leg to be outstanding. 
 
After thinking about it I just decided the OP just doesn't like then and should probably just send them on to the next person on the list and leave it at that.

I don't this the PM-3 are electrostatic. I think that is a different technology. The PM-3's are Planar Magnetic. Here's a good post that explains the differences:
http://headfonics.com/2011/05/dynamic-vs-orthodynamic-vs-electrostatic-which-is-which/

 

[bimmer100]

Amen... with the limited time I have had with the PM3, I will not say it is my favorite headphone ever... It most certainly did not make me cringe upon first listening. I am not sure how anyone can be so negative about and sound based upon a few minutes of listening. Seems like there could be more there than we know.

Yeah.... Clearly... Many people don't give it more than a few minutes as it sounds terrible. No sound stage... Etc. also.. The free iPhone cable sounds crappy compared to the thick stock cable. And the mr sparkles guy, maybe he had the cable either not plugged in all the way or reversed them. It's easy to do and not notice what's wrong. The sound still works but in an amazingly bad way. Another guy did the same thing and believe he posted his results in this thread. Only difference is he realized it and fixed the problem. He was then very very impressed. I owe he-560's and my fiancé has the pm3s. Both headphones are very good. Yet the pm3's don't need amplification and in some cases it's easy to over drive them and they sound worse imho.

But whatever. Each to their own. I'm not surprised about getting a bad review if the cable wasn't properly inserted. It's a very common mistake.

I can easily recreate the problem with my fiances pm3's. But she upgraded to a norne Zoetic balanced cable. Even better.
You can't please everyone, but when a review is that bad, I have to wonder. I know the pm3's very well. I can't imagine anyone giving them that type of review!

 

[bimmer100]

Hi Wayne,

Clearly I'm even a little bit lower to the ground than you are. It must come from living on the left coast. When I tried the second cable last night and it didn't work properly I went to a third cable and it did. The light slowly went on and I reversed the direction of the cables and they all worked just fine. It was dark in my listening room - not that much light slowly went on - so I couldn't see if there are directional indicators on the cables.

The difference when I had them inserted the wrong way was that the sound was either entirely in the middle, like a mono recording, or was cutting out on one speaker or the other. Once I got the cable direction correct the soundstage opened right up and they sounded fabulous!

Larry

It's been known to happen...

 

[AudioBear]

 
I don't this the PM-3 are electrostatic. I think that is a different technology. The PM-3's are Planar Magnetic. Here's a good post that explains the differences:
http://headfonics.com/2011/05/dynamic-vs-orthodynamic-vs-electrostatic-which-is-which/

Sorry, you are of course correct and I appreciate the polite way you corrected me.
 
I know the difference, don't know what was going through my mind when I wrote that.  Do you suppose it reveals a repressed subconscious desire to buy Stax cans?

 

[Allanmarcus]

 
Sorry, you are of course correct and I appreciate the polite way you corrected me.
 
I know the difference, don't know what was going through my mind when I wrote that.  Do you suppose it reveals a repressed subconscious desire to buy Stax cans?

Yes. There a genenitic mutation marker found in almost all audio geeks that has two unfortunately manifestations. 1) never satisfied with what we have and 2) the need for Stax. 

 

[Fernandotobarq]

I am interested in the program and I agree to the terms and conditions. I am new to head-fi but I love music and I hope I am still taken into consideration.
Thank you.

 

[dr babo]

I'm interested and agree to the terms & conditions.
Thanks!

 

[Dcun201]

I am interested and I agree to the terms and conditions. Can't wait to pair these cans with my HA-2.

Thank You

 

[JRoyen]

I'm done with the PM-3 Unit #7 and am still waiting for Jiffy Squid to instruct me on where to send them next. I very much enjoyed my week and will be adding more observations.

 

[rwalkerphl]

Same with me for Unit #8.

 

[Jiffy Squid]

  I received the PM3's earlier today. What do I think? Well... I don't think very highly of them. I was running them from my Marantz PM5005, which sounds great with my Hifiman He400i and Grado SR80. These headphones sounded harsh, lacked fidelity, lacked resolution, and lacked soundstage. It sounded like all the instruments and vocals were piled on top of eachother.
 
