[mark2410]

Oppo PM-3 Review

 

Thanks to Oppo for the sample

 

 

 

First Impressions:  Oooh an all black minimalist box.  The case too, this is all looking nicely put together, I’ve read that the headphones are pretty lush in the hands and everything so far is looking good.  The headphones themselves one in my hand and I can see why they have been so nicely spoken of.  They feel so plush, the pads feel so soft and supple.  God the build on this all feels so lovely on the fingers.  This is a proper grownups headphone.

 

So pretty aside, how does it sound?  Now I’ve been told that they want a good 50 hours burn in but I do like to record my, just out of the box thoughts.   The first thing I notice is that for a planar they haven’t the over V shaped dazzling sound signature.  Planars want to do epically punchy bass and blinding treble but hey, these sound kinda grown up too.  They are more smooth and relaxed than I expected, more like the sort of thing you can hear all day long without wearing yourself out.  Gosh the treble really is delicately refined.    I think I’m going to really quite enjoy this.  To a burn in you go.

 

Source: FiiO E7/E9 combo, Hisoundaudio Studio V 3^rd Anv., HiFiMAN HM-650, 1G Ipod Shuffle, Nexus 5 and Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear.

 

 

 

Low: Mesmerising.  Well that needs a caveat, “I” find them mesmerising.  Will everyone else, I suspect not.  For me there is ever a balance, open vs closed, punch vs bloom, depth vs midbass rambunctiousness, you get the picture.  These are closed headphones, so you think well they will have “closed” bass, it’ll be big, weighty, impactful and pretty abundant depth, right?  It’s no secret I prefer “open” bass, agile, lithe, delicate and flighty.  Sure open bass sucks for depth but I’m generally willing to make that trade.  These break those general rules.  They are closed, they really are closed headphones but isolation aside I’m not sure I’d instantly know it from my ears alone.  They don’t do the closed, whack up the deep bass to appeal to the mainstream consumer but more incredibly they don’t have that weighty slowness that’s so endemic to closed.  It is so light and artfully graceful.    Not light in that there isn’t plenty but that it feels feather like, so captivating and soft and delicate.  It’s a deceptive little feather however.  It has a sculpted depth to it that is beyond what an open can do and it has an impact at the lower reaches where the HD600 just outputs nothing.  Otherwise I find them so similarly natured.  It’s so weird, a closed feeling so capably open, so pure and not aiming for a skull raping power (yamy pro500, I’m thinking of you here,)  It’s just so, so, it just feels like it shouldn’t exist.  The bass just feels so graciously composed and elegant.

 

Quantitatively it’s a teeny bit above strictly neutral but only a hair.  It can output significant amounts if you make it but its heart is never in it.  It just is not in its nature to be aggressive or savage in any way.  Like a perfectly calibrated TV, it’s natural, effortless, achingly accurate but next to an OLED screen with insane levels of colour saturation, it comparatively feels a little plain.  Sonically these are that little plain, so nicely balanced, accurate, paragons of purity that is simply perfection, for me.  To others I think they may find its bass and lack of explosiveness to be a little polite for them.  A thrill ride the PM-3 is not.

 

 

 

Mids: Exquisitely open.  Once more I feel these are playing to my personal preferences.  I love mids, these portray them with such openness and such clarity, they make me want to check they really are closed headphones!  Again I find myself looking at the HD600 and thinking someone at Oppo has a pair and said one day, let’s make something that can beat them, oh and let’s make them closed too, just for giggles.  Planars give you a BA like directness in the midranges that they can feel so gloriously intimate.  Like the vocalist is there with you alone, singing to you and only to you.  Yet they still capture an openness and air that contradicts their intimacy and their closed nature.  There is something effortlessly natural in its feel, xylophones are fantastic, so realistic it’s creepy.  Guitars too, there is a faint lack of bight to the initial note but once more I’m struck by how realistic it sounds, which is not something I associate with a closed headphone.  I keep mentally snapping back to the HD600 but this is just better, not by a vast degree but everywhere just better, more resolving more emotive more natural, just more everything.

 

Quantitatively it is a hair behind the bass and there is a bit of a lower treble spike that can slightly lean in and overshadow the mids but it’s only very slight.  If you aren’t paying attention you might not really even notice it.

