[musicman59]

Has anyone compared the stock cable to a balanced cable with these? I did a search, but most threads devolve into nothingness.

I have the first Silver Dragon balanced cable for the PM-3. I got it last March from Drew after CanJam SoCal.
IMO it does a difference. With the Silver Dragon the high frequencies open up more, the bass got tighter and the soundstage got a little bigger. This could be a function of the combination of a silver cable and also going balanced. Out of the balanced output of my AK240 the PM-3 sound incredibly good and basically allows me to bring the same quality of sound of my home system on the go.

 

[amader7]

soo.. finally got a chance to listen to these yesterday night, and wellll... I'm kinda disappointed with them on initial listen. The bass is probably my biggest disappointment. I knew they are considered neutral and all but I didn't expect this little. Guess I'm really a basshead afterall.. This to me is not what I would call neutral, I'd probably call them bass light. again this is my own humble opinion and personal preference. Considering the soundstage, all somewhat of a disappointment. It feels in my head, as I did not get the out of head feel. I'm hoping things improve with burn-in.\
 
Running these off an HA-2.
 
Regards,

 

[d marc0]

soo.. finally got a chance to listen to these yesterday night, and wellll... I'm kinda disappointed with them on initial listen. The bass is probably my biggest disappointment. I knew they are considered neutral and all but I didn't expect this little. Guess I'm really a basshead afterall.. This to me is not what I would call neutral, I'd probably call them bass light. again this is my own humble opinion and personal preference. Considering the soundstage, all somewhat of a disappointment. It feels in my head, as I did not get the out of head feel. I'm hoping things improve with burn-in.\

Running these off an HA-2.

Regards,

Seems like you're used to v-shaped sound signature. The pm-3 is not for you unless you are open to a change in preference. Don't expect much from burn-in , I personally didn't notice a significant difference.

I hope it will work for you in the long run. It is an excellent reference pair of headphones when listening at low volume.

 

[gelocks]

Using the Sony NWZ-A17, I just increased the Clear Bass setting a bit for a bit more "oommpphh"... They sound good.

 

[RivalDealer]

  soo.. finally got a chance to listen to these yesterday night, and wellll... I'm kinda disappointed with them on initial listen. The bass is probably my biggest disappointment. I knew they are considered neutral and all but I didn't expect this little. Guess I'm really a basshead afterall.. This to me is not what I would call neutral, I'd probably call them bass light. again this is my own humble opinion and personal preference. Considering the soundstage, all somewhat of a disappointment. It feels in my head, as I did not get the out of head feel. I'm hoping things improve with burn-in.\
 
Running these off an HA-2.
 
Regards,

Thats interesting, I love the bass on mine. I would even consider them a little bit more bassier than neutral. I've not played around with an EQ with mine but from what I heard they respond well to it, maybe that would sort it out for you?

 

[amader7]

oh yeah, I can definitely eq them, but I was hoping I didn't have to.

 

[good sound]

  soo.. finally got a chance to listen to these yesterday night, and wellll... I'm kinda disappointed with them on initial listen. The bass is probably my biggest disappointment. I knew they are considered neutral and all but I didn't expect this little. Guess I'm really a basshead afterall.. This to me is not what I would call neutral, I'd probably call them bass light. again this is my own humble opinion and personal preference. Considering the soundstage, all somewhat of a disappointment. It feels in my head, as I did not get the out of head feel. I'm hoping things improve with burn-in.\
 
Running these off an HA-2.
 
Regards,

Not everyone is going to like any product no matter how much praise it may get form the majority of owners and reviewers. It's very possible, maybe even likely, that the PM-3's just aren't for you. 
 
As already stated in other responses to your post, I wouldn't expect too much from break-in. I feel mine have improved slightly form new, but really that could just be me getting used to them as I haven't compared my pair directly against a new out of the box pair.
 
As far as the soundstage goes, at first it was a bit of a disappointment as I came form predominantly V shaped phones, but now I find when I listen to some of those other headphones their soundstage doesn't sound natural, but the PM-3's does.
 
As for the bass I would have liked a touch more level as well, but to characterize them as bass lite is all a relevant thing, and I think Oppo chose to balance the output of of all  three frequency bands. For me it's the quality of the bass that the PM-3's produce that sets them apart form other closed back portable headphones. There's a tonal quality and timbre correctness to the bottom frequencies that is just so natural and accurate sounding. The PM-3's have much better bass quality than any other headphones I have heard in their price range, by far.
 