I listened to Diana Krall @ 24/192 8000kbps and Lorde at 24/96 4000kbps and I was disappointed severely. Diana Krall's "Hit that Jive Jack" was particularly painful on these headphones. On my Kef Q300's and on my other headphones, I can clearly hear a sound stage where Diana Krall is in the middle and two male vocalists are on either side of her. On the Oppos I couldn't even HEAR the second male vocalist and the first one sounded like he was just jammed in there with Diana Krall, as if both were singing into the same microfone 6 inches away from eachother. 

I am so so so disappointed with these headphones. I'm actually quite upset that now I have to pay shipping to the next guy after spending all of 15 minutes with these painful-to-listen-to headphones. I'm not putting them on again. I was rather disgusted with the sound. Tomorrow my audiophile friend will be around and I'll have him listen to them. We have similar tastes so I think he'll be disgusted too.
 
Oh and to add insult to injury, these are the most uncomfortable over ear cans I have ever had on my head. Is Oppo serious with these ear pads? I have small ears for a man and the ear pad was literally sitting ON my ears, not around them. Garbage. 
 
I have heard $140 headphones that absolutely trample these Oppos in imaging and fidelity, IMHO. At $500+ Canadian these are a complete rip off in my opinion. I would recommend that someone jump off a cliff before I'd recommend that they buy Oppo PM3's. 
 
(Sorry Jiffy Squid)
 
I'm reading through the thread and seeing that a lot of you guys actually like these?? I find the character of the sound unbearable.

 
Heh. I can't help but wonder if you have the cable connected incorrectly. If you are using the 3 m cable, the connector with the OPPO logo on it will plug into your source device or amp, and the thinner connector on the other end will connect into the headphones. You should hear the cable click into place when it is fully inserted into the PM-3. 

 

[mandrake50]

I sent the  PM-3 Unit #2 off to OrganMonster  today.
 
Yes there must be something wrong with mrsprinkles setup or possibly the demo unit. I compared the PM3 to several headphones. At first I thought they were a bit too laid back for me, but they do grow on one. I spent maybe 7 hours yesterday listening to them driven by the FiiO X5II. I enjoyed them immensely. In fact, I think I will pick up a pair to replace my previous portable go to... The HP50.
 
I have no idea how someone could listen to these headphones  with them connected properly and using something above marginal equipment and say the kind of things that he said. They were entirely to good to warrant this.

 

[rwalkerphl]

  I sent the  PM-3 Unit #2 off to OrganMonster  today.
 
Yes there must be something wrong with mrsprinkles setup or possibly the demo unit. I compared the PM3 to several headphones. At first I thought they were a bit too laid back for me, but they do grow on one. I spent maybe 7 hours yesterday listening to them driven by the FiiO X5II. I enjoyed them immensely. In fact, I think I will pick up a pair to replace my previous portable go to... The HP50.
 
I have no idea how someone could listen to these headphones  with them connected properly and using something above marginal equipment and say the kind of things that he said. They were entirely to good to warrant this.

I got very close to replacing my HP50's, but one of the key things was that the PM-3's only really sounded good with my iPhone when they were amped with the HA-2. The HP50's sound good directly from the iPhone, which I love. 

 

[mandrake50]

I don't think that I will get rid of the HP50, but for use with the X5II, there was a real synergy. They sound better than any IEM I have !

 

[jim723]

 
Yes. There a genenitic mutation marker found in almost all audio geeks that has two unfortunately manifestations. 1) never satisfied with what we have and 2) the need for Stax. 

 
My first encounter of the Stax was over 35 years ago at a music library. The library had a great collection of classical music and each listening cubicle was equipped with a TEAC deck and a pair of Stax headphones (can't remember the exact model now). That first encounter of the Stax headphones plus later on a listening experience of a pair of Altec Lansing (very similar to the Model 19) were the reasons that I got into this head-fi journey.