 

 

 

Highs:  There is a little peak in the lower treble, it encroached a little at times but not so much it was a bother.  Well maybe a teeny tiny bother.  Unsurprisingly it was not notable in more poppy, assertive music where things can explode out of nowhere, some would just be that touch too aggressive in that zone for my tastes.  Still I feel like I’m being petty.  It’s not really an issue most of the time and not really at all unless you playing silly buggers with the volume dial.  Though I will grant that with these I did find myself cranking the dial regularly.  The extension was another aspect that I felt was maybe not quite all that it could be.  Again it’s not that its “bad” it just didn’t seem to quite go all the way up, or maybe I’m just getting old.  The spec say it goes up to 50kHz so vastly beyond the human range.  Maybe it’s that lower treble eagerness that’s upstaging the extension?  Again they performed more nicely than the 600, they tend to get brittle and over abrasive where the PM-3 stayed much more delicate and refined as it went up.  It felt like it had the headroom to not just cope with extended highs but the enough agility that it could do it with some ease.  Lesser things sound like they are straining to accomplish that feat, planars are just that much quicker than dynamics.

 

Quantity wise there is a bit of a peak as I mentioned.  That aside the treble to my ears was a bit more prominent than the mids and bass but only by a very small margin.  I’m fairly treble sensitive so I’d personally would have preferred that the treble was behind the other two but the quality was of a sufficiently high ability that I didn’t mind terribly.

 

 

 

Soundstage:  For a closed it’s got a remarkably talented semblance of air and space to breathe.  Still vocals especially wanted to come up and veer towards the close in intimately and casually close in.  For me I like that greatly.  Curiously though strings and orchestral works still gave you that grand elegance of a large hall, all that planar speed and air coming into play I’d bet.  Still it was a large hall, not the great outdoors.  For a closed headphone it was fantastically impressive, in a blindfold test if it wasn’t for the sound isolation you could be convinced they were open I’d bet.  Instrument separation is somewhat casual.  Things are all clear enough to be distinct but I never felt like anything had an exact location.  Integration was flawless so the cost of a hint of separation is an easy price to pay.

 

 

 

Fit:  They went on head, and voila.  The pads aren’t massive though, they fully encompassed my ears but not by lot.  That’s the price of being “portable” so if you are big eared you may want to test first.  Same if big headed.  Normaly I’m near the min size on headbands but not so on these.

 

 

 

Comfort:  I have seen people comment that the pads are pleather and it generates too much head.  Well living in This Sceptred Isle, for all its rich blessings that nature hath provided, scorching heat is not among them.  My only little issue is that the pad depth on the left wasn’t quite holding the cup off my ear, after a couple of hours use it became irritated. My ear was just making contact and that low but constant pressure feeling bothered after a few hours use.

 

 

 

Cable:  Weirdly the thing came with 3 cables.  A plain, very long normal cable i.e. no mic on it.  Then I had 2 Android and Windows phone compatible mic’d cables.  One in white and one in black.  Is that supposed to be like that?  I suspect one of them should have been an “Apple” one rather than a black and a white Android ones.  The quality of them all seemed fine but really did the non mic’d one need to be 3 meters long???

 

 

 

Isolation:  I consider all proper headphones, all circumaurals (ones that go over rather than on your ear) to be things you use at home.  You use open if you have the room to yourself, closed if you aren’t.  Now these are marketed as “portable” headphones, they even come with phone mic’s so clearly the idea is you plug them into your phone and use them out and about.  So in terms of isolation, well you actually could.  They are roughly about the same sort of level as you would expect from a dynamic IEM, which is certainly in the realm of usable.  On a bus, out and about in normal traffic should ass be okay.  Flights or Tube commutes I’d probably give a miss but they would do in a pinch.  It goes without saying they are good enough to get you killed if don’t keep an eye out for traffic.

 

 

 

Build Quality:  Excellent.  They feel extremely sturdy and well put together.  The construction isn’t just premium feeling it’s impressively thick and metal.  They are a bit weighty but that just lends to the feel that they will survive some “out and about” trauma.  Everything about them, to the eye or the touch, says these are good quality product. 

 

 

 

Aesthetic:  Well they look great quite frankly.   Very much on the grown up, respectable sense of the aesthetic.  Pure, unfettered metal and then morphing into the soft pleather coverings.  They have a minimalist look to them that I highly approve of.  I have the black here which is normally what I like most but the pics of the white ones.  I normally hate white things but the white with the silvered metal cup backs, they just look so much nicer than the black ones here.  Shame they aren’t silvery too on the black ones.  Even though they still look very appealing to my eyes.