Couple this with an outstanding mid-range that leads to fantastic vocal re-production and I, and many other PM-3 owners, feel that it's considerable strengths easily make up for it's few minor shortcomings.

 

[RivalDealer]

  For me it's the quality of the bass that the PM-3's produce that sets them apart form other closed back portable headphones. There's a tonal quality and timbre correctness to the bottom frequencies that is just so natural and accurate sounding. The PM-3's have much better bass quality than any other headphones I have heard in their price range, by far.

 
This has been my experience with them too. Bass sounds correct and accurate to me which was a huge relief after trying a number of highly regarded closed portables and being disappointed.

 

[money4me247]

soo.. finally got a chance to listen to these yesterday night, and wellll... I'm kinda disappointed with them on initial listen. The bass is probably my biggest disappointment. I knew they are considered neutral and all but I didn't expect this little. Guess I'm really a basshead afterall.. This to me is not what I would call neutral, I'd probably call them bass light. again this is my own humble opinion and personal preference. Considering the soundstage, all somewhat of a disappointment. It feels in my head, as I did not get the out of head feel. I'm hoping things improve with burn-in.\

Running these off an HA-2.

Regards,

amader7,

try to give new headphones a few days for your brain to adjust to a different sound sig. we are often biased to what we are used to.

also, you can try the ha-2's bass boost feature. if you still dont like the sound sig after a few days, I would say swap out.

Maybe the Momentum M2 or B&W P7 may fit your preferences more (a bit more v-presentation imo). if you are a rly serious basshead, the vmoda m100 has a pretty generous bass boost & a very obvious v-shaped sound sig

 

[tomk75]

For all you guys talking about EQ'ing, how do people go about it? Trial and error?  Do people make measurements and then apply corrections through their players?  I run Jriver and it looks like it supports that sort of thing for home theater but I don't know much about that.

 

[Hansotek]

For all you guys talking about EQ'ing, how do people go about it? Trial and error?  Do people make measurements and then apply corrections through their players?  I run Jriver and it looks like it supports that sort of thing for home theater but I don't know much about that.

By ear. Just do a little trial & error, and you'll get ahold of which frequency ranges do what. Are you looking for suggested curves for the PM-3, or are you looking for tips for your home system? I can post screen caps for some PM-3 curves, if you want.

 

[Mr.Tom]

  For all you guys talking about EQ'ing, how do people go about it? Trial and error?  Do people make measurements and then apply corrections through their players?  I run Jriver and it looks like it supports that sort of thing for home theater but I don't know much about that.

You could start with a 2db cut at 8khz, and a 1db boost at 60hz.

 

[Maelob]

[quote name="money4me247" url="/t/756828/oppo-pm-3-the-portable-planar-impressions/1980#post_11752616

try to give new headphones a few days for your brain to adjust to a different sound sig. we are often biased to what we are used to.

also, you can try the ha-2's bass boost feature. if you still dont like the sound sig after a few days, I would say swap out.

Maybe the Momentum M2 or B&W P7 may fit your preferences more (a bit more v-presentation imo). if you are a rly serious basshead, the vmoda m100 has a pretty generous bass boost & a very obvious v-shaped sound sig[/quote]

totally agree give your brain time to adjust to the different signature- i was use to a v signature of rha iems and took me a few days to adjust as well as to figure out the volume level. i am happy now. just listen to them for a few weeks with all type of music.

 

[reddog]

amader7,

try to give new headphones a few days for your brain to adjust to a different sound sig. we are often biased to what we are used to.

also, you can try the ha-2's bass boost feature. if you still dont like the sound sig after a few days, I would say swap out.

Maybe the Momentum M2 or B&W P7 may fit your preferences more (a bit more v-presentation imo). if you are a rly serious basshead, the vmoda m100 has a pretty generous bass boost & a very obvious v-shaped sound sig

Hmmm every once and a while the bass fiend within me become active. I might have try the vmoda m100. Besides that I love my PM-3's, they sound great, are very comfortable and not to sweaty for my ears.

 

[amader7]

Thanx for all the suggestions guys. Will definitely give these some more time.