 

 

 

Phone Use:  So only having the Android and Windows cables here.  Plugging it in to my Nexus 5 and Lumia 735 it all worked good.  No volume controls on the cable but oh well.  Tring out the Iphone 5 anyway, the audio worked fine as did the play/pause/skip button.  I didn’t test all the phones, just the N5 for mic use as my sister was getting annoyed and it’s a giant pain to test the three.   I would bet they all work just fine though.

 

 

 

Amped/Unamped:  Being planars, even given the claims about how they aren’t power hungry, you still think but yeah they will be so much better with an amp right?  Certainly that’s what I thought.  It just seems so obvious.  So when I first plugged them into a phone, the Iphone btw and I was agog.  Holy crap!!!  They sound good, not just “good” but like F me these are really good.  Nexus 5 and 735 up too and again, holy crap these sound amazing out of a phone.  Even the crappy treble of the Nexus 5 sound good.  I almost don’t know what to say, I’m a little in shock I think.  Yes if you flick about its not like you don’t gain with amps because you do.  More though you gain by the resolution of the DAC/source file than by the amp ability.  That said they did make an excellent partner for the Oppo HA-2, its review coming shortly btw. 

 

Still the take away is the PM3 are insanely easily driven by any old junk so if you are one of “those people” who insist on using your phone as an audio source then with these you not only get away with it, you get seriously, seriously good audio quality.  However, I would still say if you’re pending to get this level of quality an audio product your next purchase really ought to be an amp.

 

 

 

Accessories:  You get a pleasant case thing and 3 cables.  I’m still not sure I was supposed to get that white android one, getting a black Apple one instead.  Also the 3 meter long non mic’ed one, I could have done with it being normal length, I use big cans at my desk I really don’t need all that length.  Oh and it came with a 6.25mm to 3.5mm adapter. 

 

 

 

Value:  It’s retailing in the US at US$400, and in the UK at £350.  Hmm the exchange rate then plus 20% VAT added comes to £308.  So a headline figure of £350 vs £257, well if I had a trip to the US planned anytime soon, even when you dutifully declare them to Customs on your return, as I am sure you all rightfully would, you still make a reasonable saving.  Disparity aside they sit at the top of the typical headphone world and they don’t sound like they belong there.  They belong on the next wrung of the ladder upward where you start encountering weird stuff.  The resolution they offer is superb and the delicacy they are capable is phenomenal for a closed can.  They are so open like yet they isolate well enough you could use them outside. 

 

 

 

Conclusion:  Shut up and take my money!!!

 

Grown up brain may demand that a certain level of detached objectivity be maintained.  Grown up brain knows the PM-3’s certainly are not perfect though if you asked to me really pick out an actual flaw, errm right now I’m hard pressed to really think of one.  There isn’t really any specific flaws per say, there are just little issues here and there.  Like the bit of a lower treble assertiveness, the pads maybe being a tad on the snug side, that gigantic 3m long cable, that they pained the backs of the cups black instead of leaving them as bare metal.  Erm, I think that’s about it really

 

 

 

Sonic signature wise I’m sure that the PM-3 won’t appeal to all as it’s certainly not as potent at either end of the spectrum for some.  When I had the HE-500 in, the last planar I reviewed, that thing, my god it was fast.  So lightning fast that the treble was like ear stabbing pinpricks of light and the bass was a brutal ensemble punching you from one side of the room to the other.  It was so dramatic and exuberant and showed off just how much more capable than it was over your typical dynamic, so slow and weighty in comparison.  It made for an incredible presentation.  The PM-3 doesn’t do any of that.

 

 

 

The PM-3 is very much more grown up.  It’s all about the clarity, the refinement, the soft beauty of a piece.  It’s not wild nor especially exciting.  It’s so very, VERY highly detailed but it doesn’t feel the need to slap you in the face with it screaming “LOOK, LOOK AT THIS, LOOK LOOK AT IT, SEE AREN’T I AMAZING, LOOK , LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” No no, the PM-3 is so much more nonchalant, it knows it’s excellent and it doesn’t need to behave like a 5 year old that’s just eaten a bag of sugar to show you what it can do.  You can take or leave its presentation and capabilities.  The PM-3 has a good sense of its own abilities and abounds in well-deserved self-confidence.

 

 

 

Now the only real issue for me with the PM-3 is that while you absolutely could take it out and about, the fact is I’d never do that.  Still it’s just so good, so open sounding for a closed headphone I cannot help but think what if Oppo made an open version, I find myself so wishing for the mythical open version that I’m not entirely satisfied with the 3 as it is.  I’m not sure it’s really a criticism to say that its problem is that I think its theoretical sibling will be even better.  If that is about the worst thing I can say then you realise that it’s a rather good product.  I mean fact is the PM-3 is a freakish concoction.  It’s a planar, closed, that you can freekin’ use out of a mobile phone, even a crap mobile phone and yet it still sounds like a better, faster, more resolving HD600 yet somehow closed.  Seriously, just how the hell did they do that???  Seriously, shut up and take my money!!!

 

[mark2410]

Oppo PM-3 Quick Review

 

Thanks to Oppo for the sample

 

Brief:  Eh? A portable planar you say???  Witchcraft, witchcraft I say!!!

 

Price:  RRP is US$400 or £350, trip to the US anyone?

 

Specification:  Lots see here https://www.oppodigital.com/headphones-pm-3/headphones-PM-3-Features.aspx

 

Accessories:  You get a hard case for them and I got 3 cables.  One with no mic that was 3m long, the other two were “Android and Windows” phone cables with mic’s, one white and one black.  I presume that one should have been an “Apple” one maybe?  I don’t know, the specs don’t really say either, weird.  Oh and a 6.25 to 3.5mm adapter too.  Doh, the big case too.

 

Build Quality:  Par excellence.  The metal construction is extremely solid.  The soft bits feel soft and of excellent quality for pleather.  The eye says tre premium and the hand agrees.

 

Isolation:  Adequate.  I’m not big on closed cans for outdoor use but you could.  Should be fine for on a bus or walking with normal traffic noises.  Not really what I’d choose for a Tube commute or a long flight but vastly better than nothing.  Still, a planar that is closed and svelte enough to be portable?!?!?  Just do try to not get too lost in the music, least you require scraping off the front of some bus you didn’t notice.

 

Comfort/Fit:  Mostly very good.  I did get a slight pinching on my left ear.  Not painful or anything, just a bit of pressure and after a few hours my ear wanted a break to breathe.  The cups were just that tiny bit not deep enough to not be just touching my ear. 

 

Aesthetics:   Ooooh, fancy.  Oh if only the black ones had bare metal backs (like the white ones are) then they would have been perfect.  Even photos of them in white and all that brushed metal, damn.  I normally hate things in white too but I do love bare metal.  They look as classy as they sound.

 

Sound:  A little bit unbelievable.  These are planar headphones, they are closed, they are portable and you can run them off your phone????  You would be forgiven for thinking someone was bull shi… err misleading you.  Yet they are, they actually sounded amazing out of the Iphone 5, double take amazing where I had to check at first I’d plugged the right cable into the right socket.  How????  I have no idea how they have done it, it makes no sense but they have.  These are just outstanding, for a closed headphone to sound so light and quick, so open and spacious.  They are so polite and smooth too yet having highly quick transients and superbly delicate uppers.  The lows too are so casually fast and sustainable.  So polite and reserved and accurately clean.  In my head I can’t stop myself thinking of the HD600 but these are better, lighter, faster and yet closed.  The depth is better too as open cans have massive issues reaching low but these being closed can get there with relative ease.  Tonally so politely balanced with just a slight peak towards the upper mids/lower treble region that very rarely got a little over assertive.  Still vocals are so wide, so spacious and elegantly polite.  Oh god it’s such a mature sounding, proper audiophile tuned headphone.

 

Value:  US$400 for US’ians or £350 for the home of Magna Carta.  VAT does not account for all that discrepancy.  Of course the PM-1 is £1000 so…….probably easier if you just give them your wallet and let them take what they want.

 

Pro’s:  Never have I heard something closed sound so open.  Sounds practically perfect.

 

Con’s:  If you want a bombastic, thrilling, party machine, this is not it.

 

[dbase88]

Nice review.
 
How are you finding the slim jack connector cable with no right angle? Others have said that the supplied cable is mediocre at best, and wears down pretty fast from being shoved in pockets etc due to not having the angle.
 
Appears to be a major flaw in the design imo. Limited to what cable you can use as the jack on the can has a very slim mould.
 
I am still using the original HD-25s, wanted to upgrade to the PM-3 but the cable has got me worried.

 

[mark2410]

  Nice review.
 
How are you finding the slim jack connector cable with no right angle? Others have said that the supplied cable is mediocre at best, and wears down pretty fast from being shoved in pockets etc due to not having the angle.
 
Appears to be a major flaw in the design imo. Limited to what cable you can use as the jack on the can has a very slim mould.
 
I am still using the original HD-25s, wanted to upgrade to the PM-3 but the cable has got me worried.

mediocre? na its rather nice, its nothing wildly special granted but i cant really see it wearing down unless your being rather harsh with it.  i mean if someone is shoving it upside down into a pocket well of course it wont last long.  if you abuse and misusse anything itll eventually break but that not the products fault.
 
if some one is absolutly insistant on shoving it cable first into a pocet then id suggest spending a couple of quid on a little http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-5mm-Jack-90-Right-Angle-Male-To-Female-Audio-Stereo-Plug-Adapter-Converter-/191395669026?hash=item2c90122422
 
i mean if having a right angle cable really reall really matters then 3 seconds and i found converter.  i would say anyone worrying about the cable is oither just trying to pick faults or more likely they have all the finesse of a bull in a china shop and too stubourn shall we say to just by an adapter that would give them exactly what they want. 
 
 
so in short, i would not worry about the cable.  its well made, you can get a 90 degree converter if you want and abouve all, if you do kill a cable they are replacable so at the very very worst youve killed a cable.

 

[alexdi]

I bought these three weeks ago along with a pair of HD600s. Amp is an O2/ODAC. Long experience with Grado SR80 and various mid-fi speakers. Extended listening sessions with five-digit Martin Logans at Magnolia. Probably 50 hours on each set of cans with a variety of music.      
 
The short PM3 review is: 
 
* Strong midrange with near-real vocals (9/10 with some material; the HD600 is usually around 7/10 on this scale)
* Precise, accurate bass, though the decay is so quick that it looses some "presence" relative to the HD600
* Rolled treble; no sense of "air" (3/10 here, 8/10 for the HD600)
* Relatively closed sound (4/10 here, 8/10 for HD600)
* Excellent isolation (8/10 vs. 2/10 for the HD600)
* Excellent build quality impression (HD600s are plastic-fantastic by comparison)
* Very high efficiency (rarely above 9PM on my O2 modified to 1.0 gain; HD600 is more like 1PM)
* Ridiculous clamping force; couldn't wear for five minutes out of the box
* Effectively on-ear with my large ears (6/10 in comfort after adjustments to reduce clamping, 8.5/10 for the HD600)
 
At the refurbished price of $315, they're a steal for closed cans. Problem is, if you're listening at home, it's really hard to give up the comparatively giant soundstage and smooth high range of the HD600 (which periodically falls to $230 or so). Every time I switch between the two, I'm convinced the one I just put on is better. "This room is so much bigger! And the treble veil has disappeared!" followed a half-hour later by, "Oh, so that's what vocals are supposed to sound like. Dude's in my room."
 
The difference in comfort isn't easy to ignore. With a stretched band, I timed myself at 12 minutes before the PM3 became annoying. If I get lost in the music, I stop caring, but the PM3 earcups were clearly designed for hobbits. Or I have a giant head. Or both.   
 
My conclusion is that if you need something on the go, just throw money at the screen. There's nothing close to the PM3 at this price. At home, my general feeling is that the performance swing is larger with the PM3 than HD600. It can be (and usually is) absolutely brilliant (particularly if you're into acoustic or vocal-centric performances), but even with rolled treble, the mids are a little sharp for the 'wall-of-sound' low-DR stuff coming out of many studios. Too much listening fatigue. The HD600, you can wear indefinitely and you'll always get at least 8/10 for everything, but they mostly sound like a bloody good recording rather than the frequent brushes with real the PM3s produce with the right material. 
 
I bought a pair of HE-400i. Ideally they'll marry the advantages of both. I'll find out when they're delivered tomorrow.  

 

[audiobot]

  I bought these three weeks ago along with a pair of HD600s. Amp is an O2/ODAC. Long experience with Grado SR80 and various mid-fi speakers. Extended listening sessions with five-digit Martin Logans at Magnolia. Probably 50 hours on each set of cans with a variety of music.      
 
The short PM3 review is: 
 
* Strong midrange with near-real vocals (9/10 with some material; the HD600 is usually around 7/10 on this scale)
* Precise, accurate bass, though the decay is so quick that it looses some "presence" relative to the HD600
* Rolled treble; no sense of "air" (3/10 here, 8/10 for the HD600)
* Relatively closed sound (4/10 here, 8/10 for HD600)
* Excellent isolation (8/10 vs. 2/10 for the HD600)
* Excellent build quality impression (HD600s are plastic-fantastic by comparison)
* Very high efficiency (rarely above 9PM on my O2 modified to 1.0 gain; HD600 is more like 1PM)
* Ridiculous clamping force; couldn't wear for five minutes out of the box
* Effectively on-ear with my large ears (6/10 in comfort after adjustments to reduce clamping, 8.5/10 for the HD600)
 
At the refurbished price of $315, they're a steal for closed cans. Problem is, if you're listening at home, it's really hard to give up the comparatively giant soundstage and smooth high range of the HD600 (which periodically falls to $230 or so). Every time I switch between the two, I'm convinced the one I just put on is better. "This room is so much bigger! And the treble veil has disappeared!" followed a half-hour later by, "Oh, so that's what vocals are supposed to sound like. Dude's in my room."
 
The difference in comfort isn't easy to ignore. With a stretched band, I timed myself at 12 minutes before the PM3 became annoying. If I get lost in the music, I stop caring, but the PM3 earcups were clearly designed for hobbits. Or I have a giant head. Or both.   
 
My conclusion is that if you need something on the go, just throw money at the screen. There's nothing close to the PM3 at this price. At home, my general feeling is that the performance swing is larger with the PM3 than HD600. It can be (and usually is) absolutely brilliant (particularly if you're into acoustic or vocal-centric performances), but even with rolled treble, the mids are a little sharp for the 'wall-of-sound' low-DR stuff coming out of many studios. Too much listening fatigue. The HD600, you can wear indefinitely and you'll always get at least 8/10 for everything, but they mostly sound like a bloody good recording rather than the frequent brushes with real the PM3s produce with the right material. 
 
I bought a pair of HE-400i. Ideally they'll marry the advantages of both. I'll find out when they're delivered tomorrow.  

Great review. I like your bulletpoints presentation. I guess I am alone in liking closed back for home use as well. I just rather get great speakers if I wanted that open-air sound.
 
I almost bought the PM3 again. I initially loved my time with them and prefer them to my time spent with the mdr-1a, srh1540 and he-400S. I then came across a pair of B&W P7 for $165. The deal was too good to pass up. Hopefully they will satisfy enough so I won't have to spend upwards of $300 on a pair of headphones.

 

[alexdi]

So I've had a go with the 400i for the last few hours. My impressions may change over the next few days, but in terms of vocal realism: it is to the PM3 what the PM3 is to the HD600. Interestingly though, I could see someone justifiably choosing any of the three.
 
For non-sound: (numbers may shift because I redefined the scale)
 
* Best case and packaging for home use (I'd rather they spent the money on the drivers, but whatever)
* Quality impression is very good (7.5/10 for this, 9/10 for PM3, 5/10 for HD600) 
* Finish is a handsome gunmetal with a subtle blue-purple tint
* Looks ridiculous on my head
* Most comfortable but could use finer click-stops (8/10 for this, 7/10 for HD600, 4/10 for PM3) 
* Fancy screw-on cables, but not one-sided like the PM3. Lots of insulation; wire gauge doesn't feel any thicker than HD600. Not that it matters.
* Efficiency is slightly better than the HD600. PM3 betters both by a wide margin. 
 
For sound:
 
* The mid to high treble range is the best I've heard from any set of cans. Very smooth, very real. In one particular track (Rodrigo y Gabriela's "Tamacun"), the intro drum hit jerked my head to the door to see who knocked. Vocals are stellar. Realism is 9/10 here, 8/10 PM3, 6/10 HD600. 
* Soundstage is very good. The HD600 might be a little better. PM3 is way behind.
* Bass is a weak point. There's plenty of punch, but neither the depth nor authority of the PM3. Acoustic and classical stuff fares well, as do tracks where the bass is mastered "hot" (most R&B, rap). The ones in the middle would benefit from some EQ. Accuracy and speed are both excellent though. Similar to the PM3 and well above the HD600. 
* The frequency balance in general is very audiophile: a bit less low, a bit more high, neutral mids. The PM3 are more lively with vocals; you miss the highs immediately and there's some vocal coloration that wasn't apparent before, but the mid-bias and terrific bass make them preferable for a lot of pop/rap music (e.g., "Pump It" from Black-Eyed Peas) 
* Not flattering to weak performances or bad recordings. I have choir tracks where a handful of people are subtly off-key. The HD600 smooths it over; not the 400i. Have to find better choirs. 
 
I like these cans a lot. I can tell I'm getting into diminishing-returns land, though. 
 
The HD600 sound consistently great with every recording worth listening to and it's the only pair I forget I'm wearing, except to occasionally notice how pretty a particular piece might sound. Probably the most enjoyable over the widest range of material in this crowd. Never harsh. They tend to flatter poor recordings. While great rarely rises to transcendent, I may keep them anyway for that reason.     
 
The PM3 provide a nice black background to the city noise and often surprise me with how excellent they render solo performances and R&B. I can already tell I'll miss the ability to cleanly push 18hz at 100db. But I miss soundstage and high end more (this could probably be EQ'd with some patience) and the comfort is not for me. Build quality, real-world flexibility, and presentation are all top-drawer. A lot of people will prefer the PM3 frequency balance to the others.  
 
Which leaves the 400i. Lovely, neutral, open sound, "polite" bass, and a significant margin of treble realism and refinement that's often apparent relative to the PM3 and very apparent coming from the HD600. They're hard to ignore because the music is distractedly good. Comfort and build are commensurate with the price. If I upgrade again, it's likely to be to electrostats; I can't see many conventionally-driven cans outperforming these (however defined, except in regard to bass) without compromising a lot of material.

 

[audiobot]

 
 
By any chance, ever owned the Bowers & Wilkins P7? If so, how would you think they compare to the aforementioned headphones?

 

[tinyman392]

 

 
 
By any chance, ever owned the Bowers & Wilkins P7? If so, how would you think they compare to the aforementioned headphones?

The P7 are boomier and bassier in contrast.  They are also smoother throughout.  The only area I see the P7 outpacing the PM-3 would be the treble which is rendered in a detailed fashion while being nearly inoffensive and extremely smooth.  Overall, however, I'd still go PM-3 over P7 unless you want the boomier signature.  

 

[audiobot]

thanks tinyman. I don't think i'm a fan of the boomier sound signature. I got them for quite a $teal, so ill put up with its sound signature until i can truly rule it out as an option.

 

[tinyman392]

  thanks tinyman. I don't think i'm a fan of the boomier sound signature. I got them for quite a $teal, so ill put up with its sound signature until i can truly rule it out as an option.

That was quite a steal.  The P7 has some good qualities to it, and has a fan base all of its own.  Keep in mind that the seal is a little whacky with the P7 and varies from person to person (sometimes it varies with the same person).  Normally, a slightly weaker seal won't make a world of difference, the P7 is a huge exception to that.  If you look at Tyll's measurements of the P7, you can literally see two different bass signatures (between the left and right, that is the seal difference, the drivers are actually well-matched if you read Tyll's review where he explains it), one that's really boomy, and one that is slightly boomy.  I hear the P7 as only slightly boomy, though it's bass is on the thicker side of things.  I absolutely adore its treble, however, it's presented in such a beautiful manner.  

 

[mark2410]

  * Rolled treble; no sense of "air" (3/10 here, 8/10 for the HD600)
* Relatively closed sound (4/10 here, 8/10 for HD600)
   
My conclusion is that if you need something on the go, just throw money at the screen. There's nothing close to the PM3 at this price.

cannot agree with you on the treble and the sounding so closed., i found them highly open, amazingly so for being closed.
 
but yeah agree on the value.  just throw your wallet at oppo and let them take whatever they want

 

[YtseJamer]

cannot agree with you on the treble and the sounding so closed., i found them highly open, amazingly so for being closed.

X2!

 

[alexdi]

It's not something that stands out unless you're comparing directly with the other two. Same with the dull treble; if I wasn't switching back and forth, I'd be indifferent to it. 

 

[mark2410]

  It's not something that stands out unless you're comparing directly with the other two. Same with the dull treble; if I wasn't switching back and forth, I'd be indifferent to it. 

do you maybe mean its lack of abrasivness?